Keres Memorial in Tallinn – what happened?

1/9/2006 – It is a yearly event to remember Estonia's greatest sporting hero, Paul Keres, whom you may or most likely may not recognise from the wax figure in his museum. The top group was won by Ivanchuk, Karpov and Kasimduzhanov, but marked by a record-breaking negative performance by Alexei Shirov, who scored a single draw in nine games. A mystery.

Jaan Ehlvest, the Estonian Super-GM

1/9/2006 – A decade or so ago Estonian GM Jaan Ehlvest was among the world's best, once even breaking into the top five. Today he is a familiar sight at large American Swisses. In this week's Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos takes a look at an exciting and instructive game played by Ehlvest at his prime.

Parimarjan Negi – the Hero of Hastings

1/9/2006 – He finisht 16th in a field of 106 players at the traditional Hastings tournament, with a score of 6/10 and a performance of 2568. That was enough to achieve a GM norm. What makes this special is the fact that IM Parimarjan Negi of India is just 12 years old. This extraordinary chess prodigy is now clearly set to become the world's youngest grandmaster.

2nd Singapore International Chess Convention

1/7/2006 – When world champion Alexander Alekhine saw the this small chess community in 1933 he was bewildered by its cosmopolitan nature. Today, more than 70 years later, the game has evolved from the Colonial Club of the 1890s and become a mass movement. Olimpiu Urcan proves this in his big pictorial report.

Waiting for Wijk

1/7/2006 – "I wish the tournament started tomorrow," wrote Dutch journalist Gert Ligterink, echoing the sentiments of chess fans all over the world. Well, it's just a week from today, and we bring you a preview with all the players (Mamedyarov replaces Kramnik). You can also take part in a special contest to guess the winners, and enjoy pictorial impressions by Fred Lucas.

Landa leads in romatic Reggio

1/5/2006 – The city of Reggio nell'Emilia in northern Italy has been hosting strong GM tournaments since 1958. The most memorable edition was 1991-92, when Anand won ahead of nine Russians, including Kasparov, Karpov, Gelfand, and Ivanchuk. This year the stars are less glamorous, but the event nevertheless interesting and personal. Adolivio Capece reports.

The sixteen for the world chess championship

1/5/2006 – FIDE has just announced the 16 participants of the Candidates Matches for the World Chess Championship 2007. These are players who have qualified in different ways, and they will play two rounds of matches against each other. The four finalists will then join Topalov, Anand, Svidler and Morozevich for the 2007 championship. Details.

Kramnik drops out of Wijk Super-Tournament

1/5/2006 – Classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik will not be playing in the Corus Tournament in Wijk aan Zee (13-29 January 2006). In a statement issued today Kramnik cites a health crisis that makes it necessary for him to undertake serious clinical treatment. It will take a few months before he can return to normal competitive chess. Press statement.

Veselin Topalov – reception in the Motherland

1/3/2006 – After winning the world chess championship title, Bulgarian super-grandmaster Veselin Topalov has become a national sporting hero. In his native country he is mobbed by fans on the streets. Recently he was honored at a special reception for extraordinary sporting personalities by the President of the Republic.

'I am not one of the riff-raff'

1/3/2006 – Nigel Short, long feared for his excessively frank writings as a chess columnist in British broadsheets, is no less candid when giving verbal interviews. FIDE, the schism in 1993, the knockout world championship, GM titles and how they are won – all of these come under fire in his latest conversation with the web magazine Chess Chronicle. Interesting reading.

Igor Ivanov - Grandmaster and pianist

1/3/2006 – In November Igor Ivanov, born in 1947, passed away. He was a very strong chess player, one who had beaten the reigning World Champion Anatoly Karpov in 1979. But his mother wished him to be a concert pianist. We found a splendid article on Igor on the One Good Move website, with some beautiful piano music by Chopin. A moving tribute to the maestro.

Keeping up to speed with Andrew Martin

1/2/2006 – Svidler beat Tomashevsky on the black side of an English, Kotronias-Cebalo was a combative and theoretically important Sicilian Dragon, Mamedov sacrificed a pawn in the B78 Youoslav Attack. You can follow all the latest developments in our Wednesday night Playchess lecture. Just tune in...

