Route planner

10/10/2014 – "Chess is easy, just put the pieces on the right squares", smart people sometimes say. Maybe too smart a remark. After all, how do you know which piece is right on which square? Not everyone is born with a chessboard route planner. But practice helps. And Oliver Reeh helps you to practice. This week he asks you to put the knight on the right square.

World Junior R02+03: the tournament builds up

10/9/2014 – In the first round there were, naturually, mostly lopsided Swiss pairings, but things started to get more interesting in the next two rounds. Currently five players are leading with perfect 3.0/3 scores in the Open section, and one in the Girls. And of course there are multi talents in Pune, India, like Erik Ronka, who sports a rating of 2183 and plays a mean Presto agitato.

Chess art at the Swiss Championship

10/8/2014 – In the recently held Swiss Championship, a wide variety of activities, events, and exhibits were held in honor of the Swiss Chess Federation's 125h anniversary, a milestone in organized chess. One of these was an art exhibit related to chess, with original chess sets of all kinds as well as numerous humorous drawings and paintings. Peruse this fun pictorial.

Rapport vs Laznicka: A thrilling match

10/8/2014 – Unorthodox chess, opening experiments, fighting spirit, a surprising comeback, and some blitz: the six game match between Richard Rapport from Hungary and Viktor Laznicka from the Czech Republic was entertaining and exciting to the last minute. After trailing 1-3 Laznicka won the last two regular games of the match but then lost the blitz tie-break.

Baku 06: Caruana 2851 live!

10/8/2014 – The Italian wrecking ball keeps accumulating victories! Today he outplayed Svidler in an immensely complicated position stemming from the Grunfeld. With this victory Caruana leads the tournament by half a point and reaches a new record in his live rating: 2851, only twelve points away from Carlsen. Kasimdzhanov and Radjabov also won, capitalizing on their opponents' mistakes.

PokerStars Isle of Man combines chess and poker

10/7/2014 – The PokerStars Isle of Man Tournament kicked off at the Villa Marina on Douglas’ seafront with players from seventeen countries participating in the myriad tournaments. By virtue of the sponsor, a number of activities involving original combinations of chess and poker are also there, with top players of both modalities. Here is a report with video, and pictures by Alina L'Ami.

Baku 05: Peace after the rest day

10/7/2014 – To quote one of the commentators of the event, Sutovsky, "Quite a boring round here in Baku. Only Gelfand-Tomashevsky and Nakamura-Dominguez were exciting at some stage." And even those games were not thrilling. Gelfand-Tomashevsyk petered out to a draw right after move 30 while Nakamura was trying to nurse two extra pawns in a probably drawn opposite colored bishop endgame.

Aronian's Arrow

10/7/2014 – Sometimes being a pawn or even two pawns up is not enough to win the game. Especially in endings with opposite colored bishops - if only bishops are left. But things change if other pieces come into play because the bishop is suddenly not the only one attacking. But you have to be creative to exploit this advantage. Levon Aronian certainly is.

World Junior R01: exciting chess and personalities

10/7/2014 – There are 136 players in the Open section, with five players above 2600 and a tournament average of 2225. In the Girls section has four WGMs and 14 WIMs, with an average rating of 2048. There were lots of interesting encounters in the first round, including a ten-year-old beating a Swedish IM rated 2420. Our report introduces you to the top personalities of tomorrow's chess world.

World Junior has started in Pune

10/7/2014 – It is probably the strongest World Junior event of all time, with 18 GMs and 20 IMs, the most talented young players on the globe. They were greeted by another great talent, who won the event himself back in 1987 – and is currently preparing for a world title defence. Our reporters Sagar Shah and V. Saravanan are on the scene in India doing live commentary.

Yannick Pelletier wins 5th Swiss title

10/6/2014 – Thanks to an easy victory against IM Oliver Kurmann in the final round of the men's title tournament, Yannick Pelletier, who resides in France, won the title of Swiss Champion for the fifth time after winning it in 1995, 2000, 2002 and 2010. It was but one of the highlights in a series of events surrounding the 125th anniversary of the Swiss Chess Federation. A pictorial report.

A history of cheating in chess (5)

10/6/2014 – A few weeks ago FIDE took first executive steps to combat the most serious threat that the game of chess currently faces: the secret use of computer assistance during the game. In a paper written fourteen years ago Frederic Friedel had first drawn attention to the dangers that are lurking. We re-published this historical document in four parts. Here is the fifth and final section.

