Internet Chess club on Facebook Internet Chess club on Twitter Internet Chess club on Google+ Internet Chess club on YouTube Internet Chess club on LinkedIn Subscribe to Internet Chess Club RSS feed

News and Events

Queen sacrifice

Added on 11.01.2023

IM Malcolm Pein November 1, 2023   THE PACE slowed in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss in Douglas, with only one decisive game on the top dozen boards. As a result, no player had a perfect score. On top board, Dutch international Erwin L’Ami took no chances with the white pieces and held Fabiano Caruana to a draw. The field of 114 invited players has an average rating of 2636, and the top two finishers over the 11 rounds will earn the right to compete in the 2024 Candidates...Full Story

Happened Today in the Chess World - Oct 31, 2023

Added on 10.31.2023

THE THEORY OF SHADOWS Berlin, 1929. Alekhine (left) plays Bogoljubow (World Championship). Former World Champion Emmanuel Lasker (center) watches the game. Source: chessentials.com  Today, we remember the former World Champion Alexander Alekhine, born in Moscow, USSR, on October 31, 1892. After winning the Russian Championship in 1914 and the Soviet Championship in 1920, Alekhine moved to France and started dominating the international scene. He was pursuing a World Championship match...Full Story

Caruana back in the club

Added on 10.31.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 31, 2023   IN WHAT was possibly something of a grudge match, world number two Fabiano Caruana exploited a blunder to record an easy win over Hans Niemann, the man at the eye of the cheating storm last year. Caruana had also defeated Niemann 11 days earlier on the way to winning the US Championship in St Louis. Caruana’s win put him back into the 2800+ club and made him one of just seven players, in the field of 114, to get to 2/2. The cheating scandal and...Full Story

Happened Today in the Chess World - Oct 30, 2023

Added on 10.30.2023

LONG BEFORE DING LIREN GM Xie Jun and World Champion Ding Liren - Source: Fide.com Today is the birthday of former World Champion Grandmaster Xie Jun, born in Baoding, China, on October 30, 1970. Xie grew up playing Chinese Chees, to then move on to the International version of the game. She climbed up to the top rapidly, conquering the World Champion Title in 1991 by defeating Maia Chiburdanidze, who has been Champion since 1978. Xie kept the title until 1996 when she was defeated by Susan...Full Story

Fabiano’s flying start

Added on 10.30.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 30, 2023   FABIANO Caruana has a fine record in the FIDE Grand Swiss, having finished second in the two previous editions in 2019 and 2021. The newly crowned US champion made the best possible start this year, at the Villa Marina in Douglas, as he made light of the misfortune of selecting the black pieces at the drawing of lots and outplayed former European Individual champion Ivan Saric in just 30 moves. The former world title challenger and world number two,...Full Story

The Barry Attack

Added on 10.29.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 29, 2023   The Barry Attack, also known as the Jobava London System, with d2-d4, Bc1-f4 and Nb1-c3, as opposed to a move of the c-pawn, is hugely popular nowadays. There are instructional videos, courses and books advising how to terrorise the player of the black pieces with an early kingside attack. White has also scored numerous quick wins after Black moves his queen’s knight too early and allows Nc3-b5 with destructive consequences on c7. In this one-sided...Full Story

Piano variations

Added on 10.28.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 28, 2023   THE plan of …h6 and …g5 for Black in the Giuoco Piano is well known nowadays – Black launches a quick attack against White’s slow build-up if the first player has already castled kingside. I noted an example of Black trying this against the Ruy Lopez recently. J Bjerre – A Motylev Bundesliga Ruy Lopez Berlin   var viewer = new CHESS.PgnViewer({ pgn_uri: 'https://www.chessclub.com/assets/PGN/DT_Oct_28_2023.pgn', piece_set:...Full Story

Happened Today in the Chess World - Oct 27, 2023

Added on 10.27.2023

LAS VEGAS STAR IM, WGM Nazi Paikidze - Photo: Lennart Ootes Today is the birthday of International Master and WGM Nazi Paikidze, born in Irkutsk, Russia, on October 27, 1993. She learned chess at age four and was soon coached by several teachers, including GM Valentin Belov. Paikidze won the European Women's Championship U10, U12, U14, and U16, to then conquer the World Championship U14 and U16. After moving to the US, Nazi won two US Women's Championships in 2016 and 2018. She was part of...Full Story

Swiss spectacular

Added on 10.27.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 27, 2023   PLAY is under way in the FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss at the Villa Marina, Douglas. Fresh from his success in the US Championship, Fabiano Caruana is top seed ahead of compatriot Hikaru Nakamura. The mouth-watering line-up of Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Dommaraju Gukesh, Richard Rapport, Levon Aronian, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Alexander Grischuk and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave completes the top-10 seeds. The Women’s Grand Swiss...Full Story

Happened Today in the Chess World - Oct 26, 2023

Added on 10.26.2023

KASPAROV'S SQUIRE Garry Kasparov e Yuri Dokhoian - Source: nytimes.com Today, we remember Grandmaster Yuri Dokhoian, born in Altai Krai, Russia, on October 26, 1964. With a peak rating of 2580 Elo points, Yuri was among the first 50 players in the world at the end of the 80's and at the beginning of the 90's. He quit playing professionally to follow Garry Kasparov and to be his eternal second. When Kasparov quit the competition, Dokhoian became coach of the Russian Women's Team, leading the...Full Story

