Hoogeveen: Kramnik beats Polgar, leads by a full point

10/20/2011 – In round two Vladimir Kramnik beat Judit Polgar – as usual, we are tempted to say. In twenty classical encounters Judit still has to win a single one. At the end of this game Fritz 13 surprised people on Playchess by announcing mate in 45 moves – on a super-fast spectator machine. In rounds three and four all games were drawn, but some of them quite interesting. Report and commentary.

Nalchik GP: Zhao Xue with 9.5/10 with 3016 performance

10/20/2011 – This is becoming one of the most amazing results of all time. Chinese GM Zhao Xue is three and a half points ahead of the field, and stands to gain 46 rating points from a single tournament. She is playing short games, often being the first to finish. But they are not draws but lovely wins. Xue's plus nine results dwarfs that of second-placed player, Ju Wenjun, on plus two. Friday is the final round.

Takeable?

10/20/2011 – White is a bishop up, but of course must act most carefully due to his edge king on h3. The strike 30.Rxf7 leads him to what?

A) victory
B) unclear position despite plus piece
C) defeat

The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Daniel King: Power Play 16 – Test Your Rook Endgames

10/19/2011 – "Too often, one may learn something of value but not have the opportunity to use that knowledge right away," writes Steven Dowd. "In such cases the knowledge fades quickly into the recesses of our brains." So what can we do about that? How about two new ChessBase training DVDs? Here's a Chess Cafe review of the first, which gets five out of six stars.

Gary Kasparov in Brazil – The new man in charge

10/19/2011 – Garry Kasparov is different. However, it's neither his physical appearance nor his way of walking into a wave of applause that is changed in the former world champion. Seven years later, he has returned less arrogant and less self-sufficient and, for the first time, demonstrates a subtle feeling of gratitude and humility, never seen before in his public career. A thoughtful piece by Tiago Santos.

The Rio de Janeiro State Team Championship – An 83-year-old tradition

10/18/2011 – To most outsiders, Rio de Janeiro would never be linked to a deep tradition in chess, yet the very first club was co-founded by legendary author Machado de Assis, who also took part in the first tournament in 1880. The first State Team Championship was held in 1928 and this year the Tijuca Tênis Clube won its 17th title since its first in 1941, 70 years ago. A large pictorial by Albert Silver.

Nalchik GP: Zhao Xue with 7.5/8 points, 2968 performance, +38 rating points

10/18/2011 – This is definitely her tournament: Chinese GM Zaho Xue conceded one draw, against the bottom seed in round seven, and went on to beat the top seed in round eight. This gave her a three-point lead over her nearest rival, compatriot Ju Wenjun, who could bury her hopes of catching the leader after a painful loss to tail-ender Batkhuyag Munguntuul. Big illustrated report after round eight.

Romanian Chess Leagues – Home Sweet Home

10/18/2011 – Brasov was the host of the Romanian League, one of the strongest editions so far. The event brought in a number of world-class players, such as Gata Kamsky, Jobava Baadur, Anna Muzychuk and Pia Cramling. Above all, it was a return to Home Sweet Home for our correspondent who lavishes her report on Brasov and Romania with love. Enjoy this illustrated report by Alina L'Ami.

Early chess cheating story by Martin Gardner

10/18/2011 – American writer Martin Gardner anticipated current cheating woes in chess with his short story Nora Says 'Check'. In it a world champion called Sierpinsky alleviates his chess boredom by guiding a not very bright waitress named Nora to chess fame with the help of a confederate and some electrical trickery. You should not miss this visionary jewel of a tale, written in 1948!

15th Unive Tournament 2011 in Hoogeveen begins

10/17/2011 – This double round robin tournament in Holland brings four 2700+ players to the boards: Vladimir Kramnik, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Judit Polgar, with an average rating of 2732, making it a Category 20 event. In the first round Kramnik beat Giri, while Vachier Lagrave came close to doing the same to Judit Polgar. Illustrated report.

Light-squared issue

10/17/2011 – White threatens 37.Qh5. After the sequence 36...Be6 37.Bxa6 Bxb3 (intending 38.cxb3 Qxa6) Black ...

A) equalizes the game; 
B) gets a slight edge due to White's misplaced rook; 
C) loses a piece

The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Second International Alpine Tournament – Livigno Open 2011

10/16/2011 – This tournament is staged at an altitude of 1,816 meters, making it the highest chess tournament in Europe. The little pretty Alpine town of Livigno was swarming with 22 GMs and 14 IMs, in all 90 players who competed in two Opens. 24 nations were represented from all over the world: Europe, Asia (India), Northern and Southern America. Big pictorial report by Diana Mihajlova.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (71)

10/16/2011 – Which is the most difficult form of chess writing? Of course, each kind presents its own problems and pitfalls, but the Editor of Chess Notes focuses here on a genre which hardly anyone ventures upon nowadays although it used to be highly popular: an attempt to capture the essence of a chess master’s appearance and demeanour with some well-crafted words, in a pen-portrait.

