Sensation: Hou Yifan beats Shirov, leads alone with 7.5/9

2/2/2012 – Seventeen-year-old Women's World Champion Hou Yifan is simply unstoppable. In the penultimate round of the 2012 Gibraltar Chess Festival she outplayed Super-GM Alexei Shirov with black. Yifan is now in the sole lead and and her tournament performance currently stands, as the tournament bulletin puts it, "at a colossal 2892". Watch the final games on Thursday at 11 a.m.

Aronian to FIDE: I cannot play in Azerbaijan

2/2/2012 – The first two bids to stage the next Candidates Tournament for the World Championship received by FIDE are from Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. But one of the two top candidates, Levon Aronian of Armenia, warns that he will not be able to accept the latter, owing to the long-standing tension between the two countries. We received this open letter from the Armenian Chess Federation.

A talk with legendary Lajos Portisch – Part II

2/2/2012 – In this second part of a fascinating talk with Lajos Portisch, one of the dominating players in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, you will read about his impressions of Bobby Fischer, the study preferences of Petrosian, and his overall disdain for using chess engines. Unhappy with the focus on openings, he also proposes a greater focus on endgames. Food for thought.

A talk with legendary Lajos Portisch – Part I

2/1/2012 – Lajos Portisch is one of the greatest Hungarian players of all time, and was third in the world at his height. He recently agreed to speak with Albert Silver and gave his first serious interview in English in over 20 years. In it he regaled us with stories ranging from his start in chess ate age twelve, to meetings with the great players, and even his many secret meetings with Bobby Fischer!

Hou Yifan marches on, catches Adams in first place

2/1/2012 – While much of Europe is in the clutch of blizzards and freezing temperatures the players in Gibraltar are frolicking on the beach in short sleeved T-shirts. Meanwhile women's world champion Hou Yifan, 17, is sweeping GMs under the carpet. With an eighth-round win over Le Quang Liem she has caught Michael Adams and stands to gain a whopping 26 points on the next FIDE list.

Hou Yifan beats Judit Polgar in an historic encounter

1/31/2012 – They had never met before, over the chessboard. In round seven of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festiva the strongest female player of all time, Hungarian GM Judit Polgar, 35, rated 2710, had black against the current Women's World Champion Hou Yifan of China, 17 years old and rated 2605. In a tense struggle the younger lady prevailed. Commentary by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Turkish Championships start in Antalya

1/31/2012 – The Turkish Chess Championships have begun in Kemer, Antalya. It is a ten round Swiss and has attracted over 300 players – including four GMs, six IMs and six FMs. Is Bank and Arzum are the sponsors of the events, providing over €12.500 in both the men's and women's sections. GM Dragan Solak is among the leaders with a perfect 5/5 score. Report by WGM Anatasiya Karlovich.

Boris Spassky: a chess legend turns seventy-five

1/30/2012 – He was born on January 30, 1937 in Leningrad, learnt the moves at five and was one of the great child prodigies in chess. Boris Spassky went on to win multiple USSR championships and qualify for Candidates and World Championship matches. In 1969 he beat Petrosian to become the tenth chess world champion. Combatting illness Spassky is still in good spirits and has interesting plans.

Wijk aan Zee Rd13: Aronian is sole winner!

1/30/2012 – It was a deserving finish to a great tournament by Levon Aronian. He takes sole first and his seven wins is the highest since Kasparov in 1999. Carlsen tried hard to crack Van Wely to no avail and shared second with Radjabov. Joining them is Fabiano Caruana who beat Gelfand in the last round. Pentala Harikrishna won Group B, and Maxim Turov took Group C. Illustrated report with videos.

Efstratios Grivas: Endgame Magic

1/30/2012 – The Greek grandmaster is a highly experienced chess trainer and chess author. He has participated in the ChessBase sponsored program of training sessions for talented young players. In addition he has recorded a number of training DVDs, the latest of which deals with the endgame. In addition to a description of this product we bring you a valuable lesson in an important ending.

Gender differences in chess – feedback and a new theory

1/30/2012 – We recently told you about a report on the gender differences in chess – why it is that there is just one woman in the top 100 players in the world, and just 2.2 percent in the top 1000, according to the FIDE rating list. Naturally we received a large number of more or less adamant opinions from our readers, which we now share with you, together with a pet idea of our own.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (77)

1/29/2012 – Correspondents often send the Editor of Chess Notes forgotten brilliancies published in old newspaper columns, and here he shows half a dozen such games. They include queen sacrifices and some moves which look like misprints, and they range from a lightning skirmish to a complex battle between Nimzowitsch and Marshall. Enjoy these entertaining games.

