Online-Chess tournament between Cologne and Istanbul

8/17/2012 – In the German city of Cologne there is a chess club that was founded, twelve years ago, by players hailing from Turkey. Today the Satranç Club 2000 has members from different countries. Recently they challenged a club from the twinned city Istanbul to an Internet match on ten boards. This is easy to arrange on the Playchess server, and it was hugely enjoyed by everyone involved.

Pawn power vs. d-file

8/17/2012 – The white central advance d4-d5 has been countered by Black with 28...Nf3+ (diagram). How would you assess the position after that? White ... 

A) ... wins with 29.Bxf3 Qxf3 30.dxe6
B) ... wins with 29.Kh1 Nxe1 30.dxe6
C) ... must force move repetition

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Breaking news: Kasparov arrested and beaten at Pussy Riot trial

8/17/2012 – The former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov was beaten and arrested outside the Moscow court house where the Pussy Riot trial is taking place. Kasparov was not protesting, but simply trying to attend the reading of the verdict – two years' prison for three young women who staged a church protest in February. He was cornered and arrested. Latest: Kasparov has now been released.

World Junior Championship: GM Alex Ipatov is the winner

8/16/2012 – The World Junior Championships took place, without undue public attention, in Athens 2nd-16th August 2012. For much of the final stretch two players were in the lead: Richard Rapport (2605) and Alexander Ipatov (2577). The latter, who is from Ukraine but represents Turkey, won in the end on tiebreak. His trainer, GM Efstratios Grivas, sent us annotated games for our big pictorial report.

First ACO World Chess Championship in Dubai

8/16/2012 – 72 players from 25 countries, ages ranging from eight to 79, seven rating groups, nine games, ten days in a five-star luxury beach hotel, many new friendships as well as a gala dinner in the most beautiful ballroom of the world in the famous seven-star hotel Burj-Al-Arab – the first World Amateur Chess Championship was undoubtedly a great success, as our big pictorial report shows.

Chess Day celebrated in Ukraine

8/15/2012 – As a part of the festivities surrounding the recently held Ukrainian Championship, duly won by Anton Korobov, the opening day of the championship was preceded by an official declaration in Ukraine of Chess Day, celebrated on July 20th. In the morning simuls were held in public parks by the players, and in the evening a reception was held. Pictures by Anna Korol and Nikolai Gavljuk.

Svetozar Gligoric 1923-2012

8/15/2012 – He was one of the great players of the 20th century, record national champion of Yugoslavia, friend of Bobby Fischer, theoretician, musician, author and gentleman. He was also a close personal friend, and we will provide more material on his career in the coming weeks and months. Svetozar Gligorić died in Belgrade on August 14 at the age of 89. The chess world will miss this great human being.

Cheparinov wins the Politiken Cup 2012

8/14/2012 – Actually three players tied for first, with 8.0/10 points apiece, but the Bulgarian GM took the title on tiebreak points. The first thirteen places are all occupied by GMs (including legend Jan Timman). The first female is WGM Anna Rudolf in 29th place – amongst 292 participants in the tournament. We bring you an illustrated report with portraits of the most successful players.

Problem Chess Solutions – Schiffman Theme Problems

8/14/2012 – In his previous article our problem expert David Friedgood looked at the major thematic ideas that involve pins – usually in the form of pieces being pinned against the king of the same colour. In the first instalments he dealt with with black pieces being pinned, explaining the theme with two examples and giving us two problems to solve. Did you succeed?

2012 Russian – 6-way tiebreaker won by Andreikin; Pogonina wins

8/14/2012 – It was the most apathetic Russian men's championship ever. The final draw rate for the championship was in excess of 75%. The event ended with six of the ten players in a tie for first. As a result, the next day a rapid round-robin tiebreaker with the six 'winners' was won by Dmitry Andreikin. The Women championship was won with gusto by Natalia Pogonina. Final report.

Olivier Breisacher has left us...

8/14/2012 – That is the headline of an obituary in his home newspaper, Tribune de Genève. The news that shocked the chess world was that Olivier Breisacher, 44, who had just finished running the 2012 Biel Chess Festival, had suffered a swimming accident during a vacation in Majorca. He was flown to the University Hospital in Geneva, but his life could not be saved. Eulogy by Pascal Simon.

CBM #149: 'Top quality at a very reasonable price'

8/14/2012 – This issue of our electronic magazine is devoted – obviously – to the World Chess Championship between Anand and Gelfand in Moscow. Anand's second, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, has annotated all the games. But "despite the amount of disc space used to cover it, the standard magazine features are in place too," writes Sean Marsh in his Marsh Towers review.

