Friendly relations: Magnus Carlsen and Donald Duck

10/22/2014 – In Norway Magnus Carlsen is a hero. TV transmissions of chess events, in which he participates, attract hundreds of thousands of viewers, and popular culture also regularly pays tribute to Carlsen. And when the World Championship match begins in November, Norwegians will see their champion in the company of an old and familiar friend: Donald Duck.

Hou Yifan and Vishy Anand in Corsica

10/22/2014 – The 2014 Corsican Circuit Rapid started and as always brings a mixture of some elite guests with opportunities for anyone to qualify for the sixteen-player knockout phase. The two guests, multiple World Champion Vishy Anand and Women World Champion Hou Yifan, were then joined by the fourteen qualifiers from the Open held before. The tournament has not been without surprises.

Martin Gardner's 100th Anniversary

10/21/2014 – "With a career spanning most of a century, Martin Gardner was the last of the polymaths," writes Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Douglas Hofstradter calls him "a major shaping force in my life" – as does Frederic Friedel, who has written a long tribute to this giant of recreational mathematics, micromagic, literature, philosophy, scientific skepticism, religion – and not to forget: chess.

Tashkent 01: Anything but boring

10/21/2014 – Whether it was the change of venue, the fact that it was the first round or because of the new players added to the field, it is clear that this round was nothing like the final rounds in Baku which were filled with relatively dull draws. Caruana fell to MVL, Jobava to Nakamura and Mamedyarov self-destructed in the endgame. However, not everything is rosy in far away Tashkent.

A king with racing boots

10/21/2014 – How fast is the king? A simple if not a silly question. After all, it can only move one square at a time. And while usually content to be well protected from enemy pawns and pieces in the first part of the game, the king likes to show its strength in the endgame. And if it fights both on the queen- and the kingside it sometimes seems to have racing boots.

Giri and Jobava imperial at Unive

10/21/2014 – The 18th Unive Chess Tournament was held from October 11-18 with two matches featured as the main attractions. In the first match, top Dutch player Anish Giri faced off against Alexei Shirov over six games played at standard time controls, while in the second, Dutch legend Jan Timman played against Baadur Jobava. Both duels saw plenty of exciting chess.

Stage set in Tashkent

10/21/2014 – The second stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The tournament will run from October 20th to November 3rd, 2014. Some of the strongest players in the world will compete in a Round Robin event. Gelfand and Caruana currently lead the race for the Candidate's tournament, but with three more GPs everything is still anyone's qualification spot.

Dylan McClain on the NY Times chess column

10/20/2014 – We recently published a piece on the termination of the New York Times chess column (after more than fifty years). A Slate article seemed to celebrate the event and the chance to replace the most recent columnist, Dylan Loeb McClain, with a more interesting writer. McClain thinks that Slate "got it almost completely wrong" and explains to us exactly how the NYT column worked.

Lu Shanglei, Goryachkina win World Juniors 2014

10/20/2014 – In the final round of the World Juniors the world's two youngest grandmasters faced each other in an insanely complicated game, which ended in a draw. Wei Yi, who had been leading the event for many rounds, had to watch his compatriot Lu Shanglei win a nearly perfect game and take the title. Junior Girls World Champion won the title for the second year in a row. Big final report.

Strong competition: the Bundesliga

10/20/2014 – Anand, Aronian, Svidler, Adams, Bacrot, Shirov, Naiditsch and Kasimdzhanov - no, not the line-up of an international tournament but the top eight boards of the OSG Baden Baden, since nine years winner of the Bundesliga. This year the OSG is favorite to win the tenth time in a row. But after the first Bundesliga weekend another team took the lead.

A 2500 in a Millionaire Event (2/2)

10/19/2014 – The second report on Alejandro Ramirez's Las Vegas adventure. This article focuses on the second half of the tournament, shines a light on some of the organizational details of the event, and explains how one should go around to winning the big money in Las Vegas! After a stressful five days of chess, the author can only say one thing: "I can't wait for this event to happen again."

Isenegger Memorial Study Tourney (3)

10/19/2014 – The David vs. Goliath motif – pawns fight pieces – in chess studies was the speciality of the Swiss study composer Samuel Isenegger. It was also the theme of the commemorative composition tournament staged by the Dutch-Flamish endgame study society ARVES. In the final section of our report the event director Yochanan Afek shows us studied that received special commendations.

