Silent Chess and snow leopards (part one)

11/11/2012 – Recently the ICSC (International Committee of Silent Chess) staged its 2012 Championships. Over 170 people from some 30 countries gathered in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Christopher Kreuzer, himself a participant, sent us a two-part illustrated account. In part one he reports on the opening ceremony and provides video footage of an historic blitz game played by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

Alberto David is the 2012 Italian champion

11/10/2012 – The former Luxembourg grandmaster Alberto David was crowned the 2012 Italian champion after moving to Italy and sweeping through the field, winning with a round to spare, a full point and a half ahead of the field. The top Italian Fabiano Caruana is currently in Bucharest, and was unable to defend his title. 18-year-old IM Caprio was second with a GM rating performance. Illustrated report.

The Women’s World Chess Cup 2012 in Khanty-Mansiysk

11/10/2012 – The strongest female players from nine different countries have gathered in the eastern Russian oil boom town for the knock-out women's world championship, which starts on Sunday. There will be live video coverage and commentary in three languages. Saturday was the spectacular opening ceremony, which you can watch in HD video – a visual treat.

Watson on Davies: The English Opening

11/10/2012 – "GM Nigel Davies has done more ChessBase videos than any other presenter," writes John Watson, "and his delivery shows why: this is a well-paced and highly instructive DVD which presents 40 games to cover a repertoire based upon 2.g3." As a sample Watson shows how Davies confronts the Reversed Dragon problem. He does so by cleverly avoiding the main line.

Bucharest Kings Rd2: Missed opportunities

11/9/2012 – Round two was a round of near misses with the players all scratching their heads a bit on missed shots and chances. A serious mistake by Nisipeanu based on an oversight led to a mistaken attempt at a perpetual. His saving grace was that Caruana also missed it, and blundered away a clear win. Topalov and Ivanchuk also drew after a tense battle. Report and analysis by GM Rogozenco.

Queens and rooks

11/9/2012 – With 26.Re1-e8 (diagram) the first player has taken control of the enemy back rank. The opponent's attempt to follow suit with 26...Rd4-d1+ leads to ...

A)... advantage for White;
B)... perpetual check by force;
C)... advantage for Black.

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

A star is born

11/9/2012 – Sixty-four years ago: a twelve-year-old lad is excited that Mikhail Botvinnik is visiting his city. "I am going to challenge him,” he proclaims. To his dismay he is not allowed to go anywhere near the World Champion, but the boy gets to play in a simul against Botvinnik's sparring partner Vyacheslav Ragozin. You know of course who the boy was – today would have been his 76th birthday.

Kavalek in Huffington: What Is the Best Age for Chess?

11/9/2012 – A football player survives in the NFL on the average only three years. The careers of top chess players last 25 years or even longer. They can challenge the world's best already as teenagers and can continue for six, seven decades until they turn into ageless warriors. At what point do they play the best? What is the optimal age for success in chess? GM Lubomir Kavalek, 69, provides the answers.

Bucharest Kings Rd3: Ivanchuk leads midway

11/9/2012 – In the third round of Kings Tournament both games ended in a draw. Ivanchuk pressured Caruana, but the Italian defended well and equalized. Nisipeanu-Topalov saw a new position after just nine moves where White was a pawn up, while Black tried to take advantage of White's very exposed king. In spite of some sharp play, they eventually drew. Round three report with GM analysis.

Bucharest Kings Rd1: Kings tournament starts with win by Ivanchuk

11/8/2012 – After five years as an elite fixture in the calendar, and part of the Grand Prix tournament circuit, the "Kings Tournament" came very close to not taking place at all after it was initially canceled months ago. The organizers refused to accept defeat and brought renowned fighters Caruana, Topalov, Ivanchuk, and Nisipeanu for six rounds of bloodshed. Report, videos, and GM analysis.

Women’s World Chess Championship 2012 starts on Friday

11/8/2012 – 64 of the world's strongest female players have gathered in the eastern Russian oil boom town of Khanty Mansiysk for this six round 64-player knockout tournament. The winner plays the winner of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2011-2012 (Hou Yifan), which will determine the World Champion among women. The event will be held from 11 November to 2 December. List of participants and travel info.

A review of 1000x Checkmate by Lubomir Ftacnik

11/8/2012 – Without tactics all the best laid plans fall apart, and Lubomir Ftacnik himself reminds us that players all too often get caught up and lose sight of the most fundamental goal of chess: the checkmate. Checkmates revolve around repeated themes and this course will teach beginners and more how to achieve their goals. Buy it now, or read the review.