Anton Korobov is 2012 Ukrainian champion

8/13/2012 – One need only look at the past Olympiads to appreciate what a powerhouse Ukraine is in chess. The event included ample television coverage, and a Facebook page for the event where galleries of photographs were posted everyday. The players justified this attention by fighting aggressive chess, and the surprise winner was Anton Korobov, a point ahead of the rest. A pictorial report.

Kamsky wins First Annual Washington International

8/13/2012 – It was not a foregone conclusion: facing the likes of GMs Onischuk, Gareev, Shabalov, Azarov, Gelashvili and Friedel – who ended up in places 2-7 – Gata Kamsky showed his class by taking first place and not having to share the very nice US $5,000 prize with anyone. Michael Regan sent us an extensive illustrated report with many replayable games and nicely captioned pictures of the players.

The MacEnulty Chess Foundation – a revelation in South Africa

8/13/2012 – "To some, I may be a heavenly messenger," writes chess coach Jerald Times, "visiting the vortex of Dante’s Inferno with good news from the outside. The occupants know on an intuitive level that I have come as friend and ally to guide them on their path to escape the encircling Hell." Jerald works for a chess foundation that is doing important work in South Africa and elsewhere. You can help.

Activate the rook, the race, the rolling pawns, Gunina's great king

8/12/2012 – Those are the themes of today's endgame lessons, brought to you by ChessBase Magazine columnist GM Karsten Müller. They are all taken from the recent Russia vs China Match in Saint Petersburg, one from the men's section and three from the women's. It's Elo-boosting material for our readers to study over the weekend – an opportunity to improve your practical tournament results.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (88)

8/12/2012 – ‘Unspecific accusations of dishonesty concerning chess players will result in an international news story. Specific proof of dishonesty concerning chess writers will result in international silence.’ The Editor of Chess Notes made that observation in an article here last year. Now, he ponders why so many people keep quiet even when the facts are clear-cut in some truly shocking cases.

Feedback: Badminton vs grandmaster draws in chess

8/11/2012 – Yesterday Kung-Ming Tiong drew a comparison between no-contest badminton matches at the Olympics in London, which led to the disqualification of eight players, and short, uncontested draws in grandmaster tournament. Our readers reacted vigorously, mainly pointing to the rather obvious fact that there are no draws in badminton. But many have other valid objections.

Shirov - Laznicka match ends 4-2

8/10/2012 – It was a friendly match designed to delight the spectators and chess fans, while promoting the sponsor, but the match between Alexei Shirov and Viktor Laznicka was a model of organization on all levels. It not only had a fine venue, live broadcast, a website with excellent labeled pictures, and GM commentary, but had a number of touches to make it unique. See more in this lovely pictorial.

Badminton’s “Grandmaster Draw” vs Chess

8/10/2012 – It happened in the Olympics: four sets of badminton women's doubles players ditched their ties by giving a "not trying to win" performance. This earned the ire of spectators, and officials cautioned the players several times for the farcical display. In the end they were disqualified. Kung-Ming Tiong of the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus compares this to the situation in chess.

Nordic edge walking

8/10/2012 – White has just implanted his knight into the enemy king's position with 51.Ng4-f6 (diagram). Which move gives Black the advantage now?

A) 51...Qa8
B) 51...Qe7
C) 51...Rc4

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Kavalek in Huffington: Chess Winners Win Slowly

8/10/2012 – Chess is a slow game, says GM Lubomir Kavalek. Chess players don't move like the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. They advance to the finish line with a steady, deliberate pace. What the best chess players have in common with Bolt is the enormous will to win. In his Huffington Post column Kavalek extensively annotates an astonishing game by Vladimir Kramnik.

CBM #148: Commended for the serious player

8/9/2012 – This issue of ChessBase Magazine has 13 detailed opening surveys, ranging from the Caro-Kann to the King’s Indian. In addition there are 11 videos, among them an extraordinary presentation by Shirov of the French Winawer 7.Qg4 Qc7 and the Sicilian Rossolimo (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5). "Alexie knows his stuff, having lit fire on both sides of the board!" writes Prof. Nagesh Havanur. Review.

Magnus Carlsen: Am I tired? What a stupid question!

8/9/2012 – In June this year the Norwegian GM won YAST – yet another super tournament. Can one grow tired of all this glory? "I like to win and I want to keep winning," he says in this indepth interview, conducted for the Russian news portal WhyChess by Eugeny Atarov. Magnus describes his feelings during some of the key games and tells us how his life revolves around fame and chess.