WELCOME TO THE MOST POPULAR TURN-BASED CHESS WEBSITE ON THE NET! (*)
What is GameKnot exactly? An online chess community where you can play chess even if you only have 10 minutes per day to spare. Playing chess, you are guaranteed a good exercise for your brain and enjoyable time too! No additional software to download, free registration, online chess at its best. You choose when to move and how often to move, and you don't have to finish your games in one sitting -- they'll be waiting for you the next day. If you prefer serious competitive chess, you can ponder about your next move the whole day, or when you have a spare minute, or even when stuck in traffic. You can also play at work, while doing other things or whenever you get bored!
If you prefer fast real-time chess games, try our Blitz Chess. We offer several ways to compete and win: chess league, bi-monthly tournaments, mini-tournaments, teams and more! We also have a very helpful online chess games database, educational annotated games and fun chess puzzles. We also provide free chess tools for websites/blogs.
New to the site? Here are some tips to get you started. Feel free to visit our forums, FAQ pages or teams. Please log in to play online chess or more options.
 | LOGIN: |  |
|
Forgot your password or user name? Click here to have it sent to you via e-mail.
If you are having trouble logging in, make sure that your computer has the correct date and time set, and that cookies are enabled in your browser to be able to play online chess.
|
Totals: (since June 2000)
Registered players: 691,257
Completed games: 12,277,983
Games in progress: 125,161
Players currently online: 1,892
|
| PLAY ONLINE CHESS: | |
| PLAY ONLINE CHESS: | |
Local GameKnot time: 11:57 PST, GMT-08:00
What's new on GameKnot: here
Top GameKnot players: here
Competition table for top veteran players: here
We employ compression technology to increase page
loading speed when used with the latest version of: |
 |
 |
If you have a website or a homepage,
feel free to link to GameKnot using these links:
Tip: press Control+D to bookmark GameKnot.
|
 |
|
^^ Advertisement. How to remove? ^^
|
| WORLD CHESS NEWS: | |
Barden on Chess
Russia outclassed the field in this week's European team chess championship in Crete, where its chess team secured the gold medals with a round to spare and its top pair, Peter Svidler and Alex Morozevich, had the best individual performances. England were seeded 16th and finished in that position, but the only real blemish on a good result was a 0.5-3.5 disaster against Poland. Michael Adams scored an unbeaten 5.5/8 and a 2800 rating performance on top board. Back in the 1970s rising English talents specialised in the Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian, where White launches his f pawn supported by a c4 bishop. Now the Grand Prix is back in vogue, with the difference that the bishop goes to b5. Gawain Jones, 19, has become ... |
Telegraph chess: Russia takes Euro glory
Russia made a clean sweep of the European Team Chess Championships at Crete as their women’s chess team also took gold. The star performer was GM Alexandra Kosteniuk who was in good form in her first serious competitive chess event since the birth of her first child. Kosteniuk scored 5.5/8 on board one and only a last round defeat by Katerina Lahno of Ukraine took her tournament rating performance below the 2600 mark. England’s performance was indifferent with only Ingrid Lauterbach performing above her rating. If England could field their top four chess players, Harriet Hunt and Susan Lalic were unavailable, they would challenge for a medal. ... |
Telegraph chess: Russians out of reach
Russia won the European Team Chess Championships at Crete with a round to spare. Although their run of victories was ended by Spain in the eighth round, a 2-2 draw was sufficient to give them an unassailable lead of three match points as their closest rivals Azerbaijan and Armenia drew 2-2. Alexander Morozevich lost to Alexey Shirov and his personal score dropped to 6/8, still a wonderful performance. Peter Svidler was rested for the match against Spain. His 5/6 score gives him a tournament rating performance close to 3000 and he could surpass that with victory in the final game against Bulgaria. England had another great day defeating Georgia 2.5-1.5. Michael Adams won on top board and Gawain Jones crushed another highly rated chess Grandmaster with ... |
Telegraph chess: Russia goes for gold
