Vanessa West is a National Master, a chess teacher, and a writer for Chess.com. In 2017, they won the Chess Journalist of the Year award.
You can follow them on X: Vanessa__West
The 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL) playoffs are upon us, and you can join in on the excitement by predicting who wins! Can you see Saint Louis clinching their third title in a row? Do you envision Webster taking over the CCL in their d...
Saint Louis and Webster cemented their places as the top two to close the regular season of the 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL). Webster's victory was a true team effort. Every single player―GMs Benjamin Gledura, Harsha Bharathakoti, Ge...
Saint Louis and Missouri defeated major rivals in week six of the 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL). The unstoppable GM Mikhail Antipov led Missouri to victory vs. Rio Grande, scoring 3.5/4. For Saint Louis, GMs Benjamin Bok and Dambasure...
Last week, FIDE launched the ChessMom initiative, a pilot project that will offer financial assistance to ten female players traveling with their infants to the 45th Chess Olympiad, which takes place in Budapest, Hungary, this September. All expen...
GMs Daniel Naroditsky and Robert Hess knocked out the commentators who inspire them, GMs Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson, as they advanced to the Semifinals of the 2024 Team Chess Battle. Gustafsson and Svidler brought their trash-talk A-games ...
Webster reached 5-0 while Rio Grande defeated the defending champions in week five of the 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL). Though Webster achieved a commanding overall score, they did so with a balanced performance from each of their pl...
Webster won their fourth match in a row while Dallas continued their comeback in week four of the 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL). With a perfect 4/4, IM Anna Sargsyan led Webster to victory vs. Prague. For Dallas, it was IM Andrei Maco...
The top of the scoreboard has narrowed to just two teams, Webster and Saint Louis, in week three of the 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL). GM Benjamin Bok turned in his second 4/4 score of the season to lead Saint Louis University to anot...
The 2024 Collegiate Chess League (CCL) kicked off on Saturday with two telling matchups. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley gained vengeance vs. their UT counterparts in Dallas, led by top scorer IM Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux with 3.5/4. In t...
Chess has found its way back into the spotlight―this time through the lens of a new female protagonist. Check & Mate, written by New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood, won the 2023 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction....
FM Faustino Oro defeated IM Levy Rozman in the much-awaited edition of ChessKid Stars vs. Streamers: Fausti vs. GothamChess. On Monday, Oro and Rozman proved to be an extremely close matchup. After many lead changes, the prodigy scored a must-win ...
GMs Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So are the last players standing at the 2023 Champions Chess Tour Finals. They will meet for the Title Match to battle for the $200,000 first prize. Carlsen knocked out his 2018 world championship nemesis GM Fa...
With a compelling finish in the blitz segment, GM Vidit Gujrathi won the Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2023 on Monday. After a rocky start, Vidit scored an undefeated 9/11 to tie for first in blitz and clinch the overall tournament. GM Arju...
Eighteen-year-old GM Aydin Suleymanli won the rapid segment of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2023 on Sunday. The youngest and lowest rated player in the field rose to the top with a display of fighting spirit, finishing with three decisive clashes i...
GM Nijat Abasov leads the Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2023 after the first three rounds of rapid on Friday. Going undefeated, Abasov had wins vs. GMs Richard Rapport and Boris Gelfand that brought him to the top of the scoreboard. His dynamic skirmish...
GM-elect Vaishali Rameshbabu crossed 2500 FIDE to earn the grandmaster title at the IV El Llobregat Open in Spain on Friday. With her three GM norms previously attained, Vaishali has now fulfilled all of the requirements. The 22-year-old shared wh...
GM Fabiano Caruana added the 2023 Sinquefield Cup to his year of victories on Thursday. In his final round vs. GM Richard Rapport, Caruana combined strategic clarity with dynamic execution to break his opponent's defenses. Caruana dominate...
After beginning the last leg with a massive lead in tour points, GM Fabiano Caruana has clinched the 2023 Grand Chess Tour with two rounds to spare at the 2023 Sinquefield Cup. He and GM Leinier Dominguez scored their second wins in a row on Tue...
It was a day of victories on Monday at the 2023 Sinquefield Cup. GM Wesley So defeated GM Levon Aronian to extend his lead, while GMs Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez scored their first wins. The Sinquefield Cup continues with round seven o...
GM Wesley So scored the first victory at the 2023 Sinquefield Cup on Friday. When GM Richard Rapport sacrificed for dynamic ideas in the King's Indian Defense, So navigated his way to safety while increasing his material edge. GMs Maxime Vachier...
GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana came the closest to scoring the first victories of the Sinquefield Cup 2023 on Wednesday. In his usual confident, fast-paced playing style, Nepomniachtchi pressed with an extra pawn for over five hours vs...
Each competitor opened the Sinquefield Cup 2023 with a balanced and accurate performance on Tuesday. Though every clash ultimately ended in a draw, GM Leinier Dominguez gained attacking chances and pressed in the ending vs. GM Fabiano Caruana whil...
ChessKid Stars, IM-elect Alice Lee and FM Tani Adewumi, defeated the Harvard Chess Club, represented by co-presidents WGM Jennifer Yu and FM Chris Shen, in the first-ever Harvard vs. ChessKid match. Starting off with a three-game winning streak,...
GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Parham Maghsoodloo each won in round nine of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023 to catch the leaders, GMs Andrey Esipenko, Vidit Gujrathi, Fabiano Caruana, and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. In the Women's, Vaishali Rameshbabu has captu...