A 2500 in a Millionaire Event (1/2)

10/18/2014 – $100,000. For a grandmaster that has not breached the top 100, let alone the top 20, and besides the World Cup, when can a grandmaster compete in a tournament that has $100,000 as its first prize? GM Alejandro Ramirez took his risk of $1,000 to participate in a unique tournament in Las Vegas. He brings us his unique Millionaire Chess impressions.

World Junior 10/11: Goryachkina and Wei Yi lead

10/18/2014 – Twelve gruelling rounds, and two amazing players are set to take Gold. Alexandra Goryachkina has made it (update), while Wei Yi faces stiff resistance. In our big illustrated report from Pune, India, with five annotated games, we do not forget younger players who have gained massive amounts of rating points: 170 and 197 just in this event. The final round is on Sunday.

Isle of Man: rain and sunshine (part 2/2)

10/17/2014 – In this second part of her chronicle, Alina L'Ami shares her impressions of a place that mixes the deeply traditional with the modern at every step of the way, and that remains both part of the neighboring world, and apart in its own ways, such as a currency that can only be used there. It certainly helped that it had a friendly people and beautiful landscape.

Trashed trio

10/17/2014 – There's a simple truth about chess: tactics decide most games. Playing a stunning novelty in a popular variation of the Sicilian after hours, weeks or months of preparation is fine, but useless if you fail to see the mate in five afterwards. There's also a simple truth about tactics: the more you practice, the better you get. Oliver Reeh helps to do so.

Bust this! A philosophical opening

10/17/2014 – Think of the worst blunder in the opening that does not lead to immediate checkmate. Say, giving away your queen on the second move with 1.e4 d6 2.Qg4. It is a losing move, as every beginner will tell you. But do we really know it, or are we just making an educated guess that is impossible to demonstrate? This is the philosophical problem of chess knowledge, explained by Pedro Múrias.

Isle of Man: rain and sunshine (part 1/2)

10/16/2014 – The combination of poker and chess at the Isle of Man was a fun change of pace, but in spite of this, for most players, it was the open that was the biggest draw, attracting top British and foreign players. The star was eventual English legend Nigel Short who beat Howell in the last round to take first, but there was so much more to it as told by Alina L'Ami in her wonderful report.

World Junior R08+09: Chinese and Russians top

10/16/2014 – After nine rounds two powerhouses of world chess are in the forefront. In the Open section the two Chinese GMs Wei Yi and Lu Shanglei remain in the lead with 7.0/9, but are joined by a Russian: Vladimir Fedoseev. In the Girls section last year's winner Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia is in the sole lead with 7.5/9. Big pictorial report by Sagar Shah.

World Championship Guide to Sochi

10/16/2014 – The World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand is just three weeks away. It takes place in a volatile political region of Russia, but in a city that is a very attractive seaside resort. It can be reached in half-hourly flights from Moscow or in two hours from Istanbul, and stay in a five-star hotel for a special rate of €88 (US $112) per night. Here are all the details.

Baku Closing

10/16/2014 – The first leg of the Grand Prix series has finished, and since the series is now only four tournaments long every result will count (unlike previously where you could 'replace' a bad result). This means that immediately we have some players well positioned for the top spots, while others will have to work hard for their qualification to the Candidate's.

World Junior rest day: a journey into Maratha

10/15/2014 – The rest day at the World Juniors is a wonderful tradition. Apart from giving players the much needed break from this strenuous event, it presents them with an opportunity to bond with each other and make new friends. Nearly 75 foreign players enrolled themselves for an outing to some historical sites in Pune and get aquainted with the Maratha culture. Big pictorial report.

NYT chess column dies – but could be resurrected

10/15/2014 – On October 11 a well-known chess column which has been running since 1962 finished with an ominous sentence: "This is the final chess column to run in The New York Times.” The end of an era, brought on by the dominance of chess in the web? Not so fast, says Matt Gaffney in a thoughtful Slate Magazine article. He names two candidates who could take over the NYT chess column.

Chess Down Under

10/15/2014 – There are many reasons to visit Australia: sunny weather, rich wildlife, incredible beaches, vibrant cities to name just a few. In January there is one more: Chess. From 2-11 January 2015 the Australian Open Chess Championships take place in Sydney. In short: a strong tournament with an impressive prize pool in a fascinating city in an attractive country. Give it a go!