Exciting Russian Championship

So far the Russian Championship is a very exciting tournament. None of the three Mexico participants is dominating yet, and after four interesting rounds Tomashevsky, Morozevich, Vitiugov Grischuk and Amonatov all have 2.5 points. Pogonina is leading the women section with 3.5 out of 4. A round 3 and 4 update with some great game fragments again. full story »

Ivanchuk keeps Torre title

After he had won the prestigious blitz tournament in Moscow last month, Vassily Ivanchuk also prolonged his title with blitz games at the Torre Memorial in Mexico. Because that’s what the knockoutfase consisted of: blitz games – something we hadn’t figured out yet from the tournament website. Ivanchuk beat the Indian Harikrishna 3-1 in the final. full story »

Weekly Endgame Study (50)

Every Saturday an endgame study is published at ChessVibes, selected by IM Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. Good luck with the instructional occupation of solving a study! full story »

Baptista and Papadopoulos love chess

If we’re talking about the promotion of chess anyway, why no bring this story as well. The famous club Real Madrid is at least as successful in basketball as in footbal. One of the players in their football team is the Brazilian player Julio César Baptista; in the basketball team Lazaros Papadopoulos from Greece plays. What these gentlemen have in common? Not only do they both play for Real, but they also love chess! Here an interview with the two.

Wii Chess

How do we make chess more popular for a wide audience? A very logical method is to start with kids. And what is occupation no. 1 among today’s youngsters? Of course, gaming. So it could have been great news that Nintendo’s latest Wii game is called “Chess”, potentially one big worldwide advertisement for the royal game. But alas, we have to agree with Wired: it’s just ugly! full story »

Magnus: mate in 12 - New In Chess # 08

New In Chess 2007 # 08 has just appeared, with 106 pages full of chess delight:

• on-the-spot reports from Moscow, Vitoria (Spain), Yerevan, Kemer (Turkey), Barcelona, Lubbock (Texas), Bilbao, Hersonissos (Greece) and Corsica
• Magnus Carlsen on a mate in 12
• an interview with Vladimir Kramnik
• Genna Sosonko on Paul Keres
• an SOS on the Berlin Wall
• Ivanchuk’s World Blitz triumph
• exclusive game annotations by Kramnik, Shirov, Topalov, Nakamura, Cheparinov, Carlsen, Bu Xiangzhi, Aronian, Perelshtein, and many others
• Hans Ree on cheating
• Jan Timman on the endgame
• Jonathan Rowson on Paul Hoffmann’s book King’s Gambit
• and much more

Please have a look at the full contents

For those who are not subscribing yet: please hurry! The special offer with a 20% discount (only for new subscribers) ends on December 31.

And… Ivanchuk is playing again of course

The most active top 10 player is of course Vassily Ivanchuk, and it won’t surprise you that he’s playing yet another tournament. This week he’s defending his title at the Carlos Torre Memorial in Mexico, which has a new set-up this year. In an open tournament twelve players could qualify for a knockout phase, added by Ivanchuk, Dominguez, Harikrishna and Leon Hoyos. The first two games of the knockout have finished; Ivanchuk eliminated Bruzon 1.5-0.5. full story »

Spectacle in Moscow

Just two rounds of the Russian Championship have been played (Grischuk, Sakaev, Rychagov and Tomashevsky are leading with 1,5), and already so much has happened. Favourites failing, sharp openings, middlegame problems, endgame technique, timetrouble blunders and even a mobile phone deciding one of the games. So let’s hurry and have a look some of the games, because they’re exciting and instructive at the same time. full story »

Anand-Kramnik in Bonn, Germany

Breaking News: in a press release United Event Promotion (UEP) today announced that the 12-game World Championship Match between World Champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Vladimir Kramnik will take place 11-30 October 2008, in the National Art Gallery in Bonn, Germany. full story »

Fischer’s My 61 Memorable Games

This week a remarkable story on Bobby Fischer appeared on the net: a new edition of the American chess legend’s famous games collection was published, and put on eBay: My 61 Memorable Games. It was said to be a revised edition of My 60 Memorable Games, with “improved analysis and commentary” and a 12-page foreword by the Man himself (the 61st game being the first match game from the Fischer-Spassky 1992 match). full story »

Russian Ch Superfinal starts

And you thought the chess year 2007 was kind of over, now that the World Cup has finished? On the contrary. Besides the traditional big bunch of tournaments around New Year, such as Hasting & Rilton Cup (see the grey column on the right for more), one more event with a few supergrandmasters is held this month: the Russian Championship Superfinal. The strongest seeds are Svidler, Morozevich and Grischuk. full story »

World Cup: press conference Kamsky & Shirov

We return once more to the World Cup, and especially to the tournament’s website, which has grown into a beautiful collection of chess information in the past three weeks. OK, the live games didn’t go well, but we chess fans are kind of used to that. But all that content! Photos, videos, analysis by Sergey Shipov, daily bulletins in PDF, and last but not least transcripts of the press conferences (called “interviews”). Here are some fragments of the last press conference, with Kamsky & Shirov, after the fourth game. full story »

New & full of opening novelties: Yearbook 85

Yearbook 85 has just been published. In the 250 pages of this issue of The Chess Player’s Guide to Opening News you will get, among much else, an answer to the following questions:

• Has a Scottish amateur found the remedy for Black to 12.Kb1 in the Sicilian Dragon?
• What is Black’s best chance in the Classical King’s Indian?
• Does Viktor Bologan have good news for Black in the Chebanenko Slav?
• Why did Tiviakov change sides in the Moscow Sicilian within a few days?
• Just how flexible is the Kan Sicilian to Mikheil Mchedlishvili’s mind?
• Is Black still alive in the Volga and the Pseudo-Volga Gambit?
• What’s the latest gambit in the Queen’s Indian, endorsed by Aronian, Carlsen and Shirov?
• How did Alexander Grischuk fare against an expert’s Classical Scotch?
• How did Ivan Cheparinov counter a most dangerous novelty in the Rauzer?
• What is Nigel Short’s preferred Königsspringerzurückhaltungspolitik against the Scandinavian?
• Which square is the best to sac your knight on in the Nimzo-Indian?
• How can Black avoid the dangerous Nimzo-Indian exchange sacrifice with which Topalov beat Carlsen at Corus?
• With what move did Evgeny Alexeev tear apart an important Alapin Slav line?

“Chess players who regularly read the yearbook can save money because there will be many chess opening books they don’t need to buy”, said a reviewer in Europa Rochade Magazine. Please have a look here.

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