Ural, Tomsk en Linex-Magic leading

After five rounds (and just two more to go!) Ural Sverdlovskaya, Tomsk-400 and Linex Magic are leading the field at the European Club Cup, with nine points. Today Vishy Anand played his first game as a world champion: for OSC Baden-Baden he drew modestly in twenty moves with White against Kazhgaleyev. In the women’s section Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo grabbed clear first today by beating Ladya Kazan while Interplast Tbilisi lost to Southern Ural Cheliabinsk. The organisation is providing excellent coverage including downloadable videos, which you can view here as well, in embedded form. full story »

Weekly Endgame Study (39)

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 »

No top players at World Juniors

This week another big event started: the World Juniors (and Girls) in Yerevan, Armenia. In contrast with the European Club Cup, this tournament has to do without many top players. First seeded is Wang Hao (2643) from China, because players such as Radjabov, Carlsen and Karjakin clearly have something better to do. But winning this event is still a prestigious achievement (and generates an invitation for the 2008 Essent Tournament). full story »

Top players at European Club Cup

This Tuesday and Wednesday the football players already gathered for their second round and yesterday the international club chess players started their own little Champions League. Well, little, 56 men’s teams are participating and 18 teams in the women’s section. And not the weakest players you can imagine. full story »

Power chess at its best

Moldovan Grandmaster Victor Bologan is one of the strongest chess players of the world. He won, among many other trophies, the super tournament in Dortmund.

He has just published: Victor Bologan’s Selected Games 1985 - 2004, a splendid game collection enbedded in the personal story (with many pictures) of his development as a player.

Bologan has deeply, yet very accessibly, annotated his games, but he has done more: he teaches about chess psychology, about how to choose an opening, and he generally selects lessons from his engaging material.

Garry Kasparov says this book “ought to be read by every chessplayer who is serious about continuing to mature as a player”. Please have a look at it here.

Corus again stronger than ever

The organizers of the Corus Chess Tournament again succeeded in bringing together a stronger participants list than ever before. In the Grandmaster group A of the 70th edition, 11-27 January 2008, not only the fresh world champion Anand plays but also the numbers 2, 3, 4 and 6 of the WCC in Mexico. (The organizers state, just like the Mexico organizers, that it will be the “strongest tournament in history” but that’s questionable.) full story »

Anand passes 2800 mark

We’re back home and here too the laptop is opened of course. The latest news is the appearance of the new rating list. He was already the world’s no. 1 and after Mexico naturally he still is, but yesterday Vishy Anand also passed the 2800 mark again. His new rating is 2801. Second is Vassily Ivanchuk, who had a fantastic chess summer. full story »

Closing ceremony

It’s over. Sunday 30 September was the last day of the world championship in Mexico and on the program was the closing ceremony. Viswanathan Anand is now officially world chess champion and besides the laurel wreath he received a typical Mexican cloth and a big bundle of flowers. ChessVibes presents you a compilation of the best moments from the ceremony, including the complete speech that Anand gave in Spanish, with English subtitles. full story »

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