Passed pawn duel

11/21/2011 – Facing White's trump on d7, Black had just mobilized his own passed pawn with 26...e4-e3. After the reply 27.Rd1-f1 (diagram) he now can ...

A)... resign;
B)... liquidate into a roughly balanced position;
C)... win on the spot.

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Aeroflot Open – Invitations, regulations, events and prizes

11/21/2011 – The Aeroflot Open Chess Festival, one of the most popular tournaments in the world, will be held in from February 6 to 17, 2012 in a new venue: the Hotel Cosmos, one of the largest in Moscow, located in a beautiful park area 20 travelling minutes from Red Square. The total prize fund is 150,000 Euros, and it includes qualification places for the Dortmund Super Tournament. You can register now.

WWCC R06: Hou Yifan wins, takes two-point lead

11/21/2011 – The sixth game of the Women's World Championship ended in time trouble. The Challenger Humpy Koneru was pressing in a basically equal position, but with time running out for both players it was the 17-year-old champion Hou Yifan who, in spite of a violent stomach-ache the night before, had the better nerves. With four games left she now has a commanding 4-2 lead. Full illustrated report.

CBM training: Principle of one diagonal, the cut-off and the back door

11/20/2011 – As you know by now every issue of ChessBase Magazine has a wonderful endgame section, with practical lessons taken from current tournament play. The trainer is GM Karsten Müller, who also gives us weekly sessions on the news page. You can study Dr Müller's analysis on our JavaScript boards or download the games for later review. Look, learn and enjoy.

Tal Memorial R5 – All games drawn, with firework displays

11/20/2011 – For some time it seemed that the black pieces would again dominate a round. Nepomniatchtchi, Aronian and Carlsen all had a significant edge. However they were all unable to best their opponents. The five draws again do not betray the fireworks that occurred during the round. And speaking of fireworks, the only "short" draw of the round, Karjakin-Svidler, had enough of those to light up a stadium.

WWCC R05: Draw, Hou Yifan remains in the lead

11/20/2011 – The fifth game in the Women's World Championship in Tirana, Albania, ended after four hours and 43 moves in a draw, with the 17-year-old World Champion Hou Yifan, who didn't have a tangible advantage, pressing anyway on the white side of an Open Ruy Lopez. Meanwhile, in an extraordinary feat of investigative journalism we were able to at last solve the mystery of the silver pot.

WWCC R04: Draw, Hou Yifan remains in the lead

11/19/2011 – The reigning world champion from China was pressing hard in this game, but all attempts to gain a two-point lead in the match were thwarted by challenger Koneru Humpy's resilient defence. The match now stands 2½-1½ for the incumbent. In the press conference after the game the players analysed for the journalists using Fritz 13 and a flat screen. You can see what they said in our round four report.

Tal Memorial Rd4 – The one that got away

11/19/2011 – The fourth round was marked by draws on all boards. However, not all draws are equal. To be fair, considering the way the games unfolded, it is quite surprising that there were not a few decisive results. The most distinct game was one that was reminiscent of the classic Botvinnik-Fischer (1962), as Nepomniachtchi escaped from Nakamura in similar fashion. Full report with GM commentary.

Tal Memorial Rd2 – Carlsen beats Gelfand

11/18/2011 – It was a combative round, and once again, Carlsen and Ivanchuk were right there in the mix of it. Ivanchuk played a hard endgame against Nepomniachtchi, but was unable to exploit his extra pawn. Carlsen once more played the most complex game of the round, and eventually beat Gelfand after mindboggling complications. Illustrated report with GM commentary by Alejandro Ramirez.

WWCC R03: Hou Yifan draws first blood

11/18/2011 – Playing with the white pieces, the challenger Koneru Humpy of India got a good position from the opening, but she was not, in her own words, making good moves. The reigning world champion Hou Yifan from China, took heart (and a pawn on a2) and overran her opponent with a precision that belies her age. Hou now leads 2-1 in this ten-game match. Game three commentary by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Meet World Champion Anand every two weeks in Firstpost

11/18/2011 – Network18’s Firstpost.com, India’s first exclusive online news and views website, has launched an online chess championship for its readers. This fortnightly event will see Vishwanathan Anand share some of his real-life chessboard experiences with online participants as a part of ‘Firstpost Battleboard’, which calls for audience participation. Press release.

