At the start of the month, the Swedish National Championships took place in Uppsala (photo), which are traditionally held as a big festival with tournaments in different categories. The main event was won by Jonny Hector, who at 58 grabbed his second national title, twenty years after having won his first title.
Two world champions, Steinitz and Euwe; a chess family, the Cramlings; and plenty of 1.d4 practitioners, Moiseenko, Gaprindashvili, and Miles are born under the zodiac sign of Taurus. Their power lies in their calmness. A proper Taurus acts thoughtfully, prudently, deliberately. They calculate what they do, everything else is considered unreasonable. They may allow their opponent a refreshing nap while they think about the next move. It would be fatal to consider them limited for that reason. | Photo: Pixabay
It's Gibraltar, so they clearly know how to rock on. The hugely popular annual chess festival on the little spot of Britain at the mouth of the Mediterranean was called off last year because of COVID-19, and tournament sponsors had to scramble again this year because the Caleta Hotel, the longtime venue for the event, has just closed for a three-year renovation.
The final round (ten) of the Battle of the Sexes match-tournament, held at Gibraltar, saw the men’s team win by 6½-3½ to finish overall winners by 53-47. The winners on the final day were Bobby Cheng, who beat Jovi Houska; Ravi Haria, who beat Olga Girya; and Bilel Bellahcene, who defeated Marie Sebag (her only loss of the event). Balazs Csonka drew his game with Marsel Efroimski and this was enough to secure his second grandmaster norm.