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Blitzed in Bunratty

I made my first visit to the Bunratty event at it’s 19th edition, this was more my fault than theirs as I have been invited on a few other occasions. The once mighty weekend circuit in the UK is at a pretty low ebb at the moment and a number of the most interesting events…

Eternal Endgames

The 10th edition of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, by far the strongest yet was as ever a tremendous event and it was great to hear that Brian Callaghan had received an OBE for services to tourism and chess in the New Year Honours List. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. After my London…

The Governor’s Dinner

Tournament chief sponsor Tradewise, Brain Callaghan and the staff of the Caleta Hotel pulled out all the stops for the 10th edition of The Gibraltar Chess Festival which was, as usual, a great success. To mark the anniversary Mickey and I were among the fortunate few to be invited to the Governor’s Dinner at the…

Gibraltar Master Class

Michael Adams speaking to the students of Scott Lake Elementary

Back To School

The Chess in Schools and Communities Charity is an integral part of the London Classic event and has made great strides in it’s short existence, having introduced an ever growing number of teachers in many schools. In the spirit of this, I read in Chess Magazine that Malcolm Pein had made a visit to Scott…

Less Than Classic Performance in London

The LCC has established itself very quickly and was as usual well organized. The addition of an extra player proving an inspired decision, as well as evening up the colours, the concept of having the player not playing that day involved with the commentary proved very popular both with spectators at the venue and large…

Dress for Success

It seems a bit late to write much about the European team championship held in Greece, so instead I will make some comments on the ECU decision to introduce some new rules for the future bringing in a dress code of staggering complexity and dubious enforceability (will the arbiter’s exam in future contain sections on…

Unexpected King Move

The Eurocup was held in a pleasant venue in Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia, with several hotels conveniently near the playing hall. The food was also well above average for this event. Unfortunately the event ended in disappointment for my OSG Baden-Baden team. After winning our first five matches and sharing the lead before the last round…

Yet Another World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk

The rating lists used for the World Cup qualification were July 2010 and January 2011, so establishing whether or not one was qualified should be simple. However despite several requests for information FIDE treated this data as if it were nuclear arms codes and the players by rating and reserves were only confirmed on June…

Toast-VIP-Dinner-Aug.-16,-2011-Loek van Wely - Tara MacGowran

Dinner at Providence

Just prior to the start of the Metropolitan International in LA this August, organiser Ankit Gupta treated guests to what would have to rank as the best ‘Chess Dinner’ I have had the pleasure of attending at Providence in Hollywood. We were lavished with a 6 course tasting menus with matched wines. A picture is…

Of Course My Horse

Too soon after the conclusion of the British, Tara and I jumped on a plane to LA. Ankit Gupta, the organiser, had persuaded me, rather against my better judgement to act as instructor at a 4-day Chess camp. As I had never done anything remotely similar before, this was to say the least somewhat a…

1st Metropolitan International: Conclusion

England’s GM Michael Adams won the 1st Metropolitan International chess tournament on Sunday in Los Angeles, finishing clear first a full point ahead of the field. This video recap features interviews with GM Adams, GM Mesgen Amanov, GM Loek van Wely, GM Varuzhan Akobian, IM Jack Peters, and IM Andranik Matikozyan. The tournament was organized…

Midway: 1st Metropolitan International

The Grandmasters clashed in Rounds 5-7 of the 1st Metropolitan International chess tournament in downtown Los Angeles. This video update features interviews with International Grandmaster Timur Gareev and International Master Danny Rensch.

1st Metropolitan International Tournament: Day 1

On August 17th, coincidentally former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik’s 100th birthday, 84 players began play in the strongest chess tournament in Southern California in over 2 decades. Seattle Master Joshua Sinanan talks about his experience playing against GM Michael Adams.

1st Metropolitan International Chess Tournament Preview

Metropolitan Chess held the 1st Metropolitan International Chess Tournament in Los Angeles, August 17-21. 10 Grandmasters and over 50 titled players comprise the field, making it the strongest tournament in Southern California in over two decades. This video contains interviews with Organizer Ankit Gupta, GM Michael Adams, GM Loek van Wely and GM Melikset Khachiyan.

Fear & Loathing in Sheffield

By now all of British chess is pretty much up to date with T-shirt-gate or Stonewallgate depending on your preferance, so I will try not to belabour the point. Chaos reigned supreme at the time as so often but it does seem quite extraordinary that we still appear to be stalled in an era where…

Winning Ugly

In contrast with the British Championships last year, this time I found the chess hard work. My first game was a gruelling 94 move struggle and I didn’t have many smooth wins. I was also certainly in bad shape at various stages of my games against the other three highest rated players and 2 points…

Armageddon Cheesesteak

The World Open was the start of a busy chess period for me. It had been nice to get a break in our condo in Key Largo but with kitchen renovations, sunsets and cocktails, Chessbase didn’t get much of a look in! Despite this, I managed quite well in the World Open winning a few…