Tal Memorial Rd3 – A black day for white

11/18/2011 – In a day and age when the advantage of White has been compared by Valery Salov as being greater than being on serve in tennis, it is remarkable that with the very best players in the world, three out of five games ended in a win for Black, and even Carlsen's draw as Black against Kramnik was probably won in the final position. Illustrated report with annotations by GM GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Kavalek in Huffington: Joys of Chess: From Krabbé to Hesse

11/18/2011 – Two books, one new and one a classic, bring us a compilation of chess stories, biographical sketches, games and fragments with references to art and science. One, The Joys of Chess, is by a professor of mathematics, the other, Chess Curiosities, by a writer and cyclist. In this week's Huffington Post column GM Lubomir Kavalek gives us samples from both.

Tal Memorial Rd1 – A feeling of déjà vu

11/16/2011 – It is a historic first with four players rated 2800 participating: Carlsen, Anand, Aronian, and Kramnik, followed by Ivanchuk, Karjakin, Nakamura, Gelfand, Svidler, and Nepomniachtchi. In the first round Kramnik lost to Nepomniachtchi, and while the top seeds failed to impress, Ivanchuk was also first to score, against Svidler. Illustrated report and analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez

Chess for the empowerment of Palestinian women

11/15/2011 – East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Qatanna and Hebron – names that are regularly in the news, but usually not in a good way. “Chess for Leadership and Creativity” is a structured program launched by the Palestinian Chess Federation with support of "Peace and Sport" and FIDE, designed to encourage Palestinian women’s empowerment and develop their leadership skill. Press release.

WWCC R02: Humpy on the attack, Hou Yifan holds

11/15/2011 – After being surprised in the opening, Hou Yifan forced simplifications into a drawish endgame. However, Humpy would have none of that! She pressed hard trying to create something out of nothing, and almost achieved it. However in the end it was impossible to take advantage of her opponent's weak king, and the game ended in another hard fought draw. Updated report with GM analysis.

Germany wins the European Championship

11/14/2011 – Could anything be more dramatic or unexpected? Top seed Russia was never in contention, instead it was other strong teams like Armenia, Bulgaria or Azerbaijan, who each went into the lead. But then tenth seed Germany suddenly started to win, joined the leaders and finished with a clear win on match points. In the women's section it was of course Russia. Updated with games and notes.

European Team Championship – a pictorial retrospect

11/14/2011 – Earlier this week Germany, starting as tenth seed, created a sensation by winning the title, with Azerbaijan and Hungary getting Silver and Bronze. But who were the strongest individual players in the open and women's sections? And who the most photogenic? We return to the ETCC in Porto Carras one more time with statistics and a beautiful pictorial by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich.

Aimen Rizouk: Chess and the Stock Market

11/14/2011 – Now we don't want to drive the world's top GMs from the chess world to the stock exchange, but have you ever considered whether the two areas have anything in common? Whether the "Prudent Man Rule" of economics can learn from the romantic era of chess, or behavioral finance from Bobby Fischer? Here's a grandmaster who has studied the subject and presents us his conclusions.

Uproot treatment

11/14/2011 – In this position the second player got down to work with 32...Nxd3 to conquer the point e4. How would you assess the situation following 33.Qxd3 Rxf2?
Black ...
A)... wins;
B)... finally achieves a better endgame with a plus pawn;
C)... conquers the enemy queen, but White gets too much wood.

Solution, ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram.

Women's World Championship starts in Tirana – first game drawn

11/14/2011 – The match started with Koneru Humpy exerting tremendous pressure on the Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan right from the opening. Hou showed great resilience and patience, as she decided to defend to the point of sacrificing a pawn to reach a defendable endgame. Despite Humpy's persistence, the game was eventually drawn, but not for lack of fighting spirit! Full illustrated report with GM commentary.

FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship starts on Monday

11/13/2011 – The two opponents – Hou Yifan of China and Koneru Humpy of India – represent over a third of humanity. They are playing their match in a country of three million people, one that not too many people have had an opportunity to visit. We undertook the trip to Tirana in Albania and, together with all the details of the upcoming match, bring you pictorial impressions of the venue.

CBM training: Polerio's Eckenspiel, Dominance, Excelsior

11/13/2011 – "Many thanks for the continual presentations of endgames," writes Gene Bate of Kansas City, USA. "I cannot find words to tell you how much I appreciate those news items!" To which we say: keep searching, Gene! But seriously, so many people are writing in the same vein that we know we are doing something right with Karsten Müller's ChessBase Magazine column. Here are this weekend's lessons.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (73)

11/12/2011 – Marking the tenth anniversary of the death of Tony Miles, at the age of only 46, the Editor of Chess Notes discloses some tantalizing brief extracts from his correspondence with the great British master. They include discussion of the 22-board blindfold exhibition which Miles gave in Roetgen, Germany in 1984. All the game-scores were passed on by Miles for safekeeping and are given here now.