Happy Nelson Mandela Day!

7/18/2013 – While the Commonwealth Championship ended in a deserving victory for GM Abhijeet Gupta, its conclusion was overshadowed by some prestigious VIP guests: South African president Jacob Zuma and former world champion Garry Kasparov. Zuma revealed that as a political prisoner he had played chess with soap pieces and driftwood. Today they celebrate Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday.

The Life Gambit à la Benko – Part two

7/18/2013 – On Monday Pal Benko, legendary grandmaster, author, and problem composer, turned 85. Diana Mihajlova, who recently met with the fit and active octogenarian in his home town of Budapest, sent us a birthday report in two parts. Today we learn of Benkos escape from Communist Hungary to the US, and his relationship with Bobby Fischer. And we get to solve two highly entertaining problems.

Tikkanen beats Grandelius in Swedish Ch.

7/17/2013 – Top seed Nils Grandelius dominated throughout the event, playing impressive, imaginative chess. In the final round he was caught by clubmate Hans Tikkanen. In the playoff Grandelius could have won both rapid games, but let Tikkanen escape. The blitz ended 1-1, in the Armageddon Grandelius once again had a winning position – and missed an important zwischenzug. He was deeply upset.

Swordplay in Slovakia

7/17/2013 – Deep in Slovakia, in the midst of a volcanic caldera, lies Banska Stiavnica. This medieval town is a World Heritage Site and for the last years has hosted a spectacular live chess event as a part of its medieval summer festivities. While GM Sergey Mosvesian and GM Jan Markos fought on a board, the live pieces enacted sword fights for the audience. Don't miss this beautiful pictorial.

Beijing GP: Mamedyarov wins, 2847 performance

7/16/2013 – Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew his final round game against Boris Gelfand to claim clear first place with 7.0/11 points. Alexander Grischuk placed second, half a point behind of the winner, with Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov sharing third place with 6.0/11. Full report with the games, standings , postgame video interviews and many, many pictures.

Ashley Tapp: better opportunities for all

7/16/2013 – What do you do if you are a young chess player, a girl, living in Canada, talented enought to qualify for national and international events, but not really able to afford the trips and the training? Be undaunted and start fundraising for the means. That is what 13-year-old Ashley Tapp is doing, successfully enough to extend the fundraising for general causes. An inspiration for all chess kids.

Beijing Rd10: The bottom half strikes back

7/15/2013 – Giri, Morozevich, Gelfand and Kamsky, players that so far have not had a huge impact in the tournament, are making a late comeback and scored some interesting wins. Giri exploited a strange decision from Topalov, Morozevich stopped the leader while Gelfand kept Mamedyarov in that lead by beating Grischuk who remains in second place. Full report with GM Analysis.

The Life Gambit à la Benko

7/15/2013 – Pal Benko (Hungarian: Benkö Pál) is, as 99% of our readers probably know, a legendary chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and problems. He was born on July 15 1928, which made him 85 today. Diana Mihajlova met the fit and active octogenarian, who has been a "pal" of our company for a decade, in his home town of Budapest. Here is part one of her birthday report.

Beijing Rd9: Mamedyarov wins, leads

7/14/2013 – Mamedyarov was the only player to emerge victorious in today's round after Anish Giri played a horrible move early on in the game. The Azerbaijani quickly capitalized on his opponent's blunder and is now the sole leader of the event. Gelfand missed a couple of wins against Wang Hao while none of the other games had much life to it. Report and pictures.

Ten-way tie at the top of America's biggest Open

7/13/2013 – The 2013 edition of the World Open was held in a suburb of Washington D.C. The tournament attracted over one thousand chess players, a few of which took home a good prize fund. The Open section saw a massive tie for first, but the winners of the lower sections we awarded more than $12.000 each. Report and analysis of a wild game.

South Africa in Black and White (Part 2/2)

7/13/2013 – The 2013 Commonwealth Championship has no fewer than 900 participants hailing from 29 different countries, making it the biggest event ever held in Africa. The organizers have set the standards of excellence, holding it in the official five star Boardwalk hotel, with meals of antelope and fig delicacies as well as safaris in the wild.

Beijing Rd8: Gelfand, Topalov score

7/12/2013 – Gelfand was able to outplay Ivancuhk from a King's Indian until the Ukrainian couldn't handle the pressure and resigned. Karjakin played a questionable game against Topalov who seized an early initiative and converted in the endgame. The remaining games were draws without real winning chances. Report and GM analysis.

