Chess Trivia of 31 January

On 31 January Saidali Iuldachev (1968) was born.

>> earlier trivia

Ivan Sokolov leading the field in exciting Gibraltar

The tournament in Gibraltar is extremely exciting this year. After seven rounds, a lot of players still have a good chance to win the tournament, like Milov, Efimenko, Gurevich, Kuzubov, Adams, Akopian, Areshchenko, Sutovsky and Nakamura, who are all shared second with 5,5 points. So far the best player is Ivan Sokolov, who grabbed the sole lead (6 out of 7!) today with his victory against Sulskis. Right before the tournament he was commentating the games at Corus, so perhaps Ivan was inspired by this! full story »

What would you like to ask Anatoly Karpov?

This week, the 12th world champion of chess, Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov, is in Holland. Karpov, who was the best chess player for ten years and who has won more tournaments than anybody else, doesn’t play chess very often anymore, but he’s still one of the Greats on Earth. Chessvibes has planned a provisional interview with Karpov, on Wednesday, January 31st (which he can’t confirm before tonight). We’re planning to ask him questions that are put forward by you, the Chessvibes audience!

Update: the interview with Mr Karpov has been confirmed, and will take place tomorrow! full story »

Chess Trivia of 30 January

On 30 January Sam Loyd (1841), Boris Spassky (1937), Alexei Dreev (1969) and Boris Chatalbashev (1974) were born.

>> earlier trivia

Welcome new visitors

Thanks to the Corus Chess Tournament this site is enjoying a major success. The videos we have been making, were appreciated a lot - especially the press conferences. Since literally thousands of new visitors have come to the Chessvibes website during Corus, we hereby warmly welcome these new visitors. And at the same time, in this short article you’ll find an answer to the question: what kind of site is this?? full story »

Drama in group C

In the last two weeks, we’ve paid attention to groups B and C of Corus as well, and so we should bring you some concluding words about these groups too. Where many predicted that group A and B would only be decided in the last round, it seemed for a long time that group C already had a winner. Ian Nepomniachtchi had a phenomenal start with 7,5 out of 8. After a few draws in the last rounds he had a score of 10 out of 12. Indeed his margin of 1,5 on the Polish grandmaster Krasenkow was reduced to only a half point, but the 8 victories, 4 draws and his unbeaten record, should have given him enough confidence for a draw at least in the last round, playing with White against Nadezhda Kosintseva. Things went differently. full story »

FIDE rejects bid Topalov/Danailov

FIDE has rejected the bid done by Topalov/Danailov to organize a rematch Kramnik-Topalov. The federation states that there’s nothing wrong with the 2 million dollar bank guarantee, for which the Bulgarians had to change banks last week to please FIDE, but that there’s simply no time. full story »

Chess Trivia of 29 January

On 29 January Irving Chernev (1900), Raymond Keene (1948), Maxim Dlugy (1966) and Arthur Kogan (1974) were born.

>> earlier trivia

Press conference Aronian

And then there was that third person who also ended first in the tournament. Levon Aronian beat Sergei Tiviakov convincingly and was also prepared to show it. And he answers some questions afterwards as well. For today it’s our last post, now we’re heading for the prize giving. We hope that after Corus you’ll stay tuned for your daily update of chess news at Chessvibes! full story »

Joint press conference Radjabov & Topalov

Because the two gentlemen ended first by drawing their game, both Teimour Radjabov and Veselin Topalov were asked to explain their game. They accepted and so we’re glad that we can broadcast this little show as well. Unfortunately Radjabov is standing before the demo board a lot, but the cameraman (yours truly) couldn’t move being stuck between members of a Bulgarian and an Armenian televison crew. But guess who’s publishing the material first. full story »

Live reporting: the last round

Last update: 18.57 CET

Enjoy it while you can, because today is already the last round of the Corus Chess Tournament. (For the Chessvibes-team it will be a new experience as well tomorrow!) Naturally, all attention is focussed on Radjabov-Topalov, the two leaders who accidently face each other in their last game. The follow the tenth match game Kramnik-Topalov, Wch (Elista) 2006, which was won by Kramnik after Topalov blundered on move 24. Apparently the Bulgarian has something in store. If they draw, Aronian can join them winning the tournament, and he’s really trying. He sac’ed a pawn and has attacking chances comparable to those in his game against Navara. There’s a drama going on in group C where Nepomniachtchi is being smashed by Nadezhda Kosintseva and the young Russian tournament leader has been sitting with his head in his hands for ten minutes now. full story »

Chess Trivia of 28 January

On 28 January Ferdinand Hellers (1969) was born.

>> earlier trivia

Pressconference Loek van Wely

After his crushing win over Peter Svidler, Loek van Wely gave straight away a pressconference and showed why he was able to win this quickly. In the end some questions where asked and we also asked if he considered the recent accusations around Topalov credible. Enjoy! full story »

Live reporting: round 12

Last update: 18.40 CET (video online!)

The most important round of the tournament has started. Of course, all attention is focused on the game Topalov-Kramnik. Before the game there was some speculation about whether there would be a handshake or not. We’ve got it on tape: there wasn’t. (Video is uploaded as soon as possible.) It’s total craziness in Wijk aan Zee at the moment, with press, television crews all over the place. More about that later.
What about the game itself? Kramnik surprised many by playing the Queen’s Gambit Declined (instead of Slav/Meran Defence like in recent the Topalov-Kramnik WC match). A very sharp position with opposite castling is now on the board. There’s not much theory about this line, so we’ll see what the players come up with.
Carlsen-Karjakin is a theoretical discussion in the Open Ruy Lopez. Navara-Pono seems to be about equal. Svidler played his beloved Grunfeld defence against Loek van Wely, who also knows the opening very well. We predict a draw
Radjabov again shows great faith in the King’s Indian Defence. Motylev tries to break it with gentle means, but the current position is very unclear. Tivi plays safety first again. Aronian has solved all his problems in the anti-Marshall. More later. full story »

Eljanov sitting pretty

In group B two of the three leaders lost their game yesterday. Bologan was not able to keep a draw position and lost against Sargissian. The top game between Vachier-Lagrave and Eljanov resulted in a victory for the latter. Especially the way the Frenchman lost, he won’t forget easily. In group C leader Nepomniachtchi won his game against Brynell, after a lot of manoeuvring in a French opening. His rival, Krasenkow, gratefully accepted a dubious pawn sacrifice of Jonkman and won the endgame easily. Because of this Nepomniachtchi’s margin is still only one point. Enjoy the game fragments. full story »

Weekly Endgame Study (4)

Every Saturday an endgame study is published at Chessvibes, selected by Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. full story »

Next Page »