The winners of the 44th Chess Olympiad (Open)

8/10/2022 – In the absence of Russia and China, the young Uzbek team surprised everyone by winning the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Chennai. The victory comes at the right time, as the 2026 Chess Olympiad will be held in Tashkent, reports FIDE. But gold for the best individual performances on board 1 and 2 went to Gukesh D. and Nihal Sarin from the team of India 2. | Photos: FIDE (Lennart Ootes, Stev Bonhage)
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The winners of the 44th Chess Olympiad (Women's Tournament)

8/10/2022 – With Russia and China, two top teams were missing from the Women's Tournament at the Chess Olympiad in Chennai. So India was the top favourite and led the field for a long time. But in the last round, the Indians lost to the USA and Ukraine won gold ahead of Georgia while India had to be content with bronze. Oliwia Kiolbasa, who played on board three for Poland, had the best individual performance at the Olympiad, the two best players on board one were chess legend Pia Cramling from Sweden and young Eline Roebers from the Netherlands. | Photos: FIDE (Lennart Ootes, Stev Bonhage)

Behold now behemoth!

8/10/2022 – Do you know the Hippopotamus Defence. It is a series of irregular chess opening systems in which Black moves a number of pawns to the sixth rank, and keeps his pieces on the seventh rank. Many experts considered it basically losing, but it has maintained a solid fifty percent for Black, even at the highest level of competition. In the British Chess Magazine Raymond Keene reviews the book The Hippopotamus Defence by Italian IM Alessio de Santis on the subject. | Picture Samuele Giglio, Unsplash

Uzbekistan and Ukraine are the 2022 Olympic champions

8/9/2022 – The record-breaking 2022 Chess Olympiad came to an end in Chennai, India. After a fighting eleventh round, Uzbekistan and Ukraine were crowned champions in the open and women’s sections respectively. Armenia and India 2 got silver and bronze medals in the open, while Georgia and India completed the podium in the women’s tournament. It was a unique competition, which saw how much of a difference an enthusiastic, diligent organization can actually make! | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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New - 3.h4 against the King’s Indian and Grünfeld

8/9/2022 – For some time now, we’ve known that the strongest chess engines like to push their flank pawns up the board. This has led to an interesting system, with which we can meet the Grunfeld and the King’s Indian. Studying the mainlines is time consuming, and it is possible that our opponents may know the typical plans in those openings better than us, right? Therefore, it is a great idea to take Grunfeld and King’s Indian players out of their comfort-zone right from the start!

Norwegian Championship 2022: Another record for Simen Agdestein

8/9/2022 – In 1982, when he was 15 years old, Simen Agdestein won the Norwegian Championship for the first time and became the youngest Norwegian Champion of all time. Three years later, in 1985, he became a Grandmaster, the first Norwegian ever to secure the title. Now, in the 2022 Norwegian Championship, which took place in mid-July, Agdestein set another record: The 55-year-old won the tournament with 8 out of 9 to become the oldest player ever to win the Championship. | Photo: Anniken Westby
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A crushing counterblow

8/9/2022 – A piece that is attacked does not have to move - that sounds like a trivial little piece of wisdom but it is good to keep it in mind. In the diagrammed position Black just attacked White's rook with 49...Ke5, apparently forgetting that attacked pieces do not have to move. How should White react to Black's attack?

Breaking: Uzbekistan and Ukraine take gold

8/9/2022 – Uzbekistan grabbed gold in the open section of the Chess Olympiad after defeating the Netherlands, ahead of Armenia and India 2. In the women’s tournament, India gave away the lead in the last hurdle with a loss against the United States. Gold thus went to Ukraine thanks to a final-round win over Poland. Georgia and India completed the podium. | Photo: Stev Bonhage
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U.S. Open: Interviews of Chess Champions, Meetings, Awards

8/9/2022 – By tying for first in the 2022 U.S. Open, Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi won a qualifying spot to the 2022 U.S. Championship. Then he lost an Armageddon playoff chess game with Grandmaster Aleksey Sorokin for an extra $200 and the U.S. Open title. Moradiabadi and Sorokin spoke to WIM Alexey Root, who also reports on U.S. Open committee meetings and awards. | Photos: Alexey Root
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Chennai Olympiad: Final Round - Live!

