World Youth Championship: challenges and results

12/22/2013 – The World Youth Chess Championship is underway, and after an initial report, we were accused of spreading the "propaganda of the organizers" as complaints were legion after round one. We inquired about this with a reply from a friend in Al Ain, as well as reports from others there. It is not all dire, and many issues are being resolved, as the children fight over the board. A large illustrated report.

Web publishing with ChessBase 12 (part 1/3)

12/22/2013 – A common issue when considering writing a chess blog, or publishing chess news, is how to publish the actual chess material. Diagrams, chess notation, or a nice game replayer such as the one seen in the ChessBase News pages are a must, and the truth is, all our ‘secret’ tools are available in ChessBase 12. Here is an easy step-by-step guide on how to use all the main tools for online publication.

How Technology is Changing Our Minds

12/21/2013 – It's undeniable — is it a change for the better? Amid a chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson delivers a resounding "yes" in his latest book "Smarter Than You Think". The Internet age has produced a radical new style of human intelligence, worthy of both celebration and analysis. Thompson, a freelance journalist, blogger and science and technology writer, includes a chapter on Advanced Chess.

Chess in the movies

12/21/2013 – Chess and Hollywood have long been close friends, and even when the silver screen was not showing movies that were outright about chess, they never hesitated to slip in some scenes with chess. Here is a look at the films where the royal game makes a cameo appearance, but is not the outright star. Each movie listed includes the key scene and a bit of commentary. Expanded list with reader feedback.

Huffington: Nakamura Conquers London Classic

12/20/2013 – On the day the Washington Redskins fumbled six times and threw one interception, Hikaru Nakamura's performance in England seemed almost flawless. Last Sunday, the top American GM won the London Chess Classic, a rapid chess competition, leaving many world class players behind, including two former world champions. Huffington Post columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek comments.

World Youth Championship 2013 started in Al Ain

12/20/2013 – This very important FIDE event is being staged between December 17th and 29th in the UAE »Garden city« of Al Ain. More than 1800 participants from 120 national chess federations have come to take part in six girls and six open sections, U8 to U18. "Chess is a global sport – it is a message for the world of unity and friendship," said Organizing Committee Chairman Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa.

Russian Cup gold for Jakovenko and Bodnaruk

12/20/2013 – The Russian Cup Final has finally concluded with two winners after twelve months of competition and a final phase to determine the grand prize winners. Anastasia Bodnaruk overcame Margarite Schepetkova for the Women's gold, while Dmitri Jakovenko and Vladimir Fedoseev made the final. Fedoseev, who had arrived with 100%, was finally stopped by Jakovenko who took gold. A large photo report.

Playchess for Web: usernames and rated games

12/20/2013 – The launch of Playchess’s web client brought an incredibly convenient way to watch games through the browser, but was missing that one key feature: the ability to login using one’s subscriber username. Until now you could only login as a guest, but now that has been fixed and you play rated games, and of course watch any master or grandmaster game of your choice.

Hou? Yifan? What's in a name...

12/19/2013 – "Your discussion of 'Kosteniuk, Kosintseva, and Yifan' in recent articles sounds as dissonant to a Chinese reader as 'Clinton, Bush, and Barack'", writes Fabien Simonis from Dongguan, China – and goes on to give us a primer on the correct use of Chinese names. To his very useful instructions we add a reprint of a 2004 article explaining Indian, Russian and other names.

BBC Radio 4 to broadcast chess chats

12/19/2013 – Believe it or not, but on Monday, December 30, BBC Radio 4 will start a week-long series of 15-minute chat shows on… chess! The program Across the Board will feature Dominic Lawson, the Sunday Times and Daily Mail columnist, who will play against and interview a different guest each episode on five consecutive days. This is the first time in 50 years since the 1960s radio show with Bobby Fischer.

Mind Games Final: Karjakin, Zhao Xue top Basque

12/18/2013 – The SportsAccord World Mind Games has come to an end in Beijing, China. The last chess event was the unique Basque rapids. Karjakin crushed the men's section with an amazing 8.5/10 including 2-0 wins against Leko and Le Quang Liem. In the women's China took places one two and three, but Gunina almost cut in by taking out Hou Yifan. However, like in the blitz, a blunder spoiled her chances...

Kasparov on the campaign trail – Indonesia

12/18/2013 – So far, to the best of our knowledge, only one candidate has registered for the 2014 FIDE presidential election: Garry Kasparov. The former World Chess Champion has been extremely active in key regions of the world: east of India, south of Sahara, north of Greece. After an extensive tour of southern Africa Kasparov undertook a trip to the Far East, with a start in Jakarta.

