Stalemate: the long and the Short of it (3)

9/22/2014 – GM Nigel Short thinks we should abandon the "stupid rule" of stalemate, where the attacking side has completely immobilized the enemy but does not win. Paul Lillebo has been showing us that the stalemate rule adds a valuable dimension to chess, providing a last saving chance for the defending side, or a last stumbling block for the attacker. He shows us examples from top level play.

Review of ChessBase Complete

9/21/2014 – "A lovely book," writes Allan Beardsworth, "buy it if you use ChessBase, especially if you are like me: only good with the basic functions; or if you are an absolute novice with it." The owner of 556 chess books, "many read, many to be read, many never to be read," says that this book will remain by his computer for probably a good many months." That could apply to many. Review.

ECC 07: Two perfect scores

9/20/2014 – The European Club Cup has come to an end and there was no doubt which team was best in each section. In the Open SOCAR saw another great Topalov performance as his lone victory against Svidler was enough for the Azeri team to win every single match they played. Also in a perfect 14-0 run the Georgian team of Nona beat SHSM allowing Monte-Carlo to grasp at second place.

Bilbao Final: Anand first, Aronian second

9/20/2014 – The last round of the tournament in the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao finished with two pretty positional wins by the White pieces. Aronian took out Anand after a couple of inaccuracies by the Indian left his king too weak in a major piece endgame. Vallejo's intrepid c-pawn lunged all the way to c6 where it squashed Ponomariov's position. Last round report.

56th Nairobi Chess Club Championship

9/20/2014 – The Nairobi Chess Club is the oldest chess club in Kenya, and in late August it hosted the 56th Club Championship, with 78 players at the start. The event was won by former Olympian (1988/1990) and 1990 Kenya National Champion Larry Kagambi with a perfect score of five wins out of five games. Kim Bhari, Chairman of NCC, has sent us a big illustrated report.

ECC 06: Winners!

9/20/2014 – Things went as predicted in the Women's section and Nona easily beat their opponents 4-0 to officially become the ECC Women's Champion. In the Open Section a surprising demolishing occurred on the top match as Malakhite fell to SOCAR by an amazing 5.0-1.0, including an amazing king walk by Wang Hao! Bilbao's FB page (probably on tiebreak) already claims SOCAR as the champions!

Bilbao 05: Anand clinches with one round to go

9/19/2014 – The games were relatively dry to what we have seen in the rest of the tournament, but that was perfectly ok for Vishy Anand who clinches the Bilbao Grand Slam Masters final with one round to spare. The 3-1-0 scoring system means that he is four points ahead of Aronian, who can at most reach ten points tomorrow. That's some definite pressure on Carlsen and the upcoming WCC!

Komodo 8: about the authors

9/19/2014 – It is, as we told you, a different kind of chess engine, with sounder positional play and deeper ideas than other chess engines. But it remains tactically sound. Over the years it has been consistently rated in the top three on most major chess engine rating lists – currently it is number one. Here is some information about this remarkable chess playing program, and the men who created it.

Hanging queens

9/19/2014 – "Gardez la dame! (Protect your queen!)", is an old chess expression, the equivalent of saying "check" when attacking the enemy king. Apparently there were times when it was considered good chess etiquette to reveal your most serious threats to your opponent. But what to say and, more importantly, what to do when both queens are under attack?

ECC 05: Nona virtual winner

9/19/2014 – Things are still unclear in the Open section, despite a huge triumph by SOCAR against the number two seed, Obiettivo Risarcimento. Important wins by Topalov and Korobov overshadows Caruana's continuation of his string of successes. In the Women's section it seems as if first place is virtually decided. Nona leads comfortably and has one of the "easy" pairings still left.

Bilbao Masters 04: Anand rolls forward

9/19/2014 – Anand continues with a very impressive performance in the Bilbao Grand Slam Masters Final as he demolished Vallejo Pons in a simple game where all White had to do was put the pieces where they belonged. Ponomariov prepared against the wrong opponent, and could only reach a draw against Aronian. Meanwhile as consolation Paco Vallejo did win the Basque Games Triathlon!

11th Malaysian Chess Festival starts strong

9/18/2014 – The Malaysian Chess Festival is now in its eleventh year and is the most anticipated event in the country and region. This year the chess festival coincided with Malaysia's Day which marks the forming of Malaysia in 1963. The unique event not only runs three simultaneous tournaments, but also includes a massive team event, a junior, a rapid and a blitz event. Pictures and videos.

