Wesley So and Jan-Krzysztof Duda are sharing the lead after six rounds at the rapid section of the Superbet tournament in Poland. So and Duda have collected 9 points each, and have already faced each other in their round-6 direct encounter, So failed to make the most of a clear advantage. Levon Aronian stands in sole third place, while a winless Magnus Carlsen stands 4 points behind the co-leaders, on 5/12. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
On 14 May 1937 Grigory Levenfish won the 10th Soviet Championship, defending the title he had won two years earlier at the 9th Soviet Championship in 1935. In 1937 Levenfish also drew a match against Botvinnik and hoped to play in the 1938 AVRO tournament. At that time Levenfish was probably one of the best players in the world, but the Soviet authorities stifled his career. To mark the 86th anniversary of Levenfish's victory that made him a two-time Soviet Champion Eugene Manlapao looks at the tragic life and career of this fascinating player. | Photo source: <a href="https://dgriffinchess.wordpress.com/">Douglas Griffin</a>.
Few tournaments brought as much stake to its host nation as Moscow 1925 did to Russia. The event brought a Russian into world title contention, but, more importantly, it proved vital to Russia’s rise as dominant force in chess. Eugene Manlapao takes a look at the tournament and its history. | Photo: Tournament winner Efim Bogoljubov (left) and Akiba Rubinstein during their game | Photo: Wikipedia