Anand & Kramnik are looking forward to it, and so are we

Just about one and a half hours ago there was a press conference at the Art & Exhibition Hall in Bonn, where Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik spoke to the press. Here’s just a quick article with a few pics; later there will be video material of course. Hopefully I’ll be able to post it tonight. full story »

Hans-Walter, please invite Mr Larsen next year!

Last week the legendary Bent Larsen played in his first tournament since 2004. Avoiding theory in every game, the famous Dane only played very exotic openings and scored… 0 out of 9. We urge Hans-Walter Schmitt to invite Larsen for his Chess960 tournament in Mainz next year. full story »

Big surprises in Beijing

The gold medal for reigning world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, which she won in the blitz event at the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, was not a big surprise. But what about Ukrainian GM Martyn Kravtsiv winning the men’s blitz, or Ecuador winning the blitz for pairs? full story »

Svidler retains slim lead

The Russian Championship Superfinal has reached the seventh round and Peter Svidler is still leading with half a point. An exciting fifth round was followed by another drawish day yesterday and now Nikita Vitiugov is at second place. full story »

New video interviews from the Bundesliga

Despite losing their match against TV Tegernsee 3-5, Hamburger SK is the leader of the Bundesliga after the first weekend of the German league. In this report we have video interviews with GM Macieja and GM Laznicka. full story »

ECF Book of the Year: From London to Elista

We congratulate our sponsor New in Chess for winning the English Chess Federation 2008 Book of the Year Award with their 2007 publication From London to Elista. A fine book indeed, as the readers of this site know! full story »

One week to go

In exactly one week the first game of the 2008 World Championship Match between Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik starts. ChessVibes will bring on-the-spot (video) coverage, but there’s more!
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Svidler in sole lead in Moscow

After he won his third game in a row yesterday, Peter Svidler wasn’t too upset today when Alexander Lastin went for the famous Ruy Lopez Zaitsev move repetition. Going into the first rest day, Svidler leads the Russian Ch Superfinal with 3.5/4. full story »

Rybka clinches 2nd Computer World Championship title

Rybka, universally considered the best computer engine, comfirmed her status once again at the Computer World Championship held in Beijing last week. In a ten-player round robin she finished on 8/9, one point clear of Hiarcs. full story »

Russian Superfinal: Svidler beats Morozevich, leads with Lastin

In the second round of the Russian Championship Superfinal Peter Svidler defeated first seed Alexander Morozevich with Black. Alexander Lastin also won again and joined him in the lead. full story »

Anand interview in Der Spiegel

German magazine Der Spiegel is Europe’s largest and one of the most influential weekly magazines with a circulation of more than one million per week. This week’s edition has an interview with Viswanathan Anand. full story »

Super start Superfinal

Yet another big event started today: the Superfinal of the Russian Championship. Participants include the world’s no. 2 Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk. An ill Grischuk had to withdraw. Round 1 report. full story »

World Mind Sports Games kick off today

A whole new and huge event starts today, and chess is involved: the World Mind Sports Games. After the Summer Olympics athletes and the Paralympics sportsmen now approximately 3,000 Bridge, Chess, Go, Draughts, and Xiangqi players from over 150 countries have travelled to Beijing. full story »

Austronaut vs school children: 1.d4 Nf6

It’s the first public chess match between someone in space against an opponent on earth: since last Monday astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, floating 210 miles (about 340 kilometers) above earth, is playing a chess game in space against a group of school children in the United States. full story »

Topalov tops new FIDE ratings, now officially

For the first time since January 1 (or rather March 31) 2007, Veselin Topalov is the highest rated player in the world. On the new FIDE rating list, published yesterday, Magnus Carlsen is number 4 and not 3 as in Hans Arild Runde’s live list.
full story »

Russia takes revenge with rapid and… football

After they lost the most important (classical) part of their match against China 26-24, the Russian team took revenge by winning the rapid part and… the football match on the rest day. We’re not sure about the blitz… full story »

Four-way tie for first at SPICE Cup

The 2nd SPICE Cup has finished in a four-way tie for first: Pentala Harikrishna, Alexander Onischuk, Leonid Kritz and Varuzhan Akobian all ended on 5.5 out of 9. Harikrishna had the best tiebreak and received the cup (and a Swiss watch). full story »

Chess is art is chess

On this beautiful Sunday we shouldn’t get too much involved in chess politics. Let’s not forget that chess is also just a beautiful game! An opinion shared by artists around the world. full story »

Bulgarian Chess Federation: “Mr Ilymzhinov, please inform us” (UPDATE)

On June 1st, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov personally guaranteed the prize fund for the match Topalov-Kamsky scheduled, for November this year. Since then it has been quiet around this match - a bit too quiet, says Stefan Sergiev, President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation, in an open letter - its translation has been corrected now. full story »

Attacking à la Tarrasch

Siegbert Tarrasch wasn’t exactly known for his attacking games - in those days Rudolf Spielmann was the Last of the Mohicans trying to hold up romantic chess. It’s also not an every day story that Black wins with a beautiful attack using Tarrasch’s Defence, but that’s what happened in round 6 of the SPICE Cup. full story »

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