London Chess Classic 2012: Participants, pairings, simuls

11/8/2012 – In just over three week this wonderful annual event starts in the Olympia Conference Centre in Hammersmith, London. The nine top GMs, including the first three of the world rankings and the World Champion, with a rating average of 2751, have been paired already, allowing for more specific preparation and better planning for spectators. There are also interesting subsidiary event. Full event info.

Watson on Bojkov: Meet the English Opening in 60-minutes

11/7/2012 – "It's interesting to compare Mihail Marin's massive three-volume repertoire book with Dejan Bojkov's ChessBase DVDs," writes John Watson. After checking where the two overlap in an important line he shows us Bojkov's analsis of Carlsen vs Kramnik. His conclusion: "Bojkov comes out very well indeed in the comparison with written theory, even within the 60-minute format." Review.

Krush on Georgia: touring Batumi

11/7/2012 – The Georgian city of Batumi, on the Black Sea coast, an important port and a commercial center. It is also a hotbed of chess events – type "Batumi" in the search mask on the top right to see reports of them. After playing the women's rapid and blitz world championship in Georgia IM Irina Krush toured the country. In part two of her report she tells us about the Georgian passion for good food.

Power moves in politics and on the chessboard

11/7/2012 – It wasn't the cliff-hanger people had predicted: minutes before midnight (Pacific Time) Mitt Romney conceded and Barack Obama had won the 2012 US Presidential election, taking eight of the nine battleground states and 50.3% of the popular vote. Do you know how many of the past presidents, Republican and Democrats, were chess players? Here are stats and some topical chess cartoons.

Andreikin wins friendly match against Nepomniachtchi

11/6/2012 – Inspired by the resounding success of the Kramnik-Aronian match earlier this year, Dmitry Andreikin, reigning Russian champion, and Ian Nepomniachtchi, the former European and Russian champion played a six game match in Moscow, Russia. The match was broadcast on ChessTV and enjoyed live commentary, in Russian, by GM Sergey Shipov. Andreikin took the laurels.

Chess Oscar winner Carlsen to be tested for doping

11/6/2012 – There is no connection: Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen has just been awarded the Chess Oscar for 2011 – and FIDE has just announced that he will be involved in a pilot project to test players for drug abuse. The World Chess Federation has been trying to get chess recognised as an Olympic sport, and the IOC insists on drug testing as a condition. Oscar results and report on the drug testing.

CHESS Magazine: An interview with... Andrew Paulson

11/6/2012 – He is a man with a mission for world championship chess. Early this year Andrew Paulson and his company Agon were handed the rights for all of FIDE’s major events – the Grand Prix series, the Candidates and the title match itself. Last month John Saunders and Matthew Read of Britain's CHESS Magazine were invited to meet him at his office in Whitehall for an indepth interview. Here is part one.

Henrik Danielsen: Pressing Straightaway – The London System

11/5/2012 – "Recently ChessBase has hit upon a formula which I suspect will be a great success," writes John Watson. "They've introduced a series of videos limited to an hour, and available by download." Watson has studied the London System and watched Henrik Danielsen's "60 Minutes", in which the Icelandic GM not only gives a repertoire versus Black's most common setups, but presents some new ideas.

Draw okay?

11/5/2012 – In the diagram position there followed 41...Ne5 42.f6 Qd7+ 43.Kg2 Qd5+, and after 44.Kh3 Qd7+ the game ended with a perpetual check. Who missed the win in this sequence?
A) White;
B) Black;
C) neither, everything was correct.

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Shabalov is gold at Bahamas International

11/5/2012 – The Bahamas International & Amateur was held from October 24-28, 2012 at the Wyndham Nassau Resort & Crystal Palace Casino, in Nassau, Bahamas. GM Alex Shabalov won the International Section, finishing with an undefeated 6.5/9 and taking home the first prize, and just behind was GM Alexander Goldin in second. Several norms were also scored at this traditional event.

Movie chess scenes where the board is set up wrong

11/5/2012 – "Once you start to look for them, you see chessboards everywhere," writes Arika Okrent in Mental Floss. "In commercials, print ads, TV shows, and movies, chess is a go-to symbol for class, intelligence and the drama of strategic one-upmanship. However, very often the board is set up wrong." Arika has documented eleven famous movies with bad boards. Can you find more?

M.Chigorin Memorial 2012: Areschenko and Socko stand apart

11/4/2012 – Going into the final round eight players shared first with 6.5/8 and it was a hard fought round as they each tried to be the one to make a difference and get that larger share of the plunder. Only two were able to shine and share the top honors: Ukrainian Alexander Areschenko who bested Alexander Lenderman, and Polish Bartosz Socko who overcame Ilia Smirin. Final report and games.