By Ram Soffer
The last big chess event of 2008, the FIDE Grand-Prix in Elista, finished on a disappointing note. All the leading players drew their games in the final three rounds. Three games were decided, all of them among those who scored 50% or less, so that there were no significant changes. The 3 joint [...]

By Ram Soffer
December 20 2008

After a lukewarm start of four draws in the Nanjing super chess tournament, it was time that the world’s No. 1 chess player Veselin Topalov would wake up – and he did! The Bulgarian exploited the white pieces to beat one after the other Svidler, Aronian and Ivanchuk. In [...]

By Ram Soffer

The Women Chess Olympiad is usually under the shadow of the Open Chess Olympiad. However, in recent years the women received equal conditions and they play over the same number of boards as the men. Their level is also rising persistently. World No. 1 Judit Polgar played as usual at the Open [...]

By Ram Soffer

After the dramatic finale to the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden with unprecedented achievements for Israel, it’s time to sum it up, starting with the significant rule changes which were introduced, and made this Olympiad different from its predecessors.

The open teams were reduced from 6 to 5 players (which means, [...]

By Ram Soffer
At the beginning of the 20th century, the legendary chess champion Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba conquered the chess world by storm. However, in his homeland there were no heirs of similar stature, and for many years the island remained on the fringe of the chess map – till 2008.
The name Lenier [...]