Bruadaran a thoirt foirm : An saoghal a rèir I

Fabiano Caruana wins against Loek Van Wely to get within half a point of leader Magnus Carlsen. Ding Liren beat Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine to go third 1 point behind Magnus. The rest of the games were draws. Leaving it all to play for going into the final round. Full live,entertaining coverage and detailed reports on chess24.com .

And also going on in the world of chess right now is the Gibraltar Chess Festival 2016. Catch up on news from the latest days play on the video below and on the tournament website  as well as chess24.com .

All to play for, but with Magnus out in front. He remains favourite for the tournament win. Fabiano Caruana's win against Wei Yi brought Fabiano within half a point of Magnus Carlsen. 3 rounds to go. This still could go all the way, Magnus still firm favourite for the win though. Hou Yifan seems to be struggling after a good start to the tournament. Up against Magnus next round ;-). Michael Adams also got a good win against Sergey Karjakin. After a poor start to the tournament. Excellent video series on chess24 from Hou Yifan : link .

Magnus Carlsen once again shows his mastery of the game of chess in the Tata Steel Masters. As the tournament reaches crunch time with 6 rounds to go, Magnus Carlsen is tied for the tournament victory with Fabiano Caruana of the USA. After winning in the last 3 rounds. Against Loek Van Wely of Holland in round 5. Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia in round 6, and Pavel Elijanov of Ukraine in round 7. Magnus Carlsen meets Sergey Karjakin of Russia in round 8. With still some tricky opponents yet to play. It is perhaps too close to call. But Magnus Carlsen is still very much the favourite for the tournament win.

3 rounds in at the Tata Steel Masters. And Fabiano Caruana of the USA, takes a half point lead in the tournament.

Tata Steel the first super-tournament of the new year. 14 players are up for the competition. Chess24 has full live coverage of the tournament. Amongst the competitors is Micky (Michael) Adams from England representing the UK. Go micky! Hou Yifan is also competing. Go Hou Yifan! With Magnus Carlsen World Champion also competing he is the overwhelming favourite. It will be interesting how this tournament all pans out. Follow detailed coverage on chess24.com.

In this age of internationalism. Where people around the world constantly translate from one language to another. The importance of the meanings of words can make a great difference, to the impression, the writer gives to an article. Case in point is the highly interesting article on Sergey Shipov's review of 2015. link and the original Russian article link . Checking the article, google translates some of the article from Russian as below : "... Sergey Shipov: I think the 2015-th year as a whole: Year was not dull. Battle chess tournaments with a lot of interesting games were followed by political scandals.The computer could sit and watch without stopping. But even more interesting was on the ground. The major sporting events of the year I think, and the accession of Mary Muzichuk determination of the composition of the new Candidates tournament in men. In fact, it is an introduction to the more important events of the next year. As for the scandal - will...

Martyn Bennett Stream :  Spotify Link

Think 2015 will largely be remembered for two things. The day mount everest moved. Displaying the destructive force of nature. Where , according to cnn, over 3200 people lossed  their lives. (Population of nepal 27.8 million in 2013).

Also happening this year. Is the next stage in determining the FIDE World Chess Champion. Planned to occur between the 10th and 30th of March 2016, in Moscow. The candidates tournament will determine the next challenger, to take on the current World Chess Champion.  In a head to head dual for the laurel wreath of FIDE World Chess Champion. It is being organised by AgonLimited details can be found at their website.  link

I have to say I was a bit disappointed that chess24 described 2015 as mediocre. I agree that Carlsen definitely dominated and was the man to beat in 2015. But I also thought 2015 was a beginning of a more accessible level of tournaments for the much desired and maligned fan. Tournaments which appealed to an internet audience sprung up. Millionaire chess, the grand chess tour and other major tournaments around the world. They are more accessible than ever before thanks to the world wide web, increasing bandwidth, and  the talents of the commentators on show. They work hard for their buck these commentators and provide a mix of light entertainment and heavy detailed analysis. Some are more at home with the analysis but people like Peter Svidler,  Jan, Lawrence Trent, Nicolas Huschenbeth and on the american side, Maurice Ashley, Yasser Seirwan, Jennifer Shahade do a great job of trying to demystify the world of elite, professional chess. Example below of interview of Gar...