Baden Baden R7: Caruana leads as Meier claims first win

2/18/2013 – There was no love lost between the players on Valentine’s Day, with tense fights on all three boards. It was only long after the first time control that Caruana-Anand and Adams-Naiditsch were agreed drawn, leaving Meier and Fridman to uphold the tradition of each round featuring a decisive game. Sure enough, after six hours Georg Meier banked his first win. Round seven report.

Three European Champions at First Saturday

2/18/2013 – ‘First Saturday’ is a very popular training and norm event that has been staged over 300 times over the last 25 years. Players like Caruana, Hou Yifan, Rapport, Radjabov, Nakamura and Carlsen played in them. The participation of three former European Youth Champions made the event particularly interesting this month. IM Miklos Orso reports.

Aeroflot Open 2013: 32 qualifiers and surprises

2/18/2013 – The first stage is over and 32 players passed on to the next phase, though not without a few surprises. Though certainly entertaining, the move to abandon classical chess in favor of rapid chess is not without varied opinions. The sponsor thought the old format "boring" and "miserable", while others already see it as the end of a golden era. Read what some players think.

Baden Baden R6: Naiditsch wins a stunning game

2/18/2013 – “The guy’s on fire – he’s been like this for weeks!” That was World Champion Viswanathan Anand on Arkadij Naiditsch, who today overwhelmed Daniel Fridman with a brilliant sacrificial attack to move into second place at the GRENKE Chess Classic. Elsewhere Georg Meier missed a nice win against Fabiano Caruana, while Vishy and Mickey Adams drew a well-played game. Round six report.

Kasimzhanov: Meet the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2

2/18/2013 – Today’s review is about GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov’s DVD on the Nimzo Indian. In it he offers a repertoire choice for White against the all-famous Nimzo-Indian Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6). The former FIDE World Champion of 2004 shares his knowledge on the classical approach against the Nimzo-Indian by playing 4.Qc2. Link Text

ChessBase Magazine 152 – standing the test of time

2/18/2013 – The highlight of the new CBM is the coverage of the London Chess Classic. Magnus Of particular interest are the 19 games presented with the audio versions of the post-match analysis, featuring the voices of the players themselves. On average, each post-mortem runs for 20+ minutes and they will surely stand the test of time as an important historical document. Marsh Towers review.

Carlsen's Conquests – at 22 he has broken all records

2/13/2013 – In light of his merciless treatment of the field, it seems worth paying yet another visit to Carlsen's recent performance in Wijk aan Zee. He has won the event three times, this year with a 1.5-point margin – only achieved before by Short (in 1986) and once by Kasparov (in 2000). His general achievements are "monstrous", according to Michael von Keitz, who has tracked them in table form.

Chess Problems: Half-pin Blockbusters

2/12/2013 – In his previous articles on the half-pin theme our problem expert David Friedgood looked at a number of aspects of this fertile concept. There are many of other highways and byways of the theme that we could delve into. But David decided to say Auf Wiedersehen to the theme with a foursome of blockbusters, two of which the readers were invited to solve. Here are the the solutions.

Baden Baden R5: Anand makes his move in Baden-Baden

2/12/2013 – The Grenke Chess Classic reached the mid-way point, and tournament underdogs Meier and Fridman had Adams and Caruana on the ropes, while Arkadij Naiditsch had a full-blooded game against Vishy Anand. In the end, however, the aristocrats of world chess drew, while the king upheld the social order with a win that saw him move into outright second place. Round five report.

Chess competitions of age groups 8 –12 in Iran

2/12/2013 – The country has a very old tradition of chess – in fact the game was probably invented by a vizier of Persian extraction. Now-a-days people in Iran are rediscovering the advantages of chess as a means for mental ability, intelligence and memory, and are staging competitions for young players. Like the following U8, U10 ans U12 tournament in the beautiful city of Rasht. WFM Shohreh Bayat reports.

Aeroflot Open 2013 starts as Rapid and Blitz festival

2/12/2013 – The popular Aeroflot Open, which for eleven years has been staged as a classical chess event, has this year become rapid and blitz tournament, taking place from 12 to 17 February 2013 in Moscow. After four rounds there are six players with perfect scores, followed by thirteen who have conceded a single draw. From Friday there is a 32-player knockout followed by the Grand Final. Big illustrated report.

Baden Baden R4: Naiditsch bounces straight back

2/11/2013 – Where would we be without Arkadij Naiditsch? For the third day in a row his game saw a dramatic time scramble and the only decisive result at the GRENKE Chess Classic. This time he beat Georg Meier, while Mickey Adams and Fabiano Caruana played a sharp and hard-fought draw. Anand was agonisingly close to a first win, but an endgame slip allowed Daniel Fridman to escape. Round four report.

