London Rd7: Gelfand leads, Mamedyarov a half point behind

9/29/2012 – After the sixth round we still had one leader: Boris Gelfand, with 4/6, chased by a pack of four players (Grischuk, Topalov, Mamedyarov and Leko) with 3.5/6. Today the Israeli GM scored his third win in this tournament, with no losses, and with it has displayed a 2900+ performance. One player is half a point behind him: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who won a nice game against Nakamura.

Ankara R11: Humpy wins Women's Grand Prix

9/29/2012 – The Indian GM and women's world championship challenger won her final round game comfortably, but had to wait for the final outcome of the game of her main rival Anna Muzychuk. The Slovenian GM missed a good chance for an advantage and game was drawn. Humpy Koneru thus won the GP and places second in the overall Grand Prix series. Express report with games and results.

São Paulo Rd4 – Fabiano Caruana storms to 3.5/4

9/29/2012 – The round saw Fabiano Caruana extend his lead even further with an even more incredible 3.5/4 and a lofty 2785 Elo on the Live Ratings lists. Karjakin was unable to get anything against Anand, while most dramatic game of the day, was Carlsen against Aronian, in which Magnus committed an atrocious blunder that Levon missed. Albert Silver brings the report with numerous pictures.

London Rd8: Gelfand leads, Nakamura loses three in a row

9/29/2012 – “So far so good,” said the tournament leader Boris Gelfand when leaving the playing venue yesterday evening. Today he came close to increasing his half-point lead over the field, but an inaccurate move allowed his opponent Anish Giri to escape with a draw. Down in the dumps is Hikaru Nakamura, who lost his third game in a row and now is on minus three. Round eight report.

London Rd6: Gelfand leads, four players follow

9/28/2012 – Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria both won their games to climb into the follow-up slot of 3.5/6 points, half a point behind the leader Boris Gelfand of Israel. Top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura lost his second game in this event, this time to Chinese GM Wang Hao. This game is analysed in today's round six report.

Ankara R10: Humpy wins and catches Muzychuk

9/28/2012 – One round to go, and the question is who will it be? Who will win second place in the current cycle of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix and possibly get a shot at challenging the world champion in 2013. India's top female GM Humpy Koneru caught the leader Anna Muzychuk in the tenth round and the last game will have to decide. The final round start on Friday at 11:00 a.m. local time.

Aronian-Karjakin reloaded

9/28/2012 – A spectacular variation from the first round of the Final Masters in São Paulo. White (to play) is a rook up, but Black threatens to demask his queen-bishop battery. Which evaluation holds true?
A) White checkmates by force;
B) there will be a perpetual check;
C) Black's king escapes, whereupon the clearing of the long diagonal decides for him.
ChessBase Magazine/October, larger diagram and solution.

Geoffrey Borg replies to Zhdanov on the FIDE Women Grand Prix

9/28/2012 – The call by Peter Zhdanov for a "fair player selection process" in the Grand Prix did not meet with universal aclaim. In fact most readers disagreed with the notion that the cycle could or needed to be run on purely strength-based criteria. "While we thank Mr Zhdanov for his article," writes FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg, "some deeper research and objectivity would have been appreciated." Resounding reply

Ankara R09: Muzychuk beats Humpy, takes sole lead

9/27/2012 – After rounds seven and eight India's top female player, Humpy Koneru, was in the sole lead. She was followed, half a point behind, by the tournament's top seed Anna Muzychuk, who in round nine turned tables by scoring a stunning black-piece win against Humpy. Once again there were four decisive games and two hard-fought draws, all of which you can replay with GM commentary.

São Paulo Rd3 – Enthralling draws on all boards

9/27/2012 – It might sound like an attempt at irony, but despite three peaceful results, the games were anything but. Aronian found himself in trouble against Paco in a volcanic position, but somehow no win could be found. Caruana had the best chances to score but could not convert against Anand, and Carlsen pressured Karjakin to no avail. Report with games and many pictures by Albert Silver.

FIDE Grand Prix: A call for a fair player selection process

9/27/2012 – How are the participants of the FIDE Grand Prix chosen? Why are some top players not invited, while some of their less distinguished colleagues are taking part? Is there anything we can do about it? Peter Zhdanov reflects on the topic and pays special attention to women’s chess, which is relatively neglected compared to that of their male counterparts. What do you think?

Basketball with the São Paulo players

9/26/2012 – In the van on the way back from the simul, Levon Aronian was twisting around, asking each and every player, Carlsen, Karjakin, Paco: "Are you in? And you? And you?". When asked what was up, Levon replied, "We're organizing a basketball game this afternoon." Chess players organizing a basketball game? Albert Silver recorded the moment, and brings this fun pictorial.

