Can we still deceive computers in chess?

7/17/2012 – Today the best players in the world would balk at playing against a strong chess program. But are there any positions or ideas left that computers cannot figure out? Kiyoshi Takahashi has put together some elementary themes that traditionally posed problems for computers. To this we have added a study which for almost thirty years has genuinely stumped our electronic friends.

Istanbul Besiktas and Istanbul Teknik lead in Turkish Is Bank League

7/17/2012 – It is not always the big guns who dominate a league. The team like Istanbul ISEK, which has Adams, Polgar and Kazimdzhanov on the top boards, have scored just one win vs six losses. This is because each ten-board team has four reserved for juniors and females. Two Istanbul teams, with Mamedyarov and Bologan on top boards and strong juniors below, lead after seven rounds.

FIDE Grand Prix series 2012/13 – names and dates

7/17/2012 – It starts with London in Sept. 2012, and continues in Tashkent in November, Lisbon in April 2013, Madrid in May, Berlin in July and Paris in Sept. Clearly the absence of Carlsen, Aronian, Kramnik and Anand is a bitter disappointment to the organisers, but the four have schedule problems and are in the next World Championship cycle anyway. Announcement by FIDE.

Dortmund Rd5 – Karjakin joins Kramnik and Ponomariov for lead

7/17/2012 – The fourth round was such a lukewarm affair, there was nothing to remark on the five draws other than their exercise in symmetry at the end. Round five was another story altogether. While Kramnik and Ponomariov were unable to decide anything, Karjakin beat Daniel Fridman in a powerful game, Caruana outclassed Gustaffson in their encounter, and Bartel lost to Naiditsch. Illustrated report.

Fifth FIDE Women's Grand Prix starts in Jermuk

7/17/2012 – This event with zwelve elite female players is taking place in the Armenian hamlet of Jermuk, which is fast becoming a centre of chess, with it's third Grand Prix in four years. It started with a big opening ceremony on Monday, with the President of the country (and chess federation) present. In round one on Tuesday Humpy, Ju Wenjun and Kovalevskaya scored. Big illustrated report.

Nigel Short quiz: which game and how many countries?

7/16/2012 – At the start of the month British GM Nigel Short won the seventh edition of the Edmonton International Chess Festival. In our report we challenged readers to identify a game Nigel was commenting on during a lecture to Festival participants; and we asked our readers to guess in how many different countries he has won tournaments. The winner got a Fritz 13 program signed by Garry Kasparov.

ACP Golden Classic – Tournament for the nostalgic

7/16/2012 – The ACP is organizing the ACP Golden Classic in Amsterdam alongside the Dutch Championships and an assortment of opens. The event brings along several top-notch grandmasters, such as Ivanchuk and Kamsky, but what sets this event apart is the old 40 moves in 2.5 hour time control and above all: a return to the days of adjourned games! Illustrated report with pictures by Alina L'Ami.

Chess Problems: Obstruction and Paralysis – solutions

7/15/2012 – In his last column problem expert David Friedgood explained a special theme: paralysis. This occurs when the defending side is forced to not just one square is blocked, but all the squares available to a piece. The author explained the concept with two examples and gave us three interesting thematic problems to solve. Here are the solutions.

Dortmund Rd3 – A bad day for Germans

7/15/2012 – With four decisive games in five, the German front took the brunt of the attack, with only Arkadij Naiditsch able to hold Sergey Karjakin to a draw. There were few spectacular blunders, and it was mostly a case of the elite outplaying their lower-rated colleagues. The luckless Mateusz Bartel was unable to resist Vladimir Kramnik, who takes the lead with Ruslan Ponomariov. Illustrated report.

Anand on the World Championship in Moscow (Part 1)

7/14/2012 – Just six weeks ago Viswanathan Anand successfully defended his World Championship title in Moscow, against Israeli GM Boris Gelfand. Immediately after the final Anand spoke to an old friend, journalist Jaideep Unudurti. The interview was too long (and profound) for his newspaper, which carried only parts of it. Jaideep has given us the rest, which we bring you in three parts. Don't miss this!

Dortmund 2012 – Kramnik shocks Gustafsson with a KID... as black!

7/14/2012 – Vladimir Kramnik is famous for his merciless destruction of the King's Indian. He has been so efficient that even Garry Kasparov shied away from it, and it all but disappeared from elite play for many years. So imagine Jan Gustafsson's shock in round two, when he found himself facing it in the hands of its most notorious killer. And what a game! Report with notes by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Ftacnik: 1.Nf3: A Variable Repertoire for White

7/13/2012 – "Lubomir Ftacnik is the sort of strategically-minded GM who makes positional chess look simple and forces the viewer to sometimes reconsider their approach to the game," writes Seven Dowd in Chess Cafe. One thing you really learn from Ftacnik's five-star DVD was how to utilize closed positions to your advantage. "You can never have too many examples of these in your chess memory." Review.