Baku 04: Fabi unstoppable

10/5/2014 – He could have been 4.0/4 as he had a strong advantage aginst both Nakamura and Gelfand in previous rounds, but his 3.0/4 is far from shabby! He beat Mamedyarov with a computer-like defense and precision. As many pieces as Mamedyarov sacrificed and as weak as Caruana's kind seemed, he survived and his material advantage was too big. He now shares the lead with Gelfand.

World Junior 2014 in Pune starts on Monday

10/5/2014 – Remember the days when young players wanted to win the World Junior Championship because it gave them an automatic GM title? How things have changed: this year a total of 139 players from 47 countries are participating, among them 18 GMs and 20 IMs, led by Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev, clocked at Elo 2677. V. Saravanan reports on final preparations in Pune, India.

Baku 03: Grischuk flags; Gelfand leads

10/4/2014 – Some interesting games in Baku. The highlights are Grischuk's frantic endgame against Gelfand. Due to time pressure neither side played particularly well, and in a drawn position Grischuk flagged! Gelfand now leads solo with 2.5/3. Missing a good chance to keep up was Caruana who was winning against Nakamura... who, in his own words, should have castled like a man.

Richard Rapport vs Viktor Laznicka: 3:1

10/4/2014 – In the past Richard Rapport had trouble to play against Viktor Laznicka. But in their six-game match in Novy Bor, in the Czech Republic, things seem to have changed. Now Rapport is the one who calls the shots and after four games he leads the match with 3-1. However, he was lucky that Laznicka failed to exploit the chances given to him.

6th London Classic: The Super Six

10/4/2014 – The 'Super Six' are Fabiano Caruana, Viswanathan Anand, Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura, Vladimir Kramnik and Michael Adams, with an average rating of 2780. There is a Rapidplay Open on December 6-7, a Blitz on December 9th and then a classical tournament on December 10-14, with a number of subsidiary events. And all of this just two months away.

Baku 02: Missed Chances

10/3/2014 – An exciting second round has left four leaders with 1.5/2, though the standings could have been very different. Caruana missed a chance to win against Gelfand while Grischuk missed several finishing blows against Karjakin. Svidler and Nakamura outplayed Mamedyarov and Andreiking to join the leaders. Meanwhile Dominguez tortured Tomashevsky for 100 moves...

Super Six for India at WYCC 2014

10/3/2014 – Chess in India is booming, and you know it is when the nation returns with two golds, two silvers and two bronze medals from the World Youth Championships in South Africa – the best tally of medals there. While the bronze medal at the Olympiad in Tromsø had shown how strong India has become, it is now clear that the future of Indian chess is in the safe hands of promising youngsters.

Mihail Marin: A Passion for the Pirc

10/3/2014 – For Mihail Marin chess is passion, profession and hobby. No wonder the Romanian Grandmaster is one of the most prolific and renowned chess authors today. Recently he published two DVDs on the Pirc, a complete repertoire for black. In an extensive interview Marin talks about his approach to chess, inspiration, and why the Pirc is one of his favorite openings.

Strong Baku Open is won by Inarkiev

10/3/2014 – With the FIDE Grand Prix currently underway in Baku, you would be forgiven for thinking the Baku Open was somehow related to it, but in fact it did not. The Baku Open was held just before, and brought a powerful contingent of grandmasters and masters as is typical of the region. Despite many known names, what stood out was the number of significant results by teenagers.

Vis-à-vis

10/3/2014 – Major pieces opposing each other on an open file – a tricky situation, offering both sides plenty of tactical opportunities. Good if you see what your opponent wants, even better if you spot tactical ideas for yourself. But do not forget to calculate precisely. Because it is not always obvious whether a move leads to a win, a draw or a loss.

Durban GM brings fourteen grandmasters

10/2/2014 – Held simultaneously with the WYCC in Durban, South Africa, the Durban GM Open was also held over eleven hard rounds of play. This provided an important opportunity for players from South Africa and surrounding nations to get some valuable competitive practice against titled players. Fourteen grandmasters starred in the lineup, not to mention numerous masters. Illustrated report.

Baku 01: Caruana, Gelfand strike first

10/2/2014 – The tournament has started with some exciting games, even if some of the most important variations in plenty of games were not executed on the board. Two decisive games kicked things off: Gelfand overwhelmed Andreikin by following a new trend in the QID that the Russian wasn't familiar with while Caruana took advantage of an overpress by Karjakin. Round one analysis and impressions.