Ivanchuk also takes World Blitz Ch

Vassily Ivanchuk’s last big goal in an already amazing year is of course winning the World Cup in Khanty-Mansyisk (first round next Saturday) but a nice foretaste is his title of world blitz champion, which he gained today in Moscow by winning an amazingly strong 20-player double round-robin tournament with 25.5 points out of 38 games. Second was Vishy Anand (24.5), who had an off-day yesterday but played like a world champ today, and third was last year’s winner Alexander Grischuk (23.5). full story »

Tactical themes and typical traps: the end

If you are over 2150, then this is not for you. For all others: with the arrival, a couple of days ago, of Tactics in the Chess Opening, Part 6 we have finished a long running series.

This Part 6 is about Gambits & Flank Openings, and was written by young Dutch GM Sipke Ernst and Belgian IM Geert van der Stricht.

It covers tactical themes and typical traps in the main lines of the English, Dutch, Reti, Nimzowitsch, Basman, Chigorin, Albin, Blackmar Diemer, Budapest, Englund, Bird, Van Geet and Sokolsky.

The series has now covered, in 6 volumes with over 1400(!) pages, the main lines of the entire opening spectrum, and has therefore come to its end. We will keep reprinting and updating it in the future.

Over the past few years, we have had extremely positive reviews about these books. Let me quote just one:

“The annotations are to the point but not so much as to lose the reader. A pleasurable way for those below 2200 to master the fundamentals of tactics play.” — IM John Donaldson

We recommend this book and the entire series to your attention.

Big long interview with Viktor Korchnoi

It’s time for some chess culture. Time for the one and only living legend that’s left (leaving out Smyslov and Lilienthal, who don’t play anymore): Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi. He doesn’t do that many interviews anymore, but this week he sat down to talk to Europe-Echecs, who have built up an impressive resume in a short time, there in Moscow. Watch and enjoy this 20 minute-interview with one of the greatest players alive. Not to be missed! full story »

Tigran L. Petrosian wins ICC’s Gibraltar qualifier

There must be something in the name after all. The young Armenian with the famous namesake, Tigran L. Petrosian, proved yet again he’s one of the top dogs on ICC after winning his second major online qualfier of the year. Petrosian, who beat Gata Kamsky earlier in the year to win the Mainz qualifier, this time beat GM Gadir Guseniov to win an all-expenses paid trip to the Gibtelecom Master in Gibraltar, coming up in January 2008. full story »

Results of the Executive Board Meeting at the 78th FIDE Congress

Ilyumzhinov will continue his efforts to make chess an Olympic sports, Kramnik has signed the contract for the match against Anand already but Vishy “raised several points” and the contract between FIDE and Global Chess has finally been signed. These are some of the results of the Executive Board Meeting at the 78th FIDE Congress, held from November 11 till 16 in Antalya, Turkey. The members reviewed the developments of the chess world since the last Olympiad in Turin, examined the work of the FIDE Commissions and offices and communicated their future plans. full story »

“Let’s go interview Kasparov”

“What the heck, let’s just go. If you don’t try…” This was all I needed to convince co-editor Arne, yesterday around five in the afternoon, to join. Join my foolish, naive but also bold, and, above all, fun plan to travel to Lint, Belgium, to interview Gary Kasparov. If we would explain that we had immediately jumped into the car when we heard about the simul, that we came all the way from Amsterdam and after several detours we had found that television studio in that little Belgium town right in time, who on earth would refuse a small interview? full story »

Kramnik will regain no. 1 spot

With Black against Ivanchuk, Vladimir Kramnik soon headed for the draw but still the game was the longest of that last round in Moscow. The reason was Ivanchuk’s sudden (and surprising) fighting spirit in an opposite-coloured bishops ending. The point was split anyway (just like in the other four games) and this means Kramnik will be the no. 1 in the world again on January 1st. full story »

Kramnik wins Tal Memorial with a round to go

The “draw-with-Black-playing-for-a-win-with-White” strategy was not enough for Kramnik in Mexico (mainly because he also lost one game) but in Moscow it proved a succesful method. Four draws and his fourth win with White today (against Mamedyarov) were enough to secure his tournament victory with a round to go. The other games of the eighth round ended in a draw. full story »

Perelshteyn wins first SPICE Cup

With a score of 6.5 out of 9, Eugene Perelshteyn has won the first SPICE Cup, a tournament held at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock (Texas), United States. The tournament, which was a memorial to Samuel Reshevsky, was organized by Susan Polgar, chairwoman of the United States Chess Federation, and Paul Truong, Polgar’s husband. SPICE stands for “Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence” at the Texas Tech University. full story »

Shirov wins again, suddenly second behind Kramnik

In top level tournaments like the Tal Memorial, with their high drawing percentages, things can go pretty fast. After five rounds, Shirov occupied the ninth spot in the standings, but after winning twice in a row he’s now clear second, with 4 out of 7, a point behind Kramnik who drew with Jakovenko today. Kamsky was awarded today for his enterprising play thus far, when Mamedyarov played for a win a bit too long. full story »

Weekly Endgame Study (45)

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 »

Kramnik wins again, point clear

By beating Evgeny Alekseev convincingly today, Vladimir Kramnik has extended his lead in Moscow to a full point. It’s clear that some of the players who participated in Mexico, are still making use of their months of hard work, and Kramnik is certainly one of them. He didn’t exactly know the name of the variation, but he sure knew how to play it with White. The other winners of today were Shirov, who played a great game today and beat Carlsen, and Jakovenko, who needed 90 moves to bring down Kamsky. full story »

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