Kavalek in Huffington: Chipmunk Chess

1/23/2012 – Six moves into his game at the Tata Steel tournament Hikaru Nakamura created a gap that was big enough for a chipmunk. You see such holes in the lawn and you never know how many chipmunks are digging until the house collapses. Czech GM David Navara chose the wait-and-see approach and a highly instructive battle began. GM Lubos Kavalek annotates it in his latest Huffington Post column.

Following the footsteps of greats

1/22/2012 – Visiting Brazil for the World Youth Chess Championships was a dream come true for many young players. Here is a report from Nima Javanbakht, a 15-year-old Iranian, whose main interest was not simply to visit another country, but to follow in the footsteps of two famous Iranian explorers and anthropologists, who traveled around the world and were the first Asians to reach the South Pole.

Giddins: Is your spoon long enough?

1/22/2012 – It might come as a surprise, but chess can be genuinely funny. In a video FM Steve Giddins presents a highly amusing little game from the Bad Wiessee Open in 2011. White tries to surprise his opponent with 1.b4, but runs into an even more outlandish response and ends up getting demolished inside 20 moves! For the rest day at Wijk aan Zee here's some light relief.

Ship runs aground – in Wijk aan Zee

1/21/2012 – That's right, not the Mediterranean, where the luxury liner Costa Concordia hit rocks last Friday, causing many fatalities and the potential pollution of a beautiful sea coast. No, this was a Philippine cargo ship, and it ran aground a stone's throw from the chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Our colleagues Axel Eger and Joachim Schulze sent us pictures of the incident and Wijk in general.

CBM training: Magnus mighty minor pieces + rook endings

1/21/2012 – Once again our endgame expert, GM Karsten Müller of ChessBase Magazine fame, presents interesting endgames from the running Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Two instructive examples caught his eye, and he has added two similar endgame motifs that occurred earlier this year. Quite a lot to learn and grasp, but hey, it will help you with your tournament results. Learn and enjoy.

Wijk aan Zee Rd7: Carlsen and Aronian lead with 5.0/7

1/21/2012 – It wasn't his cleanest win, as Boris Gelfand self-destructed some time during time trouble, but a win is a win, and with it Magnus Carlsen rejoins Aronian for the lead. Karjakin, who has yet to draw a single game, beat Topalov, while Kamsky also bounced back and beat Navara. Van Wely will no doubt wonder where he missed Giri, as he dominated their game throughout. Illustrated report with video.

Wijk aan Zee

1/20/2012 – Black urgently needs to do something for the development of his queenside.

Which move of the bishop c8 does not lose material?
A) 14...Bb7
B) 14...Bd7

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Wijk aan Zee Rd6: Aronian takes sole lead once more

1/20/2012 – Levon Aronian is clearly on a streak, despite his third round loss to Carlsen, and once again took sole lead after beating Vugar Gashimov. Radjabov joined Carlsen in second after beating Karjakin, while Nakamura won a second straight after Gelfand blundered. Giri ground down Kamsky in 80 moves, while in B, Harikrishna beat Timman in the game of the day. Report, pictures and videos.

Wijk aan Zee Rd5: Gelfand, Ivanchuk, and Nakamura win

1/19/2012 – It is only fair that they be credited, especially as it also marks their first wins in the tournament. Gelfand beat Karjakin with a beautiful Najdorf remniscent of his Candidates success, while Ivanchuk and Nakamura rolled over their opponents in impressive fashion. The game of the round was nevertheless the incredibly exciting draw between Carlsen and Giri that went all the way. Round five report.

Ashley's Caribbean Chess Tour: US Virgin Islands

1/18/2012 – As previously reported the special chess promotional tour of Maurice Ashley took him to Martinique, Guadeloupe and Jamaica. Today the world's first African-American grandmaster tells us about his adventures in St Croix, where a 13-year-old talent, who had recently finished the Central American Games with a perfect 7-0, had him fighting for survival in a blindfold exhibition. Report and podcast.

Interview with Judit Polgár

1/18/2012 – The Brazilian site, Rádio Xadrez, spoke with Judit Polgár, who will visit Brazil next month. She gives details of her life as a mother, a wife and a chess player. She also recalls important moments of her career such as her games against Anand and Kasparov, or Bobby Fischer's visit to her family. She gives valuable tips to young and upcoming female chess players. Interview with Judit Polgár.

Master Moves #22 - 41st Rilton Cup

1/17/2012 – 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 were played at the 41st Rilton Cup in Sweden. Stick it at them in Stockholm!

