IV Hainan Danzhou tournament starts

5/22/2013 – Now celebrating its fourth edition, the Danzhou Grandmaster tournament held in Danzhou city in the Hainan province of China once more brings the best Chinese players such as Ding Liren, Bu Xiangzhi, and 13-year-old GM Wei Yi to battle for the fans, and help promote the royal game. The first two rounds saw an incredible seven out of ten games end in decisive results. Illustrated report by Liang Ziming.

CHESS Magazine: Cheats are prospering

5/21/2013 – Recently at the Cork Open a player became suspicious when his opponent went to the toilet twenty time during his game. He followed him and climbed up to watch what was going on in the cubicle. When he saw his opponent checking moves with an Android he dragged him out to expose the cheating. In his editorial for CHESS Magazine Malcolm Pein writes about the rise of cheating in chess.

Lothar Schmid – obituaries in the NYT and Telegraph

5/21/2013 – Lothar Schmid, born on May 10th 1928 and heir to an adventure book series, became one of Germany's strongest grandmasters, and the arbiter in important matches, most notably Fischer vs Spassky in Reykjavik 1972. As reported Lothar died on Saturday, shortly after his 85th birthday. Now extensive obituaries are beginning to appear in the international press. Here are the first two.

Checkmating Alzheimer’s Disease

5/20/2013 – Every 68 seconds someone in the US develops Alzheimer’s disease. 14.5 million caregivers provided more than 17.5 billion hours of unpaid care, and the total cost of Alzheimer’s is projected to balloon from $203 billion in 2013 to $1.2 trillion by 2050. Medical science is still wrestling with cause and cure, but, as Michael Ciamarra explains, there is one treatment that seems to work: chess.
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Peruvians dazzle in American Continental

5/19/2013 – The American Continental Championship has ended in Bolivia. The Peruvian contingency delivered important blows to their opponents in the final round to clinch two of the four passes to the 2013 World Cup. Diego Flores and Isan Ortiz, Argentina and Cuba respectively, took second and third while the unstoppable Julio Granda won the tournament with a full extra point. Pictures and results.

Lothar Schmid: 1928–2013

5/19/2013 – He was born on May 10th 1928, heir to the Karl Mai adventure series. Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid became one of Germany's strongest grandmasters, winner of countless medals at Olympiads and team championships. Internationally he was known as the arbiter in great matches, and a one of the world's leading collectors of chess books. Lothar Schmid died on Saturday at the age of 85.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda: 15-year-old gains GM title

5/19/2013 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda was born on April 26, 1998, in Krakow, Poland. On May 16, 2013, in the last round of the European Championship he completed his final and third GM norm. He is currently rated 2506 and thus fulfils all conditions for a full GM title. This makes Jan-Krzysztof the world's second youngest GM (after Chinese GM Wei Yi, who is still 13!). We use the opportunity to update our prodigy list.

Sergey Karjakin wins Norway Chess 2013

5/18/2013 – After the massive buildup to see Sergey Karjakin challenged for first, many expected Carlsen to catch up with him. Instead Aronian held Carlsen to a draw, Anand blundered and lost to Hao, letting Nakamura snatch third, while Karjakin played a very tough game against Topalov and drew a winning position to take a brilliant sole first. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

Norway 2013 Rd8: Karjakin and Carlsen lose

5/17/2013 – The first result was a blitzkrieg by Anand who sacrificed three pawns and a knight to overwhelm Hammer, then Nakamura beat the struggling Radjabov. The first surprise was Svidler’s win over Karjakin after a back and forth game, but who would have expected Carlsen to enter a balanced endgame with Wang Hao, and then misplay it so badly he lost? Big report with GM commentary.

Ramirez: Playing Kamsky under Pressure

5/17/2013 – Last weekend Gata Kamsky and Alejandro Ramirez tied for first in the 2013 US Championship, making a playoff necessary. Here the 24-year-old "upstart" Ramirez faced one of the most exprienced GMs in the US (Kamsky was twice Soviet under-20 champion before Alej was born). Alejandro, who is now a co-editor of our newspage, tells us in vividly annotated games what the encounter was like.

The joys of chess – Refuting the refutation

5/16/2013 – Christian Hesse is a PhD from Harvard and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Stuttgart. He is also an avid chess fan and has written a number of articles for our news page. As a book author he has been successful with instructive and entertaining works on chess. Now one of his best is available in English. We bring you an interesting chapter on refutations and counter-refutations. Enjoy.

WGP Geneva: Khotenashvili wins with 8.0/11

5/16/2013 – Georgian IM Bela Khotenashvili drew her final round game against Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina and won Neva Women's Grand Prix in Geneva. Her nearest rival, Anna Muzychuk, who had to win the game in order to catch the leader, drew against Alexandra Kosteniuk. Tatiana Kosintseva and Nana Dzagnidze shared 3rd-4th. Final report.

