Added on 06.17.2021
GM Misa Pap just concluded his interesting series about the best World Championship Matches, and now he's on with a new feat. Misa, in this brand new video series, tackles one of the most thorny aspects of the game: developing a plan starting from typical positions in the middle game. How many times do we find ourselves trying to think about a plan when our knowledge of the opening has already led us into the middle game? It's the most challenging part of the game, and how the plan our next...Full StoryAdded on 06.10.2021
Here we come to the latest match for the title of the world champion in chess. It was a very close contest and also a powerful encounter. Champion Carlsen was first on the FIDE rating list with a stellar rating of 2835, and Caruana was 2nd with 2832! It was a very close match, and it was the first time in history that 2 players rated above 2800 played for the world title! Again, it was a 12 games match; it was played from 9th till 28th of November 2018, in London. Caruana won the Candidates...Full StoryAdded on 06.03.2021
After he edged out Gelfand in a very close affair in 2012, Anand didn't have too much time to rest on his laurels – he had to face a new challenger already next year in 2013. And whom? Carlsen himself! Of course, at the time, back in 2013, we didn't know yet what kind of big champion will Carlsen be, but he was always an immense talent and a big hope for the chess world. Carlsen managed to win the famous Candidates Tournament (best 8 players) earlier that year. But it was not a...Full StoryAdded on 05.27.2021
This time, the challenger to Anand was Topalov, and the match was played in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 24th of April till 13th of May 2010. The prize fund was 2 million EUR, with 60% going to the winner. Again, the format was the same as in previous matches: 12 games, and in case of a tie, rapid tie-break. Anand managed to win 6.5-5.5, with a win in the last 12th game! I had the impression that Topalov pushed too hard in that last game and lost because of that. Maybe he believed in prognosis as...Full StoryAdded on 05.20.2021
Next on our list is the exciting match from 2008. Anand was champion, and Kramnik was the challenger. Anand became world champion in a match tournament of 8, played in 2007 in Mexico City. Kramnik was in Mexico City, but Anand dominated the field and won convincingly, with 9/14. Because Kramnik didn’t win and thus lost his title from 2006, FIDE granted him a match with the new champion, Anand. The match was played in Bonn, Germany, from 14th till 29th of October, 2008. Again it was a 12...Full StoryAdded on 05.13.2021
So, we come to 2006 and the famous unification match, which was played between “Classical World Chess Champion” Vladimir Kramnik, and “FIDE World Chess Champion” Veselin Topalov. The match was played from September 23rd until October 13th, 2006. In Elista, Kalmykia, Russia. The idea was to finally unite the 2 titles and have one world champion. After beating Kasparov sensationally in 2000, Kramnik successfully defended his title in 2004 against Peter Leko, but not without trouble. In that...Full StoryAdded on 05.06.2021
After the 1995 match and his win against Anand, Kasparov was still world champion. But, his PCA simply stopped existing in 1996; therefore, he had to search for other ways of funding and organize his matches. In 1998, Kasparov announced that based on the ELO rating, Anand (2nd in the world), and Kramnik (3rd in the world), should play a match to determine his challenger. But Anand refused because he participated in the FIDE cycle. The match was organized between Kramnik and Shirov in 1998 in...Full StoryAdded on 04.29.2021
GM Vishy Anand (India) GM Garry Kasparov After the last Kasparov-Karpov match (another tough one) in 1990, which was again won by Kasparov by 1 point, finally, we had someone who could break the K-K domination – Nigel Short. He managed to win against Karpov in the semifinal candidates match, and then in the final, he beat Timman. So he became the new challenger for Kasparov. In the negotiations for the title match, Kasparov and Short were dissatisfied with FIDE and criticized the...Full StoryAdded on 04.23.2021
After beating Korchnoi in 2 matches in 1978 and 1981 and winning many tournaments, Karpov had to face a new powerful challenger - Kasparov. Kasparov was a very dynamic and active, sometimes even aggressive player who liked to take the initiative and attack, almost totally different from Karpov, who preferred positional and technical play. They played 5 tough matches, every time with close results. The first time they met in 1984, in the match for the "world crown." Karpov was 12 years...Full StoryAdded on 04.15.2021
After Fischer didn't show up for the match title in 1975, in Manilla, Karpov became the world champion by forfeit. Anatoly Karpov in 1978 Anatoly then played a lot of tournaments and had a lot of success, proving that he was indeed the world's best player. Then he faced Korchnoi in 2 matches for the world title. In Baguio in 1978 and in Merano in 1981. It is worth mentioning that Korchnoi is alongside Keres and Bronshtein, one of the best players in history who never became world...Full StoryAdded on 04.08.2021
