Welcome to another chess review where we comment on last week’s news from our own, county, country and the world. We will also take a look at what to expect next week.

In our own club we celebrated Oscar and Julian’s birthdays last week. Both young guys and prospective chess players, we wish them plenty of success both in life and over the board! In addition to the celebrations, our second team achieved a second win in a row following difficult start of the season.

More about both you can find on: Second team celebrating Oscar and Julian’s birthdays with second win in a row.

For next week, our first team is being hosted by Latimer in six board league game. Although a little depleted, we sent a strong team to compete, captained by Matt. We wish them to play good chess and bring the victory home.

In the county, there were plenty of games played last week. In Division 1, Braunstone 1 and Syston 1 achieved comfortable wins against Shepshed 2 and Thurnby, respectively. In the second division Ashby 1 drew at home against Kirby Muxloe 1 while Wigston’s second team lost to Wigston’s third. In Division 3 there were no games played, while in the fourth division Melton Mowbray 3 lost to Market Harborough 3. The game Braunstone 2 vs Ashby 3 was postponed.

In the country, the ECF has announced Junior European tournaments coming up soon in Rhodes, Greece. More information on their website – ECF – announcement for International junior tournaments.

Worldwide, the TATA Steel chess tournament has finally come to an end with the world champion in classical chess Magnus Carlsen solidifying himself as the greatest player of our time securing another tournament win with 9.5/13 score. Shakriyar Mamedyarov came second best, while Richard Rapport finished third. The tournament presented many exciting battles with the game Dubov-Gujrathi being a favourite so far for game of the year. An analysis of the game by GM Hikaru Nakamura is availble in the below video: