Since it’s inception in 2018, the Tata Steel Chess India tournament has invited five of the most talented Indian Grandmasters to compete in their home country against an equal number of top international competitors. The annual event features the strongest rapid and blitz chess on the subcontinent. For 2022, the Tata Steel Chess India eventContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 44”
Author Archives: chessmusings
Winning Chess Moves: Caruana vs. Lenderman, 2018
The 2018 US Championship was an action packed event. The San Francisco Bay Area’s own Grandmaster Sam Shankland stole the spotlight by taking first place over such pre-tournament favorites such as Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura. Norcal chess enthusiasts weren’t exactly shocked by GM Shankland’s championship run as we have long since grownContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Caruana vs. Lenderman, 2018”
Highlights from the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals in San Francisco
Chess fans around the globe were excited to watch some of our game’s biggest stars competing in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals in San Francisco. The prestigious event took place on November 14-20, 2022. The format was a round-robin featuring eight elite chess competitors (GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, GM Arjun Erigaisi, GMContinueContinue reading “Highlights from the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals in San Francisco “
CalChess Journal Fall 2022
The Fall 2022 issue of the CalChess Journal is a whopping 33 pages filled with California chess news, Bay Area chess results and annotated games from NorCal chess players.
Puzzle Worthy Position 43
Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman. Today’s puzzle worthy position comes from one of the many great battles between GM Anatoly Karpov and GM Jan Timman. Both chess geniuses were born in 1951 and their chessboard rivalry stretched for a half century from 1967 until 2016. Karpov had a winning record against his Dutch contemporary withContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 43”
Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 70
Today’s puzzle of interest is a mate in 2 with many carefully placed ingredients. I was struck by this chess problem’s modern design and surprised by the fact that it was composed over a century ago in 1920. Not only is this chess puzzle a beautiful reminder of how much is possible on the chessboardContinueContinue reading “Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 70”
Puzzle Worthy Position 42
The action at the Chess Bundesliga is always worth checking out! A recent Bundesliga game between GM David Navara and GM Luke McShane reached a most remarkable position before concluding. In the position below, black (McShane) has just moved his pawn to b2 on his 34th move. GM David Navara (white) responds to the promotionContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 42”
Halloween Blitz Chess Extravaganza 2022
October 29, 2022 – The first night of the Extravaganza! https://youtu.be/r1V6BLJEl9Q October 30, 2022 – Night two of the Extravaganza! https://youtu.be/-Xu6WzjOXAA Winners We will message you on Chess.com for your address so you can receive your prize! MahatAr113Tylman119chuppecat125Sophiafeifei0190ThunderingKavin204 Participants Tylman100KrishMathimaran101luckylol3102Sophiafeifei0103Kowarenai104AshwinMathimaran105SmartField106NeevSuperChess107KrishMathimaran108Sophiafeifei0109chuppecat110KrishMathimaran111Sophiafeifei0112MahatAr113luckylol3114MahatAr115chuppecat116luckylol3117KrishMathimaran118Tylman119np2015120chuppecat121luckylol3122np2015123lohithpa124chuppecat125EiffelTower8894126crosserbishop127Sophiafeifei0128AshwinMathimaran129NeevSuperChess130Kowarenai131Kowarenai132Sophiafeifei0133lohithpa134Kowarenai135np2015136Kowarenai137AshwinMathimaran138Kowarenai139SmartField140luckylol3141EiffelTower8894142Kowarenai143Tylman144MahatAr145chuppecat146KrishMathimaran147KrishMathimaran148SmartField149AshwinMathimaran150SmartField151Tylman152crosserbishop153SmartField154Poochi1155jrs_ns156Kunj_1157Poochi1158batelab159SmartField160stesan60161Kunj_1162Sophiafeifei0163RohanFeb164Poochi1165DarkSoul200166luckylol3167luckylol3168B_BABY_YODA_A169batelab170ChessMasterGS171B_BABY_YODA_A172Kowarenai173Sophiafeifei0174ChessMasterGS175SmartField176RohanFeb177justelliott61970178batelab179ChessMasterGS180Kunj_1181EiffelTower8894182ThunderingKavin183SmartField184ThunderingKavin185justelliott61970186B_BABY_YODA_A187Sophiafeifei0188Poochi1189Sophiafeifei0190AFX2012191DarkSoul200192RohanFeb193Kowarenai194Kowarenai195SmartField196ThunderingKavin197stesan60198Kunj_1199Kunj_1200Kowarenai201jrs_ns202B_BABY_YODA_A203ThunderingKavin204EiffelTower8894205B_BABY_YODA_A206ChessMasterGS207DarkSoul200208ChessMasterGS209AFX2012210SmartField211DarkSoul200212RohanFeb213Poochi1214ChessMasterGS215justelliott61970216Kunj_1217DarkSoul200218Kowarenai219luckylol3220
Puzzle Worthy Position 41
At just 19 years of age, FM Ekaterina Goltseva has made quite a name for herself by twice tying for first place at the European Youth Championships and also winning the silver medal at 2017 Russian Youth Chess Championship. Today’s Puzzle Worthy Position comes from the seventh round victory by Fide Master Ekaterina Goltseva overContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 41”
