Spassky surfaces – on Russia 1TV's Tonight Show

1/30/2013 – You read about it last August: 75-year-old former World Champion fled from his house in Meudon near Paris and turned up in Moscow, with a harrowing story of "house arrest" in France and danger to his life. In October he appeared on Russian TV, looking frail and out of sorts. Spassky, who turned 76 today, appeared on a popular TV show, with short hair and in better shape and good spirits.

Gibraltar: Forty somethings on the rampage

1/30/2013 – In our previous reports we extolled the performance of mainly young players at the Tradewise Chess Festival. Today John Saunders concentrates on players over forty, like Georgiev, Short and Adams, who are still amply able beat up youngsters. After nine rounds of play three players share the lead with 7.5 points each, followed by seven with 7.0 points. Report and analysis.

Can chess make you smarter?

1/29/2013 – A research project in Israel is going to study the correlation between chess and cognitive enhancement. The group will also develop the first Hebrew-language educational software program for teaching chess in preschools and elementary schools, and establish an international program for training chess instructors and coaches. The online news magazine Israel21c reports.

Tata training: Aronian's activity, Nakamura's Fort Knox, Magnus Magic

1/28/2013 – Our ChessBase Magazine columnist GM Karsten Müller has been following the games at Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee attentively. For today he has picked three highly instructive and entertaining games, featuring three of the top top players in the event, to explain some valuable techiques that you can use in practical tournament play. Learn and enjoy.

The secret to chess with Maurice Ashley

1/28/2013 – There are many topics in chess that are difficult to understand. Maurice Ashley is one of the people who teach these topics in a comprehensive way. His DVD series is an option that many of our readers know. Now he complements this with his monthly show on Playchess. Be there when enthusiastic commentary meets hunger for chess. More information...

Gibraltar: Four Amigos and the Battle of the Sexes

1/28/2013 – After four rounds of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2013 there were four players in the lead with perfect 4.0/4 scores, after five rounds just two were left (Le Quang Liem and Nikita Vitiugov) and after six there are three GMs with 5.5/6 points. We bring you another long and very entertaining report by John Saunders, with pictures and analysis, but which ends in something completely different.

Wijk aan Zee/Tata round thirteen preview

1/27/2013 – Who will win the 75th Tata Steel Tournament? Okay, we know Magnus Carlsen has already clinched the A Section, but the B and C sections are still hotly contested. The final round starts on Sunday, January 27, at 12:00 noon (i.e. an hour and a half earlier than usual). To make things especially interesting we recommend you update your Playchess client and try out our latest Guess-a-Move feature.

Tata R13: Karjakin, Wang score, Carlsen wins Wijk by 1½ points

1/27/2013 – In the final round the Chinese GM Wang Hao ruined all Vishy Anand's chances of gaining Silver by beating the World Champion. Levon Aronian drew, to take sole second place, while Sergey Karjakin defeated Loek van Wely to join Anand in 3/4 places. Magnus Carlsen drew his game with black against Anish Giri and ended a full 1½ points ahead of the field. Full round 13 report.

Gibraltar: The Magnificent Eight Ride Again

1/26/2013 – "Seven" would have been much more appropriate, but there happen to be eight Super-GMs with ratings over 2700 in the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2013. After three rounds, only three of the Magnificent Eight remained on 100% – together with a 18-year-old GM from China, Yu Yangyi, who is rated 2688 and clearly a prodigious talent. John Saunders reports.

Tata R12: Carlsen, Anand, Hou win, Carlsen clinches Wijk

1/26/2013 – Today Magnus Carlsen outplayed the US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura to score his seventh win in the Tata Steel tournament, having reached a total of 9.5/12 points with one round to go. His closest rivals, Anand and Aronian, have 8.0/12. Anand caught up with Aronian after a fine win over Erwin L'Ami, while the Chinese GM Hou Yifan beat Ivan Sokolov with black. Postgame and GM analysis.

Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival: winners stumble

1/25/2013 – Early rounds of big opens rarely produce major surprises, as the top half of the draw tends to murder the bottom half in cold blood. But in this year’s Gibraltar Masters a number of top players were served reminders on how careful you must be against weaker opposition. Ask Vassily Ivanchuk, Gata Kamsky or Nigel Short. After three rounds 15 players have perfect scores. John Saunders reports.

Duma deputies: Karpov should be investigated

1/25/2013 – Occasionally some very surprising news lands on our table. The Moscow Times is reporting that members of the Russian Parliament have accused former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov of being a foreign agent, lobbying on behalf of a tobacco company. The attack is seen as part of a smouldering conflict between lobbyists, as anti-smoking legislation is pending in the State Duma. MT report.

