Russian Superfinal 02: Gunina and Vitiugov lead

10/6/2013 – Gunina and Vitiugov take an early lead in their respective tournaments as they are the only players to have won both of their games. Kramnik-Svidler was not too exciting as Svidler perfectly neutralized Kramnik's ideas in a Gruenfeld endgame. However, Nepo absolutely demolished Andreikin and we give you the annotations of that game provided by GM Josh Friedel.

Once upon a time in South Africa

10/6/2013 – Last month a delegation of German chess teachers and sponsors travelled to South Africa, as part of the FIDE Chess in Schools program and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, which is engaged in introducing chess to schools all over the world. It is truly inspiring to see how young children take to the game, and how their teachers are motivated to work with them. Part one of a big pictorial report by IM Elisabeth Pähtz.

Russian Superfinal 01: Games start with a Bang!

10/5/2013 – As if to attone for last year's performance, where the tournament saw an incredibly high percentage of draws and the winners were decided on a big tiebreak from those that scored 5.0/9, the Russian Super Final has started with five decisive games! In the women's section, three of the games were decisive with one interesting upset. First round and opening ceremony report.

Ivanov ends his chess career

10/5/2013 – On Thursday we reported that FM Borislav Ivanov had forfeited his round seven game after he refused to take off his shoes and allow the arbiter to check for hidden devices. His opponent in that round, GM Maxim Dlugy, provided all the details. Ivanov was permitted to continue in rounds eight and nine, but now has announced that he will retire from chess, as the Bulgarian new outlet Blitz reports.

Paris Final: Disappointing Finish

10/4/2013 – The stage was set for epic duels: Caruana had to win with the black pieces to win the tournament solo and qualify for the Candidate's tournament in case that Gelfand drew Ponomariov, which he ended up doing. Instead Caruana repeated moves early in the opening, and he wasn't the only one. Bacrot-Grischuk and Gelfand-Ponomariov didn't make it past the opening. Report.

Kasparov at the Aquaprofit-Polgar Chess Festival

10/4/2013 – Thousands of people gathered to see a legendary World Champion together with the three famous Polgar sisters who, as Garry Kasparov recalled, became Olympic champions at the Thessaloniki Olympiad in 1988, putting an end to the long hegemony of the Soviet female team. It was a festival of fun, especially for kids, who could play together with a parent and a grandparent in a simul given by the Polgars. Big pictorial report.

Paris 10: Gelfand and Caruana win, lead

10/3/2013 – With powerful preparation and a strong follow-up Gelfand was able to take down Nakamura and steal the leading position from him. Caruana took advantage of this and beat Tomashevsky, putting him at 6.5/10 tied with the Israeli. In the duel of the French players Bacrot easily demolished Fressinet and he is now tied with Nakamura. We bring you in-depth analysis by grandmaster Romain Edouard.

The shoe assistant – Ivanov forfeits at Blagoevgrad

10/3/2013 – Everyone has heard about Borislav Ivanov, a lowly FM from Bulgaria, who since late 2012 has wowed the chess world with super-GM performances. Ivanov was suspected of computer cheating, and forty GMs are boycotting tournaments in which he plays. GM Max Dlugy is not one of them, but he insisted on a thorough check of his opponent before their game. You'll never believe what happened next.

Poland vs. Ukraine University Match

10/3/2013 – The Ukraine vs. Poland student match took place in Lviv, the chess capital of Ukraine. Five Ukrainian teams faced against five Polish ones in a Scheveningen style tournament. Additionally, the event featured a strong blitz tournament at the end. Anna Gasik from the University of Warsaw brings us a lovely pictorial recount of the tournament as well as the result of a colorful match.

Paris 09: Liberté, égalité, fraternité

10/2/2013 – The players exemplified France's motto, liberty, equality and brotherhood. Giri-Caruana and Tomashevsky-Grischuk were hard fought, and although the other players tried their best the drawish nature of the positions they arrived to lead to today's round featuring six draws. This leaves Nakamura still half a point ahead of Caruana and Gelfand with two rounds to go. Report of round 9.

D'Costa/Murphy: The Giuoco Piano

10/2/2013 – The first chess opening he was taught as a child was the Giuoco Piano. And for decades Glenn Mitchell believed the common dogma: that it was a beginner's opening: dull and boring. Then he discovered a ChessBase DVD by GM Nigel Davies, and more recently "The Giuoco Piano" by Lorin D'Costa and Nick Murphy. That, to put it mildly, turned him around. Read this review by "Mitch" and see if it resonates.

Tashkent Final: Humpy clinches, leads GP series

10/1/2013 – Humpy drew against Girya to win the 3rd stage of the Women's Grand Prix series. She accumulated enough points to surpass Muzychuk and is now the leader of the Grand Prix. In other important results Harika lost, which paved the way for Lagno and Khotenashvili to tie for second after they both won their last round. Report of the final games and a beautiful pictorial of the closing ceremony.

