Here are a few things that have caught my eye lately.
Konstantin Landa (1972-2022) The Russian GM passed away on October 12. I’m not sure what the cause of death was, but as he doesn’t seem to have played since 2020 my guess would be illness rather than accident. He was never a “super-GM”, but he reached 2678 and was still 2628 when he stopped playing - very respectable. Here’s a nice game by him.
Here’s an interesting New York Times article, stating that the most popular game among NFL (National Football League) players isn’t Madden (an electronic version of the game) or some other sport, but chess. (HT: Ervin Middleton)
The World Junior Chess Championship: The event finished in a five-way tie for first, and Azeri IM Abdulla Gadimbayli came out ahead on tiebreaks, half a point ahead of Hungarian GM Adam Kozak on the third tiebreak. A real pity for Kozak, who lost in the last round and still came within a whisker of winning the title anyway.
The Chess960/FischerRandom World Championship starts tomorrow/today (Tuesday). It’s an eight-player field, divided into two groups, with the following players: Group A: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Wesley So (the defending champion; he bludgeoned Magnus Carlsen 13.5-2.5 back in 2019), Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Hjorvar Gretarsson. Group B: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Vladimir Fedoseev, and Matthias Bluebaum.
In the meantime, the latest season of the Bundesliga is underway (the best chess nobody sees), and I came across this impressive win by Pavel Eljanov over Vasyl Ivanchuk a day or two ago.
Por favor, incluir aunque sea una vez el ajedrez para ciegos. Se está disputando en México el Panamericano de la especialidad: https://chess-results.com/tnr688586.aspx?lan=2
While Adam Kozak is indeed a Polish name, this particular Adam Kozak, with appropriate accents over the 'A's is Hungarian.