Six tie for first in Sin City

6/12/2013 – Las Vegas hosted its annual festival, with grandmasters flocking from all over the continent to participate and enjoy the city. Wesley So completed a hat trick by winning the g/10 championship, the main event and the blitz. Among the attractions of the festival was a blitz tournament for grandmasters, were every participant received half a gallon of alcohol. Summary and pictures.

CEZ Prague: first game a volatile 65-move draw

6/12/2013 – This event sees former women's world champion Hou Yifan playing four classical games against top Czech GM David Navara. In the first game the Chinese GM bravely went for her trademark king pawn opening, prepared for a ruthless battle in the Sicilian, which indeed ensued. "I have to express my appreciation for the very combative game by both players," said GM Vlastimil Hort. Illustrated report.

Le Quang Liem is World Blitz Chess Champion

6/12/2013 – The Vietnamese GM is always good for a surprise upset. With many of the top blitz player in the world taking part Le Liem took the lead (with Ian Nepomniachtchi) on day one, and kept the lead on day two, challenged mainly by Ruslan Ponomariov. A win in the final round secured Gold for Le Liem, with Alexander Grischuk and Ponomariov settling for Bronze and Silver. Illustrated report from Khanty Mansiysk.

Match Hou Yifan vs David Navara starts on Tuesday

6/11/2013 – It is a special CEZ event, pitting former women's world champion Hou Yifan against top Czech GM David Navara. Before the start of the four-game match the 19-year-old Chinese GM took a tour of Prague with her mother and gave a simultaneous exhibition against 20 opponents – which she won with a 19:1 score, conceding just two (diplomatic?) draws. Big pictorial report.

Giri beats Ivanchuk in Leon

6/10/2013 – The start of the three-day chess bonanza between Vassily Ivanchuk and Anish Giri did not bode well for the Ukrainian genius. After two days he was behind 5-1 and was so depressed he began speaking about retirement. Then on the last day, Ivanchuk came different, and he was a man on a mission. Though Ivanchuk ended with more points overall, Giri won due to the event scoring system. Big illustrated report by Leontxo García.

Marshtowers review: ChessBase Magazine #154

6/10/2013 – Alongside the usual features, such as fine opening surveys (including more very welcome Moskalenko French coverage) and study material on openings, tactics and endgames, three very strong tournaments are given in-depth coverage in the latest issue of ChessBase Magazine. "Anyone who is serious about their chess needs Chessbase Magazine!" writes Sean Marsh in his review.

Kavalek in Huffington: Chess, the game of tension

6/10/2013 – When two thinkers clash the tension is obvious. Dramatic moments increase with higher stakes, nerves take over and players do things we don't expect them to do. But there is also tension on the board, reflected in the interaction of the pieces. All this was illustrated in the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki, as Huffington Post column GM Lubomir Kavalek analytically demonstrates.

Mamedyarov wins World Rapid Chess Championship

6/9/2013 – For most of the 15-round FIDE Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was leading – after the first two days by two full points. But on the final day Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won five games in the row and finished the tournament with 11.5/15 points, a 2903 performance and the title. Once again our report has a lot of instructive analysis by GM Efstratios Grivas.

Bruzon and Iturrizaga win Zonal 2.3

6/8/2013 – Lazaron Bruzon and Eduardo Iturrizaga won the local Zonal with 7.5/9 to qualify for the World Cup in Tromso. The tournament, which was supposed to be held several months ago, brought together the best players from Central America, Venezuela and the Caribbean to fight for the two qualifying spots. Pictures and final standings.

Karjakin wins Sberbank Rapid

6/8/2013 – The Sberbank Open took place from June 3rd to 8th 2013 in Kiev, Ukraine. It was organised by Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia and the third largest in Europe. The main event was a ten-player rapid tournament with time control of 25 minutes for the whole game + 10 seconds increment per move. It was won with a sterling 2871 performance by Sergey Karjakin.

Nepomniaschi leads World Rapid with 9.0/10

6/8/2013 – The FIDE World Rapid Championship 2013 in Khanty-Mansiysk takes place in fifteen rounds over three day. After the first two the Russian GM Ian Nepomniachi is the lead, two point ahead of his nearest rivals (Ildar Khairullin and Ivan Cheparinov). Ian is in great shape and displaying a very harmonious chess. Report after day two with instructive analysis by GM Efstratios Grivas.

Nadal outlasts Djokovic to reach French Open final

6/7/2013 – It was one of the most thrilling tennis matches ever – with two of the greatest players ever showing everything the game has to offer: a near tumble over the net, trick-shot mishaps, warnings for time wasting and angry outbursts. And sinew-stretching rallies from the baseline that show to what extraordinary levels tennis has progressed. Pictorial report, videos and a puzzle (now with its solution).