ChessBase Magazine 154 – with star commentators

7/12/2013 – ChessBase Magazine #154 was keenly awaited by subscribers. It deals with the recent Candidates' Tournament, as well as the FIDE Grand Prix in Zug and the Alekhine Memorial in Paris and St. Petersburg. ChessBase Magazine 154 has 806 games of which about 89 are annotated, by players like Kramnik, Aronian, Caruana, Gelfand and Ponomariov.  Review by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.

Karsten Müller: endgames from current events

7/12/2013 – Have we been neglecting your endgame training? GM Karsten Müller has been working diligently in the background, collecting interesting and instructive endgames for his ChessBase Magazine column. We offer you some examples as teasers on our news page – today two games from the Bejing Grand Prix and two from the imaginative Alexander Morozevich. Learn and enjoy.

South Africa in Black and White (Part 1/2)

7/12/2013 – This is the last time the Commonwealth Championship is held in an Open format, with countless side events: a blitz tournament, FIDE arbiter and trainer seminars, simuls, lectures, photo sessions, safari trips and more! The proportions of this tournament are truly huge and it started with a spectacular opening ceremony. Here is an illustrated report by Alina L'Ami.

Beijing Rd7: Five White Wins

7/11/2013 – Very important victories were scored with the White pieces as Grischuk and Mamedyarov now take a commanding full point lead over third place. Karjakin fell victim to Leko's precision in a nearly equal game while Grischuk ground down Wang Yue in a technical game. Wang Hao destroyed Giri in barely 22 moves and Ivanchuk also had a one sided game against Morozevich. Report and analysis.

Ivanov misses BCF anti-cheating test

7/11/2013 – The Borislav Ivanov saga continues. Recently the wonder chess player agreed to take part in a test, conducted by the Bulgarian Chess Federation, to prove the authenticity of his amazing new-found chess skills. In the end Ivanov simply did not appear at the appointed time. Meanwhile a 12-year-old player, student of a famous coach, was caught cheating, and FIDE is at last stirring into action.

CB for Android: Analyzing your games

7/10/2013 – Years back, this was just a wild dream, but now, you have professional calibre tools right in your pocket. You can play a game, study the statistics of the opening, run a super-GM engine to analyze it, add variations and text comments, and then save it to a database. All this from your smartphone or tablets.

Beijing Rd6: Mamedyarov strikes, joins leaders

7/10/2013 – In a very important result for the standings, Mamedyarov was able to vanquish the leader Karjakin top join him at the top. Now Grischuk, Mamedyarov and Karjakin all lead with 4/6. Kamsky was demolished in a Gruenfeld by Morozevich and Wang Yue won the Chinese duel. Ivanchuk had a clear advantage against Giri but was unable to convert. Report and standings.

The joy of chess: ten-year-old beats IM

7/9/2013 – That was the title of a story in a number of (non-chess) news sources this week. They pointed to a video showing the sheer joy of a boy, who has just turned ten, realizing that he is going to win a game against an IM – and proceeds to do so with enthusiasm and determination. The blitz game took place two and a half years ago, but deserves to be enjoyed by anyone who does not know it. Must watch!

Beijing Rd5: Three wins, Grischuk now clear second

7/9/2013 – Yesterday Karjakin led, Mamedyarov was second and Grischuk was third. In round four Grischuk beat Mamedyarov to switch places with him in the standings, while Sergey Karjakin's draw against Boris Gelfand left him in the lead. Giri and Ivanchuk scored wins against Kamsky and Wang Yue. Report with standings and GM analysis.

Kurnosov wins 20th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2013

7/8/2013 – The Masters Tournament of this popular international event was won by Russian GM Kurnosov, who tied for first with GMs Zahar Efimenko, Mikhailo Oleksienko abd Avetik Grigoryan, but beat them on tiebreak points. Kurnosov's performance was 2709. In addition to the Masters there were many FIDE registered tournaments: an Open, Junior and Blitz.  Big pictorial report.

Anti-Cheating Measures – the discussion continues

7/8/2013 – Last week we published a discussion between GM Oleg Korneev and international lawyer WGM Irina Lymar on a grave problem that is confronting chess today: cheating with computer assistance. What can and should be done about it. Naturally a lot of mail poured in – with an especially interesting proposal by an IM (and IA) who has spent twelve years on the FIDE Rules Commission. Readers' feedback.

Beijing Rd4: Three white wins

7/7/2013 – Alternating colours: yesterday in round three three players triumphed with the black pieces, with the remaining three games drawn. Today Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wang Yue and Alexander Morozevich defeated Wang Hao, Gata Kamsky and Boris Gelfand – with the white pieces. Sergey Karjakin still leads alone with a 3000+ performance. Full report with GM analysis.