Krasenkow and Spoelman lead after 6th round Hilversum
After six rounds, Wouter Spoelman has managed to keep his lead at the Intomart GfK Open in Hilversum, The Netherlands. However, the Dutch GM is now sharing first place with GM Michal Krasenkow from Poland. The two, who collected 5 points, are chased by four players with half a point less. full story »
Carlsen beats Jakovenko in first round Dortmund
Magnus Carlsen beat Russia’s new number one player Dmitry Jakovenko today in a Berlin Ruy Lopez to take an early lead at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund. Both Leko-Kramnik and Naiditsch-Bacrot ended in a draw. full story »
ChessCafe reviews ChessVibes Openings
“So, who-ya-gonna-call? Opening busters? Not quite. For the reasonable price of 25 euros per year, once a week you can receive intelligent, interesting opening surveys and analysis presented by a team lead by Dutch IMs Merijn van Delft & Robert Ris”, wrote Eugene Manchester in his review for ChessCafe yesterday, about ChessVibes Openings.
full story »
Dortmund starts today
At 15.00 CET today the first round of the Dortmund super-tournament takes off with Leko-Kramnik, Carlsen-Jakovenko and Naiditsch-Bacrot. It’s yet another six-player, double round-robin and we’ll be providing daily coverage. full story »
The new Laws of Chess: what has changed?
As of today, July 1st, 2009 our beloved game of chess has a new edition of its official rules: the Laws of Chess. The best known, and most-feared change is the so-called “zero-tolerance” rule: a player who arrives just a few seconds late at his board, loses the game. We asked top arbiter and chairman of the FIDE Rules and Tournament Regulations Committee, Geurt Gijssen: what has changed, and why? full story »
Topalov still 25 points ahead of Anand on July rating list
Veselin Topalov tops the July FIDE rating list with a rating of 2813. The Bulgarian is 25 points ahead of World Champion Viswanathan Anand. After dropping 33 rating points on the previous list, Vassily Ivanchuk lost 43 more points, to dive to 30th place.
full story »
Review: Two Classics
Peter told me last week he had been to a concert called The Beatles vs. The Stones. Tastes differ, but still … as a Beatles fan I can’t help feeling tempted to start a discussion with Stones fans sometimes, just for fun. Do they really think Sticky Fingers is better than Sgt. Pepper? full story »
Only Spoelman still on 100% in Hilversum
Last week he was awarded the GM title by FIDE and after three rounds he’s the sole leader at the strong Intomart GfK Open in Hilversum, The Netherlands: Wouter Spoelman. A total of 5 IMs and 10 GMs play, including the youngest GM in the world, Anish Giri, who’s defending his title. full story »
Berelovich, Van den Doel and Khenkin win in Haarlem
Igor Khenkin Sunday won the NOVA College Weekender in Haarlem on tiebreak, sharing first place and prize money with GMs Aleksandar Berelovich and Erik van den Doel. Berelovich caught the leaders Khenkin and Van den Doel who had drawn their last-round game in 8 moves, to the disappointment of the organizer and the fans. full story »
Recent headlines
• Krasenkow and Spoelman lead after 6th round Hilversum 3/7, 11:09 (0) • Carlsen beats Jakovenko in first round Dortmund 2/7, 22:22 (1) • ChessCafe reviews ChessVibes Openings 2/7, 20:49 (1) • Dortmund starts today 2/7, 9:19 (6) • The new Laws of Chess: what has changed? 1/7, 11:00 (28) • Topalov still 25 points ahead of Anand on July rating list 1/7, 3:10 (4) • Review: Two Classics 30/6, 14:50 (3) • Only Spoelman still on 100% in Hilversum 30/6, 10:55 (5) • Berelovich, Van den Doel and Khenkin win in Haarlem 29/6, 12:25 (3) • Grischuk wins 3rd ICC Mainz qualifier 29/6, 9:50 (4) » older postsRecent comments
• Nick Faulks, 3 July 2009, 14.37: Arne is correct, and we’ve been through precisely this process with the ghastly “FIDE time control” of 90 minutes for the game plus an...• Tordynna, 3 July 2009, 14.29: Carlsen is magnificent . He is one of the few players that are really interesting to follow during live play. His handling of the white pieces is...
• Arne Moll, 3 July 2009, 10.29: Peter, but this is exactly my (our) point! The problem is not the rules itself, the problem is their incorporation into the official Laws of Chess. It...
• Peter Doggers, 3 July 2009, 9.50: @Arne Now you’re even using the slippery slope. Society changes, and chess changes too. Internet and computers have a big influence on language,...
• Peter Doggers, 3 July 2009, 9.35: @Joost Kudos for leaving a sharp comment under your own name - more people should do that. However, calling Gijssen (double s!) a...
• Arne Moll, 3 July 2009, 9.22: I guess you could interpret it that way, Frits. I just don’t see the point of incorporating all these news rules. I mean, isn’t the Laws of...
• Frits Fritschy, 2 July 2009, 22.18: Arne, You’re doing it again: I do not dismiss all criticism on governments as some form of inconstructive complaining of the people; I do...
• Arne Moll, 2 July 2009, 20.46: @Frits, surely it’s equally condescending to dismiss all criticism on governments as some form of inconstructive complaining of the people....
• Frits Fritschy, 2 July 2009, 20.29: Arne, On what grounds do you think we ‘all’ agree these rules are silly or unclear? I don’t. I remember you saying something once...
• Nick Faulks, 2 July 2009, 19.22: Castro, You are entirely correct that until yesterday tournaments using anti-draw rules were in clear breach of the Laws of Chess. I mentioned at last...
Chess and poker
The transition from chess to poker is usually a smooth one and in fact many chess players have successfully taken on poker and ended up as professional players. If you are interested in poker you could visit poker guide Poker Listings.com. You might want to check out their poker odds calculator to learn the odds and percentages of poker.
Recent columns
If you have kids, you’ve probably thought hard about how to name your child. Should you choose...
This week ChessBase published translations of two interesting interviews, with FIDE President Kirsan...
In two recent reports on the Grand Prix in Nalchik, my colleague-editor Michael Schwerteck wrote about...
Recent reviews
Peter told me last week he had been to a concert called The Beatles vs. The Stones. Tastes differ, but...
Ivan Sokolov’s Winning Chess Middlegames - an Essential Guide to Pawn Structures has already received...
Igor Stohl’s Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces is written in the tradition of classic chess...
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