3/16/25 Update

Below are some recent happenings from the chess world:

Beginning 3/15/25 in Romania was the EICC (European Individual Chess Championships). Again, perhaps not the very elite level players are participating this tournament is no slouch. I counted the following from the list of participants: GM = 103, IM = 74, FM = 69, WGM = 2, WIM = 9, and WFM = 2! Not bad out of 385 players. No big surprises in Round 1 though there were some draws.

Only R1 surprise seemed to be the home country representative IM/WGM Tsolakidou's victory over German GM Paehtz.

Throughout the year there are various Open Chess Tournaments at various places around the world. You can check the calendar at FIDE Calendar or World Chess Calendar: Find where to play chess! or for European tournaments World's Biggest Chess Tournament Calendar.

One such big open is held in Reykjavik, Iceland from 4/9/25 to 4/15/25. In the past some of the top players joined – now still draws a number of very strong players. Upon looking at the list of participants I noticed a familiar name and sometimes Kolty player, Ari Chaney, on the list. Good luck to Ari and the other US participants.

Some important chess dates in March – people who were World Chess Champion/Challenger and/or they were roughly in the Top 3 in the world rankings. No doubt other months have strong players but at first glance March appears to be a top contender for "Best Month To Have A Chess Genius".

3/4 Bent Larsen’s birthday

3/8 Jose Raul Capablanca’s death

3/9 Bobby Fischer’s birthday

3/14 Magnus Carlsen’s birthday

3/15 Veselin Topalov’s birthday

3/18 Vassily Ivanchuk’s birthday

3/23 Viktor Korchnoi’s birthday

3/24 Vasily Smyslov’s birthday

3/24 Alexander Alekhine’s death

3/27 Vasily Smyslov’s death

3/31 Humpy Koneru’s birthday

Honorable Mention

3/15 Siegbert Tarrasch’s birthday

3/24 Yasser Seirwan’s birthday

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse