Rivals: Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik

9/9/2020 – Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik are friends, but they were also rivals. They played a World Championship match and about 150 games against each other, and for two decades both were among the three best players in the world. In the Indian sports program "The Finish Line" Anand now talks about his World Championship match 2008 against Kramnik. Anand shares insights about his surprising choice of 1.d4, about match strategy and he reveals why this was one of the most important matches of his career. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Spanish Championship, Round 8: Shirov wins top encounter

9/8/2020 – In round eight of the Spanish Championship the two leaders, Ivan Salgado and Alexei Shirov, played against each other. Shirov won and is now sole first with 7.0/8 and with one round to go he has good chances to become Spanish Champion 2020. | Photos: Patricia Claros/ Feda

FIDE announces that the Candidates Tournament will resume on November 1st

9/8/2020 – The Candidates Tournament 2020 in Ekaterinburg was started when the corona pandemic had already spread around the world. However, after seven of 14 rounds it was interrupted and postponed to an indefinite date. In a press release FIDE now announced that the Candidates Tournament will resume on November 1, 2020, probably in Ekaterinburg, or alternatively in Tbilisi. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

NEW: Claus-Dieter Meyer / Karsten Müller: Magical Chess Endgames

9/8/2020 – Claus-Dieter Meyer and Karsten Mueller present the "Magical Endgames Fritztrainer", their third collaboration. Sadly, Claus-Dieter Meyer passed away in March 2020, but he finished his work on this DVD before, including notes and comments. Endgame expert Karsten Mueller analyses and explains important endgame techniques and presents a number of fantastic games. The volume concludes with helpful interactive exercises and is a treasure for everyone who likes the endgame and wants to improve in chess.

The unstoppable

9/8/2020 – Endings with opposite coloured bishops are often drawish but can also be very exciting because material is less important. This again and again leads to surprising and aesthetically pleasing sacrifices.

Computers solving chess problems

9/8/2020 – In the prestigious news magazine Der SPIEGEL, edition 49/1982, we found the following chess problem, which a reader had solved on his chess computer. It was a 7-mover and the computer required more than 48 days to solve it. In an article at the time Frederic Friedel tried to explain not why it took so long, but how it could manage to process theoretically three trillion positions so quickly! In the meantime things have changed and regular chess engines have become much, much faster. You can find out how much faster yourself.

New Smyslov research project

9/7/2020 – Four years ago, the Russian-born FIDE Master Andrey Terekhov – currently based in Singapore – started off a Smyslov research project. Benefiting from access to Smyslov's private archive and other Soviet-era archival material, a first volume is scheduled to be published by Russell Enterprises in November 2020. We reproduce an extensive interview with the author conducted by Olimpiu G. Urcan – and a wonderfully annotated Smyslov game.

Simon Says: More Highlights from the Online Olympiad

9/7/2020 – In this "Simon Says" Simon looks at a selection of highlights from the FIDE Online Olympiad 2020 and presents a number of fine examples of fine chess. | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 14:00).

A statement by Serzh Sargsyan, President of the Armenian Chess Federation

9/7/2020 – During the final of the FIDE Online Olympiad between Russia and India, the internet connection was not always stable, which affected the outcome of some games. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich intervened in a solomonic way and declared both teams, Russia and India, as winners of the event. At the semi-final between India and Armenia there had been similar problems but the verdict had been different, and Armenia withdrew under protest. In an open letter to FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, Serzh Sargsyan, President of the Armenian Chess Federation, addresses the issue.

Spanish Championship: Shirov catches up

9/7/2020 – In the top match of the Spanish championship, tournament leader Ivan Salgado drew with David Anton. In the match of the pursuers Alexei Shirov defeated Salvador del Rio de Angelis and caught up to Salgado. They now share the lead with 6.0/7 each.

Back from the death? Two titles to revive the Benoni

9/7/2020 – In a review published in Chess Life, John Watson looks at two titles that seek to reestablish the Benoni as an elite opening, Rustam Kasimdzhanov’s “The Benoni Is Back In Business” and John Doknjas’ “Opening Repertoire - The Modern Benoni”. According to the renowned American author, coach and critic, both authors “share a number of original novelties that are essential to making the case for the lines they are advocating”.

Miguel Illescas: My most memorable game

9/6/2020 – An eight-time Spanish Champion, Miguell Illescas has excelled as a chess player, theoretician, educator and promoter. Having defeated a number of chess superstars — Viktor Korchnoi, Artur Yusupov, Veselin Topalov and Judit Polgar, just to name a few — he surely had difficulties choosing his most memorable game. In the end, he went for a win obtained in 1999 at the Dos Hermanas Tournament — his rival was none other than the 12th world champion himself, Anatoly Karpov.

Speelman on Tal: “His feeling for the initiative has never been bettered”

9/6/2020 – Star columnist Jon Speelman was asked to write about Mikhail Tal, and he happily obliged. Speelman points out that, had Misha Tal been alive today, he would certainly be playing blitz and bullet online, and adds, “He was able to play extremely strongly, even in a state in which the rest of us would have struggled to remain upright”. | Pictured: Tal analysing with Dutch IM Coen Zuidema in Wijk aan Zee 1973 | Photo: Dutch National Archive

“We have made chess more consumable for the masses”: Samay Raina for TOI

9/6/2020 – In a chat with Times of India during the Online Olympiad, Samay Raina spoke on how the idea of YouTube streaming chess took shape during the lockdown this year, his dream of starting and Indian Chess League in the coming months and much more. “I had to find my own niche — something I really like which was chess. I never thought so many people will take to this and it all feels so surreal.”

Grandmaster Chef: Hou Yifan

9/5/2020 – Hou Yifan became a grandmaster at 14.5 years old. She is a four-time Women’s World Chess Champion. She earned a Rhodes Scholarship for postgraduate study at the University of Oxford. National Master Mike Walder cooks a recipe that she might like and annotates one of her wins. WIM Alexey Root tells why Hou Yifan is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Pascal Simon

Gudmundur Kjartansson wins Icelandic Championship

9/5/2020 – The 107th Icelandic Chess Championship took place in the last week of August. It was an over-the-board single round robin tournament with ten participants. Gudmundur Kjartansson won his third national title. Bragi Thorfinnsson and Helgi Ass Greatarsson finished a half point behind. | Photos: Icelandic Chess Federation

Four leaders at the Spanish Championship in Linares

9/5/2020 – The 2020 Spanish Championship is taking place in Linares from August 31 to September 8. Given the corona crisis and the fact that the event is being played “over the board”, a few players have been quarantined. After 5 rounds, four players share the lead on 4½ out of 5 — Manuel Pérez Candelario, Iván Salgado (pictured), Jaime Santos and Daniel Alsina. | Photo: Spanish Chess Federation

Alexei Shirov wins Gazprom Brilliancy Prize

9/5/2020 – Alexei Shirov has been proclaimed the winner of the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize, a special trophy awarded by the General Partner of the Online Chess Olympiad. The game that earned Shirov this prize was his victory with the black pieces against Danyyil Dvirnyy, in which the Spaniard got to show a novelty in the Slav Defence and sacrificed his queen while attacking on the queenside. | Photo: FIDE

Power Play Show: Kalashnikov octopodes

9/4/2020 – In this Power Play Show, Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a couple of games by former junior world champion Parham Maghsoodloo. Both of the analyzed games were played in the Kalashnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence and featured an octopus knight deep in the heart of White’s position! | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Wroclaw wins the 2020 Polish Team Championship

9/4/2020 – The Polish Ekstraliga took place in Krakow from August 26 to September 3. The team from Wroclaw won the event despite losing in the eighth round against Katowice, their closest pursuers. Katowice finished a match point behind the new champions, while the team from Gorzow finished third. | Photo: Official site

Slaying the dragon II

9/4/2020 – The diagram shows the starting position of the aggressive Löwenfisch Variation. After the natural 6...Bg7 Black already must be very careful not to be crushed. Are you in a Dragon slayer mood today?

Friedel talks to SCHACH

9/4/2020 – The chess periodical SCHACH is one of the oldest and most prestigious in the German language. It appears once a month and usually includes an interview with a chess personality, who answers twenty set questions. In their September 2020 issue they turned their attention to ChessBase co-founder and editor emeritus Frederic Friedel, who had just turned 75. We reproduce the interview with kind permission of the publishers.

Classical online team competitions on PlayChess

9/3/2020 – It is not clear when we will get to play over-the-board team tournaments again. Online competitions are the only alternative. But where can you play serious team matches using a classical formats? On PlayChess! For example at the DSOL (German Online Chess League), in which 246 teams are participating. You do not need to play at the DSOL to play with your team though — anyone can do it! You can set up a round-robin event with a fixed board order or use the Scheveningen system. As in over-the-board tournaments, the players can concentrate exclusively on their games and do not have to worry about the pairings or how to challenge others. Only the team captains have to put in some more work, just like in “normal” team matches.

“Head of the Sicilian clan” - Remembering Lev Polugaevsky

9/3/2020 – Lev Polugaevsky was one of the best players in the world and a leading expert on the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian in the 1970s and 1980s. A sub-variation is named after him. Last week was the 25th anniversary of his death. Dagobert Kohlmeyer pays tribute to the Soviet grandmaster.