10/26/2023 – Stewart Reuben has officiated and/or organised several top-level chess events held in Great Britain and other countries, including the World Chess Championship, the British Chess Championship and a number of Hastings Congresses. Also an author and a poker player, he even met and played Bobby Fischer: “Each game he won, he gained $1. Had I ever won one, I would have received $10”. | Photo: John Upham

9/1/2023 – In a wide-ranging interview, Casto Abundo talks about his lengthy career as a chess organiser, his work alongside Florencio Campomanes and the time he spent with Bobby Fischer in the Philippines. Abundo shares: “I had to play racquetball with Bobby, swim with him far into the open seas, go on long nightly walks discussing chess, arrange a date with a Filipina national chess team member he liked, drive him to the yacht of President Marcos, and watch as he replayed games from Chess Informant every night”.

5/13/2023 – Andrzej Filipowicz is one of the most interesting chess personalities in the world. He has been a chess player, arbiter, organizer, editor and writer, as well as a civil engineer specializing in steel structures. Endowed with a strong personality, clear intelligence, well-defined convictions and a curious sense of humour, he is turning 85 today, on 13 May 2023. Uvencio Blanco conducted a lengthy interview with the Polish chess polymath.

2/26/2023 – Professor Jerry Nash is the current chairman of FIDE’s Commission on Chess in Education. A long-standing educator who is passionate about helping others, Nash asserts in this interview conducted by Uvencio Blanco: “Chess can really positively alter the classroom environment by improving student behaviour and engagement”.

10/8/2022 – Grandmaster Smbat Lputian, chairman of the Chess and Education Commission of the International Chess Federation (EDU FIDE), informs us that an International Online Conference entitled “Chess in the Process of a Preschooler’s Development” will be held on December 10, 2022. The goal of the conference is to discuss different approaches of teaching chess to preschoolers mainly considering chess as an educational tool for a child’s development.

9/28/2022 – The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the 5th Chess in Education Lecturer course. The course will be held online on 28-30 October, in English. Those who successfully pass the course will receive the title of Lead School Instructor (LSI). The course is limited to a maximum of 20 people (first come, first served).

8/12/2022 – Daniel Eduardo Pulvett, born in Venezuela and now representing Spain, finished second at the Valencia International Open last month to grab his third GM norm. With a rating already above 2500, he is set to receive the grandmaster title. Pulvett, aged 31, has a ninety-percent visual impairment. He had grabbed his second GM norm only four months ago, at a closed tournament in Breña Baja, in the Canary Islands. | Photo: David Llada

3/11/2022 – Efim Geller, one of Ukraine’s greatest chess talents, would have turned 97 years old on March 8 this year. An extraordinary player, he also had a doctorate in Physical Education, and worked as a second to Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov. Experts estimate Geller was among the top ten players in the world for about twenty years.