Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (6)

7/26/2017 – In the sixth installment of our series we offer readers a glimpse of what had been happening behind the scenes of “The Match of The Century”, especially in the Russian camp. A tense Boris Spassky, cajoled by seconds Efim Geller and Nikolai Krogius, nevertheless failed to perform to the dismay of his friends and admirers. It’s also the story of a gamble that could have hurtled Bobby down the precipice in that fateful Game 6 of the match. A cautionary tale and object lesson for aspiring players.

Review: Understanding the French!

7/26/2017 – Rustam Kasimdzhanov was FIDE World Champion in 2004, a renowned opening expert and a successful trainer. He was a long-time second of Vishy Anand and helped him to prepare for several World Championship matches. For ChessBase, Kasimdzhanov has published a number of popular opening DVDs. Fiona Sieber had a close look at his DVD about the Main Line of the Classical French.

Match of the Millennials pits USA vs. the World

7/26/2017 – Yet another interesting new event put on by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, the Match of the Millennials sees eight young American players face off against some of the best juniors from around the world. World Junior Champion Jeffery Xiong leads the USA squad, and Haik Martirosyan from Armenia heads the World team.

50th Biel, Round 3: Five draws, two exciting games

7/26/2017 – The third round of the Grandmaster tournament in Biel ended with five draws, but two of them were exciting and varied. Once again it was Alexander Morozevich, with tactical and combative play who caused the most excitement, with an honorable mention to David Navara, who also impressed with many surprising ideas | Photos: Pascal Simon

2nd Stars Cup in Iran

7/26/2017 – The second edition of the Stars Cup recently took place, pitting once more a team of Iranian talents against experienced strong international players, to allow the Iranians a chance to learn and grow. This year, the international team included the likes of Shirov, Jobava, Bruzon Batista, and more, and Iran's lineup saw Maghsoodloo, who finished with a 2700+ performance, Firouzja, and more. Reporting on it, with a look into Iranian chess, is GM Elshan Moradiabadi. | Photos: chessstarscup.ir

50th Biel, Round 2: Wins for Bacrot, Ponomariov and Morozevich

7/26/2017 – The second round, like the first, provided viewers with ample entertainment value. Alexander Morozevich rebounded from yesterday's loss by beating David Navara. Ruslan Ponomariov sprung a trap on Peter Leko that netted a pawn and the game and Etienne Bacrot played the French against an Armenian playing the Armenian variation!

Grischuk beats Yu 3-1 in Russia-China match

7/25/2017 – The Chinese Chess Association has made no secret of its ambitions to see a Chinese player one day vie for the overall world title. In an effort to help its many talents, matches have been organized over the past years to allow them to face elite players in match conditions to acquire experience. The latest was a fascinating match between Alexander Grischuk and Yu Yangyi which saw the Russian take in a convincing 3-1. Here is the great in-depth report by Liang Ziming.

Sahaj Grover dominates South African Championships

7/25/2017 – The South African Open Chess Championships returned to Durban this year after a 21-year break. It was held from the 14th to the 22nd July and was won by GM Sahaj Grover from India. In fact he won not only the Classical, but Rapid and the Blitz Championships as well! | Photo: Rayven Moodley

His Majesty attacks

7/25/2017 – Mating attacks in the endgame occur less often than in the middlegame but if they occur it is often pleasing to see how the remaining pieces and pawns harmonize to mate the enemy king.

Magnus Carlsen plays in the World Cup

7/24/2017 – Today, FIDE announced the list of participants for the World Cup 2017, which will be played from September 2nd to 28th in the city of Tbilisi. One name on the list was particularly surprising — Magnus Carlsen. Two years ago the World Champion revealed that he is a fan of the knock-out-mode. Now he's gunning for one title he does not yet have. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich, dubai2014wrb.com

50th Biel: Hou and Leko score in Round 1

7/24/2017 – Hou Yifan and Peter Leko won their games — both with Black — against Alexander Morozevich and Noel Studer to start the Biel GM tournament. Hou rebuffed Morozevich's sacrificial stab in a King's Indian Attack, while Peter Leko fought for victory in the endgame after a sharp Modern Benoni.

