This past week, we were honored to run a Chess Elective at the One-Week long Hope Kids Summer Camp in Oakville. With a total of 33 kids in both the morning and afternoon sessions, we had a lot of fun teaching and coaching the kids board visualization, piece play and protection, tactics & strategies. The…
GCT Zagreb: Carlsen wins and seals the deal
We saw history in the making, as Magnus Carlsen won his eighth tournament in a row at the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb. The world champion defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from the white side of a Grüenfeld to finish in clear first place a full point ahead of his closest pursuer with…
Goryachkina Wins Women’s Candidates With 2 Rounds To Spare
Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia, the youngest participant in the field, has secured victory at the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament in Kazan, Russia. The 20-year-old GM has a 2.5-point lead over Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine) with two rounds to go. “She came, she saw and she conquered,” accurately describes Goryachkina’s performance at the women’s candidates. Her magnificent score of 9 points out of…
Women’s Candidates 2019 Is Underway in Kazan, Russia
The Candidates Tournament is taking place in Kazan, Russia, from May 29 to June 19, 2019. Eight strongest female grandmasters are playing in the competition with a prize fund of 200,000 Euros, the largest in history for a tournament of this kind. The participants are Mariya Muzychuk(Ukraine, 2563), Kateryna Lagno(Russia, 2554), Alexandra Kosteniuk(Russia, 2546), Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2539), Aleksandra Goryachkina(Russia, 2522), Tan Zhongyi(China, 2513), Nana…
2019 Ontario Open Final Results & Prize List
The 6-round 2019 Ontario Open was successfully completed last weekend in Oakville. It was a close battle in all sections and particularly in the Championship section where there was a 3-way tie for first place with two GMs and an FM. You can see all the final results and standings in all sections here. A…
Carlsen Slips But Still Ahead In Cote d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz
Magnus Carlsen is still first in the Côte d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz after one day of blitz. However, not everything went according to the script for the world champion, who had a tough day at the Pullman hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, but managed to be on top of things nonetheless. The threat to Carlsen’s domain in the…
Carlsen wins against Aronian and consolidates his lead at Grenke Chess Classic
Magnus Carlsen kept his full-point lead at the Grenke Chess Classic with a win vs Levon Aronian on Saturday. The only player trailing him by a point is Fabiano Caruana, who defeated Arkadij Naiditsch. Viswanathan Anand suffered his second loss in a row, vs Georg Meier. A day after being completely exhausted, and expressing his win against Meier as “an absolute mess,” an energetic Carlsen scored…
Karjakin Beats Anand, Catches Carlsen At Gashimov Memorial
Sergey Karjakin joined Magnus Carlsen in first place at the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan. The Russian grandmaster used deep preparation and great endgame technique to beat Viswanathan Anand. During the round, Sergey Karjakin‘s wife Galiya and his oldest son Alexei had arrived in Shamkir and so it was in the press room where the family first saw each other again. When…
8-Year-Old Homeless Refugee Crowned Chess Champion In New York
An 8-year-old Nigerian refugee was just crowned a chess champion in New York’s statewide competition. Tanitoluwa Adewumi, who lives in a Manhattan homeless shelter with his family, won the kindergarten through third grade category in New York’s chess championship last weekend with an undefeated performance, according to New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. As the…
World Team Chess Championship Is Underway
The World Team Chess Championship is underway in Kazakhstan. After round 4, Russia is on top of both the Women’s and Men’s sections. Ten top teams from around the world are competing for the team championship in both sections. Read more…