At the beginning of February FIDE published the new world ranking list. Magnus Carlsen, who continues to be clear number one, lost a few rating points in Wijk, but increased the Elo gap to Ding Liren, who lost even more rating points in Wijk and is now the world's number three while Ian Nepomniachtchi is number two. Hou Yifan is number one on the women's list and Alireza Firouzja remains the world's best junior though his rivals come closer. Best female junior is Bibisara Assaubayeva.
The 37th edition of the Reykjavik Open will be held from March 29th until April 4th, 2023 in Harpa, the 28.000 sq. m. concert and conference hall in downtown Reykjavik. The tournament has been the flagship of Icelandic chess for many years and one of the most prestigious and well-liked open tournaments on the calendar every year. | Press release, Icelandic Chess Federation.
Can a massive volume of lengthy chess interviews, some dating back to over two decades, attract chess enthusiasts today, can it be of interest to a heavily satiated chess audience? You bet it can. Frederic Friedel started reading the 476-page book – and was immediately hooked. He describes the reason for his fascination and tells us what is unique about this work.
The traditional Tata Steel international invitation tournament series, annually ongoing since the year 1938, held in Wijk aan Zee and earlier in Beverwijk, is a highlight in the calendar of classical chess. Eduard Frey presents funny Trivia from the rich history of this remarkable tournament. | Photo: Playing Hall, Organiser
We have been trying to keep track of incredible playing strength and title wins at a very early age. It started with Capablanca and Reshevsky, and today we are seeing full grandmasters aged thirteen and in two cases even just twelve! Most recently it was Abhimanyu Mishra who achieved the title at twelve years and just under five months. It is time to update our prodigy page, with better graphics and a few telling graphs. We also invite our readers to contribute.