The Opening: Daily Chess News from First Look Chess

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Daily chess news in about five minutes: the results, the players and the decisions that matter to American chess, every morning. The Opening is the audio edition of First Look Chess, a daily newsletter for players, organizers, coaches and serious fans. Each episode covers the top five stories of the day — the Olympiad and the world championship cycle, the US Championships and US Chess national events, norms and rating milestones, federation news and the business of chess — drawn from the newsletter's morning edition, with facts checked against sources before they are read. The full edition, with links, games and PGNs to download, is available for subscribers at firstlookchess.com. Read by a synthetic voice. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise. (Note: Some names will be mispronounced at first; we fix each one as we hear it.)

Episodes

  1. 14h ago

    The Opening, Sept 19: Team USA gets past Denmark in Samarkand

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Team USA needed two wins on the middle boards to get past 25th-seeded Denmark 2½–1½ in round three of the 46th Chess Olympiad: Wesley So (FIDE 2774) beat Jesper Thybo (2579) with a queen sacrifice chess.com called "a quick and beautiful win" and an r/chess results thread a "brilliant queen sacrifice," Hans Niemann (2725) beat Mads Andersen (2549), Fabiano Caruana (2789) escaped with a draw against Jonas Bjerre (2615) from a position chess.com and Lichess both describe as winning for the Dane, and Awonder Liang (2693) lost a second straight game to a sub-2500 opponent, Bjorn Moller Ochsner (2478). The US women lead the Olympiad on tiebreaks after a 3½–½ win over Cuba: Carissa Yip (FIDE 2468) beat WGM Maritza Arribas Robaina (2257) on board one, Alice Lee (2453) beat WGM Yerisbel Miranda Llanes (2251), Tatev Abrahamyan (2347) beat WGM Yaniela Forgas Moreno (2249) and Rose Atwell (2342) drew WIM Ineymig Hernandez Gil (2157). Gukesh Dommaraju is back above 2700 on the live list at 2702 after beating Sabino Brunello with Black in 33 moves on India's board four — a board he says he asked for. A week before the FIDE presidential vote, Wadim Rosenstein told Reuters he would try to bring Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura back into classical competition, keep the classical title as the sport's premier one, follow the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Russia and Belarus, and bar FIDE employees from working simultaneously for private chess organizations. Abhimanyu Mishra, 17, told The Hindu that he has no sponsors and that being a full-time player in the United States is "quite difficult," crediting the Kasparov Chess Foundation as his support. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  2. 1d ago

    The Opening, Sept 18: Team USA edges Mongolia in Samarkand

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Team USA edged Mongolia 2½–1½ in round two of the 46th Chess Olympiad: Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2789) won his first game of the event on board one and Levon Aronian (2725) converted a narrow win, after Awonder Liang (2693) lost on board four to IM Khuyagtsogt Itgelt (2435) and Hans Niemann (2725) drew IM Amilal Munkhdalai (2491). The US women swept Belgium 4-0, a second straight whitewash: Carissa Yip (FIDE 2468) made her Samarkand debut on board one with a win over WIM Hanne Goossens (2248), and Alice Lee (2453), Irina Krush (2393) and Rose Atwell (2342) beat WFM Daria Vanduyfhuys (2123), WFM Nele Vanhuyse (2041) and Radoslawa Lascar (1975). Team USA finished fourth at the 3rd FIDE Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities — its best placing yet, per US Chess — after beating Ukraine 3-1 in Thursday's last round, while Poland took gold on 13 match points ahead of Cuba (12) and hosts Uzbekistan 1 (11). World champion Gukesh Dommaraju dropped below 2700 on the live rating list for the first time since August 2022 — to 2699.5 after a draw with 18-year-old IM Satria Duta Cahaya (2412) — on the day his November challenger Javokhir Sindarov opened his Olympiad with a double queen sacrifice against Peru's Diego Flores Quillas, capped by 31...Kf7!!, a game FIDE credits at 98% accuracy and chess.com made its Game of the Day. The October US Chess rating supplement has arrived with 1,314,408 names on the rating list, 2,821 more than the September list; the official October top-100 lists follow. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  3. 2d ago

    The Opening, Sept 17: Team USA opens the Olympiad in Samarkand

    Every story in this episode is in the First Look Chess newsletter, with the links, the games, and the PGNs to download: firstlookchess.com In this episode: Team USA opened the 46th Chess Olympiad with a 3½–½ win over Iraq, Fabiano Caruana rested and Wesley So (FIDE 2774) leading from board one, as Hans Niemann won his Olympiad debut in 23 moves and Levon Aronian was held to a draw by 2163-rated CM Ali Ehsan Aryan — the only other upset of a 2700 player all round, chess.com says. The US women swept Andorra 4-0 with Carissa Yip rested: Alice Lee (FIDE 2453), Irina Krush (2393), Tatev Abrahamyan (2347) and 17-year-old Olympiad debutante Rose Atwell (2342) all won, one of nine 4-0 scores among the top ten women's seeds. The day's chess shock came on India's top board: IM Prin Laohawirapap (THA, FIDE 2363) beat Arjun Erigaisi (2759) with Black after Erigaisi, a pawn up in a level queen-and-rook ending, played 50.Qg7?? instead of the only defence 50.Qf4 and resigned on move 54 with mate in two unavoidable — chess.com's Game of the Day, "a beautiful mating attack" in the words of an r/chess results thread, across a 396-point gap per Sportstar. FIDE will reimburse teams that had to rent their own rooms in Samarkand for up to three days and pay an additional compensation to teams kept in official hotels below FIDE-approved standard — and its Council, in a separate statement, says the FIDE Congress "can be held only" if every voting delegate can attend, and will consider moving it to other dates and a different location if visas are not granted. Poland leads the 3rd FIDE Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities alone on 11 match points after a 4-0 win over the Czech Republic, and the United States goes into Thursday's final round on 8, level with Israel, Mongolia, IBCA, Ukraine and Hungary, per ChessBase's German standings. The Opening is written from the day's evidence and checked by the same fact rules as the newsletter; the voice is synthetic. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise.

  • 3 Episodes

About

Daily chess news in about five minutes: the results, the players and the decisions that matter to American chess, every morning. The Opening is the audio edition of First Look Chess, a daily newsletter for players, organizers, coaches and serious fans. Each episode covers the top five stories of the day — the Olympiad and the world championship cycle, the US Championships and US Chess national events, norms and rating milestones, federation news and the business of chess — drawn from the newsletter's morning edition, with facts checked against sources before they are read. The full edition, with links, games and PGNs to download, is available for subscribers at firstlookchess.com. Read by a synthetic voice. Powered by AI, guided by human expertise. (Note: Some names will be mispronounced at first; we fix each one as we hear it.)

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