Natalija Pogonina wins Bykova Memorial in Vladimir

1/2/2006 – The event, in honour of the third women's world champion, was held in the ancient Russian town of Vladimir and saw 37 Snegurochkas ("Snow Whites") battling it out in three groups. In Group A WGM Natalija Pogonina took first place, narrowly ahead of G20 world champion Elisabeth Pähtz. Spectacular pictorial report by Valery Golubenko.

14th Asian Team Championship in Esfahan

1/2/2006 – Iran is the cradle of chess, the nation that reputedly produced it in the sixth century. For a while, in our days, it was frowned upon, but now chess is thriving in the country of 70 million – thanks to the work of some very industrious people. Recently they staged the Asian Team Championship in Sefahan. We bring you an illustrated report.

Happy FIDE New Year's Day Ratings!

1/1/2006 – Punctually, on the first day of the new year, FIDE has published its latest rating list. Kasparov is still on it in place one. Second is Veselin Topalov, nine points ahead of Vishy Anand. Peter Svidler is number four, Levon Aronian number five. We bring you all the top ranking lists and statistics.

John Nunn's New Year's fireworks

1/1/2006 – When somebody says "fire on the board" we tend to think of the Latvian player Alexei Shirov. But the British GM and publisher John Nunn has offered the chess world something similar, by playing over two decades of fierce, attacking chess. In his Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos proves the point by showing us a game between Nunn and Shirov.

In the beginning was the board...

12/31/2005 – ...and the board was empty and monochromatic. Then God created the pieces – the pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queens and kings. And He saw that the game was somewhat gross, but still it was good. And then He played a first game against the One Whose Name Should Not Be Uttered. Alex Shternshain has annotated it.

Rublevsky wins 58th Russian Championship

12/30/2005 – With a draw in the final round Sergei Rublevsky, Elo 2652, clinched the title and a $40,000 prize. The 32-year-old grandmaster did not lose a single game and finished a point ahead of the field. Behind him were Dmitry Jakovenko and Alexander Morozevich, who won a fine game to share second. We bring you games and results in our final report.

Rublevsky poised to take Russian Championship

12/30/2005 – With just one round to go (tomorrow's games start at 11:00h Moscow time!) Sergei Rublevsky is still a full point ahead of the field. He can still be caught but not overtaken by Dmitry Jakovenko. Today saw two upset wins, by Motylev over Bareev and Tomashevsky over Zvjaginsev. Report and games.

Ponomariov wins Pamplona

12/30/2005 – The Pamplona International was held from December 23-29 2005 in Pamplona, Spain. It was won by Ruslan Ponomariov with 5/7, followed by Pentala Harikrishna and Ivan Cheparinov half a point behind. Veteran Dutch GM Jan Timman came in an out-of-form seventh. Games and results.

Almira and the ChessBase Nikolaus

12/29/2005 – Saint Nicholas Day is a festivity for children in much of Europe, related to legends of the saint as a bringer of gifts. It was new to our friend from Moldova, Almira Skripchenko, who attended it for the first time in the ChessBase office – and for once from the other side of a camera lens. Almira's report has a tenuous link to our Christmas puzzle.

Russian Superfinal: three decided games

12/29/2005 – Evgeny Bareev recovered nicely from yesterday's loss to beat top seed Peter Svidler. Alexander Morozevich scored a fine victory over yesterday's winner Alexey Dreev, and Sergey Volkov profited from a capital blunder by Evgeny Tomashevsky to win a point and put the latter into last place. Report.

Rublevsky beats Jakovenko, takes one-point lead

12/28/2005 – The two rivals at the top of the scoreboard of the Russian Championship Superfinal clashed today. Sergei Rublevsky beat his younger opponent Dmitry Jakovenko convincingly to take a full point lead with three rounds to go. Alexey Dreev stopped Evgeny Bareev's thrust for the top, and Alexander Motylev kept Sergey Volkov at the bottom of the table. Report, games and pictures.

'Git thar fustest with the mostest'

12/28/2005 – This rather substantial quote from Frank Marshall all those years ago which could easily sum up his entire approach to chess. Marshall was a great ambassador for the game. In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture our chess trainer Andrew Martin explores one of Marshall's many gambits apart from the famous Ruy Lopez one. Tune in...