Monster piece

12/16/2011 – Relying on his gigantic bishop on d5, Black here went for 30...Rxf2 31.Qxf2 Qb8 to pin down the white rook on the diagonal to f4. This ...

A)... wins on the spot;
B)... turns a superior position into a balanced one;
C)... hands the advantage over to White.

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Now it's official: Kasparov no longer training Nakamura

12/16/2011 – In a carefully orchestrated scoop the Dutch magazine New in Chess broke the news on November 1st: Garry Kasparov, who famously trained Magnus Carlsen, was now working with US GM Hikaru Nakamura. Now, just a month and a half later, it is official: the two will not be working together any longer. This comes after Nakamura's second-biggest career win in London.

Master Moves #18

12/15/2011 – All the deepest plans or endgame technique are useless if you fall victim to a shot that leaves you in a lost position. Likewise, sometimes that superior play will only offer a single window of opportunity to deliver that final blow, so it is vital to be ready for it when it does. All the shots come from the Chinese Chess League A and the Schach Bundesliga. Take the tactics test!

Mega Database 2012 – Bigger and better

12/15/2011 – It is that time of year when... the newest Mega Database is released, and it is bigger than ever. Not only does it now have over 5.1 million games, of which 66,000 are commented, but our work at improving the core database is a non-stop process, and includes improved headers, names, as well as rare games uncovered during the year. For this limousine of databases, here is an illustrated tour.

CBM training: Vancura's Draw, a duel in the mine field

12/14/2011 – The London Chess Classic is over, so it's back to work and training for us. In his popular ChessBase Magazine section our resident endgame expert GM Karsten Müller presents us with three positions from recent games, demonstrating how important it is to know certain theoretical positions and motifs. Following his instructions is one quick way of improving your practical playing strength.

Kasparov moves for scholastic chess in Turkey

12/14/2011 – "We would like to think of chess not as a game but as a special learning tool that improves results. We focus on the word ‘education’ and not the word ‘chess’." That is the path taken in the heavily funded Fatih Project, which is aimed at realization of computer techology supported education in Turkey. Kasparov met with high-ranking officials to discuss the project and his involvement in it.

Chess Training: Kasimdzhanov's King's Indian

12/14/2011 – "If you play or are considering playing the King's Indian," writes Steven Dowd at the Chess Cafe, "this DVD will be a big boon to your understanding. And as it is idea-based, many of the ideas here apply well to openings such as the Pirc and Modern as well. Don't pass up the opportunity to learn some complicated ideas about chess from a world champion! Don't miss it.

London R9: Vlad All Over

12/13/2011 – If you ever need someone to save your life by getting a draw with the white pieces, Vladimir Kramnik would be most people’s first choice. He was solidity personified against Levon Aronian, rapidly liquidating to a level bishop ending in the final round of the London Chess Classic. That gave him the point he needed to take the trophy. Final annotated report by John Saunders.

Ilya Levitov: A million ideas to market chess

12/13/2011 – Ilya Levitov is the Head of the Management Board of the Russian Chess Federation, and more recently a vice-president of FIDE. Recently, chess in Russia has been developing at a frantic rate, and among the Federation's sponsors we now see companies dealing with gas, diamonds, finance, etc. Has the new leadership created an innovative system to attract sponsors? A must-read interview.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (74)

12/12/2011 – Chess can be an exceptionally fast or slow game. Here, the Editor of Chess Notes examines some cases where an inordinate amount of time was consumed over a single move, sometimes even in the opening. Not that the evidence is always clear. As so often in chess lore, the published accounts may contain contradictions, misunderstandings and errors. More investigative work ...

London R8: Vlad's Anglocide

12/12/2011 – It was a dramatic round with two of the leaders, Kramnik and McShane, facing each other, while fellow leader Carlsen had to contend with Anand. Though he made a go for it, Carlsen was unable to do better than a draw, while McShane tried hard to force things in his favour, which turned out to be a mistake as Kramnik neutralized all attempts to confuse the issue.

Karthikayan Murali – World U12 champion – In his own words

12/12/2011 – It isn't every day that one receives a report by a young 12-year-old player, much less one who is already making waves as he is. Karthikayan recently compounded his youth tournament successes in India by winning the under-12 division at the World Youth Championships, and has just achieved a 2336 performance at the London FIDE Open. Here are his words and pictures.

