Qualified information scientist who started reporting chess on the internet in 1993. Creator and editor of The Week in Chess.
Bradford
Joined April 2009
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The Week in Chess 1668 of 26th October 2026 by Mark Crowther. 35 stories theweekinchess.com/html/twic… and 7159 games. theweekinchess.com/
The Week in Chess 1667 of 19th October 2026 by Mark Crowther. 35 stories theweekinchess.com/html/twic… and 8561 games. theweekinchess.com/
The Week in Chess 1666 of 12th October 2026 by Mark Crowther. 42 stories theweekinchess.com/html/twic… and 8734 games. theweekinchess.com/
I thought after midnight finishes were a thing of the past. I'd almost finished at 10am this morning but well, I kept adding things.
Writing something about the World Senior Teams. Nunn-Beliavsky was obviously a big deal. The game ends very strangely. Nunn was a pawn up, the position was heading for a draw, 54. Rb7= Rh2? white is now winning 55. Rb5! 1/2-1/2 I just can't work out a scenario when this happens.
The Week in Chess 1665 of 5th October 2026 by Mark Crowther. 25 stories theweekinchess.com/html/twic… and 5766 games. theweekinchess.com/
I'm writing a short piece about Bodhana, I've got a question which I haven't been able to find an answer to, what, if any, part has online blitz played in her development and continued improvement? She seems to be a bit of a blitz demon but I couldn't find any talk about it.
Never trust AI for anything. I asked it for a chess stat, you can try, it gave me a list, I said where did that come from? it gave me a website, not there, where did it come from? Oh I downloaded the rating list, you didn't use to be able to do that, oh I didn't, I made it up.
The Week in Chess 1664 of 28th September 2026 by Mark Crowther. 14 stories theweekinchess.com/html/twic… and 9114 games. theweekinchess.com/
Mark Crowther retweeted
Results after Round 1 (192 valid votes):
Turlov - 96 votes
Rosenstein - 76 votes
Buettner - 20 votes
We proceed to Round 2, as Turlov needed one more vote to clinch it in the first round.
The Week in Chess 1663 of 21st September 2026 by Mark Crowther. 18 stories theweekinchess.com/html/twic… and 10030 games. theweekinchess.com/
Mark Crowther retweeted
From the original 4NCL website, webmastered by me in 1998, with some of the first chess photos taken with a digital camera that I can recall seeing. Two of the people featured, Stuart Conquest and Syringa Turvey (Camp), are currently at the Olympiad in Samarkand.
Mark Crowther retweeted
a few picturesque positions from my latest #ChessOlympiad analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=6nlQzlnj… #SlowKnightsChess 🐴🐴
Turns out my brand is just asking the same questions over and over again youtube.com/shorts/wW-ChfV_a… via @YouTube
The other change I made to my usual policy is one I may make more generally in the future. The FIDE rating list has some names which are all capitalised, or parts all capitalised, I decided to change these to normal name case.
I have a question about the FIDE rating list. Is there anyone whose job it is to care about the state of the names in the list? It doesn't seem like anyone cares. Names not punctuated, names all in caps etc, It is kind of important. @FIDE_chess @ChrisBirdIA @TelegraphChess
On TWIC theweekinchess.com/live I have live coverage of the top 20 boards and a full file updated every 15 minutes. I've been correcting mismatched results and I'm happy with how all my checks against the results are going so far.
I'm just celebrating TWIC's 32nd birthday. The first issue was released on 17th September 1994. theweekinchess.com
For the Olympiad I've made a special effort to produce the best quality PGN files, team names, match numbers, boards and double checked results.
Mark Crowther retweeted
I last spoke to "Makro" just before the 2022 FIDE Presidential election, when we met by chance entering the hall
I asked him, can you help with 80 votes ?
He said sorry, I only have 50.
We often disagreed politically, but I always enjoyed his humor and respected his competence.
FIDE is deeply saddened by the passing of Georgios Makropoulos, FIDE Vice President, Honorary President of the Greek Chess Federation, International Master, seven-time Greek Champion, and one of the most influential figures in international chess administration over the past four decades.
Born on September 29, 1953, Makropoulos was among Greece’s leading players in the 1970s and 1980s. He won the Greek Championship seven times between 1971 and 1985, represented his country at three Chess Olympiads and the European Team Championship, and earned the International Master title in 1979.
His contribution to chess, however, extended far beyond the board. Few people have been as closely involved in the development and governance of international chess across such a long and transformative period. Georgios Makropoulos devoted much of his life to chess. His knowledge, experience, energy and commitment left a lasting mark on FIDE and on generations of people across the global chess community.
FIDE extends its deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and the Greek chess community.
His contribution to our game will be remembered with gratitude and respect.
Rest in peace, Georgios.
