3/21/2013 – Joseph "the Black Death" Blackburne – famous for his prowess with the Black pieces - must be smiling as he sees today’s games in the Candidates! As the second player, Carlsen and Aronian dismantled Svidler’s and Radjabov’s early d3 Spanish. Gelfand couldn’t punish Grischuk’s blunder, and Kramnik and Ivanchuk drew in a wild game. Analysis to follow. Express report.

3/21/2013 – Many parents still believe that science, business and mathematics are for men and their daughters should not compete in these areas. It’s sad, but it is true – girls are encouraged to go into music, art, teaching… and stay away from the areas currently dominated by men. Three-time US Women's Champion WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia wants to do something about this – with a Kickstarter project.

3/21/2013 – One of the fascinating innovations of top-level chess tournaments is that players have now agreed to give live interviews immediately after each round, and actually analyse the games they have just completed. Take a look at round five, where all eight players appeared to discuss their games  with press officer Anastasiya Karlovich.

3/20/2013 – Both Peter Svidler and Vassily Ivanchuk had winning chances today, against Boris Gelfand and Magnus Carlsen respectively. Svilder mysteriously missed it, as did Ivanchuk in his usual time trouble. Vladimir Kramnik outplayed Levon Aronian, who however found some very resourceful moves to draw the game.  Round five report with pictures and videos.

3/20/2013 – Dr John Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once was in the world's top ten. He is no longer active as a competition player but works mainly in writing and publishing chess books. During round four of the Candidates Tournament in London he appeared at the press-center for the first time, keeping a low profile. He predicted: the winner will be determined in the last round. Interview.

3/20/2013 – On the free day, Monday, the national British TV channel BBC News interviewed the organiser of the Candidates Tournament Andrew Paulson, and the highest-ranking chess player in the world Magnus Carlsen. During the discussion the presenter Ros Atkins played a game against Magnus, in which he was proud to give a check on move eight. Watch it on BBC News.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'

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.