Norway 2013 Rd7: Karjakin, Carlsen, and Anand win

5/15/2013 – After a near miss in the previous round, Vishy Anand steamrolled Teimur Radjabov with black in impressive fashion. Sergey Karjakin showed he was not going to relinquish his pole position without a fight, and beat Hikaru Nakamura to secure his lead, while Magnus Carlsen outplayed Jon Hammer and stays in the race. Full report with analysis by GM Gilberto Milos.

WGP Geneva: Khotenashvili leads alone

5/15/2013 – It was the round of the Georgians, with GM Nana Dzagnidze beating Chinese IM Ju Wenjun and, more relevantly, IM Bela Khotenashvili defeating one of the tournament favourites, third seed GM Kateryna Lahno. That boosted Bela's performance to 2700+ and her rating to 2531 – which means her GM title is now assured. GM Adrian Mikhalchishin analyses her win in our pictorial report.

Norway 2013 Rd6: Carlsen closes on Karjakin

5/14/2013 – Trying to sum up the incredible action of the day in a few lines is nearly impossible. The games were sharp, exciting, dramatic, and Playchess commentator GM Daniel King even said “My brain is hurting”. Aronian beat Hammer in an explosive game, and Carlsen ground down Radjabov in his vintage endgame play. Anand nearly beat Karjakin after a virtuoso performance. Report with GM commentary.

US Ch: Kamsky beats Ramirez in playoff

5/14/2013 – The 2013 U.S. Championship went extra innings on Monday in a gripping tiebreak final. After splitting a pair of rapid games, GM Gata Kamsky won $30,000 and his fourth title in an Armageddon game against GM Alejandro Ramirez, who was seeking his first title. The entire playoff was broadcast live, with running GM commentary. Highlight was a wonderful stalemate defence by Ramirez.

WGP Geneva: Muzychuk, Khotenashvili win and lead

5/14/2013 – Three decisive games, two with the black pieces, saw Anna Muzychuk and Bela Khotenashvili, who completed her final GM norm, stay in the lead. Tatiana Kosintseva beat Kateryna Lahno to move to clear third place, half a point behind the leaders. The local derby Ju Wenjun-Hou Yifan ended in a 40-move draw. On the free day some players gave a simul for children. Round nine report with GM analysis.

Kramnik: Anand tense, scared of Carlsen

5/13/2013 – That is what former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik thinks, after playing next to Anand at the Alekhine Memorial. BUT: Vishy Anand, who since 2007 has fended off challenges from three different players, can defeat the world's number one if he is in the right frame of mind. "If he manages to hold up to the pressure for six games, then Anand will become a favourite," is Kramnik's opinion.

Norway 2013 Rd5: Carlsen beats Karjakin

5/13/2013 – It was a must win situation for Magnus Carlsen to still dream of first, and it started badly as Sergey Karjakin took the initiative. With his vintage luck of the champions, Karjakin miscalculated and Carlsen went on the attack to score an impressive win. Karjakin leads with 4.0/5, followed by Carlsen and Nakamura with 3.0/5. Jon Hammer scored his first win against Wang Hao. Report with GM commentary.

US Ch: Krush wins, Kamsky-Ramirez playoff

5/13/2013 – Top seed GM Gata Kamsky started the final round with a half-point lead but could not defeat youthful GM Ray Robson. Three players could win to catch Kamsky, but only GM Alejandro Ramirez got the full point. The two will play tomorrow at noon in a two-game rapid playoff. Meanwhile IM Irina Krush defended her U.S. Women’s Championship title, scoring 8.0/9. Report with pictures and videos.

Norway 2013 Rd4: Sergey Karjakin still perfect

5/12/2013 – Sergey Karjakin is on fire and continues his perfect run with four wins in four games after beating Levon Aronian today. When asked the last time he started with 4.0/4 he replied, "Maybe when I was 10 years old". Magnus Carlsen scored his fourth draw, while Hikaru Nakamura won an excellent game against Vishy Anand and is sole second. Report, videos, and analysis by GM Gilberto Milos.

WGP Geneva: four decisive games

5/12/2013 – Once again we saw fighting chess and some critical games. Leaders Anna Muzycuk and Bela Khotenashvili drew to stay in the joint lead. Tatiana Kosintseva and Kateryna Lahno moved into striking position wins against Olga Girya and Nana Dzagnidze. But the big one was reigning Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina vs Challenger Hou Yifan, which GM Adrian Mikhalchishin has analysed.

Kavalek in Huffington: Alekhine and the art of chess

5/12/2013 – "To me, chess is not a game; it is art," said the great Alexander Alekhine, the fourth World Chess Champion. It is fitting that this year's Alekhine Memorial chess tournament was held in the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. In his Huffington Post column GM Lubomir Kavalek looks at a key game from this event and at a 1930 game by Alekhine.

WGP Geneva: six wins, five with black

5/11/2013 – It is a well-known fact that women play uncompromised chess! All six games in round seven of the Neva Fondation Women Grand Prix in Geneva were decisive, and the victories of Black outnumbered White’s success by 5 to 1. After the smoke cleared we found Anna Muzychuk and Bela Khotenashvili in the joint lead with 5.0/7 points and four rounds to go. Big pictorial report with GM analysis.