Battle of Moscow defense celebrated

12/18/2013 – A small tribute to the defense of the famous Battle of Moscow was held with chess at its center. A small tournament with a rather prestigious clique of players was organized at the Prechistenke Peace Foundation regarding a historic battle with millions of soldiers on both sides. The opening was attended by two world champions, Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov. A pictorial and small history lesson.

London Closing Ceremony

12/17/2013 – The London Chess Classic has come to an end. Nakamura ended victorious in the Super Sixteen rapid, but that was not all there was to the festival. A women's invitational took place while in the FIDE Open, from which Istatescu and Sutovsky qualified to the rapids, was ultimately won by Jon Ludvig Hammer. Impressions of a traditional and fun closing ceremony...

Kolkata wraps up Indian circuit

12/17/2013 – The tournaments that comprised the small circuit to celebrate the World Chess Championship in India have come to an end. The last leg, held in Kolkata, finished with a triumph by Armenian GM Ter Sahakyan. IM Mozharov was able to score a GM norm in every tournament in the circuit! Many norms were earned by locals. Tournament report by Professor Anantharam.

Mind Games Day 6: Basque System starts

12/17/2013 – This unique style of chess has begun in China! The players face each other twice simultaneously, once with black and once with white. In the men's Karjakin has again taken an early lead with a devastating 5.0/6. In the women's it is the Chinese that are dominating as they hold the top three spots at the moment, with Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun at the very top. Analysis of the basque!

Indian National Premier starts today

12/17/2013 – It starts on Tuesday, with a one million Rupee prize fund (that US $16,000) and some of India's finest (e.g. Negi, Sasikiran, Adhiban). The event is being held in the Jain Hills resort of Jalgaon province, which is one of the hottest places in India in the summer, but wonderfully temperate in winter. It was not quite easy to reach but the venue itself makes up for that, as Saga Shah reports.

Pal Benko: Secrets of Study Composition (1)

12/17/2013 – There is more to chess than tournament games. The area of chess studies and problems is equally creative and breathtakingly imaginative. One of its greatest composers is grandmaster (and world championship candidate 1959 + 1962) Pal Benko. The 85-year-old author of some of the most famous studies of all time has sent us an essay on the remarkable process of chess composition.

Russian Cup takes off

12/17/2013 – The Russian Cup final is underway in Khanty-Mansiysk and is the culmination of the Russia Cup circuit of tournaments held throughout the year. Over a period of twelve months in different cities of Russia, stages of the Russian Cup are held for both men and women. The players that qualified from these tournaments are invited to the final. Beautiful pictorial impressions of the tournament.

Mind Games Day 5: Yifan, Karjakin gold

12/17/2013 – In two close blitz tournaments the final results came to the very last round. In the men's section Aronian and Karjakin tied at the top, but the Russian edged his opponent out on tiebreaks as he had bested the Armenian in the individual encounter. In the Women's section Gunina could have won if she defeated Hou Yifan in the last round, but she blundered and lost. Analysis of a blitz game!

2013 European Rapid and Blitz championships

12/16/2013 – It has been a massive amount of top-notch international rapid chess with the London Chess Classic, the Beijing Mind Games, and not to be outdone: the European Bitz and Rapid championships, held in Warsaw, Poland. What the European lacked in top-ten players, they made up for in sheer numbers with no fewer than 437 players in the blitz championship and 747 in the rapid. Even Santa played.

Nakamura wins London!

12/16/2013 – After a lucky escape in the semi-finals against Kramnik, Nakamura proceeded to play resourceful and precise chess against Gelfand in the finals to emerge victorious. Despite his dubious opening choices in both games, Nakamura was clearly the better rapid player this time around as Gelfand was unable to keep up with all the resources that the American kept finding. Analysis of the victory.

Mind Games Day 4: Yifan big winner

12/15/2013 – In the Men's section a very close situation has occurred. Mamedyarov's excellent day two catapulted him to first place with 14.0/20, but there are many players in hot pursuit. Le Quang Liem is only half a point behind, Aronian one point, Karjakin and Vachier a point and a half. In the Women's a fantastic 9.5/10 score for Yifan in day two puts her ahead with a two point lead. Pictorial report.

Looking back at Chennai: WCh solving contest

12/15/2013 – One of the daily attractions of the World Championship in Chennai last November was the problem and study contests that were held in the hotel lobby during every round. Scores of competent, enthusiastic and highly motivated solvers participated. The organiser of the solving contest, C.G.S. Narayanan, kindly sent us a set for our readers to solve. You have 90 minutes to do so.