8/9/2022 – The biggest-ever Chess Olympiad is taking place in Chennai from July 29 to August 9. A record 188 teams in the open and 162 teams in the women’s category are fighting for collective and individual medals. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 15.00 local time (11.30 CEST, 05.30 ET) | Pictured: Sethuraman (India)
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Chennai R10: Uzbekistan and Armenia share the lead, heartbreak for Gukesh

8/9/2022 – Uzbekistan and Armenia are sharing the lead going into the final round of the Chess Olympiad’s open tournament. India 2 was inches away from replacing Uzbekistan as co-leader, as Gukesh could have given his team match victory had he not blundered a piece against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in a drawn position. In the women’s section, meanwhile, India retook the sole lead after convincingly beating Kazakhstan. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Cross checks, deflections and stunning beauty

8/8/2022 – Inspired by Gukesh’s remarkable win over Gabriel Sargissian in round 6 of the Chess Olympiad, star columnist Jon Speelman looked at a few more instances of cross checks and deflections that left a strong aesthetic impression. A beautiful study by the Danish composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen is included in the mix. | Photo: Stev Bonhage
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Chennai R9: Uzbekistan grabs the lead, Kiolbasa on 9 out of 9

8/8/2022 – Uzbekistan defeated the former leaders from Armenia to take the sole lead in the open section of the Olympiad in Chennai. The Uzbek team, led by Nodirbek Abdusattorov, will face India 2 on Monday, with Abdusattorov facing Gukesh in a much-anticipated battle of rising stars. Meanwhile, in the women’s section, Poland inflicted India’s first loss of the event, as Oliwia Kiolbasa scored her ninth victory in a row! | Photo: Stev Bonhage
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Arkady Dvorkovich reelected

8/7/2022 – Arkady Dvorkovich has been reelected for a second term as President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was part of Dvorkovich's ticket, is the new FIDE Deputy President. FIDE press release, photo by David Llada
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Chennai R8: Armenia leads, Gukesh beats Caruana

8/7/2022 – With three rounds to go at the Chess Olympiad, Armenia continues to lead the standings in the open section with an undefeated match score. On Saturday, they beat India thanks to a second win in a row for Gabriel Sargissian. The other marquee confrontation of the round saw India 2 shock the US with wins by Gukesh and Raunak. Gukesh defeated Fabiano Caruana to collect his eighth consecutive full point — the 16-year-old is heading for the stars! In the women’s event, India conceded its first draw of the event, and now has a 1-point lead over Georgia. | Photo: Stev Bonhage
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Breaking: Olympiad R8 – Gukesh!

8/6/2022 – Team India B, four debutants still in their teens, created the biggest and most sensational upset of the 44th Chess Olympiad today by routing the top seed and star-studded USA Team 3-1. The sensation of the day – and of the entire Olympiad so far – was the performance of Dommaraju Gukesh. The sixteen-year-old had won all of his first seven games, and now faced former World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana, with the black pieces. So what did the lad do: he outplayed and actually mated his illustrious opponent! You can watch it all unfold in an exciting video report | Photo Stev Bonhage

Indjic v Keymer: Analysis by Zoran

8/6/2022 – Germany beat Serbia in round 7 of the Chess Olympiad, but only after Vincent Keymer successfully defended an imbalanced position against Aleksandar Indjic. Keymer had a queen against Indjic’s bishop pair and two dangerous connected passers. Zoran Petronijevic sent us instructive annotations to an intriguing endgame battle! | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Demolition man

8/6/2022 – In the diagrammed position, White put all his pieces on light squares. A stable position? Not if you swing the wrecking ball with Black - I wish you massive pleasure!
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Chennai R7: Armenia draws the US in dramatic match, keeps the lead

8/6/2022 – Armenia defended its lead in the open section of the Chess Olympiad after drawing the favourites from the United States in round 7. The match was incredibly eventful, with Wesley So playing a brilliant sacrifice, Gabriel Sargissian upsetting Fabiano Caruana, and Sam Shankland losing after mistakenly touching his king. In the women’s section, India beat Azerbaijan to remain in the sole lead with a perfect score. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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