It is now a magnificent seven wins out of seven for Russia as they defeated France 2.5-1.5 to increase their lead to 3 match points at the European Team Chess Championships taking place in Crete. Alexander Morozevich scored the decisive win over the European Individual chess champion Vladislav Tkachiev on the second board. Morozevich’s score on board two is 6/7, on board one Peter Svidler has 5/6. Both chess players have tournament rating performances close to 3000. With two rounds to play, Russia need only draw their remaining matches to secure the gold medals. Next up for the leaders is an Armenian chess team who have defeated them before. It is a very long time since world number two Vasily Ivanchuk lost twice in the same chess event but ... |
Speelman on Chess
The European Team Chess Championship has been taking place at the Creta Maris Conference Hotel in Crete and continues until Tuesday. The world's premier international chess team competition apart from the Olympiad itself - and indeed (with far fewer weak teams) in terms of average strength it is of course much stronger, this biennial chess event brings together almost all of the world's top chess countries with (on a fairly broad definition of Europe) only the USA, China and India absent from the current top 20. It's also therefore extremely strong on an individual level and of the world's top 10 chess players only the world champion Viswanathan Anand (perforce because he's Indian), his predecessor Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko are ... |
Telegraph chess: Russian roulette
A round five showdown between Russia and Azerbaijan is in prospect as they overcame Slovenia and Holland respectively to continue their winning runs and reach 8/8 match points at the European Team Chess Championships taking place in Crete. Team score two for a win and one for a 2-2 draw over the four boards. The leaders are already two match points clear of the field as the other two unbeaten chess teams; Israel and Ukraine have both drawn two matches. Another of the favourites, Armenia, were surprisingly held 2-2 by Denmark and their two match wins and a draw give them only 5/8. England drew 2-2 with Sweden which was pretty much a par result. Michael Adams won on top board but Nick Pert lost. Scotland defeated Luxembourg. Veselin Topalov is ... |
Barden on Chess
England, the main chess rivals to the Soviet Union 20 years ago, are seeded only 16th in the current European chess championships at Heraklion, Crete. Though led by the world No13, Michael Adams, the chess team otherwise consists of modestly ranked GMs with the inexperienced Gawain Jones on board two. England still made a solid start and are 12th before this afternoon's sixth round of nine. Mark Hebden, at 49 the team veteran, has 4/5. As usual these days, former Soviet chess teams dominate the seedings. Behind Russia and Ukraine, the small Caucasian states Azerbaijan and Armenia are ranked third and fourth. Ukraine's world No2 Vasily Ivanchuk arrived late, but Sergey Karjakin, 17, proved an able deputy in this week's game. Rising chess talents often ... |
Chessboxing — where pawn meets brawn
Andreas Dilschneider was still thinking about his opening moves on the chessboard when his opponent rushed up to him and punched him. Several times. Dilschneider didn't complain. It was all perfectly legitimate. He threw a few punches of his own. When he got back to the chessboard, he was laboring and the adrenaline was pumping. He tried to keep calm and avoid hasty moves. Four minutes later, it was back into the boxing ring again. Welcome to chessboxing, a sport that prides itself on its incongruous mix of muscle and mind. Think jab with your right, counter with your queen. The rules are simple: six rounds of speed chess interlaced with five three-minute rounds in the ring. Each competitor has 12 minutes in total on the chess timer. Victory is ... |
Telegraph chess: Azerbaijan's aces
Russia, Azerbaijan, Slovenia and Holland are the only chess teams to have won all their matches after three rounds of the European Team Chess Championships taking place in Crete. The Russians, led by Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler look in good form and have already scored victories over the Armenians and Czechs. Azerbaijan are the only chess team with two players in the world’s top ten and Shakriyaz Mamedyarov demolished Vishy Anand’s trainer Peter-Heine Nielsen to score the decisive win in a narrow victory over Denmark. Ukraine were frustrated by Israel for whom Michael Roiz overcame Sergey Karjakin. Roiz is a somewhat underrated chess player and he scored a masterful victory over Anatoly Karpov earlier this year. ... |
