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.

Astana R5: Ukraine beats China, leads with Russia

3/8/2013 – It didn't go completely smoothly, but in the end the Ukrainian ladies scored a 3-1 win over rivals China. Russia trounced France 3½-½, and Georgia did the same to the USA. Russia and Ukraine lead by two point ahead of China and Georgia. In addition there is good news for Salome Melia and her desperately ill daughter. Round five report.

Candidates – Alexander Grischuk (2764 – World #10)

3/8/2013 – In exactly a week from today the two "-chuks" will meet over the chessboard: Alexander Grischuk will have black against Vassily Ivanchuk at the Candidates Tournament for the 2013 World Championship. To prepare us for this eight-player double round robin Michael von Keitz is providing portraits of each of the Candidates – with descriptions and full statistics.

Astana R4: Ukraine catches Russia and China

3/7/2013 – The leading teams from Russia and China faced each other and made a 2-2 result – with two wins for each side. Ukraine was facing a drawn match against Turkey, but after more than 100 moves and six hours of play the talented Turkish WFM Selen Sop simply did not have the physical strength to win the position with a huge advantage. Round four report.

The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming!

3/7/2013 –  Is there anything that Chinese people cannot do? Those are the first words of Alina L'Ami in a final report on the 2013 Reykjavik Open. Although the event was marked by GM Wei Yi's historic third GM norm, little is known about the young prodigy. Alina met him and describes her impressions, including a spectacular win of his, and all in a beautiful pictorial.

Tata Steel studies solutions – Part two

3/7/2013 – Among the festivities there was a special study composing tourney at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. A total of 89 studies were submitted, and 20 of them received prizes. Tournament judge Yochanan Afek recently shows us the solutions of the first five. Here are the next batch of award-winning studies.

The Candidates – Vassily Ivanchuk, 2757, World #13

3/6/2013 – The Candidates Tournament for the 2013 World Championship starts in just over a week. It's an eight-player double round robin lasting from March 14 to April 1st. To prepare us for the event Michael von Keitz is providing portraits of each of the Candidates. Today he looks at Vassily Ivanchuk. Once again we are sure that the other seven candidates will give this report due attention.

Astana: Salome Melia, a player in need

3/6/2013 – In round three Salome Melia defeated her American rival in a marathon 86-move game. The Georgian IM is not playing only for the honour of her country, but also for money to save the life of her four-month-old daughter. The infant desperately needs a heart operation which cannot be performed in Georgia and would cost €60,000 in Germany (or a million in the US). Can anyone help?

Astana R3: Russia beats Turkey 4-0

3/6/2013 – “The Turkish team came here to learn and gain experience”, the captain and coach of the team, GM Adrian Mikhalchishin (above right). They gained a lot in the 0-4 drubbing they got from the Russian squad. China beat the US team 3½-½ and is now half a board point behind Russia. The two meet in round four on Wednesday. Illustrated round three report.

Adams wins Bunratty Chess Festival

3/5/2013 – He went about mowing down opponent after opponent in traditional style. It was only against IM Malcolm Pein that Super-GM Michael Adams had a few anxious moments (he won in the end). The Festival took place in the luxurious surroundings of the Library Room in the Bunratty Castle Hotel from February 27th to March 3rd. We bring you a  pictorial report by Gery Graham.

Astana R2: Russia and China lead

3/5/2013 – The Russian team beat Kazakhstan 3-1 in spite of an accident on board one; and China profited from two howlers by the Georgians to chalk up the same score. Since the start of this event in 2007 the Chinese team won Gold every time, and Russia three times Silver. Both teams are in Astana without their top two players. Big pictorial report with  results and games.

Astana R1: Kazakhstan holds USA 2-2

3/4/2013 – The only surprise of round one was the brave stand put up by the Kazakh squad that almost defeated the higher-ranked team from the USA. India, playing without their three top seed, lost 1-3 to Ukraine, while favourites China and Russia both scored thumping 3½-½ victories over France and Romania respectively. We bring you all the  results, games and pictures.

29th Cappelle-La-Grande Open: Sjugirov edges out pack

3/4/2013 –  It was a great event, confirmed by the stats, and affirming once more the vibrant support by the chess community for this traditional open. The 29th edition of the Cappelle-La-Grande Open in France brought in 563 players, aged 7 to 83, with an Orwellian average rating of 1984, including 85 grandmasters, 71 international masters and 38 FIDE masters. Here is a final report with games and quizzes.