2020-05-26

Clutch Chess 2020

Clutch Chess is a knockout tournament between the top 4 US Grand Masters from 26th to 30th May 2020. The event begins with two semifinal matches of twelve games played in two days.
Games 1-4 and 7-10 of the matches are scored traditionally with a 1 point for a win and half a point for a draw. Games 5, 6, 11 and 12 - the final two games each day - win extra points and bonus prize money for a decisive result.

Official site

Schedule in UTC
8 games on 26th starting at 20:00
8 games on 27th starting at 20:00
6 games on 28th starting at 20:00
6 games on 26th starting at 20:00

Watch the games of the Clutch Chess 2020 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

2020-05-22

Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge 2020

The Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge is a round robin tournament in which 12 of the world's top players fight for a $150,000 prize fund in the second leg of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.
After the double robin event a KO tournament between the 1st 8 players will be played.
The time control is 15+10

Official site

Schedule in UTC:
19.05 - 4 games starting at 14:00
20.05 - 4 games starting at 14:00
21.05 - 3 games starting at 14:00

The tournament takes place in https://chess24.com/

Watch the games of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge 2020 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

Read the analyses of Peter Dogers on Chess.com
Lindores Abbey: Duda, Firouzja, Grischuk, Wei Eliminated
Lindores Abbey: Carlsen Loses Two, Firouzja In Trouble 
4-Way Tie As Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge Takes Off 
World Champion Launches $1 Million Magnus Carlsen Tour

2020-05-14

Chess Classics: Lasker-Steinitz World Championship 1894

By beating Johannes Zukertort 12.5-7.5, Wilhelm Steinitz of Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic) became the first official world champion in 1886. He subsequently won two matches against the Russian master Mikhail Chigorin and, in between those, a match against the Hungarian player Isidor Gunsberg.

In the year 1894 Steinitz turned 58, and he was publicly speaking of retiring. He changed his mind and accepted a challenge from the 32 years younger player Emanuel Lasker from Prussia (now Germany). It was the biggest age difference between two match players that a world chess championship has ever seen.

The match was played in New York, Philadelphia (USA) and Montreal, Quebec (Canada). The first player to win 10 games would win the match, draws not counting. The time control was 15 moves per hour. The stakes were $2,000 per side, the equivalent of roughly $60,000 each, today.

Official site

Schedule:
May 11, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 1
May 12, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 2
May 13, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 3
May 14, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 4
May 15, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 5
May 16, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 6
May 17, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 7
May 18, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 8
May 19, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific   Game 9
May 20, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 10
May 21, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 11
May 22, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 12
May 23, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 13
May 24, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 14
May 25, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 15
May 26, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 16
May 27, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 17
May 28, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 18
May 29, 2020   14:00 CEST/5 a.m. Pacific  Game 19

Watch the games of the Chess Classics: Lasker-Steinitz World Championship 1894 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

2020-05-12

Play For Russia 2020

Play For Russia 2020 is  the first online charity tournament, organised with the initiative of the strongest Russian GMs, the Chess Federation of Russia, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, the Timchenko Foundation, the Ramax group of companies and Gazprombank (Switzerland). The event is held from May 12th to 14th 2020 and will be played on Lichess.org.

The prize pool will be shared among regional hospitals and health workers fighting the COVID-19 epidemic. The participants will determine beforehand the amount and recipients of the donation, depending on the needs of a particular institution. The entire prize fund is distributed equally among the regions, regardless of the final standings.

Official site

Participants:
Vladimir Kramnik (Krasnodar Krai)
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Bryansk region)
Alexander Grischuk (Moscow)
Sergey Karjakin (Crimea)
Peter Svidler (St. Petersburg)
Evgeny Tomashevsky (Saratov region)
Ernesto Inarkiev (Caucasus)
Alexander Riazantsev (Ural and Siberia)

The tournament is a double round-robin event featuring 5 minutes per game plus a 2-second increment per move. The GMs will first play the round-robin part to reveal the strongest four to qualify into a knockout play-off.

Tournament Schedule:
May 12 – first half (7 rounds)
May 13 – second half (7 rounds)
May 14 - semifinals and a final.

Games start at 05:00 Pacific / 08:00 Eastern / 14:00 CEST / 15:00 Moscow.

Watch the games of the Play For Russia 2020 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

2020-05-04

FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup 2020

The FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup is a team competition held on May 5-10, 2020 on Chess.com with Russia, USA, Europe, China, India, plus a team representing the "Rest of the World." All games will be played on the Chess.com live server and they can also be followed here.

The first stage consists of a double round-robin, with each team playing each other twice. The top two teams after 10 rounds qualify for a "Superfinal" match. The winner of this match will be declared the winner of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup. If the Superfinal ends in a tie, the team that finished first in the group stage is declared the winner.

All matches are played on four boards: three with male players and one with female players. The time control for all games is 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move one.

Official site

Schedule:
Round 1   May 5   6 a.m.      PDT   15:00 CEST
Round 2   May 5   7.45 a.m. PDT   16:45 CEST
Round 3   May 6   6 a.m.      PDT   15:00 CEST
Round 4   May 6   7.45 a.m. PDT   16:45 CEST
Round 5   May 7   6 a.m.      PDT   15:00 CEST
Round 6   May 7   7.45 a.m. PDT   16:45 CEST
Round 7   May 8   6 a.m.      PDT   15:00 CEST
Round 8   May 8   7.45 a.m. PDT   16:45 CEST
Round 9   May 9   6 a.m.      PDT   15:00 CEST
Round 10  May 9  7.45 a.m. PDT   16:45 CEST
Superfinal  May 10   8 a.m.  PDT   17:00 CEST

Watch the games of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup 2020 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.