Why chess should be required in US schools

4/17/2013 – That is the banner headline of a lead story in the Pacific Standard, which tells, in a compelling video, how a three-million-soul nation like Armenia is using chess to teach children basic life skills. The same trend can be witnessed all over the world, including Britain, where thousands of pupils from inner-city primary schools are to receive lessons in chess in a £700,000 taxpayer-funded programme.

15th Dubai Open Chess Championship

4/16/2013 – This very strong tournament, with close to 200 players (38 GMs) from 34 countries, took place from April 6-16 and was won by Russian GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov. The venue was the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, possibly the biggest than most modern chess club in the world. Our giant closing report contains a wealth of pictures and plenty of videos to watch. Dubai 2013.

Bo Lindgren – Swedish grandmaster of composition

4/16/2013 – Bo Waldemar Lindgren (1927–2011) was one of the most versatile chess problem composers with awards in many genres. He was, as David Friedgood recalls, a friendly, serious character who had many interests, including science, literature and poetry. He composed around 500 problems and published an anthology in 1978. Here are examples of his creativity, and two problems for you to solve.

Kavalek in Huffington: Remembering Robert Byrne

4/16/2013 – Robert Byrne, a prolific chess writer and one of the strongest U.S. grandmasters, died Friday, April 12, 2013, at the age of 84. He was a World Championship Candidate, U.S. champion and played for the U.S. team in nine chess Olympiads. For 34 years, he wrote an exceptional chess column for the New York Times. His good friend Lubomir Kavalek, also a writer, remembers his colleague.

Ivanchuk's initiative, Radjabov's rook pawn

4/15/2013 – One last look at the London Candidates? It produced exciting chess and some fascinating endgames, which have been commented by our ChessBase Magazine columnist GM Karsten Müller. Today he looks at two instructive encounters, and also shows us an endgame from the Israeli Championship. Learn and enjoy.

Robert Byrne, April 20, 1928 – April 12, 2013

4/14/2013 – We are sad to inform you that grandmaster Robert Byrne has died, just days before his 85th birthday, after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. Byrne beat Bobby Fischer in the 1965 US Championship, which he himself won in 1972. He worked as a university professor, author and long-time New York Times chess columnist. Our eulogy includes video commentary in a tribute by Andrew Martin.

CF St. Petersburg wins Russian team championship

4/14/2013 – It was close, both in the open and the women's sections, with match point ties for first, and both winners taking gold by just 1.5 game points. Key was Alexander Grischuk's win on the black side of an instructive Spanish against Ian Nepomniatchi, while in the women's a topsy turvy win by Ekatrina Atalik against Alexandra Kosteniuk did not change the final result. Pictures and videos galore.

Cold-blooded, pragmatic, melancholic even...

4/14/2013 – These were some of the words that Vladimir Kramnik used in a recent interview to describe the victor of this year's Candidates Tournament, Magnus Carlsen. In the latest entry for the Herald Scotland, GM Jonathan Rowson depicts how the young super-star dashes his chess game with realism and sombreness and how it separates him from his predecessors.

Ramirez: Attacking with the Benko Gambit

4/13/2013 – For those who may be unfamiliar with the presenter, Alejandro Ramirez is an American Grandmaster. He has been a Benko Gambit exponent for many years and here proposes a repertoire for Black. "Overall, I really enjoyed this DVD – Ramirez presents clearly and his enthusiasm for the opening is inevitably transferred to the viewer," writes the reviewer in CHESS Magazine.

Garry Kasparov turns fifty

4/13/2013 – He is widely considered the greatest chess player of all time – the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion. Garry Kimovich Kasparov dominated chess for twenty years, until his retirement in 2005. Since then he has devoted his time to politics and writing. Today Garry turns fifty, and we wish him a very happy birthday with a nostalgic look at the past 25 years.

Kavalek in Huffington: Kramnik's critical game

4/12/2013 – As the Candidates Tournament in London drew to a close there were two players in the lead: Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik. Both suffered unexpected defeats in the final rounds, with Carlsen squeaking by in the end to become the challenger for the World Championship match. GM Lubomir Kavalek has analysed the critical game that sealed Kramnik's fate in part two of his HuffPo column.

Four moves in, we are all blind

4/12/2013 – Algorithms is a unique documentary about three blind boys from India who dream of becoming chess masters, supported by their blind coach and mentor. Filmed over three years, it follows the boys and a totally blind player turned pioneer to competitive national and world championships. The Kickstarter project still needs some very modest funding. Full information and videos.