.videoWrapper { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; } .videoWrapper { position:relative; padding-bottom:56.25%; height:0} .videoWrapper iframe { position:absolute; top:0; left:0; width:100%; height:100% } ICC Blitz Tournament $2,000 in prizes including a $1,000 Random Giveaway prize anyone can win! TOURNAMENT RESULTS Grand Prize...Full StoryAdded on 04.08.2021
After Petrosian won the world title in 1963, he played 2 matches against his young challenger, Boris Spassky, in 1966 and 1969. First, he held his title in 1966, winning a close match by 4-3 and 17 draws! But in 1969, Spassky managed to win, again, a close match, 6-4, with 13 draws. To be fair, it was not a return match. Spassky had to qualify again through the whole cycle! He beat the famous Korchnoi in the Candidates' final match to become the challenger to Petrosian again. In 1972, the...Full StoryAdded on 04.01.2021
This year the President Cup – informally known as the Final Four of College Chess – which determines the U.S. collegiate chess champion - will be played online. The Internet Chess Club hosts this prestigious tournament, where four Universities fight for the Cup. See the FINAL STANDINGS and GAMES FINAL STANDINGS DOWNLOAD PGN The tournament takes place on April 3 and 4. • Format: double round-robin • Time control: 25+5 • Start of the games: Saturday, April 3: 12 PM, 3 PM, 6 PM (CDT)...Full StoryAdded on 04.01.2021
After Botvinnik won the 1948 tournament for the world title, FIDE introduced a system of cycles for the world championship. Every 3 years, there was a title match; in 1951, Botvinnik faced Bronshtein, one of the best history players who didn't become world champion. The match was tied 12-12, with 5-5 and 14 draws. In 1954, Botvinnik faced another challenger – Smyslov - and managed again to hold his title, 12-12, with 7-7 wins and 10 draws. Matches were played in 24 games. In 1956, a new clause...Full StoryAdded on 03.25.2021
After Alekhine lost his title in the match against Euwe in 1935, he got in shape and was much more serious and in much better sportive form for the rematch in 1937. Alekhine - Euwe - 1937 Euwe was a mathematician, 5th world champion, and the only one from the Netherlands (at least until now). He was also president of FIDE from 1970-1978. Some sources say that the “issues” with Fischer could be resolved thanks to him, which means that the most well-known world championship match could be...Full StoryAdded on 03.18.2021
After his win against Lasker in 1921, Capablanca became the world champion. Maybe because he had big problems challenging Lasker (the first time he tried it in 1911), it was not easy to challenge Capablanca. They had some "London rules" about how the match should be organized and who could challenge the Champion. Also, a clause read that the prize fund should be at least 10.000 USD in that time (which is more than 100,000 in today's money). Rubinstein and Nimzowitch challenged Capablanca for...Full StoryAdded on 03.11.2021
Video 2: The beginning of the Lasker era Emmanuel Lasker After Steinitz won his match against Zukertort, he continued to be successful. In that era, he was really the best player and the real World Champion! As we know, back in those times, matches for the world crown were still somewhat "privately" organized: namely, one of the world-leading players could challenge a champion for a match, and if he could raise enough money (enough purse or prize fund), usually the challenge would be...Full StoryAdded on 03.10.2021
US Chess announces the 2021 National Online Scholastic Championships (NOSC). This event is intended as the online replacement for the now-canceled SuperNationals VII. The NOSC will feature two Qualification Weekends, with a total of six divisions, and a Championship Weekend, with top finishers from each section meeting to determine a national individual champion in that division. There will be team and individual prizes awarded in each section on the Qualification Weekends; however, the only...Full StoryAdded on 03.04.2021
Video 1 - 1886. First official match for the world chess crown. Wilhelm Steinitz Johannes Zukertort In this video, GM Misa presents the first official match for the chess world title, played between Wilhelm Steinitz (born in 1836 in Prague, died in 1900 in New York) and Johannes Zukertort (born in 1842 in Lublin, German Empire (nowadays Poland), died in London in 1888). After the Steinitz - Anderssen match in...Full StoryAdded on 02.25.2021
The Internet Chess club is thrilled to announce a brand new video series, with GM Misa Pap. Misa has been researching history and chess, to pick up the best 15 matches to determine the World Chess Champion. Enjoy the Intro video! Here is the presentation of the course, written by our GM. Chess is a vibrant and noble game, and as we know, it has a very long and illustrious history, dating many centuries in the past. But only in the last 500 years or so, we have been playing with Chess's...Full Story