Ivan Sokolov wins 40th Annual World Open in Philadelphia

7/13/2012 – A quick draw in the final round left Ivan Sokolov and Alex Shabalov tied for first in the Open Section, with 7.0/9 points each. They were not caught by three GMs half a point behind, and so had to take part in an Armageddon play-off. Sokolov had the white pieces and five minutes, Shabalov the black pieces, three minutes and draw odds. Ivan Sokolov won and became the 2012 World Open Champion.

Deep Fritz 13: how to use the engine cloud (Part 2)

7/12/2012 – "Can I connect my notebook to my 16-core desktop at home?" – "How much does it cost to rent other people's computers?" – "OMG, why is it so cheap?!" – "Okay, show me how to set this up!" Look, Peter, Alex, Anish, I can't do it for each of you separately. Why don't you watch the series of instructional videos produced by Nick Murphy. They answer your most pressing questions.

Turkish Is Bank League started

7/12/2012 – The Turkish Team Championship was started 1995 and now has developed into one of the more interesting international chess leagues in the world. It's format is unique: you have six top boards and four for juniors and females. There are plenty of well-known GM playing, like Adams, Mamedyarov, Bologan and (yeah!) Judit Polgar. The average Elo: 2432. Report with GM commentary.

Breaking news: Fischer loses first game to Spassky in Reykjavik

7/12/2012 – Yesterday we reported on the start of the historic World Championship match between Boris Spassky and his challenger Robert Fischer. In a completely drawn position the American had lost a bishop and was fighting to survive. Many thought he would make it, but after resumption Spassky played with great precision to win the first game. We ask our readers: could the game have been saved?

Chess through pink-tinted glasses

7/11/2012 – WGM Alina L'Ami is frank about it: she was never a big fan of weekend tournaments for the obvious reason: too much chess in too short a time. But never say never! As it turned out, the Nova College Chess Tournament changed her mind. Not just her as one surprise guest was famous GM Ulf Andersson. It didn't hurt that it was in Haarlem, Holland, a postcard setting, not to mention: pink everywhere!

Match of the Century begins in Reykjavik

7/11/2012 – That could have been the headline of our newspage, exactly forty years ago this afternoon, when after some harrowing manoeuvring the US Challenger Bobby Fischer sat down to the first game of the World Championship match against Boris Spassky in Iceland. It was a very tense encounter and has been beautifully recreated by Frank Brady, who was an eye-witness at the scene.

Grischuk wins World Blitz Championship

7/10/2012 – He was leading after fifteen rounds of the big double round robin. On the second day Alexander Grischuk played +7, =5, –3. His closest rivals, from places 2-4, did not score as well, but the player in fifth came very close to catching him. Magnus Carlsen won won ten games, drew two and lost three, with a sterling 2883 performance. That brought him within half a point of the winner. Full video reports.

Royal road

7/10/2012 – The weakness of Black's back rank is obvious, but so is the vulnerabilty of White's king. In concrete terms: how is the position after 62.Qf7 Qf1+ to be evaluated?
A) won for Black;
B) won for White;
C) balanced.

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (86)

7/9/2012 – The Editor of Chess Notes looks at some of the lesser-known claims that hypnosis has been, or could be, used at the chess board. Even more than is customarily the case in the chess world, hard facts and scientific knowledge seem almost impossible to disentangle from flimsy claims and vague suspicions when it comes to the murky world of hypnotism. Concentrate hard ...

Daniel King: What happens next? – #4

7/9/2012 – GM Daniel King's interactive YouTube format for chess training continuse to resonate well with our readers. In this fourth installment Danny leads us to a key position in a recent game from the Greek Team Championship (with Czech GM David Navara playing black) and then asks us to choose between two strategical continuations. Like the game itself both moves are annotated by the GM.

Grischuk leads after first day of Astana World Blitz Championship

7/9/2012 – Alexander Grischuk was on fire, winning eight games, drawing five and losing two to take the lead with 10.5/15, a full point ahead of the second placed Dmitry Andreikin, Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin, with Magnus Carlsen following a point behind these three. Tuesday is the return round of this double round robin. We have lots of pictures and video for you to relive the action.

8th Russia-China match – China wins classical game encounter

7/8/2012 – In the first phase of the competition, the Russian men were able to show an edge in classical games against their Chinese peers, with Dmitry Jakovenko showing the way. It was not enough though, as the Chinese women, led by Ju Wenjun and a superb comeback by Zhao Xue, scored heavily for an even more convincing win, giving China a 26-24 lead over Russia. Illustrated report.