| Player | Country | Elo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magnus Carlsen | ๐ณ๐ด | 2839 |
| 2 | Fabiano Caruana | ๐บ๐ธ | 2786 |
| 3 | Hikaru Nakamura | ๐บ๐ธ | 2780 |
| 4 | Ding Liren ๐ | ๐จ๐ณ | 2780 |
| 5 | Alireza Firouzja | ๐ซ๐ท | 2777 |
| 6 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | ๐ท๐บ | 2771 |
| 7 | Anish Giri | ๐ณ๐ฑ | 2760 |
| 8 | Gukesh D | ๐ฎ๐ณ | 2758 |
| 9 | Viswanathan Anand | ๐ฎ๐ณ | 2754 |
| 10 | Wesley So | ๐บ๐ธ | 2753 |
September 4 - September 22
RIP Boris Spassky, 1937-2025
Boris Spassky, the tenth World Chess Champion, was a chess prodigy who became a grandmaster at the young age of 18. He won the World Chess Championship in 1969, and held the title until 1972, when he lost to Bobby Fischer in the famous "Match of the Century". Boris passed on Thursday at the age of 8...
He has passed at age 88, cause not specified.
AP report: https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/boris-spassky-soviet-chess-champion-who-lost-20192861.php
Masters of the Knight: The Art of Chess Carving in India - Atlas Obscura
In Amritsar, artisans have hand-carved the most complicated pieces in the game for generations.
GM Joel Benjamin to play match against Leela with knight odds, starting Saturday Jan 25
8 games, 60 minutes + 30 second increment for Benjamin, i.e. classical TC though a bit quicker than some. Benjamin gets N odds in all games. Leela will play at bullet speed. The hardware is not specified in the thread I linked. Leela will apparently be running a network specially trained to play with knight odds. Match will be livestreamed on Youtube with GM Matthew Sadler commentating. It will take place over 3 days, January 25 through 27th.
For those not familiar, Leela is a neural net chess engine inspired by Alpha Chess Zero. GM Sadler is a co-author of "Game Changer", a book analyzing a bunch of games of Alpha Chess Zero, so he's just about an ideal commentator for this event. It should be interesting.
Added: official page about match: https://lczero.org/blog/2025/01/leela-vs-gm-joel-benjamin/
Results of first 5 rounds: 0-1, 0-1, .5-.5, .5-.5, 1-0. Leela has white in all games so this means Benjamin won the first two, drew the next two, then lost one (game 6 now in pro
Ding's depression is still real.
Comment on Ding posting he's wearing glasses for the first time :
"People should sponsor you!"
Ding's response :
"I have no commercial value"
JFC
The 2024 FIDE World Blitz Championship concluded with high drama, as Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi shared the Open title after an intense tiebreak match, while Ju Wenjun clinched the Womenโs Blitz crown
The 2024 FIDE World Blitz Championship, the grand finale of the chess calendar, kicked off with electrifying energy in New York on Monday.
My lichess 2024 recap
I mostly just have time for puzzles, as you can tell
Pretty puzzle
Lichess tactic trainer: Find the best move for white.. Played by 15699 players.
Puzzle: White to mate in two.
Thomas Taverner published this remarkable problem in the Dubuque Chess Journal in 1889. White is to mate in two moves.
CMM: One should be allowed to put their own king into check, and one should be allowed to make moves that leave their king in check
It would function simply: If a player puts their king into check on their own move, if the opponent sees it, they can capture the king on their turn either by physically taking out the king or announcing checkmate on their turn. If the opponent doesnโt see it, the game continues as normal. Likewise, if the opponent puts the king into check, both players can respond on their turn if they notice it, or it's simply a blundered opportunity.
The classical checkmate ending can be seen as an honorable ending, wherein the player effectively resigns/surrenders, or the player can be dishonorable by drawing out the game by making one more move. I understand the redundancy of this type of ending, but it would add more personable nuance to the game.
This idea can also be extended to stalemates: The only true stalemate would be one where a capturing of the king will not occur in a finite number of moves, e.g. move repetitions, or two sole kings on the board. A stalemate by trapping the king, ie
IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess) won the Battle of Generations with four games to spare.
IM Levy Rozman defeats GM Pia Cramling in Battle of Generations.
Hirntumor entfernt, wรคhrend Patient Schach spielt
Ein 45-Jรคhriger klagte รผber Kopfschmerzen, dann stellten รrzte einen Hirntumor fest. Bei einem komplexen Eingriff wollte der Hobbyspieler sein Schachwissen nicht verlieren โ und die รrzte fanden eine Lรถsung.
Move order gets picked up as different openings in lichess - spoilers for today's chessle
spoilers for today's chessle
D45 Semi-Slav Defense: Main Line
FEN
rnbqk2r/pp3pbp/2p1pnp1/3p4/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP2BPPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 2 7
A09 Rรฉti Opening
FEN
rnbqk2r/pp3pbp/2p1pnp1/3p4/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP2BPPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 0 7
semi slav to reti transposes, but lichess still says they're different, giving prescident to the move order to determine name of the position's opening.
even though the position is the same
there is no inherent point, just an observation to share
Two Mate-in-two puzzles with mirrored positions
C.S. Kipping published this unusual problem in Chess Amateur in 1923. In each position, White is to mate in two moves.