Russian Team Championships in Loo, Sochi

4/12/2013 – Eighteen teams are competing, with 88 grandmasters, 26 of whom sport ratings of 2700 or higher. Top players are Karjakin, Caruana, Mamedyarov, Grischuk and Morozevich. Last year's winners Tomsk, however, did not make it, for financial reasons. The women's section has six teams and in a round robin. Big illustrated report with pictures by Maria Fominykh.

Indepth interview with Vladimir Kramnik

4/11/2013 – Immediately after the Candidates tournament in London Russian NTV journalist Marina Makarycheva did an extraordinarily substantial interviews with Vladimir Kramnik: how did the Candidates go, who has the better chances in the 2013 World Championship, and what the future has in store for him. The interview is in Russian, but has been faithfully transcribed by Peter Zhdanov.

Cosmopolitan's sexiest men of 2013

4/11/2013 – Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women, founded in 1886. Every year they publish a list of the 25 sexiest men – "the ones that are making us go weak at the knees." This year Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5 made first place. Actor Max Irons is second, then comes model David Gandy, and fourth on the list is diet Coke model Andrew Cooper. Interesting...

Kasparov to receive Human Rights Award

4/10/2013 – UN Watch has decided to grant the Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award to Garry Kasparov for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in Russia. Kasparov will receive the award on June 5 at a gala dinner in Geneva's historic Hotel des Bergues. Executive director Hillel Neuer said: 'Mr. Kasparov is not only one of the world's smartest men, he is also among its bravest.'

Anand on Carlsen: the greatest talent I have seen

4/10/2013 – In interviews with the Indian press World Champion Vishy Anand has admitted that Magnus Carlsen will be a very tough challenger. Anand, who has around 1.2 billion ardent fans, leads the statistics of games the two have played against each other, but the Norwegian is considered the favorite. One of Europe's biggest bookmakers gives him a 66 percent chance of winning the title.

Kavalek in Huffington on Carlsen vs Anand

4/9/2013 – The world's top-rated chess player Magnus Carlsen of Norway qualified from the Candidates tournament in London to challenge the reigning champion Vishy Anand of India in the world championship match in the fall of this year. Carlsen, 22, won in the English capital by a squeaker after a dramatic last round, played on April Fools' Day. Read about this in Lubomir Kavalek's HuffPo column.

Radiolab: The rules can set you free

4/9/2013 – Play is something we all do – it seems so natural, it feels a little bit ridiculous to ask why we need it. The nationally syndicated US station Radiolab discusses this theme, looking at young children, then board games like chess. It is commendable how the hosts take a complicated and dry subject – opening books, chess novelties – and use clever editing to make it accessible to a lay audience.

Breaking: World Championship 2013 in Chennai?

4/8/2013 – In August 2011 it seemed settled: the South Indian city of Chennai would host the World Championship match Anand-Gelfand. But then a rival bid by Moscow won the right to stage the event. According to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram FIDE had promised to hold it in Chennai in 2013 – without bidding. The city is now putting up 290 million Rupees for the event.

The quality of play at the Candidates

4/8/2013 – We all enjoyed a very high level of play demonstrated by some of the top human chessplayers in the FIDE Candidates Tournament, London 2013. However, what was the exact quality of play in these games – and can this be measured? Can we compare it objectively to the quality of play in previous World Championship matches? Matej Guid and Ivan Bratko make an attempt.

ChessBase Magazine #153 – blunders galore

4/8/2013 – How do super-Grandmasters lose games? Sean Marsh has taken a look at some example of high-level losses, extracting a number of instructive and entertaining examples from the latest issue of ChessBase Magazine, which according to him is "another feast of fine chess and should be a required purchase for all serious chess players." Review.

Aryan Tari – GM Norm at thirteen

4/7/2013 – He is a bright new talent on chess horizon: Aryan Tari is rated 2293 and does not even have an FM title. But the young Norwegian, whose parents are originally from Iran, scored a sensational 6.0/9 points against a field that included five international grandmasters. His rating performance was 2585, enough to give him his first GM norm – at the tender age of thirteen.

Sixth OGD Prinsenstad Tournament in Delft

4/7/2013 – The town dates back to the 13th Century and is famous for its historical main square, its blue pottery and the 17th Century painter Johannes Vermeer. The tournament over Easter was the sixth in recent years, this time staged in the Grotius College. It was won by GM Erwin l'Ami with 5.5/6 points and a 2822 performance. Erwin's wife Alina l'Ami has sent us this lovely pictorial report.