The rise and rise of Mateusz Bartel
Mateusz Bartel could have been forgiven for taking life easy after winning the Aeroflot Open and a coveted place in the Dortmund super-tournament. Instead he went on to win the Polish Championship for the third year in a row. Leszek Kropisz interviewed a player whose star is in the ascendancy.
Le Quang Liem and the Soviet School of Chess
Moscow’s Aeroflot Open can be something of a graveyard for foreign chess talent, so for the Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem to win it twice in a row was an amazing achievement. It’s also thought-provoking: does Le’s success tell us anything about the current balance of power between Russia and Asia?