CBM #153 – for professionals and connoisseurs

6/7/2013 – ChessBase Magazine #153 is about records, outstanding games, great suspense – everything chess lovers could wish for. One highlight is Anand's comments on his 23-move black victory over the world's number two, Levon Aronian, in Wijk aan Zee. You can play through his insightful notes on our Javascript player. And find out what else is in store for you, in this review by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.

ASEAN+ Age-Group Championships in Chiangmai

6/7/2013 – The beautiful city of Chiangmai in Thailand is playing host to 400 children and their families for this unusual event. They play in an open, where it is possible to earn CM, FM and IM titles without the usual requirements of norms and ratings, and in five age-defined groups. Apart from the chess there is also the opportunity for whitewater rafting, mountain biking, hilltribe visits and elephant riding.

Kasparov fears arrest if he returns to Russia

6/6/2013 – Garry Kasparov has declared he will not return to Russia. He fears he will be targeted in a wave of investigations into members of the opposition. Currently in Geneva receiving a human rights prize; Kasparov said, via an audio recording on his website, that if he returned to Moscow, he had “serious doubts” he may not be able to leave again. Reports from the international media.

World Rapid and Blitz starts today

6/6/2013 – “Just two days ago we closed the FIDE Grand Prix in Greece," said FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, "and today we are opening the World Rapid and Blitz Championships.” It was at the opening ceremony in in Khanty Mansiysk (Russia), where 62 players from 18 countries are gathered for a five-day event in the spectacular Ugra Chess Academy. Prepare for some fast and furious action.

Experts weigh in on Ivanov's performance

6/5/2013 – Two days ago we reported on the crushing victories of a Bulgarian FM against top grandmasters and the suspicion that he was secretly using computer assistance to achieve his success. Extensive analysis of the games by Valeri Lilov made this seem quite plausible. In part two of our series we present the opinions of international experts and one of the GM victims, plus initial reader feeback.

Eighth Tal Memorial next week in Moscow

6/4/2013 – The FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki has just ended. Suffering withdrawal already? Well, in just over a week, on June 12th, there is another Super GM, this time in Moscow, with Carlsen, Kramnik, Anand, Nakamura, Karjakin and co. Average Elo: 2777, making it a category 22 event. There will be live broadcast, with video from the site and GM commentary on Playchess. Full tournament details.

Sam Collins: The French Advance Structure

6/4/2013 – This structure, which can arise in the French, Caro-Kann, Sicilian or Slav Defence, is characterized by the pawn chain d4-e5 for White and e6-d5 for Black and an open c-file. Chess trainer Sam Collins provides full instructions on a ChessBase DVD which reviewer Lukas Wedrychowski says is "one which especially those with limited time should get." He gives it 6/6 stars = Highly Recommended!

Ding dominates Danzhou

6/4/2013 – After a great start, Ni Hua was unable to prevent top-seed Ding Liren from overtaking him and eventually winning the tournament. It all came down to a spectacular game in round seven. After a terrible start, 13-year-old Wei Yi posted a great comeback with 3.5/4 at the end. and gained further Elo. Here is the final illustrated report by Liang Ziming.

Daniel King – Power Play 19: Attack with 1.e4

6/3/2013 – In part two of this series British GM Daniel King provides us with a repertoire of attacking lines against the Scandinavian, Alekhine’s Defence, the Petroff, Philidor, Pirc and the Modern Defence (1. e4 g6). After the DVD was complete it occurred to him that he should have included the deadly Philidor Counter Gambit. What to do? Daniel has now published it online, and you can watch it for free.

Thessaloniki Final: Caruana stops Kamsky, Dominguez wins the tournament

6/3/2013 – In a wild turn of events in the last round, Caruana played a masterful Spanish to take down Gata Kamsky. With this victory Caruana tied for second in the event and paved the way for Dominguez who defeated Topalov in a very precise endgame. The Cuban scored 8.0/11 and gained an incredible 30 rating points. GM Analysis of both key games.

The show goes on: Ivanov in Kustendil

6/3/2013 – Borislav Ivanov is an FM who in the past months has been crushing players hundreds of points stronger than himself. Bulgarian GMs, who suspect computer cheating, are now boycotting tournaments in which he appears, or chosing not to play their games against him. Ivanov has called them antisocial buttheads in newspaper interviews. Alex Karaivanov reports, with new video analysis by Valeri Lilov.

Thessaloniki 10: Kamsky wins and leads

6/2/2013 – On his 39th birthday Gata Kamsky destroyed Alexander Morozevich in a 25-move Chigorin. He snatched the sole lead, with 7.5/10 half a point ahead of Cuban Leinier Dominguez. Fabiano Caruana outplayed Veselin Topalov with the black pieces and at 6.5/10 has a theoretical chance to win the event. Express report with pictures of the free day simul and GM analysis of the most volatile game.