Telegraph chess: Tiger shows his stripes
Tiger Hillarp-Persson won the Guernsey Chess Festival with a score of 6/7. ‘The Tiger’ arrived late but had organised a first round half point bye in advance. He won his first five games and then drew with the Russian GM Vladimir Epishin before defeating Robert Bellin in the last round – see below. Epishin scored 5.5. R Bellin – T Hillarp-Perssonn 33rd Guernsey Open (7) Sicilian Najdorf ... |
Telegraph chess: Ivanchuk chucks Leko
In a recent interview, Alexander Morozevich stated that Vasily Ivanchuk is the best chess player in the world. Morozevich pointed out that Ivanchuk has risen to world number two without the assistance of a big analytical team. Before travelling to Crete to play on the top board for Ukraine at the European Team Chess Championships Ivanchuk played a challenge match against world number five Peter Leko of Hungary in the Ukrainian town of Mukachevo. Games were played at a rate of 10 minutes plus an increment of 10 seconds per move. Ivanchuk took a two game lead but Leko levelled the score in game eleven and the final Rapid game was drawn. The chess match went to a Blitz playoff which Ivanchuk won. England played Scotland in ... |
Telegraph chess: Nakamura triumphs
The nineteen year old American GM Hikaru Nakamura scored one of his finest tournament victories to date as he won the Casino Barcelona chess tournament by a clear point with a score of 7/9. A last round win over the Spanish GM Marc Narciso Dublan ensured his victory. Nakamura was his combative self and drew just two games. The Cuban Lenier Dominguez was second on 6/9. The Israeli chess grandmaster Viktor Mikhalevski won the Calvia Open on the island of Majorca ahead of a very strong field after winning his first seven games. He slowed down and drew the last two but still finished a point clear of former WCC Candidate Kevin Spraggett who was second. The British Women’s Chess Champion Ketevan Arakhamia Grant of Edinburgh scored her second GM norm after ... |
Chess with Jonathan Speelman
The 11th annual Essent Chess Tournament took place in Hoogeveen in Holland from 12-20 October. First held in 1997, this always comprises several different sections with at the top an elite four player double rounder. Last year's tournament was won jointly by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Judit Polgar and Mamedyarov was back together with Ruslan Ponomariov, Loek Van Wely and the 2006 World Junior Chess Champion Zaven Andriasian (Armenia), who was invited since the World Junior Champion is traditionally included in the field. This was both extremely flattering for Andriasian, who is rated in the mid 2500s more than 160 points less than the average of the others, and potentially exceedingly treacherous. It's impossible to convey here what it's like to play chess in ... |
Barden on chess
It sounded an attractive chess event. The elite teens Sergey Karjakin, 17, and Magnus Carlsen, 16, the all-time No1 woman, Judit Polgar, and the combative Veselin Topalov were all in a six-player double-rounder in Bilbao last week. Unfortunately the small print was that it was blind chess, played with a keyboard and an empty chessboard, at a fast time limit. The games were littered with blunders. Monaco's Amber chess event also has blind games but there the board is on a computer screen rather than physically on the table, and this factor seems to have disoriented the GM thought patterns in Bilbao. China's Bu Xiangzhi was the surprise winner. This gimmicky chess tournament was a wasted opportunity. If the Spaniards had staged a Karjakin v Carlsen match ... |
Telegraph chess: The usual suspects...
The European Team Chess Championships start tomorrow in Crete and run until 7th November at the Maris Conference Hotel. Forty countries have registered and I expect the medals to go to three of either: Russia, Ukraine, Armenia or Azerbaijan although France, Spain and Israel may also challenge. Hungary would have been amongst the favourites were it not for the absence of Peter Leko and Judit Polgar. England’s days of challenging for medals are long gone and the chess team is weakened by the absence of Nigel Short and what appears to be the retirement of Luke McShane who has taken a job in the City of London. Scotland and Wales are represented although by amateur chess teams, presumably due to lack of funds. Only three of the world’s top ten rated chess players will ... |
 [ more news... ] |
|  |