New Playchess on the Web

10/1/2013 – We are proud to introduce our web-based Playchess client, which can run in any browser or operating system, to play games or watch top broadcasts. You can play blitz games, bullet games, or slow games, watch top players in live blitz action, or follow elite broadcasts on as many as nine boards at a time. Learn all about it in this illustrated tour.

Paris 08: Planet Ivanchuk

9/30/2013 – A bloody round in Paris! The most important results were clearly Caruana's clean and effective victory against Gelfand and Ivanchuk's loss on time in a drawn position against Nakamura. With this gift the American leads in clear first ahead of Gelfand and Caruana. Bacrot ground down Ponomariov in nice style while Grischuk crushed Giri in a superior rook endgame. Report of round eight.

Disney to produce film on Kasparov vs. Deep Blue

9/30/2013 – Recently we reviewed an extraordinary play, staged in Manchester, England. Its subject: the legendary 1997 chess match between Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue. This month "The Machine" moved to The Armory in New York, where it was a tremendous success. Now we learn that Walt Disney Studios has bought the movie rights and so Kasparov, chess and computers will soon be on the silver screen.

Tashkent 10: Humpy leads, one to go

9/30/2013 – Koneru Humpy easily dispatched Gulishkan Nakhbayeva and enters the last round of the tournament with a full point lead. The only player that has a chance to catch up with her is her compatriot Dronavalli Harika, who after some problems beat Nafisa Muminova. Both players are black in the last round but Humpy only needs a draw to clinch solo first. Round ten pictorial report

Tashkent 09: Leaders Lose

9/29/2013 – In an amazing round all of the leaders of this event lost! Zhao Xue beat Lagno by playing a beautiful game. Harika lost track of her opponent's activity and lost the compensation she had for her missing pawn, Kosteniuk then won convincingly. Humpy was too aggressive against Khotenashvili and her opponent countered effectively, but the Indian still leads by a point. Report and analysis.

Paris 07: Astounding Blunders

9/29/2013 – Two decisive games happened today. In the first one to finish, Nakamura took full advantage of an opening blunder by Caruana to win a queen for a rook and easily take a full point, the American surpasses his Italian rival and is now in second place. Gelfand and Grischuk, in heavy time pressure, blundered back and forth but ultimately the Israeli came ahead and leads. Report and analysis.

Endgames from the Sinquefield Cup

9/29/2013 – Three out of four examples in today's endgame session by our ChessBase Magazine expert GM Karsten Müller feature American GM Hikaru Nakamura. In one the "H-bomb" lost to Aronian, in two he defeated the Armenian and fellow American Gata Kamsky. But in every case his endgame technique – as that of Magnus Carlsen in the final example – is worth emulating. Learn and enjoy.

Paris 06: Caruana wins, ties for lead

9/28/2013 –  In today's large amount of draws, one person came out ahead. Fabiano Caruana kept pressuring Vassily Ivanchuk from the beginning. Black always had problems with activity and specially getting his bishops into play. In what was certainly a worse endgame for Black, but far from resignable, many spectators were surprised to see a sudden 1-0. Full report.

Rare video – Bobby Fischer analyses

9/28/2013 – Surely, we venture, you have not yet seen a video of the legendary American World Chess Champion analysing a game. Well, here is a rare example: Bobby Fischer explaining a miniature of Capablanca. We have reconstructed his analysis so you can watch the video and simultaneously replay the moves he is talking about on a JavaScript board. Historical footage.

Tashkent 08: Humpy increases lead

9/27/2013 – Humpy scored a very important victory today by beating the second seed Zhao Xue. This, coupled with the fact that both of her closest rivals drew, gives her a full point lead over Lagno and Harika. With only three rounds to go it seems that she is clearly in a pathway to taking the tournament, but of course it is not over yet. Pictorial report of round 8.

Paris 05: Two Black wins

9/27/2013 – The players used the rest day to visit the breath taking Palace of Versailles. During their visit, the Chapelle in which they are playing was used for a fascinating chess art exhibit by the famous French artist Zigou. The players came re-energized to the tournament, and Grischuk and Bacrot were able to win with Black. Gelfand is back to solo lead after his draw against Wang Hao. Full analysis and pictorial report.

2013 World Junior: Yangyi and Goryachkina are gold

9/27/2013 – Sometimes great is not enough. These are the only words of consolation one can offer Alexander Ipatov, whose great score of 10.5/13, the same by Kasparov and Mamedyarov in the past, was overshadowed by Yu Yangyi's amazing 11.0/13 and 2813 performance. In the Girl's section, 15-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina took gold and 13-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik was silver. Report, pictures and stats.