On Chess: Creating a path for future elite players through quarterly tournaments
By Alejandro Ramirez In this column, we usually talk about some of the most prestigious events in the entire world: The U.S. Chess Championship, the Sinquefield Cup, the Olympiad, the Candidates, the Women’s World Championship. However, very rarely do we talk about the path to the top. Being a chess player is a grueling and […]
On Chess: Chess cops! City of St. Louis police work with students in public schools
By Schron Jackson The current climate of community and police relations in our country has forced law enforcement agencies to examine what tactics work well and what areas pose challenges. Officers work extremely hard day in and day out to keep the citizens of our community safe. However, the focus on building relationships while performing […]
On Chess: A look at the Tradewise Gibraltar Open 2017 contest
By Varuzhan Akobian The Tradewise Gibraltar Open is considered one of the strongest open tournaments in the world. The 2017 tournament was held Jan. 24 through Feb. 2 with an exceptionally strong pool of players, including super Grandmasters Fabiano Caruana of St. Louis, as well as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Mickey Adams and many more. […]
On Chess: How to earn a chess title
By Tony Rich Many readers may be familiar with such titles as Grandmaster (GM) and International Master (IM), but what do they mean? Why are they important? How does an aspiring player earn them? Tsar Nicholas II first awarded the title of Grandmaster to the five finalists of the 1914 St. Petersburg tournament: Emanuel Lasker […]
On Chess: Launch of Universal Rating System opens doors for global chess community
By Graham Jurgensen Jan. 2, 2017 may well prove to be a landmark day in chess history as it marked the launch date of the new Universal Rating System (URS™). This exciting new system is expected to make it much easier for chess players across the world to achieve an international chess rating. Development of […]
On Chess: Undefeated Wesley So: A world champion contender
By Denes Boros Just last weekend, Wesley So won one of the most prestigious chess events, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament held in the Netherlands. So faced a difficult challenge, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin participating but, in the end, he won the tournament with a convincing full point […]
On Chess: What to look forward to in 2017
By Eric Rosen Last year was a historic one year for chess. Magnus Carlsen defended his World Championship title in a tense showdown against Russian challenger, Sergey Karjakin. The USA won its first Olympiad Gold medal in 40 years. Fabiano Caruana and Nazi Paikidze each won their very first U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship […]
On Chess: Behind the scenes—and cameras—of the Grand Chess Tour 2017
By Eric Mousel “This game will be over in two moves.” “…and how long will that take?” “It could be 20 seconds. It could be two hours.” Let’s get one thing clear – 20 seconds is a lifetime when it comes to live television. It’s the real world equivalent of deciding what to wear on […]
On Chess: At times, there is a need for speed
By Ben Finegold I don’t mean to go rogue, but one of the more controversial topics in the chess world currently is the amount of time a chess game should take. There are the chess purists, who believe high-level chess games should be played at the classical time control (those games take 4-5 hours usually), […]
On Chess: Reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen, defends in tie breaks
By Alejandro Ramirez The World Chess Championship is the pinnacle event of the chess world. The process to earn the right to challenge the reigning world champion is grueling, and the match itself is by far the most intense event in chess. The championship is 12 games played over three weeks. This year’s championship was […]
