Latest News

update: 23-November-2022

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The winner of the Jenever bottle for the fast composing tournament Arves Jenever 14th 2022 is

Michael Pasman.

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Interesting new books issued by Elk and Ruby about Chess Composition

(you can download sample PDFs):

First published in Russian in 2004 and now available in English for the first time,

The Lubyanka Gambit is a classic work investigating the darkest side of chess history in the Soviet Union. 

It is the culmination of nearly two decades of research by Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, historian and human rights campaigner Sergei Grodzensky,

whose own father was sent to the Gulag in Stalin’s times.

It describes the careers and life stories, based on archival documents and witness testimony, of Soviet chess composers,

players and famous amateurs who were repressed by the Soviet authorities, ending up either executed or sent to the Gulag.

Featured names include Lazar Zalkind, Arvid Kubbel, Vladimirs Petrovs, Petr Izmailov, Georgy Schneideman, Nikolai Krylenko and Natan Sharansky, among many others.

The theoretical contribution to the history of composition is one key theme in this work.

The Lubyanka Gambit also looks in detail at the historical context of the purges of chess players and describes how chess was played by prisoners in the Gulags and internal exile.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is provided by Grodzensky’s personal memories of the Soviet Union’s foremost Gulag writers Alexander Solzhenitsyn (his schoolteacher) and Varlam Shalamov (his father’s close friend).

This book contains 72 full games and fragments analyzed by the participants, contemporaries, the author and other leading players, as well as 145 computer-checked compositions.

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New edition by Sergei Tkachenko.

 

Text from the back of the book:

 

"Have you ever thought about trying your hand at composing endgame studies?

Probably not, it always seemd far too difficult. But now, your chance to learn the tools is finally here!

Mikhail Zinar's composition manual, first published, first published in Ukraine in 1990 with a 100.000 print run that has long sold out

and now updated and revised by Sergei Tkachenko, revelas the secrets that will give you a head-start in composing chess poetry!

 

Dissecting over 400 examples, Zinar's manual begins by explaining the basic tactics of pawn studies: simplest maneuvres, roundabout way, feint, luring into check,

Grigoriev anti-check feint, anti-check retreat and king double threat (Eilazyan branch).

It then goes on to consider key study ideas, including beacons, winning a pawn, checkmate, stalemate, anti-stalemate,

underpromotions, studies with two or more phases, domination, anti-domination and logical studies.

Further sections of the book cover artistic requirements for endgame studies, pratical tips and a series of demanding tests that you may spend days, weeks or even months completing.

 

Careful study of this book will not turn you into an overnight prize-winning sensation, but following its recommendations and putting in hard work will place you firmly on the right path.

Today's leading Ukrainian studies composer Sergei Didukh told Sergei Tkachenko that he read Zinar's manual several times before he composed his first study."

More about Zinar, Mikhail 1951-2021

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Nine nice studies in the 6th Youth CCC 2022.

1st prize winner:  Ilija Serafimović 

2nd place for:  Ben Smolkin 

3rd place:  Dylan Schenker 

4th place:  Ural Khasanov 

5th: Taras Rudenko,  6th: Anirudh Daga 7th: Sergiienko Andrii  8th: Nikita Ushakov 9th: Andrew Vodinh-Ho

See also the PDF-report in Awards Files

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The UAPA 18th 2022 has 3 sections.

In thematic Section A the winner is Oleg Pervakov, 2nd prize to Michael Pasman,

3rd prize to Pavel Arestov, 4th prize to Mario Garcia.

 

In the free section B1 (wins) 1st prize also to Oleg Pervakov, 2nd prize to Jan Timman.

In the free section B2 (draws) 1st prize to David Gurgenidze, 2nd prize again to Michael Pasman 

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In the FRME 8th 2022 ty the prize winners are:

1st rpize to Mario Micaloni & Daniele Gatti (Italy)

2nd prize for Jan Rusinek (Poland),

3rd prize for Michael Pasman (Israel),

4th prize to Sergiy Didukh (Ukraine).

