Problem Chess Solutions – Schiffman Theme Problems

8/14/2012 – In his previous article our problem expert David Friedgood looked at the major thematic ideas that involve pins – usually in the form of pieces being pinned against the king of the same colour. In the first instalments he dealt with with black pieces being pinned, explaining the theme with two examples and giving us two problems to solve. Did you succeed?

2012 Russian – 6-way tiebreaker won by Andreikin; Pogonina wins

8/14/2012 – It was the most apathetic Russian men's championship ever. The final draw rate for the championship was in excess of 75%. The event ended with six of the ten players in a tie for first. As a result, the next day a rapid round-robin tiebreaker with the six 'winners' was won by Dmitry Andreikin. The Women championship was won with gusto by Natalia Pogonina. Final report.

Olivier Breisacher has left us...

8/14/2012 – That is the headline of an obituary in his home newspaper, Tribune de Genève. The news that shocked the chess world was that Olivier Breisacher, 44, who had just finished running the 2012 Biel Chess Festival, had suffered a swimming accident during a vacation in Majorca. He was flown to the University Hospital in Geneva, but his life could not be saved. Eulogy by Pascal Simon.

CBM #149: 'Top quality at a very reasonable price'

8/14/2012 – This issue of our electronic magazine is devoted – obviously – to the World Chess Championship between Anand and Gelfand in Moscow. Anand's second, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, has annotated all the games. But "despite the amount of disc space used to cover it, the standard magazine features are in place too," writes Sean Marsh in his Marsh Towers review.

Anton Korobov is 2012 Ukrainian champion

8/13/2012 – One need only look at the past Olympiads to appreciate what a powerhouse Ukraine is in chess. The event included ample television coverage, and a Facebook page for the event where galleries of photographs were posted everyday. The players justified this attention by fighting aggressive chess, and the surprise winner was Anton Korobov, a point ahead of the rest. A pictorial report.

Kamsky wins First Annual Washington International

8/13/2012 – It was not a foregone conclusion: facing the likes of GMs Onischuk, Gareev, Shabalov, Azarov, Gelashvili and Friedel – who ended up in places 2-7 – Gata Kamsky showed his class by taking first place and not having to share the very nice US $5,000 prize with anyone. Michael Regan sent us an extensive illustrated report with many replayable games and nicely captioned pictures of the players.

The MacEnulty Chess Foundation – a revelation in South Africa

8/13/2012 – "To some, I may be a heavenly messenger," writes chess coach Jerald Times, "visiting the vortex of Dante’s Inferno with good news from the outside. The occupants know on an intuitive level that I have come as friend and ally to guide them on their path to escape the encircling Hell." Jerald works for a chess foundation that is doing important work in South Africa and elsewhere. You can help.

Activate the rook, the race, the rolling pawns, Gunina's great king

8/12/2012 – Those are the themes of today's endgame lessons, brought to you by ChessBase Magazine columnist GM Karsten Müller. They are all taken from the recent Russia vs China Match in Saint Petersburg, one from the men's section and three from the women's. It's Elo-boosting material for our readers to study over the weekend – an opportunity to improve your practical tournament results.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (88)

8/12/2012 – ‘Unspecific accusations of dishonesty concerning chess players will result in an international news story. Specific proof of dishonesty concerning chess writers will result in international silence.’ The Editor of Chess Notes made that observation in an article here last year. Now, he ponders why so many people keep quiet even when the facts are clear-cut in some truly shocking cases.

Feedback: Badminton vs grandmaster draws in chess

8/11/2012 – Yesterday Kung-Ming Tiong drew a comparison between no-contest badminton matches at the Olympics in London, which led to the disqualification of eight players, and short, uncontested draws in grandmaster tournament. Our readers reacted vigorously, mainly pointing to the rather obvious fact that there are no draws in badminton. But many have other valid objections.

Shirov - Laznicka match ends 4-2

8/10/2012 – It was a friendly match designed to delight the spectators and chess fans, while promoting the sponsor, but the match between Alexei Shirov and Viktor Laznicka was a model of organization on all levels. It not only had a fine venue, live broadcast, a website with excellent labeled pictures, and GM commentary, but had a number of touches to make it unique. See more in this lovely pictorial.

Badminton’s “Grandmaster Draw” vs Chess

8/10/2012 – It happened in the Olympics: four sets of badminton women's doubles players ditched their ties by giving a "not trying to win" performance. This earned the ire of spectators, and officials cautioned the players several times for the farcical display. In the end they were disqualified. Kung-Ming Tiong of the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus compares this to the situation in chess.

