A few weeks ago I played in the 61st Maryland Open. As usual the conditions were fantastic. Mike runs a fantastic tournament. My readers should make an attempt to play in his events. He works hard and we need more progressive minded people in the chess world. I did my new routine leading up to this tournament. My results were… 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 →
I want to give a shout out to Official Staunton (not to be confused with House of Staunton). They have a fantastic website and frequently update their social media. If you follow me on twitter, you’ll note that a last month, I won an online giveaway. I’m generally somewhat cynical about giving strangers on the internet my address; I thought… 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 →
I had planned on starting this post with that banal quote from Julius Caesar. Repeating that stale idiom would only serve to beguile my dear reader with hackneyed intrigue. So I won’t do that. The Marchand took place last weekend in Rochester NY at the Strong Museum of Play. There were a few upsets, and a couple of notable draws.… Read more →
Hello everyone! In a few days the Marchand will be well underway. I figured I should give you an updated list of GM’s that have preregistered this year. Last year we had a strong field led by current US Champion GM Gata Kamsky. This year we have another star studded field featuring some returning players and some new faces. Rumor… 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 →