Magistral Ciudad de Leon

The 21st edition of the "Magistral Ciudad de Leon" takes place May 29th - June 2nd in Lesn, Spain.

A life on the board

When Bobby Fischer, arguably the greatest chess player ever, passed away this year, many lamented the end of an institution and of an era. But they should have rejoiced. Not at his death, but at how chess reminds us about the glorious forces that create and affect life. Because, indeed, the real surprise about chess is how closely it echoes life.

King's Tournament in Bazna

The King's Tournament is taking place in Bazna, Romania, from May 24th to June 4th , 2008. The participants are (in alphabetic order) Ulf Andersson, Alexander Beliavsky, Alexander Khalifman, Henrique Mecking, Andrei Murariu, Lajos Portisch, Zoltan Ribli, Andrei Sokolov, Mihai Suba, Nigel Short and Rafael Vaganian.

Death of a chess original – Bukhuti Gurgenizde, 1933–2008

Bukhuti Ivanovich Gurgenizde was one of the most original and striking players of the Soviet era. He won the Championship of his native Georgia eleven (or twelve) times, competed in nine USSR Championship finals, and was the trainer of some of the most successful women players in the game. His name has been applied to variations in the Modern Defence and the Sicilian.

Read the entire article (from Chessbase)

ICC Chess.FM: Caro-Kann Advance variation

ICC Chess.FM presents IM Alex Lenderman on the Caro-Kann Advance variation. The Caro has a reputation of being positional, but wild, complicated games do arise from it - and mainly from the Advance variation favored by aggressive players such as Vishy Anand, Alexei Shirov, Nigel Short and John Nunn. And in this new video for ICC Chess.FM, Alex Lenderman teaches you all the nuances and tricks in his favorite line against the Caro.

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Blitz Kosteniuk - Balashov

Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk comments her blitz game against GM Yuri Balashov at the 2008 Perm IMSA Cup (International Mind Sports Association).

Yury Shulman wins U.S. Championship 2008!

GM Yury Shulman won the 2008 Frank K. Berry U.S. Championship and IM Anna Zatonskih won the 2008 FKB U.S. Women’s Championship — in just about as opposite a fashion as is possible. Yury had it short and sweet, while Anna’s road was long and exhausting. Eight moves for Yury today — and about 248 moves for Anna!

The game Friedel – Shulman was a quick draw since a peaceful result was very agreeable to both. Yury iced the title and Josh earned his 3rd and final GM norm with a draw. Apparently Josh gets the title as soon as his rating surpasses 2500, which everyone believes will happen soon.


Frank Berry U.S. Championship
Final Standings
1. Yury Shulman-7
2. Alexander Onischuk-6.5
3. Sergey Kudrin-6
4-6. Josh Friedel, Eugene Perelshteyn and Varuzhan Akobian-5.5
7-10. Alexander Ivanov, Benjamin Finegold, Boris Gulko and Julio Becerra-5.0
11-14. John Fedorowicz, Dmitry Gurevich, Gregory Kaidanov and Alexander Shabalov-4.5
15-18. Daniel Ludwig, David Pruess, Jesse Kraai and Alexander Yermolinsky-4.0
19-22. Larry Kaufman, Michael Langer, Dean Ippolito and David Vigorito-3.5
22-23. Sam Shankland-2.5
24. Sergey Galant -1.5