Taizhou 02: Draw after 33 moves

9/12/2013 – The second game of the Women's World Championship that is being currently played in China was a Sicilian Pelikan/Sveshnikov that followed theory for 17 moves. Challenger Hou Yifan seemed unfamiliar with the position and decided to simplify the position quickly to obtain a draw rather than allow complications that could turn against her. Commentary and pictures.

Touring Canada

9/12/2013 – For the players seeking a visit of Canada and some good chess, there were ample opportunities with strong tournaments in Edmonton, Ottawa, and Quebec. One of the summer's most successful players was Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista, but one didn't need to win to have a great time in the beautiful Canuck cities. A pictorial by Elshan Moradiabadi

Sinquefield 03: Exciting draws

9/12/2013 – Hikaru Nakamura came out for blood using the King's Indian and playing incredibly active moves to obtain a strong initiative against Magnus Carlsen. Despite using the black pieces he was able to obtain an advantage, and when the Norwegian felt threatened he went for a safe option and drew. Kamsky-Aronian was also an exciting draw with plenty of opportunities. Analysis and report.

Taizhou 01: Hou Yifan strikes first

9/11/2013 – Despite the strong opening that Anna Ushenina used in this game she was unable to convert it into victory. After some inaccuracies the Ukrainian found herself giving away the advantage, but more importantly soon afterwards she underestimated Black's threats on the kingside and was in the receiving end of a swift mating attack. Pictorial report with analysis by WGM Abrahamyan.

Breaking the record – a 50-board blindfold attempt

9/11/2013 – Uzbek grandmaster Timur Gareev, who now resides in San Diego, has, as our readers know, been touring California in the past months. He brings us pictures of the Burning Man festival and the biggest living entity on the planet. He also tells us about his experiences with blindfold simultaneous exhibitions, and a plan to break the world record. Anyone like to host it?

Women's World Chess Championship under way

9/11/2013 – The first game in the ten-game match between reigning champion Anna Ushenina and challenger Hou Yifan started on Tuesday at 3 p.m. local time (Hou Yifan has played a classical Nimzo-Indian). It was preceeded by the opening ceremony in the lavish five-star Chunlan Hotel, the venue, in Taizhou, China. The match is being broadcast live on Playchess. Latest: Hou Yifan won the first game with black.

Sinquefield 02: Nakamura at the top

9/11/2013 – Aronian had a very questionable opening against Carlsen who kept putting pressure on White's position from the very beginning. However, through inaccuracies and indecision of his opponent, the Armenian was able to defend and draw. Nakamura used his ability in blitz to outplay Kamsky in a sharp time pressure in which Black committed too many errors. Analysis of both games and pictorial report.

Endgames from Beijing and Tromso

9/10/2013 – Karjakin, Mamadyarov, Grischuk, Kramnik, Wang Yue, Vachier-Lagrave – these are players you definitely can learn something from. In today's endgame session our ChessBase Magazine expert GM Karsten Müller presents instructive endgames from two recent FIDE Grand Prix tournaments and teaches you techniques that can prove invaluable in your tournament games. Learn and enjoy.

Sinquefield 01: Kamsky and Aronian self-destruct

9/10/2013 – Nakamura and Carlsen were the happy recipients of grave mistakes by their opponents. In Nakamura-Aronian the latter obtained a good position which could only be better for him, but a dreadful blunder gave away an exchange and gifted Nakamura a full point. Kamsky was over-aggressive which allowed Carlsen to coolly mount a deadly counterattack. GM analysis of both games.

Puzzles: a thousand-year-old chess problem

9/9/2013 – Chess was invented around 570 A.D. in the north-eastern part of India. The Arabs brought it to Europe in the 9th Century, also introducing the first “mansuba” – middle or endgame puzzles with well-defined tasks. There were often stories and legends surrounding them, one of the best known being “Dilaram’s mate”. We re-narrate this tale and give you one of the oldest recorded chess problems to solve.

Sinquefield Cup starts tomorrow

9/9/2013 – One of the strongest tournaments of the year starts tomorrow as the Sinquefield Cup kicks off. A double round robin tournament with Carlsen, Aronian, Nakamura and Kamsky is sure to attract a lot of attention, especially as it is Carlsen's last event before his match against Anand for the World Championship. Today the players had an autograph session and we bring you a pictorial report.

Women's World Championship begins on Tuesday

9/8/2013 – GM Anna Ushenina of Ukraine, 28, is the incumbent, having won the title in the FIDE knockout in 2012 in Khanty-Mansiysk. Challenger Hou Yifan of China, 19, was the youngest female ever to gain the GM title, and at 16 the youngest human being to win a world chess championship title. The two face off in Taizhou, China, in a ten-game match. We have the schedule and all the details.