Wijk on the free day: Group C tournament

1/25/2013 – In our reports on Tata Steel we sadly neglected the groups B and C, usually only giving the results, games and standings. We caught up yesterday by presenting you with portraits of the B Section players, and today, with the help of photographer Frans Peeters, we introduce you the to C-Group players and young talents. And show you a few interesting tactical moments from their games.

Wijk aan B

1/25/2013 – The weakness of the dark squares around the black king catches the eye, but there still is the diagonal a6-f1 ...
The sequence 28.Rxd3 cxd3 29.Qh6 lead to victory for ...

A) White
B) Black

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Tata R11: Leko, Karjakin, Aronian, Giri win

1/25/2013 – Four decisive games, just three draws – quite typical of this hard-fought event. Levon Aronian's win over Hikaru Nakamura pushed the Armenian into second place. The Chinese GM Wang Hao held Magnus Carlsen to a 31-move draw, while the 18-year-old Chinese GM Hou Yifan survived all winning attempts by World Champion Vishy Anand in a knight and pawn ending. Round eleven report.

Wijk on the free day: visit to Tata, B Group players

1/24/2013 – In our reports on the Tata Steel Tournament we have sadly neglected the groups B and C, usually giving only the results, games and standings. You have seen dozens of pictures of Magnus, Vishy, Levon and Yifan, but practically none of the 28 stars and talents in the lower sections. With the help of the photographer Frans Peeters we make it up to you – and to them – with a portrait of each.

Tata R10: Five decisive game, Carlsen leads by 1½ points

1/23/2013 – This round saw a wide variety of interesting games, with sharp unsound sacrifices and deep positional play. Hou Yifan beat Harikrishna, 100 points her senior, with black, Levon Aronian outplayed Wang Hao. Magnus Carlsen stretched his lead even further over his rivals by beating Erwin L'Ami. It won’t be long before the media start screaming the number ‘2900’! Full report with postgame analysis.

Carlsen's Counterattack, Sokolov's Sorrow, Hou's Hammerblow

1/23/2013 – These are the themes of the latest endgame training session, provided by our ChessBase Magazine columnist GM Karsten Müller, who has been following the games at Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee very attentively. He has picked Carlsen and Sokolov against Nakamura, and Hou Yifan vs Anish Giri, to explain some valuable techniques that you can use in practical tournament play. Learn and enjoy.

How to become a tactics monster!

1/22/2013 – Tactics are the heart of chess. In his DVD series Valeri Lilov uses spectacular masterpieces to teach you pattern recognition, the assessment of positions, calculation techniques, combinational themes and ideas, over-extended pawns, X-ray, piece overloading, and much more. Once you learn how to sense critical moments, combinations will suddenly appear on the board. It's that easy!

Tata R09: Carlsen beats Hou, takes full point lead

1/22/2013 – The top seed Magnus Carlsen booked yet another win – his fifth in this tournament – this time with black against the bottom seed, Chinese GM Hou Yifan, who now has five losses and one win. Magnus is a full point ahead of the World Champion Vishy Anand, who drew his game against Peter Leko. Loek van Wely beat Ivan Sokolov with black. Full report with video interviews and GM analysis.

Kavalek in Huffington: Amazing chess brilliancy of Vishy Anand

1/22/2013 – Anand's recent victory over Levon Aronian reminds HuffPo chess columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek that the ghosts of the glorious chess past are still alive. After the game, the Indian grandmaster said that it looked incredibly close to the classic duel between Gersz Rotlewi and Akiba Rubinstein, a marvelous tactical masterpiece played more than a century ago. Kavalek looks at both games.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (95)

1/21/2013 – Patriotism, nationalism, jingoism and racism in the chess world have generated many literary horrors, some of which might be comical if they were not so alarming. The Editor of Chess Notes shows a range of little-known cases where the public record has been mutilated through, in particular, the expurgation of masters’ names for political reasons. A look back to some dark days.

Fabulous fighting chess at the Australian Open

1/21/2013 – The 2nd of January of each year is when the Australian Chess Open begins – in alternate years it’s the closed championship. This year the title was won by the ninth seed FM Bobby Cheng and is starting to be known as the Cheng Express. But it was an amazing last-round win by WGM Sukandar Irine Kharisma over the top seed GM Igor Khenkin that caught our eye.

Computer Chess – the movie

1/21/2013 – In 1980 there was a famous computer chess world championship in Linz, Austria. Thirty years later the American film director Andrew Bujalski has made a film on the subject and captured the atmosphere of the pioneering days of AI with eerily realistic shots. "This film is intelligent to its core, testing its limitations with brave camera work and meta-narrative," writes one reviewer. Take a look.