Draw Rates In The Grand Chess Tour

And interesting article that, IMO, shows the folly of having a classical world championship match decided by rapid and/or blitz games if tied after a certain number of games.
https://www.chess.com/article/view/time-controls-and-the-grand-chess-tour 

Danville Open (FIDE Rated) Returns September 7th-8th, 2019

Danville Open (FIDE) Set to Return in September

The Danville Open with FIDE rated sections is due to make its return to the Danville VT Community Center September 7-8, 2019. More details about sponsorship and prizes to follow. Stay tuned and save the date......

A New Russian Vlad? Artemiev Clear First at Gibraltar

https://www.chess.com/news/view/artemiev-wins-clear-first-at-gibraltar-chess-festival

Kramnik Retires

I'll go out on a limb and predict that Kramnik will follow Arkady Dvorkovich as President of FIDE.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/vladimir-kramnik-to-retire

Kramnik and Giri at Tata where Kramnik finished in last place. 

Heading South to The Straight

Moving from the cold of the North at Wijk to the warmth of Gibraltar where friend GM Nigel Short is participating. After seven rounds the leader is Russian GM Vladislav Artemiev with 6 points. Nigel is presently at 4.5 points. All the games can be followed on Chessbase and any number of other popular chess web sites. 
Complete standings after Round 7 can be found here:

http://chess-results.com/tnr377792.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=7&fbclid=IwAR26euNu8WfcKxIYPm-6tj0CaPK38ZYIba7NQ0a7PlyrD9ZyBHAK4B1REO0

Thank You from Kingdom Chess!

Thank you to the folks who donated towards the purchase of another banquet size table to accommodate the increased number of players showing up on Sunday afternoons at Cafe Lotti. We also have two new digital clocks with delay and bonus feature thanks to Hal Frost's generosity. See you all on Sunday!  

New and old faces in the photo from this past Sunday of some of the folks who showed up early in the session. Eric arrived a bit later after having left work quite ill, but making a miraculous recovery after leaving work........😊