World Championship G10 – An offbeat Sicilian is flavor of the day

5/24/2012 – With two whites to go, Anand chose 1.e4 as one means to try and keep his opponent off-balance. Gelfand was ready with his Sicilian, and even Vishy's 3.Bb5, and fairly offbeat 5.b3, were replied to nearly instantly. The queens came off by move eleven after which the position remained equal until their handshake at move 25. Illustrated report with GM analysis and videos.

Asian Nations Cup – China dominates

5/24/2012 – The 2012 Asian Team Championship is underway from May 19 to May 26 in Zaozhuang, Shandong, China. The event brings together many of Asia's top players including Wang Hao (2730), Krishnan Saskiran (2720), Le Quang Liem (2703), and more. In the men's event, China has dominated with a stellar Wang Hao while they won the women's event in a clean sweep. Illustrated report with videos.

WCh 103 years ago

5/24/2012 – The first player is planning 28.Bd3 with the idea 29.exf5 in order to upgrade his light-squared bishop and give his rooks more space again. A move of which black piece counters this manoeuvre?
A) knight e6
B) rook f8
C) pawn g6

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

FIDE Grand Prix 2013 in Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Paris

5/24/2012 – At last! – we hear you exclaim. These big chess events with the finest players in the world, deserve to be held in big Western cities, instead of Chelyabinsk or Tashkent (the venues of the two upcoming 2012 GPs). And, as we are hearing in the grapevine, the prize fund is to be doubled. The names of all eligible players are given in this FIDE press release.

Chess Match: Blondes vs Brunettes in Moscow

5/23/2012 – Eric van Reem is a German Lufthansa employee and chess organiser. He is also a member of Team Anand and the hero of the last World Championship in Sofia, when he arranged a 40-hour transportation for Vishy when an Icelandic volcano paralysed most of Europe. Eric is maintaining a blog on the World Championship, and has thankfully reported pictorially on an important side event.

Video commentary and impressions from Moscow

5/23/2012 – Believe it or not we have more on the World Championship. First our most prolific trainer and commentator GM Daniel King asks whether the 17-move win by Anand in game eight was the shortest in World Championship history (spoiler: it was!). He looks at the second shortest game – from 1886! Then GM Robert Fontaine takes us on a fascinating video tour of the chess-riddled Russian capital. Enjoy.

World Championship G9 – Anand saves a tough game to a draw

5/23/2012 – After an almost embarrassing defeat in round eight, Gelfand regrouped and won a moral victory in round nine. Anand went for the Nimzo-Indian, and Gelfand once more showed an edge with white. Despite clearly having the better chances, he was unable to maneuver to a win, and drew after making Anand suffer until move 49. Full report with pictures, video and GM commentary.

Chesska defends World Champion title in Robot Chess

5/23/2012 – Picture this: two massive industrial robots playing five-minute blitz in a Moscow park, for a world championship title no less. To warm things up Alexander Grischuk risked his life playing a six-game match against the challenger, a robot named KUKA from Germany. He remained uninjured – except for his ego, after a 1.5:4.5 loss. Do not miss the HD video at the end of our report.

New queen, new luck?

5/22/2012 – In view of White's manyfold threats Black's only hope is to promote his passed e-pawn, yet of course this must happen with check. In other words, 43...Rg3+ here leads to ...
A) ... victory for White
B) ... perpetual
C) ... victory for Black

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Impressions of the World Championship in Moscow

5/22/2012 – It's another free day, and after the drama of games seven and eight, time to catch our collective breaths. We have been providing you with a lot of information – games, analysis, videos. Here as a change is a personal view of what it is like to attend such an event. IM Venkatachalam Saravanan, who hails from Anand's home town of Chennai, has sent us a report. Guess who impressed him the most.

Kavalek in Huffington: US Chess Champ Hikaru Nakamura (Part 1)

5/22/2012 – They fought gallantly and when it was over on Saturday afternoon, the horse, I'll Have Another, and the chessplayer, Hikaru Nakamura, 24, were declared winners almost at the same time. Nakamura wanted the title badly. He was rated number seven in the world and it was a matter of prestige for him. GM Lubomir Kavalek annotates some of the key games.

Nakamura and Krush win US Championship

5/21/2012 – It was a dramatic finish to one of the most exciting US Championships in years. Nakamura was the slight favorite, but with two rounds to go, Kamsky had taken the sole lead. Then in round ten, Hikaru pulled out the big guns and beat Kamsky, followed by a win over Seirawan in the final round. Krush beat Zatonskih in a playoff for the Women's title. Final report with video and GM commentary.

