Happy New Year from everyone at Quality Chess! Today is our first day back in the office in 2016, so there is a lot of catching up to do, including a couple of poll results. Which chessplayer impressed you most in 2015? Anish Giri was the winner, with ‘Other’ taking second place ahead of the […]
Last week’s question was: “Which chess engine is best?” Komodo seemed in the lead all week, but a late surge gave the win to Stockfish. As the count shows, these two engines dominated the field. As the year draws to a close, it is natural to look back. So my question this week is:
Which chessplayer impressed you most in 2015? Read Post »
As the blog poll predicted two weeks ago, Magnus Carlsen won the London Classic. With three rounds to go, Magnus had drawn all his games and I was doubting the wisdom of crowds, but a 2½/3 finish and a playoff win proved you right. Last week’s question was: How do you meet 1.d4? To my
Which chess engine is best? Read Post »
Last week’s question was: “Who will win the London Classic?” I expected a clear majority for Magnus Carlsen, and he did indeed top the poll, but it was a narrow win ahead of Levon Aronian. With only 3 rounds completed, it is too early to say who will win the Classic, but Not-Topalov appears a
How do you meet 1.d4? Read Post »
Last week’s poll “What’s the matter with Magnus?” ended in a narrow win for “Lack of Motivation” but “Nothing – it’s variance” seemed in the lead for most of the week. Clearly, opinions vary on this question. This week, big time chess returns to the UK, with the London Classic kicking off on Friday. So
Who will win the London Classic? Read Post »
Two weeks ago the poll predicted a Russian victory in the European Team Championship in Reykjavík. You were right about that, so your overwhelming vote for “The rest is a matter of technique” as the most annoying chess-writing cliché is probably right too. The comments also produced plenty of interesting “Others”. Too many to note
What’s the matter with Magnus? Read Post »
One of the challenges of writing about chess is avoiding tedious repetition (as I may have said before…) but there are only so many ways to say: “White has an edge due to his bishop pair.” So this week’s poll question is: Name your least favourite chess writing cliché. My candidates are: “The rest is
Let’s have some new clichés Read Post »
The 1st round of the European Team Championship starts on Friday the 13th in Reykjavík, Iceland. Russia will be top seeds in the Open section, as usual, but the Russians have struggled in some team events in recent years. They will be challenged by the likes of Ukraine (Ivanchuk, Eljanov…), Azerbaijan (with new arrival Naiditsch),
Who will win the Euros? Read Post »