See the PDf in Awards Files

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In the this pdf file in Section-D you may find 14 Endgame studies in the report for the

21st Russian Team Championship for Composing.

On the picture of the winning team on the right: Pavel Arestov

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In the 4rd FRME TT 2022 tournament

the 1st prize winner is Luis Gonzalez.

2nd prize winner Michael Pasman.

See the complete report in  PDF in Awards Files

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Sad news from Armenia.

At 13-10-2022 Kasparyan, Sergey 1952-2022 passed away.

At the website of Selivanov an obituary in Russian language.

The translation to English is also available in the above article about him.

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With all the sad news which daily comes from Ukraine,

at least we have some nice art coming from it with the results in the:

Problemist Ukraine 2021

1st prize winner: Amatzia Avni and second prize to Oleg Pervakov.

Lets hope for peace as we as chess players live by: Gens Una Sumus.

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In the Awards Files is the pdf with the Moscow-2022 tournament report.

12 interesting studies with winner Oleg Pervakov.

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EG 230 is issued:

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Two studies awarded for the Slovakia Pravda magazine 2020-2021, (See section D. Studie)

both from the specialists Ľuboš Kekely and Michal Hlinka

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Chessbase India brings another interesting article in the series Chess Artistry Adventure 

with 7 studies.

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Interactively showing and solving Endgame Studies by Top Grandmasters becomes popular.

Here Anish Giri  and top Indian GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi are tested at Chessbase India.

Also Praggnanandhaa is asked to solve these difficult studies i.e. of Martin Minski, Jan Timman, Yochanan Afek and David Gurgenidze.

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Chessbase often shows a study of the month.

Here some links to them,

September 2022 with an article about Jan Sprenger;

August 2022 about Aliens and Alexander Kazantsev;

July 2022 about Malyutka's

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At page 9-10 of the Variantim magazine no. 87, Michael Pasman extensively reports and comments 5 Israeli studies.

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After the results of the WCCI 2019-21 there are some new titles for study composers:

FIDE International Master titles for: Amatzia Avni and Árpád Rusz

 FIDE Master titles for: Branislav Djurasevic, Luis Miguel Gonzalez and Jan Timman

Congratulations !!

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Great article from Satanick Mukhuty on Chessbase India for the Global Chess festival.

The same fantastic studies now in article to reread and replay.

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Suomen Tehtäväniekat has published its old catalogue of members.

About finnish composers https://www.tehtavaniekat.fi/index.php/matrikkeli/

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New issue of (the spanish) Finales Y Temas 124 

by José Copié 

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Chessbase India on Youtube with Judith Polgar about her Global Chessfestival and interesting Studies to be solved.

Excellent presentation by Judit Polgar and Sagar Shah for 1hour and 47 minutes.

With studies and stories about composers like Yochanan Afek, Martin Minski, Jan Timman and David Gurgenidze.

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Article in Spanish language at this Argentinian website, with studies composed by

Martin Minski with spectacular Queen sacrifices!

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Interesting and long Interview with

World Champion Steffen Nielsen 

at Chess.com

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The costs of maintaining this website are about 270 Euro's each year.

Donations are welcome and appreciated.

You may pay by bank to

ARVES (Belgiëlei 21 bus 3, 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium):

IBAN: NL 19 INGB 0000 0540 95

BIC: INGBNL2A

ING Bank NV, POB 1800, 1100 BV Amsterdam

Or by Paypal: on http://www.paypal.com email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen of Denmark is the new

FIDE World champion in the section of Endgame studies composing !!

Slumstrup Nielsen, Steffen 1975

 

2nd place to former world champion Oleg Pervakov, Russia

3rd place for Serhiy Didukh, Ukraine

Use this PDF to see the complete Ranking list.

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Preliminary (anonymous) results for the 10th FIDE World cup are available !

