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Chess news:

A Summer of Struggles Pays Dividends — Hou Yifan is the women’s world chess champion, but she is also only 17 and continues to evolve as a chess player, which should scare her rivals. Hou struggled this summer playing against mostly men. But the best way to improve is to seek out the best competition, and Hou’s trial by fire seems to be paying dividends. Last month, she dominated the first leg of the Women’s Grand Prix in Russia, a tournament that included most of the world’s best chess players. (Judit Polgar, the most skilled woman to play the game, was not there; she does not compete in women-only chess events.) Last week, Hou did it again by winning the Grand Prix’s second leg in China. Both times, she finished with ...

On Chess: World-title foes differ on workouts — In an era of 14-year-old grandmasters and Internet-nurtured chess prodigies, 43-year-old Boris Gelfand of Israel is an anomaly. After 20 years of being near the top of the chess heap, he is playing a match — his first — for the world chess championship. It will take place against the current chess champion, 41-year-old Viswanathan Anand — also one of the older set — who has played several title matches. Anand insists that a rigorous conditioning regime — including trips to the gym — is a prerequisite for success at the top level. Gelfand has a more nonchalant point of view. “It strikes me,” he recently told journalist Yuri Vasiliev, “that the basis of success is a healthy way of life. You need to ...

Who's the man? — When I was a much younger man, I saw a film titled "Who's the Man?" It was a light comedy, but throughout the movie, the two main characters would pronounce, "You the man!" to each other. In the chess world, this was never an issue. Well, not until recently. Since 1886, there was always an official World Chess Champion. The chess world always knew who "the man" was, until 1993 and the infamous Kasparov-Short match. Garry Kasparov, clearly the best chess player in the world and the World Chess Champion to boot, was to defend his title against the lesser-know British GM Nigel Short. Nigel was one of the top 10 chess players in the world, but nobody thought he could beat Kasparov. Kasparov and ...

Grand Slam Masters: Both Carlsen and Anand lose — After a sensational third round of the Grand Slam Masters chess tournament at Sao Paulo, World chess champion Viswanathan Anand and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway languished at the bottom of the points table. Anand bowed to an in-form Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine while Carlsen called all the shots against bottom-ranked player Vallejo Pons of Spain before blundering a piece to leave the tournament in a state of shock before the first rest day. The football points system ensured that Ivanchuk, with seven points, had a good lead over the rest of the field. Levon Aronian of Armenia was in second position with five points, Hikaru Nakamura of US and Vallejo Pons were further down ...

Good at Chess? A Hedge Fund May Want to Hire You — Boaz Weinstein’s opening move on Wall Street came as a result of chess. Mr. Weinstein, now a star hedge fund manager, was trying to get a summer job at Goldman Sachs in 1991, when he was just 18. After being told there was nothing available, he stopped in a bathroom on the way out and ran into David F. Delucia, then the head of corporate bond trading. Mr. Delucia, who is ranked as an expert by the United States Chess Federation, had played Mr. Weinstein, ranked as a master by the chess federation, many times. He arranged for a series of interviews until Mr. Weinstein got an internship on a Goldman trading desk. Mr. Weinstein is not alone among Wall Streeters who have a chess ...

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