Wijk aan Zee Rd12: Aronian beats Gelfand and secures tie for first

1/28/2012 – It was a game full of high emotions, as Levon Aronian described his game with Boris Gelfand in which both desperately wanted the win, the Armenian had the last word and secured a tie for first. With no tiebreak, he can theoretically still end up sharing first place with Radjabov and Carlsen, but only if he loses. Groups B and C are also undecided. Illustrated report.

Kramnik and Aronian to play six-game match

1/28/2012 – Vladimir Kramnik announced today that he had just signed a contract for a six-game match in classical chess against Levon Aronian, to take place at the end of April. Though a ‘friendly’ match, it is also a serious one, aimed to help both prepare for the upcoming Candidates tournament. This is also the first time in history in which two players rated 2800 will play a classical match. Breaking news!

Gibraltar Chess Festival: Hou Yifan leads with a 2900 performance

1/28/2012 – After four rounds of the tenth Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival and a lot of exciting chess there are eleven players in the lead with 3.5/4 points. They do not include the top two seeds, but instead a 17-year-old girl from China, who appears to be in top form. It is, you might have guessed, Women’s World Chess Champion Hou Yifan. You can follow the event in hours and hours of video reports.

Ari Ziegler: Modern Benoni for Advanced Players

1/27/2012 – The Modern Benoni is perhaps the most dynamic approach to meeting 1.d4 without sacrificing a pawn. International Master Ari Ziegler has produced a new Fritztrainer DVD that will help you build a fighting repertoire against all white systems in this opening. Ziegler provides many surprisingly simple solutions in many lines. The target audience is club players with a rating of 1500-2400. Get it now.

David Friedgood: More on Novotnys

1/27/2012 – We continue with our discussion of the Novotny theme in chess problems, where a white unit plays onto the intersection square of, typically, a black rook and bishop, causing a double interference. Dr Milan Vukcevich was an OTB IM and a GM of Chess Composition. He explored this theme with many superb creations and our selections in this article are all by him.

Way out?

1/27/2012 – Playing 53.e5-e6 (diagram) White has deprived the bishop d5 of its protection and more or less forced it to strike on g2.
This (53...Bxg2) leads to victory for ...
A) ... Black;
B) ... White;
C) ... neither nor (equality).

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Wijk aan Zee Rd11: Carlsen plays like Tal to beat Topalov

1/27/2012 – Six wins in seven games in both groups A and B, but the highlight was Carlsen's game against Topalov in which he went for broke with a Tal-like attack, and turned a lead position into gold. Leader Aronian lost to Navara but so did Ivanchuk, after committing suicide against Gelfand. Radjabov beat Gashimov and joins Carlsen tied for second. Illustrated report with annotations by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

New FIDE Chess in Schools initiative

1/26/2012 – "Let us help you to build your federation and your chess in schools programme," says the press release. "Our objective is to be able to generate more income than you pay to FIDE – much more." This reversal of flow of funds is admittedly something new for FIDE. The income is expected to be generated by Premium Membership and the goal is one billion chess players on the planet.

CBM training: Endgames from Tata Steel

1/26/2012 – Another installment of instructive endings, picked out by our resident endgame expert GM Karsten Müller from the games that are being played in Wijk aan Zee: Ivanchuk-Giri, Nyzhnyk-Harikrishna and Ernst-Potkin. His popular ChessBase Magazin section will carry plenty more, but here for now are three current and topical examples. Learn and enjoy.

Tenth Gibraltar Chess Festival under way

1/25/2012 – It began as a small event ten years ago, but its popularity grew steadily, and today it has become an internationally popular chess festival which attracts hundreds of player, many with top rankings. This year there are over fifty GMs, eleven of them rated above 2700 Elo. At the opening there was some special news of philatelists. In round one the top seeds all won their games.

Football legend Maradona promotes chess in the UAE

1/25/2012 – Diego Armando Maradona is arguably the greatest football player of all time. He played in four World Cups, and captained the Argentine team that won the title in 1986. Maradona has always been interested in chess, and was glad to be part of a remarkable Chess & Society campaign that is being staged in the United Arab Emirates. Big pictorial report by Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh.

Wijk aan Zee Rd10: Aronian plays masterpiece against Giri

1/25/2012 – Four wins for four Blacks, assuredly newsworthy, but the eye-catcher was Levon Aronian's win against Anish Giri, in which he played a superb exchange sacrifice for longterm pressure, and finished it off with a fantastic combination. Caruana bounced back with a win over Topalov, Kamsky beat Karjakin, and Ivanchuk is now sole second after beating Navara. Report with video analysis by Aronian.