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In the magazine tournament organized by the British Chess Problem Society The Problemist 2020-2021 

the first prize winner is: Gady Costeff

2nd prize for Amatzia Avni with Martin Minski,

3rd prize goes to Jan Timman,

4rd prize is for Petr Kiyakov with Pavel Arestov.

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The prize winners of the Polish Chess Federation 2021 tournament are:

1st prize Steffen Nielsen, Denmark
2nd prize Mikhail Gromov, Russia
3rd prize Andrzej Babiarz, Poland
4th prize David Gurgenidze & Martin Minski, Georgia and Germany
5th prize David Gurgenidze & Vazha Neidze, Georgia
6th prize Mario MICALONI & Marco Campioli, Italy
7th prize Vladislav Tarasiuk, Ukraine

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Great composers meet yesterday as friends at the home of Jan Timman in Arnhem (NL):

(from left to right: Jan Sprenger, Jan Timman, Martin Minski and Yochanan Afek).

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New issue of (the spanish) Finales y Temas 123:

Dedicated to composer Mattison, Hermann 1894-1932

Finales y Temas 123

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In the French Phenix 2021 Tournament, Judge Jan Sprenger only gave honorable mentions to

Sergey Osintsev, Michael Pasman and Itay Richardson and 3 recommendations.

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Preliminary results of the 7-Chess-Notes-2021 tournament are:

1st prize to L.M. Gonzalez,

2nd prize to Pavel Arestov

3rd prize to Martin Minski

4th prize to Vladislav Tarasiuk

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Interesting article about creating studies from games in the Macedonian Problemist

"Strip or massage?" by Steffen Nielsen

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The winners of the Shakhmatnaya-Kompositzia 2021 tournament (see PDF) are:

First prize for N. Rjabinin with K. Sumbatjan.

2nd and 3rd prize !! both for Jan Sprenger 

4th prize is for Pavel Arestov.

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In the Japanese Problem Paradise 2021 tournament there were two theme sections:

For the theme: "Up till 10 pieces".

The 1st/2nd prize are shared by Michael Pasman and Sergey Osintsev.

The 3rd prize is for the late Marco Campioli.

 

For the theme: "More than 10 pieces"

The 1st/2nd prize are shared by Peter Krug and  Michael Pasman.

3rd prize to Michael Hlinka with Lubos Kekely.

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The UAPA 17th 2022 tournament had 3 sections.

The winner for the theme sections ""Two Rooks and a minor piece (White or black) , against equivalent forces.

Slogan: Win or Draw (other pieces may be presented at the beginning)" is Michael Pasman.

For the Win section the winner is: Richard Becker. 2nd prize for Lubos Kekely with Michael Hlinka, 3rd prize to Micahel Pasman

For the Draw section the winner is Sergey Osintsev, 2nd prize for Peter Krug with Mario Garcia.

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Winners of the double MT tournament: Babich-115 and Olimpiev-85 MT 2022 are

Martin Minski with Jan Sprenger.

2nd prize for Michal Hlinka with Lubos Kekely and Pavel Arestov.

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Again some new pages about composers added:

Mendheim, Julius 1781-1836

Meyer, Heinrich 1839-1928

Murkisch, Godehard 1940

Wrobel, Marian 1907-1960

Sedlak, Ludek 1954

Khenkin, Viktor 1923-2010

Muradov, Muradkhan 1950

Pomogalov, Vasily 1935-2020

and personal birth/death data found about: Bahr, Walter 1905-1986

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Michael Pasman is the first prize winner in the Suomi Tehtäväniekka 2020–2021 tournament.

2nd prize to David Gurgenidze.

In the PDF you can find the Finnish comments as of page 63.

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EG readers possibly have read the article by Emil Vlasak who explains the latest developments about CQL.

He also mention the new tool CQLi.

You can check out the powerfull possibilities?

See also: Chess Query Language 6

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In magazine Variantim 86 there is an interesting article about Underpromotion by Gady Costeff.

And also the report of the Israeli Ring Tournament 2021 judged by Geir Sune Tallaksen Østmoe with 8 nice studies .

The first prize winner is: Jan Rusinek.

2nd prize goes to Jan Sprenger.

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Lately some new articles were created to honor composers.

And some articles were updated with new info about composers and also some older pictures added.

Godes, Davis 1939-2007

Richardson, Itay 2006

Crum, John 1841-1922

Pasman, Michael 1960

Page, George 1890-1953

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A flaw found for Bahr's pawn endgame rule by Francesco Santelli !

The flaw in Bahr's rule

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The popular book by Yochanan Afek now also translated into Turkish !

For Turkish readers available at: https://market.satrancokulu.com/zorlu-satranc-taktikleri

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The legendary Russian grandmaster Yuri Averbakh passed away in Moscow.

Yuri Averbakh was the world’s oldest living Grandmaster.

He became 3 months older than 100 years !

He was very important to Chess Endgame theory.

 

(Picture taken by Harold van Heijden, 2002)

 

See more about him at ChessBase news.

and look at his Endgame studies: Averbakh, Yuri 1922-2022

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In the Vecherny Peterburg tournament (See PDF page 43 in Awards Files)

the winner is: A. Popov

and for 2/3rd place: A. Popov and  Pavel Arestov.

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The winners in magazine 64-Shakhmatnoye Obozrenye 2021 tournament,are:

1st prize N. Ryabinin with K. Sumbatyan,

2nd prize for Pavel Arestov with Peter Krug,

3rd prize Robin Swinkels with Jan Sprenger.

See for the full report (Russian language) in the PDF file in the Awards Files.

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In the Vratnica 2021 tournament, for the Win-section the winners are: 

Pavel Arestov with Peter Krug (Russia-Austria),

2nd:  Vladislav Tarasiuk (Ukraine),

3rd:  Amatzia Avni with Yochanan Afek (Israel)

 

For the Draw section the winners are 1st/2nd : 

Sergey Osintsev (Russia) and Michael Pasman (Israel)

See for the full report the PDF file in the Awards Files.

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The study below is dedicated to the 70th birthday of Yochanan Afek.

"This study was inspired by an analysis of a recent game.

See:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/apr/15/chess-teenagers-top-reykjavik-while-english-hopes-fade-at-the-finish

(diagram 3811: Johann Hjartarson against Mats Andersen, Reykjavik 2022)

In the game a bishop promotion was possible. Ilham Aliev had the great idea to add a second underpromotion.

Yochanan is a very strong OTB player and a great composer. We hope he will like this game-like study! Happy birthday to our friend Yochanan!"

This picture of congress in Ostroda 2015, (Afek, Aliev, Minski).

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Book issued by

Gatti, Daniele 1987:

 

The book is named "Professione Problemista" (literally "Job: Problemist"),

subtitled "Avvicinamento alla composizione scacchistica" (literally "invite to chess composition")

and was published in March 2022 by the Italian publishing house Messaggerie Scacchistiche

(an historical one, and the only one in Italy specialized in chess books).
The book is written in Italian language.

It is his first book about chess (He wrote others but about other matters).

The purpose of the book is teaching composition to the total newbies, showing theory and practice

with progressive increase of difficulty and examples proposed (some "live composing" also included)

and added are also a collection of his best selfmates AND endgame studies (40 of each).

In endgame studies Daniele like bizarre ideas so there are many selected, together with more classical themes and configurations.

 

Buying the book is possible with these links:

Messaggerie Scacchistiche

or Amazon

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EG 228 coming soon:

 

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A new issue of Finales Y Temas (in spanish)  by José Copié:

Finales Y Temas 121

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The provisional award for the 16th UAPA 2021 or Jose Copie 80 JT is available.

