Classical, Rapid, Blitz: FIDE's new rating lists

7/1/2014 – It's the first of the month - time for FIDE to publish the current ratings. The classical ratings saw a few shifts here and there, but everyone was waiting for the new FIDE Rapid and Blitz lists after the World Championships. At the top of the Rapid list is Caruana with 2858, followed by Carlsen with 2855, while the Norwegian is no.1 in Blitz with a huge 2948 rating.

Film project in Tromsø: Chess Brains

7/1/2014 – There is something mythical and mysterious about the game of chess, and the world's top players. It feels like they know something the rest of us barely recognize. They have a mind capacity that far exceeds our own. Do they know something about life that we don't? These are the questions that will be posed to some of the world's top GMs in a film project that you can support.

9th Edmonton: Ivanchuk wins with 8.0/9

7/1/2014 – The Edmonton International tournament was the highlight of the Edmonton chess festival, and brought a myriad of international players to face off against Canada's best. The two stars were Ivanchuk and So, and they played a private race to see who outdid whom. By the midway point So had the edge, and it seemed as if the show was his, but Ivanchuk showed he was a force to reckon with.

Lopota 10: Queenside Pawns!

7/1/2014 – In today's three decisive games, the queenside pawns were somehow the star of the battle. In Ju Wenjun-Muzychuk the Chinese player used her pair of bishops and active rook to wreck her opponents pawns, meanwhile Danielian and Humpy created passed pawns on that side to vanquish Zhao Xue and Muminova respectively. Hou Yifan's draw clinches the tournament, but second place is still open.

Simuls and Exhibitions in the Hawaii of China

7/1/2014 – Arkadij Naiditsch struck an important blow to Bu Xiangzhi by beating him in the fourth round of the 5th Hainan Danzhou tournament and took the lead for himself. However Bu Xiangzhi recovered immediately and won his fifth game to tie with the German up top. Yu Yangyi scored two in a row to also join them. Meanwhile, during the free day, it was the local players that won.

Hawaii: the chess vacation of a lifetime

6/30/2014 – If you look down at your feet you are probably looking in the general direction of Hawaii. The beautiful Pacific island group will be the host of an Inaugural Chess Festival in March 2015 – a weeklong series of world-class chess events that will bring chess enthusiasts from all over the world to the Hawaiian island of Oahu. You may be interested to attend this unique chess event.

8.5 out of 10 with the King's Gambit

6/30/2014 – That's the personal record of Simon Williams in recent years. No wonder, that the English GM fell in love with this unique, old and creative opening. On his popular and critically acclaimed DVDs about the King's Gambit he invites the reader to (re)discover this most romantic of all chess openings and to play successful attacking chess!

Kayden Troff is US Junior champion

6/30/2014 – The 2014 U.S. Junior Closed Championship has been decisive in its theme, and leaders rose and fell with hearbreaking collapses and heartwarming finishes. Victories were claimed on four of five boards in every one of the tournament’s last five rounds, and in fact there were only twelve draws out of 45 games, for almost 75% decisive games. Talk about bloodthirsty.

Lopota 09: Close race for second

6/30/2014 – The tournament is interesting again as Ju Wenjun leads the charge by half a point over Danielian and Dzagnidze, the former beat Humpy thanks to a time-trouble blunder and the latter fell to Stefanova in a complex game. Meanwhile, World Champion Hou Yifan keeps racking up rating points as she demolished Muzychuk in less than 30 moves. Her performance: 2875.

Azlan Iqbal: Introducing ‘Chess Constructs’

6/29/2014 – People love brilliancies from chess history – and artistic chess problems. But there is a big gap between the two. Positions from games demonstrate the natural beauty of actual play, while chess problems are highly technical, with little practical relevance. The author of this interesting article suggest an intermediate form, one you can try your hand at – and win a prize in the process.

Free day in Lopota

6/29/2014 – Traditionally in top-level tournaments one or even two days are given for the players to rest. How to use these rest days has been a question in grandmasters' minds for time immemorial. With two rest days in the Lopota Grand Prix the players had time to explore some of the local culture and enjoy some breathtaking sights. Follow Alina l'Ami's beautiful pictorial report.

Kavalek: Carlsen's Trifecta and Tal's Magic

6/28/2014 – Magnus Carlsen's World title wins in classical, rapid and blitz reminds Huffington Post columnist Lubomir Kavalek of a horse and an athlete: the thoroughbred Secretariat and the long-distance runner Emil Zátopek, both triple crown winners in their own fields. Carlsen's style also reminds Kavalek of Mikhail Tal (who died today 22 years ago). Enjoy three wonderfully annotated games.

