Annual Survey 2009
December 31, 2009 by Peter Doggers · 12 Comments
2009 was a tough year, also for the chess world. Sponsors left, prize funds were lowered and in one (quite important) event the list of participants counted just four players. But it was also an interesting year, with successes for rising stars as well as experienced grandmasters. Let’s look back at the chess year that’s behind us, in our traditional annual survey. Read more
Carlsen officially world’s number 1 at 2810
December 31, 2009 by Peter Doggers · 20 Comments
Last month he turned 19, and today Magnus Carlsen officialy became the official world’s number one player. On the January 1st FIDE rating list the Norwegian as a rating of 2810, 5 points more than Veselin Topalov, who had occupied the number 1 spot since October 2008. Read more
Grischuk & Galliamova are the new Russian Champions
December 29, 2009 by Peter Doggers · 32 Comments
Finishing with a victory and a draw, Alexander Grischuk won the the Superfinal of the Russian Championship with 6.5/9. He ended half a point ahead of Peter Svidler. In the women’s section, Alisa Galliamova finished with two draws and this was enough for clear first because the Kosintseva sisters quickly drew against each other in the last round. Read more
The rules of winning chess
December 29, 2009 by New in Chess (ADVERTORIALS) · Comments Off
Everyman Chess has published: The Rules of Winning Chess.
In this new book Nigel Davies gives form to his many beliefs, built up through 40 years of playing and studying chess, about how a chess game should be conducted and he states them in a clear and concise way.
Nigel’s “rules” are divided into five different categories: the player, preparation, the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. By studying them you will make them your own and they will make chess look easy.
Recognize the best squares for your pieces, instinctively know whether
to seize the initiative or to play quietly, become ruthless in exploiting opponents’ weaknesses while minimizing the effect of your own.
These easy-to-learn guidelines help you to achieve greater understanding in your chess and enable you to approach every game with confidence.
Let The Rules of Winning Chess show you the way!
The traditional opens have started
December 29, 2009 by Peter Doggers · 1 Comment
Except for snow, Christmas trees and fireworks, the period just before and after New Year is also known for the many big open chess tournaments. Some of them have a very rich tradition, like Reggio Emilia, the Rilton Cup and, of course, the Hastings Chess Congress, the oldest tournament in the world still running. Read more
Grischuk leads Russian Superfinal
December 28, 2009 by Peter Doggers · 14 Comments
Alexander Grischuk leads the Superfinal of the Russian Championship with 5 points out of 7 games. He’s half a point ahead of Peter Svidler, who lost to Sanan Sjugirov in round 5. In the women’s section, Alisa Galliamova is on a superb 6.5/7. Report with game fragments, lightly annotated. Read more
Korchnoi-Spassky ends in 4-4
December 26, 2009 by Peter Doggers · 2 Comments
He hadn’t played a classical game of chess since 2002, so Boris Spassky needed a few games to get warm. In the second half of his match against Viktor Korchnoi he played much better, beating his opponent in games 5 and 7. In game 6 he was also better but blundered terribly. The two legends ended their match yesterday with a quick draw. Read more
Carlsen in TIME and the art of good journalism
December 26, 2009 by Arne Moll · 48 Comments
Yesterday TIME featured a short interview with the new world’s new number 1 Magnus Carlsen. Despite the fact that there were only ten questions with relatively short answers, I liked it so much that it got me thinking about chess journalism in general. Why can’t interviews with chess players always be this sharp? Read more
Weekly Endgame Study (149)
December 26, 2009 by Yochanan Afek · 6 Comments
Every week we present you an endgame study selected by IM Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. Good luck solving! Read more
The Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz (part III of III)
December 26, 2009 by Peter Doggers · 5 Comments
Today we give you the third and last set of ten questions of our Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz. Soon we’ll bring you all the answers. Good luck! Read more
