Chess Giants now “Asrian Memorial”

Gaguik Oganessian, General Secretary of the Armenian Chess Federation and President of FIDE Zone 1.5, informed us that the “Chess Giants Yerevan 2008″ tournament has been renamed “Karen Asrian Memorial”, and that the Asrian Memorial will become traditional.

It’s a logical decision by the Armenians to remember their fourth best player Karen Asrian who passed away this week, only 28 years old.

Karen Asrian passed away

The “Chess Giants Yerevan 2008″ website brings the sad news that Armenian GM Karen Asrian passed away today, only 28 years old. full story »

Gurgenidze dies at 74

On Saturday, May 24, Georgian grandmaster Bukhuti Gurgenidze passed away, as reported by Russian websites Gazeta.ru and Novaya Gazeta, with references to ITAR-TASS and the Georgian chess federation. Gurgenidze was 74 years old. full story »

Macauley’s Tribute to Fischer

On this rest day at Corus, we return once more to Bobby Fischer, by showing Macauley’s video (or should we say mini-documentary?) which he created in Wijk aan Zee last Saturday. full story »

Third Micha Leuw Memorial

During the last two months I’ve been pretty busy and there wasn’t much time for chess. Playing, that is. This weekend was an exception because I was invited for a special tournament: the Micha Leuw Memorial. In a small round-robin of six players I ended fourth. More importantly, I played two games that Micha would have liked: sharp and adventurous. full story »

Russian chess player killed by gang

Tragic news from Moscow, where last Saturday IM Sergey Nikolaev (46) was killed by a vicious youth gang. Police is undertaking the investigation into the killing of the Russian chess player, which most probably was racially motivated. Up to 30 suspects have been detained in connection with the case. Extremist literature was found during searches of the suspects. full story »

Lajos Portisch 70

Because of the Dresden hitch, now for some calendar trivia. Chess Today pinpoints that today exactly fifteen years ago Samuel Reshevsky passed away. More happy news On a happier note legendary Hungarian chess player Lajos Portisch celebrates is 70th birthday today. In the sixties and seventies he belonged to the world elite, playing many interzonals and qualifying for the world championship title no less than five times. For his country Hungary he played in twenty (!) Olympiads; they won the 1978 Buenos Aires edition where Portisch scored 10 out of 14. full story »

Leo Kerkhoff passed away

This week Leo Kerkhoff, a chess player from Rotterdam, passed away. In the late sixties and early seventies he was a very talented player, beating amongst others Hans Ree and Jan Timman. Since he was mainly known in The Netherlands, this article is only available in Dutch. full story »

Without Rik Lith all chess cafes are empty

In the first week of February we received the sad news that Rik Lith (1954–2007) had passed away. Rik was one of the icons of the Amsterdam chess scene and one of the regular visitors of the (also ‘late’) chess cafe Gambit. A bit more than two years ago the circle of friends around Gambit lost two of their brightest diamonds: regular customer Micha Leuw and Gambit owner Menashe Goldberg. Sunday, February 4th, 2007 Rik Lith joined them, whose health had been on the decline in recent years and who only reached the age of 52. On Friday, February 9th, he was buried at the Zorgvlied cemetery in Amsterdam. Chess player and politician Roel van Duijn allowed ChessVibes to publish his funeral oration and together with Tony Lith he collected three of Rik’s games, including a draw against former World Champion Max Euwe. full story »

Torre too got his Memorial

One of the more boring opening lines is the Torre Attack: 1.d4, 2.Nf3 and 3.Bg5. If the Mexican chess player Carlos Torre Repetto (23 November 1905 - 19 March 1978) finds out he’s mainly remembered for these opening moves, he’ll turn around in his grave (can you say this in English?). This was probably what the organizers were thinking when setting up the Torre Memorial which is held this week. full story »

In Memoriam: David Ionovich Bronstein

“For the sake of brilliance it is worth taking a risk!” That is how Bronstein played, even in his advanced years. After Tarrasch and Nimzowitsch he is perhaps the most outstanding populariser of the game, a genuine teacher of the chess world.â€? – Gary Kasparov

David Bronstein was both an outstanding chess player and an excellent writer. Furthermore he was one of the most beautiful players of the twentieth century, always looking for the beauty in chess. Where Botwinnik saw chess as science, Bronstein considered it to be art. And of course it was Bronstein who wrote one of the true classics in chess literature: Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953. Enough reasons to pay tribute to David Ionovich Bronstein. full story »

David Bronstein 1924-2006

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Commemorating in style

It’s the time of commemorating and we chess players, certainly in the region of Amsterdam, have our own Theo van Gogh: Micha Leuw. A somewhat outrageous comparison perhaps but I do see some similarities: the omnipresent sigaret and the sharp spirit both were gifted with. In December it’s already two years ago that Micha drowned while snorkeling in Thailand, shortly before the tsunami arrived. (Typically Micha by the way to do it a bit differently than all the other victims over there.) Commemorating in style is done with a tournament so during the Eijgenbrood Tournament, last week in Amsterdam, the second Micha Leuw Memorial was held and it was nice to see that Enrico Vroombout, the underdog of the group because he qualified via the Eijgenbrood Tournament of last year, attracted most attention and finished at an excellent second spot. full story »

René Letelier is niet meer

Op  2 juli jongstleden is de Chileens IM René Letelier overleden. Daar besteed ik toch even aandacht aan, aangezien de arme man voornamelijk de geschiedenis is ingegaan als het slachtoffer van een van Bobby Fischers allerbekendste combinaties. Dat hij Fischer ook een keer had verslagen, weten maar weinig mensen. full story »