Added on 11.11.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 11, 2023 AN entertaining game with unusual material balances. A knight vs three good pawns, with all eight on the board, is something of a rarity, as is queen against five pawns. White maintains a blockade and gradually builds an attack to exploit his extra piece. The material is balanced and so were the chances, until Black hesitates on move 29 and all is lost, although it required exemplary play to demonstrate the win. M Warmerdam – B Adhiban FIDE Grand...Full StoryAdded on 11.10.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 10, 2023 THE Indian brother and sister Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali Rameshbabu achieved a unique double when the latter won the FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss in Douglas. Praggnanandhaa had already qualified for the Open Candidates by finishing third at the FIDE World Cup in Baku. Vaishali’s victory at the Grand Swiss qualifies her for the Women’s Candidates. Vaishali only needs to gain three rating points to get to 2500 and secure the GM title. V Rameshbabu – Z...Full StoryAdded on 11.09.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 9, 2023 VIDIT Gujarathi of India emerged the winner of the FIDE Grand Swiss, as he won his final game and was the only player to get to 8.5/11. Vidit qualified for the Candidates after his near miss at the FIDE World Cup. In what was undoubtedly a positive development for the world championship cycle and chess generally, Hikaru Nakamura took the second spot in the Candidates, as a last round draw ensured he was the only player on 8/11. Two more places in...Full StoryAdded on 11.08.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 8, 2023 AN astonishing day at the Grand Swiss saw seven decisive games on the top seven boards in the 10th and penultimate round. When the carnage was over, Hikaru Nakamura and Vidit Gujarathi shared the lead on 7.5/10 with Russian Andrey Esipenko. Vidit was the only one of the trio to be drawn with the white pieces in the final round, which put him in prime position to finish in one of the top two spots and qualify for the 2024 Candidates...Full StoryAdded on 11.07.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 7, 2023 THE Americans were well placed at the FIDE Grand Swiss with two to play. World number two Fabiano Caruana is already qualified for the Candidates, but he has his eyes on the first prize of $80,000. The reigning champion and US number two took a share of the lead in the eighth round, when he defeated Etienne Bacrot, before being held to a draw by Bogdan-Daniel Deac of Romania in round nine. US number two and world ranked number four Hikaru Nakamura...Full StoryAdded on 11.06.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 6, 2023 IT WAS very tight at the top in the sixth and seventh rounds of the Grand Swiss being staged at the Villa Marina, Douglas, on the Isle of Man. The tournament will qualify two players for the Candidates. Hikaru Nakamura’s run of three wins was halted by two draws, and his fellow American Fabiano Caruana also drew in rounds six and seven. Only the Indian Vidit Gujarathi managed to break away from the pack by defeating Hans Niemann, in a positional...Full StoryAdded on 11.05.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 5, 2023 The Modern Benoni is an excellent choice if you need to win with black. It is slightly frowned upon at the top level, because the computer finds nearly all Benoni setups dubious and also because of the Mikenas Attack, developed by the Lithuanian IM Vladas Mikenas (1910-1992) which runs: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.e5 although nowadays 8.Bb5+ is considered best. Against 3.Nf3 or 3.g3, White does not have...Full StoryAdded on 11.04.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 4, 2023 Some crash bang wallop today. Indian GM Baskaran Adibhan is not known as ‘The Beast’ for nothing. B Adhiban – E Iturrizaga FIDE Grand Swiss, Douglas (6) Sicilian Defence var viewer = new CHESS.PgnViewer({ pgn_uri: 'https://www.chessclub.com/assets/PGN/DT_Nov_04_2023.pgn', piece_set: 'https://www.chessclub.com/assets/canvaschess/img/pieces/merida/', show_screen: false, responsive: true, ratio: '3:2', square_color_dark:...Full StoryAdded on 11.03.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 3, 2023 HIKARU Nakamura had a slow start at the FIDE Grand Swiss, before getting into his stride and winning three games in a row. The American former Candidate took a share of the lead with Russian Andrey Esipenko and Arjun Erigaisi of India on 4/5. In the fifth round, Nakamura overcame Alexey Sarana, representing Serbia. var viewer = new CHESS.PgnViewer({ pgn_uri: 'https://www.chessclub.com/assets/PGN/DT_Nov_03_2023_1.pgn', piece_set:...Full StoryAdded on 11.02.2023
IM Malcolm Pein November 2, 2023 BODHANA Sivanandan became the first English junior to win the triple crown of world titles at Rapid, Blitz and Classical last week, when she won the FIDE World Cadets Under 8 girls title at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Sivanandan completed a sequence of 33 wins in international representative competition over the three events, a feat that will almost certainly never be matched. The year four pupil at St John Fisher primary school in Harrow won the Rapid...Full StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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 StoryAdded 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
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