4/27/25 Update

 Below are some recent happenings from the chess world:

• An interesting occurrence at the recent Grenke Freestyle Open Tournament. In Round 6 Russian and two time WCC Challenger GM Ian Nepomniachtchi faced Spanish GM David Anton Guijarro. Nepo’s first move was O-O-O which connected his rooks.

Round 6

• The Freestyle Open finished on 4/21/25 with Carlsen winning. However, this notable feat is even more noteworthy since he scored 9 wins in 9 games. His Performance Rating was 3804 which I believe is the highest ever in Classical or Chess960. To accomplish this he defeated 1 2200, 2 2500’s, 5 2600’s, and 1 2700. Just amazing.

• The Superbet Rapid and Blitz in Warsaw, Poland runs form 4/26 – 4/28 as the next stop for the Grand Chess Tour. Format is 9 rounds RR of rapid (2 points for a win) followed by 18 rounds (2RR) of Blitz (1 point for a win). Top participants include Firouzja, Aronian, Pragga, Duda, and MVL with 5 wildcards joining. You can see the games on lichess and live broadcast (from St. Louis) with GM’s Seirawan and Svidler commentating (plus others) who are both great to watch. Games on either Chess.com or lichess.com sites.

• Here’s an alternate of how to improve at chess from an FM: 15+10 Is All You Need - by Nate Solon - Zwischenzug

• The latest Chess Open to catch my eye was the Menorca Open 2025 in Spain. The leader after 8 of 9 rounds is Vasyl Ivanchuk who is over 50 and an absolute legend in the chess world. Let’s hope “Chucky” shows the young guns how it’s done in Round 9 when he plays 18/19 year old Indian GM Pranesh. Games can be seen on lichess in the “Watch/Broadcasts” tab.

• For those who remember Southern California chess personalities mainly from the 80’s and 90’s, FM Mark Duckworth passed away recently. I did not know him but recall when I first learned and studied chess his name was always in the SOCAL Chess news.