European Team Championships under way

For everyone who didn’t know it yet: after the European Club Cup yet another huge event is under way in this October month of 2007. After Turkey it’s now Greece that has the honour to host an international mega tourney for teams: the European Team Championships (to clarify: this time it’s for countries!). 39 countries participate, from Russia and Armenia all the way to Monaco and Wales, and what follows is a list of the best ten players who will be playing at least a few games there on the island of Crete: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaidzhan), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaidzhan), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Peter Svidler (Russia), Michael Adams (England) and Evgeny Alekseev (Russia). full story »

8 players from World Top-100 in Corus B

The strength of the three GM groups of the yearly Corus Chess Tournament is unparalleled and so the line-up for their B and C groups is usually as interesting and impressive as the one for the A group. For the C-list we have to wait till after the Cultural Village Tournament (19–28 November 2007 in Wijk aan Zee), where the winner qualifies, but today the participants of the Corus Chess Tournament B group 2008 have been announced. full story »

Ivanchuk beats Leko after blitz playoff

Leko had returned from the grave, levelling a score of 5-3 in Ivanchuk’s favour after 8 games, to put the final score on 6-6. But in the end it was still Ivanchuk who went away with the victory after winning the blitz playoff 0,5-1,5. This weekend the two super grandmasters played a 12-game exhibition rapid match in the western Ukrainian town of Mukachevo. full story »

Save 11% on Fritz 11, offer ends 11/11

As you may know, Fritz 11 is just around the corner (we are expecting it to arrive on November 20). It will contain loads of new and better features.

To celebrate the big recent influx of new subscribers to New In Chess, we are making you an interesting offer:

An 11% discount on Fritz 11! Offers ends on 11/11/2007.

If you are interested you can enter our online shop.

Life sentence for “chess board killer”

A former grocery clerk was sentenced today to life in a hard labor colony for slaying 48 people in an effort to fill all 64 squares on a chessboard, luring his elderly, alcoholic victims with vodka and dumping them in a Moscow park. Alexander Pichushkin, who claimed to have killed 60 people, stood in a reinforced glass cage with his hands cuffed behind his back as a judge delivered the harshest possible punishment under Russian law. full story »

Third Micha Leuw Memorial

During the last two months I’ve been pretty busy and there wasn’t much time for chess. Playing, that is. This weekend was an exception because I was invited for a special tournament: the Micha Leuw Memorial. In a small round-robin of six players I ended fourth. More importantly, I played two games that Micha would have liked: sharp and adventurous. full story »

Nakamura wins in Barcelona

Just a quick one about Nakamura this morning, because I’m in the middle of a tournament myself. It’s been a while since we heard about him, and he didn’t manage to qualify for the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk at the end of this year. But this week, in Barcelona Nakamura proved he’s still capable of performing on a level that justifies to call him a very promising player. full story »

Weekly Endgame Study (42)

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 »

Bottom chess

Once in a while people send us links to chess videos on the internet. This week someone drawed our attention to an episode of the comedy series Bottom, written by Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. (Older visitors might know these two as Rik and Vyvyan from The Young Ones.) In this episode Eddie (Edmondson) tries to teach Richie (Rik) chess. A good one for a Friday afternoon. full story »

Do you want to hit with Black?

If you are interested in hitting hard with Black, then Gambiteer 2 may be just the thing for you.

In this straightforward book, GM Nigel Davies presents:

• the Schliemann Gambit in the Ruy Lopez
• Albins Counter Gambit (1.d4 d5, 2.c4 e5!)
• spectacular, yet playable gambits against boring stuff like the English, 1.Nf3 and the Italian

If you like to dictate play from the very beginning, I advise you to take a look here.

Chess and music at the Château de Villandry

Do chess and music go together? Well, perhaps not at the same time, but many lovers of the royal game don’t mind listening to a good piece of music as well. Last weekend a special happening took place in the Castle of Villandry (close to Tours, about 250 km south-west of Paris). And when we say music, chess and France, we say… Philidor. full story »

Russian chess player killed by gang

Tragic news from Moscow, where last Saturday IM Sergey Nikolaev (46) was killed by a vicious youth gang. Police is undertaking the investigation into the killing of the Russian chess player, which most probably was racially motivated. Up to 30 suspects have been detained in connection with the case. Extremist literature was found during searches of the suspects. full story »

Linex-Magic retains national title

After they recently won the European Club Cup in Kemer, the Spanish top team Linex-Magic also prolonged their status as Spanish national champion this weekend. In Calvia (on the island of Mallorca) they beat Intel - Tiendas UPI in the semis and Cuna de Dragones in the final. This was the same final as last year. Like in Turkey, Linex-Magic’s big hero was Ivan Cheparinov. full story »

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