A bodycheck, a Krushing attack, a rook retreat...

3/18/2013 – The London Candidates Tournament is great, but something's missing: not a single female player. For those of you suffering withdrawal our  ChessBaseMagazine columnist GM Karsten Müller has taken a look back at the Women's World Team Championship and some of the instructive and entertaining endgames it produced. Learn and enjoy.

Candidates R3 – Three decisive games

3/17/2013 – Peter Svidler won an excellent game against Teimour Radjabov; Levon Aronian beat Vassily Ivanchuk, with the black pieces, in what was certainly the most gripping game of the round; and Magnus Carlsen outplayed Boris Gelfand, also with black, in the last game to end. Aronian leads with 2.5/3 and a 3069 performance, followed by Peter Svidler and Magnus Carlsen. Full report with GM analysis.

Martin: The Modern Slav Modernized

3/17/2013 – 'Andrew Martin has been a fixture in the DVD market for many years now,' writes Colin Potts in Chess Cafe. 'His easy delivery makes him a particular favorite among junior players. He does not talk down to his audience, but he is plain-spoken and enjoyable company. Do not let the cheeky chappy cockney demeanor fool you, though; he is eloquent, knowledgeable, and intelligently incisive'.

Candidates R2 – Radjabov, Aronian draw first blood

3/16/2013 – With the ghost of a drawfest from the previous Candidates cycle, and the sedate first round, Carlsen’s quick draw with Kramnik caused some consternation. This was soon dissipated as Gelfand missed a deadly Bh6+ and succumbed to Aronian, while Radjabov concluded a deadly vice against Ivanchuk for the second point. The Candidates is certainly heating up. Now with GM analyis.

4th Tata Steel Studies Composing tourney

3/16/2013 – During the Tata Steel Chess Tournament this January there was a special study composing tourney, which produced 89 entries, of which 20 received awards. Tournament judge Yochanan Afek has been showing us the prize-winning studies, with explanations of their solutions. After parts one and two here is part three.

Candidates R1 – all games drawn

3/15/2013 – Peter Svidler vs Vladimir Kramnik finished as a draw in 23 moves. Levon Aronian vs Magnus Carlsen lasted 31 moves before a draw was agreed. Gelfand-Radjabov lasted 36 moves and Ivanchuk-Grischuk 44. Anyone hoping for major upsets or heroic wins will have to wait until the players shrug off their caution. Full report with pictures, video and GM analysis.

Nancy 2013 - Grand Prix of France won by Tkachiev

3/15/2013 – On March 9-10, the Nancy stage of the French Rapid Grand Prix was held, bringing in several elite players, as well as a platoon of enthusiasts. Of the 210 players who came, only sixteen would qualify for the Sunday knockout stage. The surprise of the event was Vladimir Dobrov, who beat several 2700s to make it to the final, but ultimately lost to Vladislav Tkachiev in a powerful attack.

Candidates – players in London, opening ceremony

3/15/2013 – The Candidates Tournament for the World Championship 2013 starts on Friday. The main sponsor is the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic SOCAR, which has sponsored elite events chess in the past. The players are all in London, and on Thursday there was a brief ceremony at which FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov official opened the event. Ray Morris-Hill sent us pictures.

Team events: beating the bookmakers?!

3/15/2013 – "Many of you must have heard about sports betting and odds offered by bookmakers," writes Peter Zhdanov. While he is in no way interested in making money by placing bets, the analytical aspect of the problem seemed to him to be worth researching. His article is a lesson in how to precisely work out the odds in a team tournaments.

Candidates – Vladimir Kramnik (2810 – World #2)

3/14/2013 – He broke onto the world chess scene at the Manila Olympiad 1992, a 16-year-old protégé of Garry Kasparov, whom he defeated in the World Championship match 2000 in London. He was dethroned by Vishy Anand in 2008, where he stated that he was only "loaning the title to Anand". The London Candidates is a first step in retrieving it. Michael von Keitz provides a portrait and full statistics.

Chess comes to East Village London

3/14/2013 – The UK registered charity Chess in Schools and Communities has announced a project to deliver chess to all 64 primary schools in Newham and teach 20,000 children how to play the game. This was celebrated with an educational morning of chess in a library in East Village – and then with a glamorous launch party at Morton's Club in Mayfair. Take a look at who was there.

Astana wrap up: thoughts of a participant

3/14/2013 – Alina L'Ami was part of the Romanian team at the FIDE Women's World Team Championship, and also our reporter and photographer. In her closing report the 2353 rated WGM searches for explanations for the inconsistency of play in women's chess – which also provides the main ingredient for a very exciting events. Here are Alina's musing and pictorial impressions from the closing day.