Nordic edge walking

8/10/2012 – White has just implanted his knight into the enemy king's position with 51.Ng4-f6 (diagram). Which move gives Black the advantage now?

A) 51...Qa8
B) 51...Qe7
C) 51...Rc4

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Kavalek in Huffington: Chess Winners Win Slowly

8/10/2012 – Chess is a slow game, says GM Lubomir Kavalek. Chess players don't move like the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. They advance to the finish line with a steady, deliberate pace. What the best chess players have in common with Bolt is the enormous will to win. In his Huffington Post column Kavalek extensively annotates an astonishing game by Vladimir Kramnik.

CBM #148: Commended for the serious player

8/9/2012 – This issue of ChessBase Magazine has 13 detailed opening surveys, ranging from the Caro-Kann to the King’s Indian. In addition there are 11 videos, among them an extraordinary presentation by Shirov of the French Winawer 7.Qg4 Qc7 and the Sicilian Rossolimo (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5). "Alexie knows his stuff, having lit fire on both sides of the board!" writes Prof. Nagesh Havanur. Review.

Magnus Carlsen: Am I tired? What a stupid question!

8/9/2012 – In June this year the Norwegian GM won YAST – yet another super tournament. Can one grow tired of all this glory? "I like to win and I want to keep winning," he says in this indepth interview, conducted for the Russian news portal WhyChess by Eugeny Atarov. Magnus describes his feelings during some of the key games and tells us how his life revolves around fame and chess.

Grivas: Chess Expertise Step by Step – Endgame Magic

8/8/2012 – The ending the ending rook, bishop and pawn versus bishop, knight and pawn, when there are no passed pawns and the bishops are of opposite colors is, in the words of chess trainer Efstratios Grivas, "easy, because White has a very concrete plan, and difficult because White has to be accurate at certain moments." He demonstrates this with a deeply annotated 1990 Kasparov-Karpov game.

Chess Redux: how many people play chess?

8/8/2012 – "Chess is the sleeping giant of the sports/entertainment world," said Steve Martin, CEO of M&C Saatchi Sports. Indeed, a study by AGON, the FIDE World Championship partner has revealed some startling facts: world-wide there are approximately the same number of chess players as regular Facebook members, and in the U.S., more people play chess than tennis and golf, combined!

To be or not to be – the Politiken Cup

8/8/2012 – To be or not to be…a chess player, that is the question. No doubt you have your own personal answer to the famous Shakespearian dilemma, but if you are reading this, you made the same choice as 300 players were present in Helsingør, the city of Shakespeare's Hamlet. One again, it was time for the beautiful traditional event – the Politiken Cup! Alina L'Ami brings a large illustrated report.

The Behting study – solution and a search for cooks

8/7/2012 – Can we still deceive computers in chess, asked Kiyoshi Takahashi in a recent article? To his entertaining examples we tacked on a famous study which has been fooling computers – for thirty years now! Today we bring you the incredibly deep solution and also ask you to participate in a minor research project: to find out if the study is cooked. Is there a second move that secures the same result?

Endgame Magic with GM Karsten Müller

8/7/2012 – Endgame knowledge is not easy to acquire and for this reason it is a valuable weapon in practical tournament play. In his Endgame Magic Show on Playchess, the well-known endgame expert GM Karsten Müller will assist you with a bunch of practical endgames. He shows how to handle the positions, which will help improve your results. An example and more information.

2012 Russian championship – Going through the motions

8/7/2012 – It is the strongest national championship in the world, and a win on a player’s resumé speaks volumes of their ability. And if that is not enough, aside from financial incentives and bragging rights, there is a potential spot on the national team at stake. Despite all this, the event has been plagued by a lack of fight leading to 80% draws. Instead, the women are giving the example. Illustrated report.

The Agria Chess Festival

8/6/2012 – For 36 years the Agria Chess Festival has persisted against all odds and has provided the chess community in Hungary with a very pleasant tournament held in a pretty, historic spa town, Eger, in the north of the country. The organiser, Mr Ferenc Rauch, in tandem with his wife, Ara, have built up steady followers that have remained faithful over the years. Illustrated report by Diana Mihajlova.

Gawain Jones wins the 99th British Championship

8/6/2012 – A number of top GMs were missing, but the extraordinary fighting spirit made up for that. In the final, eleventh round GM Gawain Jones needed to win with black, which he did in a highly combative Sicilian Dragon. This meant he faced Stephen Gordon in a playoff, which he won in spite of losing his queen in the first game. We bring you round-by-round game commentary and video reports.