Nalchik GP: The Zhao Xue express steams on

10/16/2011 – Someone should call Guinness – the Chinese GM Zaho Xue is on the rampage and has now won her sixth game in a row, maintaining a nominal 3300 performance. This time she profited from a prime blunder by former women's world champion Zhu Chen. Alexandra Kosteniuk ended her losing streak with a well-played game which, however, her opponent was able to defend. Round six report.

CBM Blog: Drawing zones, dominance duel and changing the leader

10/15/2011 – Our endgame expert GM Karsten Müller keeps a watchful eye for interesting lessons that can be derived from recent games. Today he explains how in the fight bishop and wrong rook's pawn vs pawns there are two drawing zones for the defending king which must be interpreted with some care. For the weekend we bring you, instead of the usual two, this time three full training units.

Nalchik GP: Zhao Xue now with 5.0/5 and 3300+ performance

10/15/2011 – What can we say? GM Kateryna Lahno played a vicious attacking game against the 26-year-old Chinese GM, who defended coolly and in the end chalked up yet another victory, her fifth in a row. Zhao Xue's performance statistics are, of course, stratospheric. There were three more decisive games, all in favour of White, with the Kosintseva sisters scoring 2-0. Big illustrated round five report.

Mighty Morozevich dominating Governor's Cup

10/14/2011 – The Governor's Cup is currently underway in Saratov, Russia, and with the list of participants playing, such as Ponomariov, Shirov, and Morozevich, one had all the reason in the world to expect an exciting event. Sadly, 75% of the games have ended in draws. The exception is Morozevich who is running away with the tournament with 5.0/6 and a near 3000 performance. And what games too!

L'île de la Réunion – chess at the base of the Niagara Falls

10/14/2011 – The International Open at Réunion took a glamorous turn in its second leg with the players alternately enjoying mountain vistas and sailing alongside dolphins, with a surprise visit from a local beauty queen. Some final pictures from what turned out to be a very memorable event and a few thoughts on the future of chess on this little island, are provided by WGM Kruttika Nadig.

Kavalek in Huffington: Magnus Carlsen blitzed Vassily Ivanchuk

10/13/2011 – The Chess Masters Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao ended in a tie-breaker blitz for first place, in which the youngest player, world's top-rated GM Magnus Carlsen, 20, was facing the oldest, Ukraine's Vassily Ivanchuk, aged 42. The first game was drawn, but Carlsen won the second with black and became the champion. In this week's column GM Lubomir Kavalek analyses this remarkable game.

Fritz 13 is now available – let's check who needs it!

10/13/2011 – “Success very often is the enemy of future success," Garry Kasparov warned us some months ago. Changing the world once is not enough, he said, we needed to do it again. Well, we are trying. Today we launch Fritz 13, which incorporates a tantalizing new feature: "Let's Check", which provides communal analysis in the cloud. You can order it now or download it for instant access.

Magnus Carlsen back in the World Championship cycle?

10/13/2011 – The shock came early in November 2010. The world's number one player, Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen, decided to drop out of the World Championship cycle, in which he had reached the Candidate stage of the last eight. Now FIDE has met some of his demands – e.g. that the final stage should be a tournament and not matches – and Carlsen has decided to participate in the next cycle.

Bilbao Masters – Carlsen takes first after blitz tiebreak

10/12/2011 – The signs were there, but nothing is written until it is over. The games were fairly sedate among the crosstable leaders with uneventful draws, though Anand came out swinging and avoided a last place finish by beating Vallejo. Top prize was decided by two blitz games, in which Carlsen concluded with a mating attack in the last game. Final report with pictures, video, and GM commentary.

Garry Kasparov beats Nigel Short 4.5-3.5 in Belgium Blitz

10/12/2011 – It was like in the good old days – back in London in 1993. On Sunday Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short played an eight-game blitz match. First Garry dominated, then Nigel fired back, and the decision came in the final game. It was an enthralling experience for the audience in Leuven, well organised by the Belgian charity "Your Next Move". Take some time for our big pictorial report.

Nalchik GP: Zhao Xue still with a perfect score after four rounds

10/12/2011 – The 26-year-old Chinese GM has won all her games at the FIDE Grand Prix that is being staged in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. This translates to a nominal performance of 3289. In second place is another Chinese player, WGM Ju Wenjun. Before the free day on Thursday we bring you a big illustrated report from Nalchik on rounds three and four.
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