A tale of woe

Added on 10.26.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 26, 2023   A SORRY tale from the Qatar Masters. Isolated queen’s pawn positions can arise from many openings, and defending them requires great care. The player with the isolated pawn will often aim to advance it, to open lines for a kingside attack. The defender should try and control the d5-square to prevent that. An isolated queen’s pawn can be a liability in an endgame, or in a position with reduced material, as it cannot be defended by another...Full Story

Happened Today in the Chess World - Oct 25, 2023

Added on 10.25.2023

KARATE KID GM Arkadij Naiditsch  - Photo: Maria Emelianova Today is the birthday of Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch, born in Riga, Latvia, on October 25, 1985. Naiditsch was European Champion U10. In 1996, he moved from Latvia to Germany, where Arkadij won a national title in 2007. Naiditsch won an amazing number of 12 Team Championships in the Bundesliga. His peak rating, reached in 2013, was 2737 Elo points, which made him the 18th player in the world ranking. Naiditsch is married to the IM...Full Story

Uzbek one and two

Added on 10.25.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 25, 2023   A BLUNDER decided the Qatar Masters, as the leader Arjun Erigaisi lost a rook in his last round game against Uzbek number one Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Just as at the 2022 Chess Olympiad, the Uzbeks got the better of the Indians when the chips were down. Nodirbek Yakuboev defeated Murali Karthikeyan and, with Hikaru Nakamura under pressure, and eventually drawing his game, the tournament was decided in an all-Uzbek tie-break that Yakuboev, who started...Full Story

Vishy’s disciples

Added on 10.24.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 24, 2023   MAGNUS Carlsen’s hopes of defending the Qatar Masters title disappeared when he lost with the white pieces to Indian GM Karthikeyan Murali in the seventh round, his second loss at the event. Carlsen made a risky sacrifice of a pawn in the Ruy Lopez, before missing chances to equalise and then blundering. With one to play, Carlsen was a point behind leader Arjun Erigaisi of India, who had reached 6.5/8. The group of players half a point behind...Full Story

Happened Today in the Chess World - Oct 24, 2023

Added on 10.24.2023

THE FIRST BIRTHDAY AS WORLD CHAMPION World Champion Liren Ding - Source: chessbase.com Today is the birthday of the current World Champion, Liren Ding, born in Wenzhou, China, on October 24, 1992. Three times China Champion, two times winner at the Olympiads with his country team (2014 and 2018), Ding reached the finals of the World Cup twice.  This year, on April 30, Liren became the Chess World Champion, defeating Russia's Ian Nopomniachtchi on tiebreaks in a very tense match. In November...Full Story

FIDE Grand Swiss 2023

Added on 10.23.2023

Round 11 In the last and decisive round, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi won his game with Predke, reaching a fantastic 8.5/11 and winning the prestigious 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss 2023. Here is the interview with the winner: In second place, and therefore qualified for the Candidates' tournament 2024, American star Hikaru Nakamura, with a remarkable 8.0/11. Final standings: Rk. Name Fed Pt. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 Vidit, Santosh...Full Story

Happened Today in the Chess World - Oct 23, 2023

Added on 10.23.2023

THE FIRST HORVATH IM Tamas Horvath Photo: Przemyslaw Jahr /Wikimedia Commons Source: wikipedia.org Today is the birthday of International Master Tamas Horvath, born in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary, on October 23, 1951. Tamas is the first of many "Horvath" to gain the International Master title, which he obtained in 1979. Horvath represented Hungary in a European Championship, winning an individual bronze medal. Tamas's peak rating was 2475 Elo points, reached in January 1994. In his career, Horvath...Full Story

Yip clinches US title

Added on 10.23.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 23, 2023   A DRAMATIC final round saw 2021 Champion IM Carissa Yip triumph at the US Women’s Championship. 20-year-old Yip led WGM Begim Tokhirjonova by half a point entering the last round, but found herself in trouble against FM Ruiyang Yan before fighting back, only to blunder in a double-edged, double-rook endgame. That appeared to have opened a path towards at least a play-off for Tokhirjonova, but she squandered a large advantage and eventually even lost...Full Story

A swashbuckling game from the US Championship

Added on 10.22.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 22, 2023   A swashbuckling game from the US Championship, where, at time of writing, Fabiano Caruana looked likely to prevail. The victor plays in the style of what is known as the Romantic period of chess, in the 19th century. The old adage that “it is easier to attack than defend” proves to be right yet again and the victor was always playing with the draw in hand. R Robson – J Xiong Petroff Defence   var viewer = new CHESS.PgnViewer({ pgn_uri:...Full Story

Old Lines

Added on 10.21.2023

IM Malcolm Pein October 21, 2023   ONE way to beat younger players is to play openings that went out of fashion before they were born. Bill Hartston defeated me in my debut game at the British Championships in 1980 with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bd2?!. Bill got no advantage from the opening, but I burned up some time trying to remember, unsuccessfully, what to do. I needn’t have bothered, as he said afterwards, “No one has played this since before you were born”. Gregory Kaidanov...Full Story

Page 8 of 39 pages ‹ First  < 6 7 8 9 10 >  Last ›