UAPA 16th 2021

There are 4 sections:

A. Studies up to 8 pieces A1 Win or A2. Draw.

B. Theme free B1 Win or B2 Draw.

For A1 the 5 price winners are: 1. Arpad Rusz, 2. Michael Pasman, 3. Oleg Pervakov, 4. Sergey Osintsev. 5. Michael Pasman;

For A2 the 6 price winners are: 1. Michael Pasman, 2. Richard Becker, 3. R.Becker with Mario Garcia, 4. Poul Rewitz, 5. Pavel Arestov, 6.David Gurgenidze;

For B1 the 5 price winners are: 1. Vladislav Tarasiuk, 2. Oleg Pervakov with Karem Subatyan, 3.Jan Timman, 4.Evgeny Kopylov, 5.Michael pasman;

For B2 the 6 price winners are: 1/2 Peter Krug 1/2 Sergey Osintsev, 3.Michael Pasman, 4.I Jarmonov with Vladislav Tarasiuk, 5.Pavel Arestov, 6.Marc Gelly.

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Study dedicated to and worrying for Igor Yarmonov:

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The magazine Pat a Mat 2020-2021 tournament is won by Amatzia Avni,

Second prize for Martin Minski 

Third prize for the duo: Michael Hlinka with Lubos Kekely.

Pat a Mat 2021

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Winner of the Strategems 2021 tournament are the duo David Gurgenidze with Martin Minski,

Second prize for Franjo Vrabec.

See Awards Files

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Some sad news comes in from chess composers lately:

Peter Krug reports that he lost his income due to the hard covid restrictions in Austria.

That is also the reason he could not take part in the WCCI.

 

Vladislav Tarasiuk reports from Ukraine where he works in a hospital near Kharkov. He fears for his life and that of his family every day.

About 600 houses in Kharkiv are destroyed. In the rest of the houses there is no gas, no heating, no electriciy.

Composer Vladimir Samilo lives in such hard conditions.

The contact with fellow composer Igor Yarmanov, from Mariupol, is gone for more than a week now.

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Hans Uitenbroek wins ARVES Studies Solving Tournament 2022

See the report by Luc Palmans

Oploswedstrijd 2022

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International Master Vladislav Tarasiuk from Ukraine composed the following endgame study with a message:

Let us love the peoples of the world

and respect their rights!

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Who will become the new World Champion 2019-2021?

List of contenders in: World Championship WFCC 2019-2021

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Jan Sprenger wins the first prize for the Magyar Sakkvilag 2021 tournament !

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At Chess.com Peter Wong has written two articles about (10) strong chess players

who were/are also problem or endgame study composers.

Although all of them have articles here at Arves, his stories and comments are very interesting:

(See i.e.=: GrandMasters otb)

 

Part 1

(About: Pal Benko, Oldrich Duras, Paul Keres, John Nunn and Richard Reti)

Part 2

(About: Ladislav Prokes, Yochanan Afek, Ladislav Salai, Milan Vukcevich and Genrikh Kasparyan).

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For our Dutch readers/member, you may find an interesting part about Endgame Studies

in the January Newsletter (page 10) of schaakacademieapeldoorn written by Karel van Delft.

He refers to a Youtube presentation in English by GM Maurice Ashley where a famous study by Yochanan Afek is presented.

In text you may find this excellent study also presented (in Dutch) in older article by David Klein at Schaaksite.nl

Have fun.

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The winner of the Jana Lercha MT or

Ceskoslovensky Sach 2021 tournament is:

Martin Minski,

2nd and 3rd prize for to two co-productions:

PolasekJaroslav with Vlasak,Emil and with Navara,David

Krug, Peter with Garcia,Mario

4th prize to Michael Pasman.

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Lichess.org has a huge collection of endgames to study also with Endgame Studies,

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Ever seen or heard of the Phantom Chess board?

Just informing you that you may play against any opponent on the Internet at a magical "normal 3D" physical Chessboard.

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Two new books written by Sergei Tkachenko issued by Ilan Rubin:

 

For sale at Amazon.

  

For sale at Amazon.

Read more: Latest News