World Championship Game seven – pictures and video

5/21/2012 – At last another game with action and excitement – and a 1-0 decision! Many spectators kept their cool, but some didn't. We brought you full analysis by different GMs and IMs in our previous report, and now we add to that with a video report by Europe Echecs and some wonderful pictures provided by the event photographers Anastasiya Karlovich and Alexey Lushenkov. Relax and enjoy.

World Championship G8 – Anand strikes back, wins in 17 moves!

5/21/2012 – What a game, what a fascinating turn of events! World Champion Vishy Anand shockingly lost the seventh game and let Challenger Boris Gelfand take the lead. Today he struck back with a resounding 17-move win that took commentators Peter Leko and Ian Nepomniachtchi and more importantly Gelfand completely by surprise. Express report with tons of GM commentary and videos.

World Championship G7 – Gelfand draws first blood and leads

5/20/2012 – It's the decisive result for which everyone has been clamoring, but it wasn't the big win Anand's fans were hoping for. As noted by Kasparov, the buzzword so far has been "safety", and here it was taken too far, as the passive play by the world champion allowed Gelfand to penetrate with decisive effect for the match's first win. Extensive analysis by GM Gilberto Milos and IM Malcolm Pein.

Kavalek in Huffington: Women in chess – a few tales (Part 2)

5/20/2012 – After WWII Russian ladies had the World Championship title, but in 1962 they were replaced by two Georgian players who dominated women's chess – for nearly thirty years. Then the Chinese took over, their dynasty only briefly interrupted by champions from Hungary, Bulgaria and Russia. In part two of his Huffington Post column GM Lubomir Kavalek retraces history with some exciting games.

ChessBase 25 Composing Tourney Awards – Part five

5/19/2012 – "Congratulations to ChessBase on attracting such high quality entries!" writes problem expert David Friedgood. "The first prize winner is truly amazing, showing a fight of rare equality of brilliance between the protagonists." There were many more laudatory messages from problemists and amateurs alike. Today's studies are from USA, Spain, France, Argentina and Hungary. Final installment.

2012 Polish Extra League

5/19/2012 – Not all chess leagues can sustain the pure caliber of the German Bundesliga, but the Polish Extra League does have a good excuse: they limit teams to only one foreign 'import'. If you thought this might mean each would be jockeying for a 2700, think again as Polonia invested in Anna Muzychuk (2598) to strengthen their lineup. The start brought hard-fought games with several creative efforts.

CBM training: Endgames from the US Championships

5/18/2012 – Gata Kamsky is currently in the sole lead, Hikaru Nakamura is trying to catch him. Our ChessBase Magazin author Dr Karsten Müller has been following the games and extracting the ones with interesting and instructive endgames. His analysis and annotations will help you to improve your technique in this vital section of the game and give your Elo rating a boost.

World Championship G6 – A sixth draw; Kasparov comments

5/18/2012 – It was a sixth straight draw, and though no significant advantage was ever achieved, the chances were Gelfand's, which was in itself both promising and worrisome. Promising as he got a small edge, but worrisome as Anand has held Gelfand so easily with Black so far. Perhaps the highlight was the surprise commentator: Garry Kasparov. Full report with analysis by GM Gilberto Milos.

US Championship – Kamsky takes lead with two rounds to go

5/18/2012 – It was an unexpected turn of events, in which a bit of good fortune was Gata Kamsky's reward for years of hard work. In round nine, tied with Nakamura, Kamsky saw Seirawan walk into some years old preparation that ended the game with a spectacular finish. Nakamura was not so lucky as he toiled for 121 moves against Lenderman before shaking hands. Illustrated report with video summaries.

World Championship G5 – Sveshnikov drawn in 27 moves

5/17/2012 – In the fifth game Anand and Gelfand played 17 moves of theory, after which White deviated from the previous 2009 game and seemed to get a small advantage. However Anand allowed his Israeli challenger to trade down and after ten more moves there was nothing left to play for. Full report with pictures and videos, as well as double analysis by GM Romain Edouard and IM Malcolm Pein.

Sigeman: Caruana wins Sigeman with 2852 performance

5/16/2012 – He is the hottest chess talent – still a junior but number eight in the world. Italian/American GM Fabiano Caruana won his last two games in the Hipp Theater in Malmo, Sweden. His 2852 performance should contribute seven points to his FIDE rating. Hungarian GM Peter Leko celebrated his "comeback" with the second place and a respectable 2792 performance. Big closing report.

Chess and Art in Dnipropetrovsk

5/16/2012 – It is hard to pronounce, but a great place live, study, or go out. And for chess. The industrial metropolis in southern Ukraine has just staged a Week of Chess and Art, initiated by Irina Filatova, the sister of the main sponsor of the World Championship in Moscow. Students of Dnipropetrovsk art schools presented their work on chess at the Historical Museum. WIM Olena Boytsun reports.