London Classic Rd9: Kramnik wins! Nakamura is second, and Carlsen third

12/12/2011 – Although it was almost certain that Kramnik would win the title, needing only to draw with Aronian, which he did, pundits expected Carlsen to overcome Short and take second. Life had its own plans, as did Nakamura, since Carlsen could not break the Englishman, while the American shocked Adams with a King's Gambit, and won in a volatile position to take clear second. Report and postgame videos.

London R7: Chess is a Cruel Game

12/11/2011 – “For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.” Chess is a cruel game. Once you’ve been identified as off-form or otherwise not up to par, you can expect no mercy as your opponents target you. The tally of decisive games soared to 15 out of 28 as the three tail-enders were put to the sword once more. John Saunders reports.

SportAccord World Mind Games – Wang Hao and Kosteniuk and more

12/11/2011 – The SportAccord World Mind Games is underway in Beijing, and is an agglomerate of popular intellectual games such as chess, go, bridge, draughts (10x10 checkers), and xiang-qi, that aims to popularize these activities, and of course teach them to all-comers, notably children. In the Rapid event, Wang Hao and Kosteniuk took the top honors. Illustrated report with video highlights.

London Classic Rd8: Kramnik beats McShane for sole lead

12/11/2011 – It was a dramatic round with two of the leaders, Kramnik and McShane, facing each other, while fellow leader Carlsen had to contend with Anand. Though he made a go for it, Carlsen was unable to do better than a draw, while McShane tried hard to force things in his favor, which turned out to be a mistake as Kramnik neutralized all attempts to confuse the issue. Report and videos.

London R6: Friday Early Closing

12/10/2011 – After a positive glut of decisive results during the first five rounds, there were four draws in round six, all in under 40 moves. One of them was fairly uneventful but there was some interesting play on offer in the other three, especially with bye player Magnus Carlsen providing insightful commentary. Hikaru Nakamura remains in the lead, but three players have the chance to leapfrog over him on Saturday.

London Classic Rd7: Carlsen, Kramnik, and McShane leap into the lead

12/10/2011 – Things settled back into their normal rhythm as once more three of the four games ended in wins, with Anand-Aronian being the only uneventful draw. Carlsen won after Adams made a mistake, while Short played a King's Gambit against McShane that backfired. Kramnik overpowered Howell and also won. Here is the postgame commentary, and Nakamura discusses his work with Kasparov.

Analyzing games with Let's Check

12/9/2011 – After demonstrating how Let's Check users contribute to the LiveBook for all the moves of a top game being broadcast, this brings to light another aspect of the Let's Check function: its use for game analysis. Let's Check can not only be used to provide comprehensive analysis of recent games, but you can even request others to analyze your games.

London Classic R6: All games drawn after hard fights

12/9/2011 – Normally, reporting all four games were drawn would be disappointing, but after so many decisive games it is more of a sanity check. After two losses, Adams drew against Aronian, while Short and Howell also drew quietly. Anand and Kramnik had a fascinating struggle, and McShane missed some chances against Nakamura. Postgame videos and Carlsen answers on the World Championship.

London R5: Nakamura shines as England goes down in flames

12/8/2011 – Hikaru Nakamura’s game plan seemed to be to aim for steady pressure, allowing David Howell’s habitual time trouble to take its toll. Nigel Short was doing reasonably well against Vishy Anand until he slipped into time trouble and played "a move of criminal stupidity," (Nigel after the game). Mickey Adams succumbed to his third straight defeat against Vlad Kramnik. Commentary by John Saunders.

Beijing wins Chinese Chess League A

12/8/2011 – It is easily the longest top-level chess league of the year, taking place over five cities, and 18 rounds, starting in April and ending in December. In a day and age where the trend is fewer and faster, it is refreshing to see this old-fashioned, protracted competition give such a tribute to the game. Fifth seed Beijing emerged victorious ahead of Shanghai and eight other teams. Illustrated report.

Breathtaking: astronomical workshop at the London Chess Classic

12/8/2011 – Free day at Olympia in Kensington, but packed full of activities, such as a talk on ChessBase and Fritz 13, and a screening of the new Bobby Fischer film. But the highlight was a lecture delivered by astronomer Dr Christian Sasse together with GMs Vishy Anand and John Nunn, who showed the enthralled spectators how they capture images of distant galaxies using remote telescopes.

London Classic R5: Nakamura takes sole lead

12/8/2011 – Will wonders never cease? We report on ultra-combative rounds, with three out of four games ending in wins, but we keep expecting the streak to end. It doesn't. Round five was a dark day for the Brits as they all lost, except McShane, who had a bye. Anand ended his drought after Short collapsed before the time control. Nakamura took sole lead after beating Howell. Postgame commentary.