Wijk aan Zee Rd4: Aronian rejoins Carlsen in lead

1/17/2012 – If Carlsen had hoped to demoralize Aronian with yesterday's win, the Armenian showed it takes more than that. In a good game against Gata Kamsky, Aronian built a solid advantage he never let go of until the end. Carlsen on the other hand was actually in danger of losing to Caruana at one point, but ended up drawing. Karjakin also came back to 50% with a second win over Navara. Round four report.

ChessBase DVDs – Müller's Chess Endgames 9

1/17/2012 – "If I have to tell you that Karsten Müller is one of the very top endgame analysts of our time, I would first have to ask what planet you have been living on for the past fifteen years," Steven B. Dowd in Chess Cafe. "This trainer is one of his best, taking a topic not often explored in endgame texts: how rooks and minor pieces work together." He gives the DVD full six stars in his product review.

2012 Queenstown Chess Classic starts with one hammered van

1/16/2012 – This nine-round FIDE rated tournament, which takes place from 15th-23rd January 2012 in Queenstown, New Zealand, was cast into jeopardy when the Hammer hardware van containing most of the tournament equipment was smashed beyond repair by an out of control oncoming vehicle. A salvage company came to the rescue, as you will see in our giant pictorial report.

CBM training: Endgames from Tata Steel

1/16/2012 – Our endgame expert GM Karsten Müller, whose ChessBase Magazine section you probably know, turns his eye on the big event in Wijk aan Zee. Today he provides three instructive endings, one from each of the groups A–C, dealing with Aronian's army (Aronian-Nakamura), to exchange or not to exchange (Harikrishna-Lahno), and the power of prophylaxis (Tikkanen-Brandenburg). Learn and enjoy.

Wijk aan Zee Rd3: Carlsen beats Aronian to snatch lead

1/16/2012 – It was the clash of the titans as the top two players in the world bumped heads for first place. Magnus Carlsen scored an impressive win over Levon Aronian as he slowly built up an advantage into a convincing win. Radjabov joined Caruana and Aronian in second after a blunder by Navara. Both Harikrishna and Turov lead Group B and C respectively with 3.0/3. Illustrated report with video.

Live rating list of chess players’ earnings?

1/15/2012 – For some years now live ratings lists of the world's top players – calculated on a day-by-day basis – have become popular. Recently a live list for top female players was set up, and now one interested player and manager proposes a third list: one that tracks the earnings of the top chess stars, just like in many other sports. An interesting proposal that requires helping hands.

Wijk aan Zee: Aronian off to a 2.0/2 start, Caruana beats Karjakin

1/15/2012 – Two decisive results, and two extremes. Levon Aronian declared that it was time to take his game to another level (some of us mistakenly thought 2800 was another level), and after a veritable see-saw battle against Nakamura, he had the last word and is on 2.0/2. Fabiano Caruana joined the chasers with 1.5 after he beat Karjakin, who is now on a worrisome 0.0/2 start. Report with video analysis.

Susan Polgar in South Africa

1/14/2012 – The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elisabeth hosted the 2011 South African Junior Chess Championship, in which an impressive 1800+ youths participated. Efforts such as this have led to South Africa's first WGM, Melissa Greeff. To help promote chess there, Susan Polgar was invited to provide a simul as well as give a seminar on "Women in Chess". A pictorial report.

Wijk aan Zee: Carlsen, Aronian, and Giri are first to score

1/14/2012 – It was a day for the young up-and-comers, though with Carlsen and Aronian in the top two, perhaps up-and-camers is more appropriate. Carlsen had an edge in an endgame against Gashimov, and sure enough weaseled his way into a win. Aronian beat Karjakin with black in a complicated and exciting game, while Giri ground down Gelfand after 70 moves. Illustrated report with videos.

Feedback on the ICGA/Rybka disqualification scandal

1/13/2012 – It's a long read, but many of the letters we received in reaction to the defence of the Rybka program by Dr Søren Riis are quite passionate and well thought out in their content. We start with the summary of a long rebuttal of the Riis paper that was sent to us by the ICGA and circulated on the Internet – with links to the full version and ancillary documents. Take a deep breath.

David Friedgood: solutions to the chess problems

1/13/2012 – Last week our new problem expert, David Friedgood from England, introduced himself and presented four problems for our readers to solve. Two were from his earliest days as a composer, and two classical gems. Today he presents the solutions, carefully explained in every aspect. We can only stand in wonder at the beauty of this unique domain of chess. Don't miss.

Clearing work

1/13/2012 – It's nice to attack with such a magnificent white knight on f5, on the other hand here the black king also has two defensive knights for his protection. Asked concretely - what does the sacrifice 27.Rxf6+ lead to in this position?
A) victory for White;
B) perpetual;
C) advantage for Black. 

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.