Candidates – Levon Aronian (2809 – World #3)

3/13/2013 – He is the top concern – the "main rival" – for the tournament favourite Magnus Carlsen. Armenian GM Levon Aronian, whose encounters with the Norwegian superstar are many and memorable, started his international career as the World Under-12 Champion in 1994. A steady climb took him to a permanent slot as number two or three place on the FIDE world rankings. Three days before the upcoming Candidates Tournament, where he will face Carlsen in round one, Michael von Keitz provides an Aronian portrait with full statistics.

Chavennes: Chess for Novices

3/13/2013 – "In my review of Chess for Novices, Vol. 1 I enjoyed the presentation," writes Steve Goldberg in his Chess Cafereview. "It a nice introduction to chess for a player who knows nothing more than how the pieces move. I titled the review "First Chess Steps." Now I have had the chance to review Chess for Novices, Vol. 2 and I am very impressed." The new review is called 'Bigger Chess Steps'

Astana R9: Gold for Ukraine, China Silver

3/12/2013 – China defeated India and was poised to take Gold, if only Russia would beat Ukraine. But it was not to be – that match ended 2-2, and Ukraine was first with 16 match points, followed by China and Russia with 15 and 13 match points respectively. France beat Turkey 3½-½ to overtake them at the bottom of the table. Final illustrated report.

Candidates – pairings and commentary schedule

3/12/2013 – Friday March 15, 14:00h London time: Levon Aronian will play  Magnus Carlsen in the first round of the Candidates Tournament for the World Championship 2013. On Playchess, starting at around 15:00h GM Daniel King will be commenting. In this  preview of the event we bring you a charming anecdote by Malcolm Pein, some interesting statistics and predictions, and  full pairings of all rounds.

Astana R7+8: Ukraine poised to take Gold

3/12/2013 – A surprise win by the US over Russia in round seven, and two clean victories by Ukraine and China, has put the Ukrainian women in pole position to win the Women's World Team Championship. But if they lose to Russia in the final round on Tuesday, and China beats India, it could be the Chinese girls on the top pedestal.  Report after round eight.

Candidates – Teimour Radjabov (2793 – World #4)

3/11/2013 – This Friday the erstwhile child prodigy from Baku will face former World Championship candidate Boris Gelfand in the first round of the Candidates Tournament for the 2013 World Championship. What are his chances? "We all have our favourite marks – Radjabov’s is Gelfand," writes Michael von Keitz in his  latest Candidate portrait.

Ebooks: the end of the beginning (Part one)

3/11/2013 – Over the last years, we have first seen records replaced by CDs, which in turn are being replaced by completely digital music. Now the same is happening to printed books as ebook consumption has increased exponentially, and the change has been a frightening one for many. Before discussing what it means for chess players, here is a brief history of the ebook.

Memorial exhibition for Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik

3/10/2013 – Forty years after the legendary "Match of all Time" between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the late American champion, the hotel in which the two contestants stayed in 1972, Hotel Loftleidir (now Icelandair Reykjavik Hotel Natura) has enshrined the towering legacy of the match in a memorial exhibition. Press release and pictures.

Astana R6: Ukraine beats France 4-0, leads

3/10/2013 – They have only six draws in twenty games – and in round six the Ukrainian team crushed the French girls to go into the sole lead at the Women's World Team Championship. Russia is in second, China in third place. Friday was a free day, which was used to tour the remarkable Kazakh capital. We include a pictorial report by Alina L'Ami.

Bobby Fischer's 70th birthday

3/9/2013 – One of the greatest chess players and heroes in the history of the game, 11th World Chess Champion Robert James "Bobby" Fischer, died at the age of 64 on January 17, 2008. Today the American chess legend would have turned 70. Valery Golubenko has a posthumous present for his idol since childhood, and, to celebrate the day, we bring you a

First Talking Chess match in Tehran

3/9/2013 – In an effort to turn chess into a spectator sport the Iranian Chess Federation (really!) is taking the initiative and staging an innovative match in which the players – former World Championship Challenger Nigel Short and GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, Iran’s strongest player – will explain their thought processes to the public during the game.

Kavalek in Huffington: Chasing Chess Legacy

3/9/2013 – The late Bobby Fischer would have been 70 today (he was born on March 9th 1943). At the age of 26 he wrote his famous book My 60 Memorable Games, which is considered one of the best game collections ever. At 21 Magnus Carlsen is too young to write about his games, but others like Kasparov, Polgar, Nimzowitsch have done it. Read about this in Lubomir Kavalek's HuffPo column.