Plenty of Real Chess Drama at the Real Bay Area Championship
Chess players from around the San Francisco Bay Area showed up to battle for a share of the $10,000 prize fund at The Real Bay Area Championship this weekend in Milpitas, California. I took a break from analyzing games to capture photographs of the over-the-board chess drama. Look for a full report on this excitingContinueContinue reading “Plenty of Real Chess Drama at the Real Bay Area Championship “
Say Gay Chess Day 2022
I was honored to be employed as the Chief Tournament Director for The Eade Foundation’s Say Gay Chess Day chess tournament. It was especially fitting that James Eade formally welcomed the gay community into the chess community in a place that has such a storied chess history as The Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco. InContinueContinue reading “Say Gay Chess Day 2022”
Winning Chess Moves: Karpov vs. Mickiewicz, 1997
Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov is an incredible chess player who dominated the international chess scene for a decade beginning in the mid-seventies. Anatoly wasn’t the flashiest World Champion but his games are very approachable and I often recommend that fans of Capablanca also study the games of Karpov. For today’s Winning Chess Move puzzle,ContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Karpov vs. Mickiewicz, 1997”
Puzzle Worthy Position 40
Today’s puzzle worthy position comes from the 1985 Baden-Baden Chess Tournament. 1985 was a strong edition of this historic tournament featuring many prominent chess players including Susan Polgar, Efim Geller and Ludek Pachman. However, our puzzle worthy tactic comes from a winning combination played by Robb Witt. FM Robb Witt of the Netherlands sadly passedContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 40”
Don’t Miss the 17th Susan Polgar Foundation’s National Open for Girls and Boys
If you are a chess parent who lives or can travel to Bellevue, Washington, consider taking your child/teen to the 17th annual Susan Polgar Foundation’s National Open for Girls and Boys. The SPFNO, which will take place on October 22-23, is one of the most prestigious scholastic chess tournaments in the United States and theContinueContinue reading “Don’t Miss the 17th Susan Polgar Foundation’s National Open for Girls and Boys”
Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 69
My Facebook friend Michael Pasman recently became a World Champion. More specifically, Michael won first place and thus the gold medal for the Studies category in the 10th FIDE World Cup in Composing. Michael Pasman is well known in the chess puzzle community for his compositional knowledge, creativity and his high output of outstanding studies.ContinueContinue reading “Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 69”
The CalChess Journal Spring/Summer 2022
The CalChess Journal is the official news magazine for Northern California chess. In the Spring/Summer issue you can read about the most important California chess events of the last several months and see the games of Norcal chess’ top players. Special thanks to Bay Area Chess, The Berkeley Chess School, The Eade Foundation, Mission 360,ContinueContinue reading “The CalChess Journal Spring/Summer 2022”
Best Educational Chess Lesson
Awarded by Chess Journalist of America I am deeply honored and humbled to have been selected to receive the Chess Journalists of America’s Best Educational Lesson award. It was especially meaningful to receive this award for A Night at the Opera. The very first time I showed this game to a class, I put aContinueContinue reading “Best Educational Chess Lesson”
Winning Chess Moves: Zhongyi vs Wagner, FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022
Grandmaster Tan Zhongyi of China finished her tenth round game at the 2022 Women’s Grand Prix with a very unique mate in 2. GM Zhongyi, who was the FIDE Women’s World Champion from 2017-2018, was facing WGM Dinara Wagner when Wagner played 43… Kh6 with the black pieces giving Tan a golden opportunity to finishContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Zhongyi vs Wagner, FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022”
So I was just playing a game of #chess and then this happened! 47
A mate in 7 can seem daunting but they aren’t always difficult to solve. Technically the position below is indeed a mate in 7 for white, but that’s only because black can throw pieces away blocking the first check to extend the game unnecessarily. So, in the actual game, I checkmated in just five moves.ContinueContinue reading “So I was just playing a game of #chess and then this happened! 47”
Chess Position Worth Sharing 148!
When accuracy matters, IM Vaishali Rameshbabu plays with extreme precision. You can test your own accuracy with this position from her sixth round win over IM Elisabeth Pähtz. Black (Pähtz) has just played 59… d1=Q. Having promoted to a queen a half move ahead of her opponent, White (Rameshbabu) has a winning advantage but mustContinueContinue reading “Chess Position Worth Sharing 148!”