9th Edmonton brings Ivanchuk and So

6/28/2014 – The 9th Edmonton chess festival, held in Edmonton, Canada, is one of the most important events in the Canuck chess calendar, allowing players to fight for norms often against elite opposition. Although hardly homogeneous in its lineup, the eclectic selection of players does mean chess fans will see the widest possible variety of games, while Ivanchuk and So give master classes.

Hainan Super-GM event in action

6/28/2014 – Boasting some of the top players in China plus Naiditsch and Ponomariov as the invited foreign players, the 5th edition of the Hainan Daizhou super tournament is surely going to be an interesting one. Bu Xiangzhi has taken an early lead by scoring 2.5/3 in the event but he is followed closely by Ding Liren and Naiditsch. Report from a tournament being held in the Hawaii of China.

Lopota 08: Missed Opportunities

6/28/2014 – Only one person took a full point today, Stefanova, but that number could easily have been four or five as players certainly missed her chances today. Muzychuk was both winning and lost against Zhao Xue while Kosteniuk miraculously salvaged a perpetual check from a position where she was just down a piece. Harika, most importantly, spoiled a winning position against Hou Yifan.

Impressions from the Mumbai Mayor’s Cup (part 2/2)

6/27/2014 – In this second part, the reader is introduced to the cheapest burger in the world, the Indian Burger (it costs 17 cents!), as well as other culinary curiosities. Well-known figures are also presented, such as national blind champion Darpan Inani (2041 FIDE) who is pursuing a degree in accountancy when not playing chess. Discover all this and more in this guided tour.

Lopota 07: Sun setting in Georgia

6/27/2014 – Hou Yifan continues to dominate the Lopota Grand Prix. She beat Nana Dzagnidze, who remains tied for second with Ju Wenjun, and it seems that is impossible to stop her. With a nearly 3000 performance rating and a point and a half lead over the field the tournament it is starting to become a race for second place. Four more games remain; how can she be stopped?

Asian Chess Clubs Champions League

6/26/2014 – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has currently become the hub of chess in Asia. After successfully conducting the Asian Continental 2014 and the world rapid and blitz 2014, the country is now holding the Asian Chess Clubs Champions League in Al-Ain, the second largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, from the 20th-28th of June 2014. Report after round four.

US Junior Closed: Star-studded surprises

6/26/2014 – The US Junior Closed started last weekend and is currently at the midway point after five rounds. This year's championship is particularly fascinating as it brings two prominent youths, IM Samuel Sevian and IM Jeffrey Xiong, as well as the only GM of the tournament, Kayden Troff, and various repeats and new faces. The start has been full of upsets and who will win is anyone's guess.

Lopota 06: Chasing the World Champion

6/25/2014 – Nana Dzagnidze keeps crushing her opponents and sits at a magnificent 5.0/6, a score that would normally be enough to comfortably lead the event. But Hou Yifan won yet again, in excellent fashion against Ju Wenjun. Tomorrow's game will be for all the marbles as the Georgian player clashes with an on form World Champion.

Impressions from the Mumbai Mayor’s Cup (part 1)

6/25/2014 – As noted in the first report on the Mumbai Mayor’s Cup: it was an extremely strong event won by the Georgian grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia (2577) with a score of 8.0/10. Sagar Shah and his wife, Amruta Mokal, take a more intimate look at the many faces that played, giving us a glimpse into who they are, by providing this report filled with anecdotes and photos.

Lopota 05: Unstoppable?

6/24/2014 – Hou Yifan won yet another game by demolishing Antoaneta Stefanova in only 25 moves. With 4.5/5 and a 2879 (!) performance it seems as if the World Champion will cruise to victory; but things are not so simple! Ju Wenjun and Dzagnidze follow closely only half a point behind and with terrific 2730+ performances of their own. Tomorrow will feature a crucial Chinese derby..

Popularity of chess openings over time

6/24/2014 – Recently we published an article that asked: 1.e4 or 1.d4 – which is the better move? Now Randy Olson, a third year PhD engineering student, has investigated which were the most popular openings in 650,000 tournament games from 1850-2014. He found 4,000 unique openings, with 30 comprising 70% of all chess games. Randy illustrates his results with some wonderful graphics.

Profile of a prodigy: Anton Smirnov

6/23/2014 – FM Anton Smirnov is one of Australia’s outstanding young prospects and is currently under the tutelage of his coach GM Vladimir Belov. Smirnov was number one amongst the world’s U12s for most of 2013, and is now number five in the U14 age division, close behind players like IMs Samuel Sevian and Jeffrey Xiong. In August he will represent Australia at the Chess Olympiads.