Dominguez to end Carlsen's winning streak

Leinier Dominguez, the first Cuban player to pass the 2700-mark on the FIDE rating list, is close to ending Magnus Carlsen's domination in super-tournaments in 2008. Carlsen is still one point behind the Cuban after they drew each other in today's game. Dominguez is rarely losing, actually his percentage of draws is pretty high, and it is unlikely that Carlsen will catch him on the first place.

Earlier this year Carlsen shared first place in all super-tournaments that he played in - Corus, Linares and FIDE GP.

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Greek Chess Summer 2008

An excellent reason for a chess player to stay whole summer in Greece is their convenient tournament schedule. Greeks have arranged 9 tournaments to run practically one after another. More details on Chess.gr.

So far, GM Hristos Banikas and GM Robert Markus have shared 1st place at Ikaros Chess Festival and GM Alex Zubarev of Ukraine won the Summer Cup.

Chess-Boxing Hits Mainstream Media

"It sounds like a gimmick," admits Hip-Hop Chess Federation founder Adisa Banjoko. But chess and physical combat are being merged not only in the U.S.—where Banjoko's group advocates combining chess and martial arts as a way to teach kids the importance of strategy and non-violence—but in Europe, where a bloodier version is flourishing. The slogan for the Berlin-based World Chess Boxing Organization: "Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board."

Full article in Time Magazine
And another one

Rarely do brains and brawn come together in this way. A Russian was crowned world champion Sunday in the novelty sport of chess boxing that requires equal skill at moving pawns and throwing punches.
Mathematics student Nikolai Sazhin, 19, competing under the name "The President" knocked out a 37-year-old German policeman, Frank Stoldt, who served as a peacekeeper in Kosovo until recently. The loser said he was simply too punch drunk to fend off checkmate.

AFP item

Numbers Play

Every three months, the World Chess Federation publishes new rankings. On the current list, which was released on Tuesday, there were 102 grandmasters and one master - Vladimir Afromeev of Russia, who was No. 78.

Afromeev first popped up on the list two years ago. Given his background, that was something of a surprise. Afromeev is 54 years old. Eight years ago, he was not close to being among the top 100 players in the world. He was not active at the time, and there were no records in databases of his games.

But in 2001 he began playing regularly in invitation-only tournaments. And he began winning at an unbelievable pace, often by beating strong players with ease.

Dylan Loeb McClain's article on IHT website


Afromeev is extreme but not a lonely case. For example, this "FIDE Trainer" has earned almost 60 points at the repeated closed tournaments with same players. Dig deeper and you'll find more names...