London Rd5: All games drawn, Gelfand continues to lead

9/26/2012 – The longest draw was Dominguez-Nakamura, 90 moves, with the Cuban GM gaining a decisive advantage but failing to bag the point with a nice combination. The shortest game lasted just 26 moves. Of the 30 games played so far 24 were drawn (= 80%), White won four games (13.3%) and Black two (6.7%). Boris Gelfand leads with a 2893 performance. Round five report with GM analysis.

São Paulo Rd2 – Caruana crushes Karjakin, Carlsen beats Paco

9/26/2012 – The second round of São Paulo was no less exciting than the first, with drama and action. The first game to end was Anand-Aronian in a quiet draw, but this was merely the eye of the hurricane. After a slip in the opening by Karjakin, Caruana sacced two exchanges to win, and took the lead, while Carlsen beat Vallejo in a study-like endgame. Games, pictures and report by Albert Silver.

London Rd4: Gelfand, Grischuk win, Gelfand leads

9/25/2012 – Alexander Grischuk won a fine game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, one that both our GM commentators, Alejandro Ramirez and Daniel King, have chosen to show us as the game of the day. The other really interesting game was Boris Gelfand vs Wang Hao. Just when the Chinese GM seemed to have saved a tough rook ending he blundered into a mate in one. It was all captured on video!

São Paulo Rd1 – Aronian wins, Carlsen loses

9/25/2012 – The São Paulo stage of the Grand Slam Masters just started, with a dream lineup: Carlsen, Aronian, Anand, Karjakin, Caruana, and Vallejo-Pons. The very first round saw drama strike after Aronian swiftly beat Karjakin with old preparation he had stored, while Carlsen tried his utmost to beat Caruana, and just as he could, blundered and lost. Large illustrated report by Albert Silver.

Ankara R08: all games drawn, but with plenty of fight

9/25/2012 – Round eighth of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix was deceptively peaceful – all games ended in draws, but they were anything but boring! In fact, if as many of our readers have discovered that the commentary by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko is virtually a free high-powered lesson in chess strategy and tactics. And no-one should miss IM Elisabeth Paehtz's live cappuccino commentary on Playchess.

Ankara R07: Humpy wins and leads the Grand Prix

9/24/2012 – Humpy Koneru tricked Ju Wenjun with a clever move order to win her round seven game. The India GM is now in the lead with a superb plus five score and a 2800+ performance. Anna Muzychuk is the only serious challenger, half a point behind. Just 38% of the games have so far been drawn, with White and Black each winning 31%. Round seven report with analysis by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko.

Ankara R06: Muzychuk, Humpy win, lead the Grand Prix

9/23/2012 – All the games – every single one of them – produced a decisive result in this round. Humpy Koneru defeated co-leader Ruan Lufei with the black pieces, and top seed Anna Muzychuk scored a win against Turkish WGM Betul Yildiz. The two GMs are now in the sole lead and with 5.0/6 a full point ahead of three Chinese players, all at 4.0/5. Full analysis by GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko

São Paulo Opening Ceremony and simul

9/23/2012 – The opening ceremony to inaugurate the São Paulo stage of the Grand Slam Masters took place today, also to be held in Bilbao for the second half. It also settled the drawing of lots and the player pairings. On the day before, the players went to the CEU in Jaguaré where they played part of a simul, but also met fans who were excited to meet the great champions. Pictorial by Albert Silver.

London Rd3: Mamyedyarov beats Giri in spectacular miniature

9/23/2012 – The round was one more marked by near misses than big wins. Topalov neutralized a spectacular opening sacrifice uncorked by Kasimdzhanov, while Grischuk built a winning position against Wang Hao, only to miss the money shot. Nakamura also narrowly missed Leko, but the game of the day was Mamedyarov's impressive miniature against Giri. Full video reports plus GM analysis.

FIDE Grand Prix London R1: Gelfand beats Nakamura with black

9/22/2012 – All of the black players can leave satisfied today. Some of them held easy draws, while most of them were pushing for a win! Only through cleverness and resourcefulness were the white players able to hold to most of those half points. Nakamura, however, was not so lucky against Gelfand. Illustrated report with summary and game of the day analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

London Rd2: Leko beats Ivanchuk, Nakamura bounces right back

9/22/2012 – The games for the most part continue to be very exciting. Leko shows Hungarian precision and positional mastery, while Nakamura punishes his opponent with sheer willpower and tenacity. Gelfand and Giri were easily neutralized by Topalov and Wang Hao respectively, and although Dominguez also drew against Grischuk it was not exactly easy. Annotated report by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Ankara R05: Muzychuk wins, joins Humpy and Ruan Lufei

9/21/2012 – Top seed Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia defeated the luckless Polish GM Monika Socko – just one draw so far in this event – to move to the top slot, where India's Humpy Koneru and Chinese WGM Ruan Lufei were holding residence. All three are on a plus three score. Tomorrow Ruan Lufei faces Humpy and Muzychuk plays tenth seed Betul Yildiz. Round five report with GM analysis.