Russian Higher League won by Dubov and Sjugirov

7/24/2017 – The Russian Higher League concluded in a celebration of youth, with as much drama and excitement for the five qualifiers in each event as for the ones who failed to make the cut. The open section was won by Daniil Dubov and Sanan Sjugirov, with classy performances, and the women’s section was won by Marina Nechaeva, while 13-year-old Bibisara Assaubayeva just barely missed out after a fantastic tournament. Report and analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

“Women’s chess”: A misleading and counterproductive label

7/24/2017 – The label has settled into chess parlance, but its usage is a disservice to the inherent meritocracy of chess that all players appreciate. FM ALISA MELEKHINA argues that it's time to let the term “women’s chess” fade into our patriarchal past. | Photo: Doug Morisoli

Radek rocks Dortmund final round

7/23/2017 – With a convincing victory against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the Polish Grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek secured victory at the Grandmaster Tournament of the 45th Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund this afternoon. It turned out to be necessary, because with a draw, Wojtaszek would have been joined by Vladimir Fedoseev, who won today against Wang Yue, and could have edged him on the second tiebreak (most wins). In a remarkable contrast to rounds 1-6, today was a bloodbath — all four games where decisive!

The 50th Biel Chess Festival kicks off

7/23/2017 – On Saturday the 50th chess festival of Biel officially openedl. Today chess players such as Anatoly Karpov, Vlastimil Hort and Rafael Vaganjan participate in a rapid tournament. Monday sees the start of the GM-tournament, the main event in the annual festivities. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival (bielchessfestival.ch)

Speelman's Agony #57

7/23/2017 – "When Nigel Short played Garry Kasparov in 1993 I watched it on TV, found I could still predict some of the moves and then entered the local chess congress where I was living in Exeter. I've be playing ever since as a keen amateur mostly in Devon and the year before last started playing in the 4NCL for West is Best who I still play for."

Dortmund Round 6: Dead equal

7/22/2017 – With all games drawn, Polish GM Radek Wojtaszek clings to a slim lead as a massive chasing pack tries to overtake him. He faced Bluebaum with Black today in a key matchup that was as close to equality as they come. It all comes down to one final round 7 on Sunday.

Awonder Liang, Akshita Gorti are U.S. Junior champs

7/22/2017 – The 2017 U.S. Junior Championship and Girls Junior Championship were held in Saint Louis, in the same hall as the prestigious Sinquefield Cup and U.S. Championship. After ten days of gruelling chess, we had two very different tournaments. Akshita Gorti dominated the Girls section from beginning to end, while the Juniors had an absolutely last-minute result, in which GM-elect Awonder Liang prevailed. | Photos: Austin Fuller, Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis

Dortmund: Wang wins one

7/22/2017 – Matthias Bluebaum's luck seems to have turned. After missing chances on Thursday against Dmitry Andreikin in a long draw, Wang Yue ground him down in an endgame on Friday as the Chinese scored his first win.

Georg Meier wins 20th Maccabiah

7/21/2017 – Georg Meier wins 20th Maccabiah top group ahead of Alexander Moiseenko, while Tal Baron took the B group. Yochanan Afek sends stories, photos and highlights | Photos: Ritvo Photography

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (5)

7/21/2017 – After three games in the Match of the Century the score was 2:1 for the reigning World Champion. In game four Spassky played a well-prepared Sicilian and obtained a raging attack. Fischer defended tenaciously and the game was drawn. Then came a key game, about which the 1972 US Champion and New York Times and Chess Life correspondent GM Robert Byrne filed reports. In Reykjavik chess fan Lawrence Stevens from California did something extraordinary: he manually recorded the times both players had spent on each move.

The perfect prelude

7/21/2017 – A murky position: in order to win, White must tackle the enemy king without disregarding the potential threats of Black's queen + knight tandem. How would you start his attack?

Storms in Dortmund fail to shake up the scoreboard

7/21/2017 – Amid a tumultuous summer thunderstorm in Dortmund, the standings of the 45th Sparkassen Chess Meeting remain the same through four rounds. With both rest days behind them, the players head for a tense final weekend, with Wojtaszek and Bluebaum clinging to a half point lead.

Precision count on Playchess

7/20/2017 – Some of you may not have noticed: in our live broadcast of international tournaments, when computer analysis is added to the games, there are "precision" statistics given at the end of the notes. They give the percentage of relevant (non-forced) moves that are identical with the ones a top chess engine would play. In top events we find correlations between 15% and 97%. You can compare the level of precision of different players, and also look for suspicious values. Here's how, and why you should care.