Welcome back everyone; we’re happy you’re here. After the total roller coaster that was the World Cup we are back with another GM Spotlight. This month we are examining the games of GM Li Chao. Chao earned the GM title in 2007 at the age of 18. Since earning the title he’s climbed to a peak rating of 2756. He’s slipped… Read more →
This month we are examining the games of GM Hicham Hamdouchi. For a long time, GM Hamdouchi was one of the strongest players in Africa. He won the Moroccan Championship a whopping 11 times. In 2013, he won the french championship. This makes him one of the few players in the world to win in two different country championships. There… Read more →
Welcome back! This month we are examining the life and games of GM Sergei Tiviakov. Tiviakov has been a staple of high level tournaments for the last 20 or 30 years. I learned a lot about Tiviakov in doing my research for this post. I remember when I was weaker I saw a lot of his Scandinavian games and that… Read more →
This month we are going to be examining the life and games of GM Petar Drenchev. GM Drenchev has a FIDE rating of 2465 and is the 18th highest rated player from Bulgaria. He earned the IM title in 2007 and the GM title in 2011. Drenchev received his GM title later in life than you usually see. This gives… Read more →
Welcome back, this month we are going to be examining the games of GM Berge Ostenstad. Ostenstad has a FIDE rating of 2456 and is the 11th highest rated player in Norway. He was the sixth person awarded the GM title from Norway. He earned the IM title in 1987 and he earned the GM title in 2003. Ostenstad is… Read more →
This month we are going to peruse the games of GM Emil Sutovsky. Sutovsky has a FIDE rating of 2626 and is the 5th highest rated player from Israel. He earned the IM title in 1993 and earned the GM title in 1996. Like GM Azarov he is still active and plays frequently. In 1996 he won the World Junior… Read more →
Welcome back everyone, this month we are examining the games of GM Alon Greenfeld. Greenfeld has a FIDE rating of 2546 and is 14th highest rated player in Israel. He earned the IM title in 1983 and the GM title in 1989. He is still somewhat active and plays a couple of rated games a month. According to Wikipedia, he… Read more →
Welcome back everyone, last month we learned about the legend Yuri Averbakh. This month the spotlight is on GM Sergei Azarov. Sergei Azarov has a rating of 2635 and is the second highest rated player from Belarus. I had some trouble finding information about his title confirmations. According to Wikipedia he earned the GM title in 2003. Unlike the previous… Read more →
Welcome to the February edition of the GM Spotlight. This month we are going to be focusing on the oldest GM on the list, GM Yuri Averbakh. At 92, GM Averbakh has a rating of 2445 and is the 280th highest rated player in Russia. He earned the IM title in 1951 and the GM title in 1952. As one… Read more →
Hello everyone, to learn more about the people who comprise the 1476 (as of 1/13/14) names on the FIDE GM list; I am starting a new series called, “The Grandmaster Spotlight”. Each month I will choose (at random) one grandmaster from the list of names. I will do some analysis on his/her games and will present my findings to you… Read more →