4th Zurich Chess Challenge 2015

9/18/2014 – This year saw a narrow Category 23 event. The next edition of the Zurich Chess Challenge, even without Magnus Carlsen, but led by Fabiano Caruana, reaches an average rating of 2786 (Cat. 22). An opening day blitz determines the colours, and on the final day there is a rapid event that scores half as much as the classic round robin. Mark it in your calendar, here are all the details.

ECC 04: SOCAR, Nona unstoppable

9/18/2014 – In the Open section SOCAR took sweet revenge from last year's match-up against Novy Bor and took a comfortable 4-2 victory, with victories by Topalov, Giri and Radjabov. They face Obiettivo Risarcimento in a thrilling fifth round. Things are going smoothly for Batumi's Nona in the Women's section as they edged out Ugra with a 2.5-1.5 vital victory. Both teams now lead alone.

Kasparov: The future of chess, not FIDE

9/17/2014 – He ran for FIDE President, but was defeated by the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The conclusions Garry Kasparov draws from the painful loss are described in a closing essay on his campaign web site. In addition the former World Champion has been writing articles on the world situation in the Wall Street Journal and TIME, and can be seen in a remarkable interview on Fox News.

New FIDE anti-cheating rules

9/17/2014 – FIDE has just modified section 11.3 of its Laws of Chess, reacting to a request of its Anti Cheating Committee. In future players will not be permitted to have any device capable of suggesting chess moves on their person in the playing venue, only in a bag and completely switched off, with the permission of the arbiter. In addition: spot searches may be conducted.

Test Komodo 8!

9/17/2014 – Komodo 8 is different than other chess programs - and Komodo 8 is stronger. If you want to check this claim and the program you will soon have a good opportunity to do so. Thanks to the Playchess All Engine Rapid Masters Fall 2014 tournament organized by Clemens Keck. Here engines can be tested and money can be won. First prize: 350 Euros.

ECC 03: Leaders emerge

9/17/2014 – SOCAR was able to easily vanquish Oslo Schakselskap while Novy Bor squashed SK Rockaden 6-0. These two victories put both teams as the leaders since SPB and Obiettivo Risarcimento split the point with six draws each. Tomorrow's match will be crucial to the standings. In the Women's section Monte Carlo finally won a match, though barely, while SHSM could not hold the lead.

Parimarjan's first chess book

9/17/2014 – At 13 years 3 months and 22 days he became the second youngest grandmaster in the history of chess. Today, at 21, this multiple tournament winner has written his first book, on 1.e4 against the French, Caro-Kann and Philidor. "He was foolish enough to be totally honest in his book, not hiding anything," said colleague Anish Giri and used a line from it to win an important game.

Bilbao Masters 03: Pono shows class

9/16/2014 – Levon Aronian vs. Vishy Anand was set to be the match of the day, the two highest rated players in the tournament duking it out, and also the two players with the most amount of points. But the show was completely stolen by the Ukrainian grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov who keeps playing aggressive chess. Today it paid off very well as he tore Vallejo Pons' position. A pretty game!

Black's barrier

9/16/2014 – Every week ChessBase Magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents an endgame in his blog. Today you also have the chance to see him live. Just visit the playchess server at 16.00 CEST and go to Karsten Müller's "Endgame Magic" show. His guest today is GM Mihai Marin. To get in endgame mood, click on the diagram and have fun!

The Chess Train rolls again

9/16/2014 – Five days, five cities, five countries and one of the most charming chess events of the world - that is the "Chess Train Tournament 2014". The journey begins on October 10th and in the following five days the chess travelers will have the unique experience of playing a 12-round rapid tournament while visiting five of the most beautiful European cities.

ECC 02: Demolitions and Surprises!

9/16/2014 – An exciting game in the European Club Cup in Bilbao. In the Open section the big news of the day was the board one matchup between SHSM and SOCAR, in paper a close one, but one that was dominated by the Azerbaijani team with a brutal 5-1 score! Mamedyarov, Topalov, Adams, Radjabov vanquished Nepo, Morozevich, Dreev and Dubov. In the Women's section Monte Carlo lost yet again!

Bilbao Masters 02: Time Pressure Reigns

9/16/2014 – Today's games might have gone differently in the main stage at Bilbao had the players managed their time differently. Especially unlucky was Vallejo Pons who blundered the game against Anand "basically in one move". Aronian kept the pressure up against Ponomariov, who had a respite of only one move. He missed his chance, again in time pressure, and it looks like a two horse race.