Top 5 from 2019: Chess Stories

As we start 2020, it’s time to look back at some of the highlights of 2019. First up is the top 5 chess stories of the year (according to me); 5. Grand Chess Tour comes to Africa Grand Chess Tour expanded with several new stops this year, and maybe the biggest new development was the

Race to the FIDE Candidates 2020

In the autumn of 2020 Magnus Carlsen is again set to defend his World Chess Champion title, but for we get there, the chess world will need to find the next challengers. As usual this is done via a candidates tournament with 8 players playing in a double round robin tournament with the winner getting

Norway Chess 2019 (and a small chess update)

On Monday June 3 the Altibox Norway Chess starts with the blitz tournament so I though I do a small preview of who’s playing and what’s in store the coming weeks, but first a small update on other chess news Grand Prix series Moscow tournament finishes with Nepomniachtchi winning The first of 4 Grand Prix

Standings: Tata steel Chess after 5 rounds

Today is the first rest day in Tata Steel Chess so it’s an appropriate time to give an update on how things are going. Let’s begin by taking a look at Challengers tournament; Challengers: Things are as expected After 35 games and 5 rounds the top ranked players before the event, Kovalev and Korobov, also

PREVIEW: TATA STEEL CHESS 2019 (PART 3 OF 3)

In the final part of the 3-part preview of the upcoming Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee (January 12-27) we take a look at the top ranked players, a bit history and I try to make some predictions. Please check out part I and part II for the complete preview. History In it’s

Preview: Altibox Norway Chess 2018

After a rather quiet May for many of the top chess players things kick off for real today  Monday May 28 in Norway Chess (after the blitz on Sunday determined which of the 5 players got 5 games with white). In its 6th edition the tournament continues to be a highlight in the chess calendar,

Upcoming events in chess: U.S. Championship & Shamkir Chess

The top chess players continue having a busy schedule. Caruana  pulled  off an impressive win at Grenke Chess beating Carlsen and the rest of the field by a full point after 9 rounds. An extremely strong result after the grueling candidate tournament – can he keep that form up to November and  Carlsen is in 

FIDE BERLIN CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2018: Round 10-12

The candidates tournament really took fire after Saturdays 12th rounds as what seemed to be a two-horse race suddenly have 5 players fighting for a win with just 2 rounds remaining. The story of the tournament, even outshining the terrible showing of Aronian and the ups and many downs of Kramnik, is of course Sergey

FIDE BERLIN CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2018: ROUND 7-9

We’ve passed the half-way point of the candidates tournament, and after 9 rounds the field is pretty well dispersed into a leader group, a middle section and the tailenders. As action picks  up today (Thursday 22.) with a highly interesting round 10 let’s first take a look at what transpired the last three rounds before

FIDE BERLIN CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2018: Round 4-6

Today round 7 of the Berlin  candidates tournament kicks of after the second rest day, so before the action again picks up here’s a short recap of round 4 through 6 and a look at what’s in store in the upcoming rounds. One thing is certain, the candidate tournament has lived up to the hype