ChessBase Magazine Extra 151

2/11/2013 – Although ChessBase Magazine is easily one of ChessBase's signature products, with tons of material and value, it does have one serious drawback: it only comes out once every two months. For the fans who crave a bit more, there is ChessBase Magazine Extra to fill in the off-months. In the latest edition, you will find video analysis on the 1935 World Championship, and more. A review.

Nunn wins 4th Tata Steel Studies Solving Competition

2/11/2013 – He was one of the older competitors, but John Nunn once again showed that his brain is in top shape by winning this tough competition by 43 points out of the maximum of 45, the highest score achieved in recent years (and four points more than his nearest rival). He has written a report for us, with an interesting astronomical image and three sample studies for you to solve.

Baden Baden R3: Bloodshed and violence

2/10/2013 – For the second day in a row Arkadij Naiditsch lit up the stage of the GRENKE Chess Classic, but on this occasion it was his opponent Fabiano Caruana who was the last man standing – after a brutal time scramble. Elsewhere Vishy Anand failed to make headway against Georg Meier and Michael Adams’ long grind brought no dividends against Daniel Fridman. Round three report.

Savchenko clinches 2013 Moscow Open in final round

2/10/2013 – It was not a model game, but a see-saw affair, decided by a blunder in time trouble. But playing with the black pieces Russian GM Boris Savchenko took the full point and the title with 7.5/9 points, half a point ahead of nine colleague GMs with 7.0 each (Nepomniachtchi and Maletin took silver and bronze on tiebreaks). We bring you the final scores, games and analysis of the fateful final game.

Baden Baden: Naiditsch beats Adams

2/9/2013 – It was a roller coaster seven-hour game– and in the end Germany's top GM Arkadij Naiditch held the upper hand to take a full point from British GM Michael Adams. The game overshadowed the sharp contest between Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana, where the young apprentice unleashed some more deep preparation to hold the champion at bay. Round two report.

Andrew Martin: First Steps in Gambits and Sacrifices

2/9/2013 – Sacrificing material successfully is one of the most exciting rewards the game of chess can bestow. To play a truly excellent game brings confidence and a true belief in one's own ability. Sometimes we look at the sacrificial masterpieces of the great players in awe. Could we imagine ourselves playing in that grand manner? On his new DVD Andrew Martin shows us we could. Chess Cafe review.

Major pieces and back ranks

2/8/2013 – Black's king can't move, yet his queen on h4 is a very agile piece. In the diagram position the continuation 37.Re8 Rxb6 38.Rxc8 Qxe1+ 39.Kg2 leads to what?
A) win for White
B) win for Black
C) positional draw

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Ramirez: Attacking with the Benko Gambit

2/8/2013 – The Benkö Gambit offers Black the possibility to combat the stable 1.d4 systems and get into the driver’s seat. Our new DVD trainer is, according to an early purchaser "the best ChessBase video to date. Alejandro Ramirez does an absolutely amazing job, and I actually learned how to better assess the middlegame in general, and not just in relation to this particular opening." Definitely worth looking into.

Kokarev, Ponkratov, Savchenko lead at the 2013 Moscow Open

2/8/2013 – The International Chess Festival Moscow Open 2013 is being held from 31st January to 11th February 2013 at the Russian State Social University in Moscow. In a strong field of national and international GMs, after seven rounds of play it is not the top seed Ian Nepomniachtchi who is in the lead, but three lesser-known Russian GMs. Illustrated report with endgame analysis.

Singapore’s 1st Chess960 and Transfer Chess Championships

2/7/2013 – Over the past weekend, Singapore held these two Championships. While there is a FIDE Laws of Chess appendix for Chess960, there are no universally accepted rules of playing transfer chess (or “bughouse”). Thus, two Singaporean players drafted a set of rules for the Championships and are proposing that it be incorporated as a new appendix in the FIDE laws of chess.

SoulPancake interview with Magnus Carlsen

2/7/2013 – It's a website that explores "big think" subjects – articles, interviews, challenges. The portal was founded by the creatively off-beat actor Rainn Wilson. Recently he spoke to Magnus Carlsen in his "metaphysical van", and we were pleased to see how well the young Norwegian chess genius fielded the questions. The Youtube video is a six-minute investment of your time – don't miss it.

Category 19 Super-GM starts in Baden-Baden with Caruana victory

2/7/2013 – This tournament, with six players and an average rating of 2714, started in the famous German spa city, where in 1870 the world's first really strong chess tournament was held – and where counting draws for the final results made its debut in tournament play (read our report). The current event started with Fabiano Caruana drawing first blood with a win over German GM Georg Meier. Round one report.