Norm Galore at the US Master's

9/8/2013 – The US Master's tournament in recently finished in North Carolina with a rare display of excellent organization in an America event. Many norms were earned in the championship including a GM norm by Sarkar and an IM norm by Abrahamyan. Another norm winner and newly titled IM-elect Sabrina Chevannes brings us a full report of the event as well as some key annotations.

Kavalek in Huffington: Kramnik triumphs in Norway

9/6/2013 – Torn between playing with his young kids in France and playing chess in Norway, Vladimir Kramnik, 38, made a choice that paid off. The former world champion won the 2013 FIDE Chess World Cup in Tromsø and collected $96,000. He finished the event undefeated, booking five wins in classical and four in rapid chess. Huffington Post columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek annotates two games of the winner.

Poikovsky Final: Eljanov at the top

9/6/2013 – An eventful last round so Pavel Eljanov barely hold his game against Viktor Laznicka to win the tournament. Also interesting was Ivan Cheparinov's absolutely crazy win against Emil Sutovsky who narrowly missed second place. Also a full interview with Alexander Onischuk on the state of the game in America and in Russia. Analysis and final standings.

Are the chess World Champions just lucky? – Part 2

9/6/2013 – In November Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen, currently the world's highest ranked player, will challenge reigning champion Viswanathan Anand in a 12-game match. Many chess fans expect Carlsen to win. But what are his real chances? Matthew Wilson has been running 40,000 match simulations, based on previous results, rating and the event format. He comes up with precise figures.

Poikovsky round 8: "The Terminator" in the lead

9/6/2013 – Pavel Eljanov, nicknamed by the local chess organization as "The Terminator" has taken the lead after two very important back to back victories with the white pieces. The tournament also celebrated Alexander Onischuk's 38th birthday. Onischuk is unique to this event because he has played it all fourteen times! Eljanov recounts how this birthday party contributed to his success over the board.

TCF moves the World Junior away from Syria

9/5/2013 – The Turkish Chess Federation has finally decided to move the 2013 World Junior Chess Championship from Hatay to Kocaeli, as far away from Syria as possible. The decision comes quite late as many federations had already decided not to send their players and the tournament starts in approximately one week. Information on the new venue, the list of players and the official announcement.

Vasily Papin wins New Caledonia Open

9/5/2013 – If you look down at your feet you are probably looking in the direction of the South Sea archipelago, a thousand miles east of Australia (and tens of thousands away from anywhere else). To hold a chess tournament there is idyllic and exotic, which is brought out in this big pictorial report by Luis Sanchez Botella. It is about the 64 black and white squares – but also about crows and whales.

Are the chess World Champions just lucky?

9/4/2013 – Some players – notably Fischer – were expected to win the title and did so convincingly. With others, such as the FIDE knockout world champions, clearly luck was involved. Statisticians like PhD student Matthew Wilson tell us what to expect from world championship matches, based on the previous results of the players, the event format. Part one (of two) of his statistical study.

Karjakin wins Moscow Blitz through cold and rain

9/4/2013 – Sergey Karjakin emerged victorious in the traditional chess festival held in Moscow. The tournament looked to be in danger as it is traditionally held outside; however wind, rain and even lightning could not stop this spectator-friendly event from taking place. People flocked to see the top Russian stars duke it out with only minutes on their clocks. Full report including all the games.

14th Karpov Poikovsky - planting for the future

9/4/2013 – Though overshadowed by the World Cup just won by Vladimir Kramnik, the 14th Karpov Poikovsky is now well underway with six of the nine rounds played, and it is just that it will now enjoy the full attention of chess fans as the last three rounds determine a winner. Motylev and Eljanov are the co-leaders, but all the players joined in planting for the future.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (100)

9/2/2013 – The British chess writer Justin Horton has been publishing a fully documented series of articles to show that the output of the chess columnist of The Times and The Spectator relies heavily on plagiarism. The Editor of Chess Notes steps back from the details of the case to reflect on how the game’s media outlets cover controversies and what constitutes chess news.

World Cup Final 4: Kramnik wins Tromsø 2013

9/2/2013 – It was Dmitri Andreikin's last chance, but he chose a somewhat quiet Symmetrical English in a last-ditch attempt to outplay Vladimir Kramnik and stay in the tournament. This plan quickly backfired as every attempt to complicate the issue made Andreikin's position worse. In the end, with Kramnik pressing for a win, Dmitri offered a draw which his opponent accepted. Final report with GM analysis.