Zug R02: three wins, three draws

4/19/2013 – A day of reversals! Kamsky and Leko outplayed their opponents, Kasimdzhanov and Topalov, in aggressive and impressive fashion straight from the opening. However both lost their way and not only relinquished the advantages, but also at the end a full point! Ponomariov played a fine positional game against Caruana while the rest of the games fizzled out into draws. Round two report with GM analysis.

MOU signed for World Championship in Chennai

4/19/2013 – FIDE, the All-India and Tamil Nadu State Chess Associations signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday for the World championship match to be held in Chennai, from November 6 to 26. FIDE vice-president Israel Gelfer said the venue of the championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen would be finalised within 21 days. Press release.

Zug R01: Morozevich and Caruana win

4/18/2013 – Solid yet unorthodox chess marked the start of the Zug Grand Prix. Morozevich used a quick fianchetto setup to confuse Kasimdzhanov, and it worked. Radjabov created too many weaknesses against Caruana who was happy to scoop them up one by one. Nakamura went out for blood against Karjakin's weak opening, but couldn't capitalize. The remaining games were solidly drawn. Round one report.

Magnus Carlsen on TIME 100 list

4/18/2013 – TIME Magazine has named Magnus Carlsen one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2013. The full list and related tributes will appear in the April 29 / May 6 issue of TIME, available on newsstands tomorrow. Magnus is in excellent if somewhat mixed company. According to TIME this is not a list of the most powerful or the smartest people in the world, it’s a list of the most influential.

2013 Israel Championship in Acre/Akko

4/18/2013 – It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country, with a population is 46,000 (72 percent Jewish, 28 percent Arab). This year's national championship was held in the Palm Beach Hotel in Akko and was won by GM Tamir Nabaty. We bring you pictures, games and analysis, plus a video report by Aleksander Nesterovsky that includes interviews with the players.

Third FIDE Grand Prix 2012-13 starts in Zug

4/18/2013 – The third stage of the Grand Prix Series was originally scheduled to take place in Lisbon, Portugal, and staged by AGON. It was moved to a picturesque Swiss town and is being run by the tried and tested FIDE Grand Prix team. Among the twelve participants of the tournament are three former world champions: Ponomariov, Topalov and Kasimdzhanov. Round one starts at two p.m. this afternoon.

More on Byrne – annotated games of the master

4/17/2013 – Last Friday we had to pass on the sad news that the great American chess player, academic and writer Robert Byrne had passed away, just days before his 85th birthday. Our eulogy was followed by a tribute from his friend Lubomir Kavalek. Today we bring you a number of games of the master, annotated by GM Alex Baburin (Chess Today), Tryfon Gavriel and Andrew Martin, the latter two with videos.

2013 Russian Youth Championship at AquaLoo

4/17/2013 – It is that time of year when hundreds of youths from all around Russia converge to compete against each other for the honor of the 2013 Russian Youth Champion title. Once again the event is staged at AquaLoo, a spacious venue that is both child and adult-friendly, where even parents can wait for the games to finish without being bored. Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili bring many pictures.

Why chess should be required in US schools

4/17/2013 – That is the banner headline of a lead story in the Pacific Standard, which tells, in a compelling video, how a three-million-soul nation like Armenia is using chess to teach children basic life skills. The same trend can be witnessed all over the world, including Britain, where thousands of pupils from inner-city primary schools are to receive lessons in chess in a £700,000 taxpayer-funded programme.

15th Dubai Open Chess Championship

4/16/2013 – This very strong tournament, with close to 200 players (38 GMs) from 34 countries, took place from April 6-16 and was won by Russian GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov. The venue was the Dubai Chess and Culture Club, possibly the biggest than most modern chess club in the world. Our giant closing report contains a wealth of pictures and plenty of videos to watch. Dubai 2013.

Bo Lindgren – Swedish grandmaster of composition

4/16/2013 – Bo Waldemar Lindgren (1927–2011) was one of the most versatile chess problem composers with awards in many genres. He was, as David Friedgood recalls, a friendly, serious character who had many interests, including science, literature and poetry. He composed around 500 problems and published an anthology in 1978. Here are examples of his creativity, and two problems for you to solve.

Kavalek in Huffington: Remembering Robert Byrne

4/16/2013 – Robert Byrne, a prolific chess writer and one of the strongest U.S. grandmasters, died Friday, April 12, 2013, at the age of 84. He was a World Championship Candidate, U.S. champion and played for the U.S. team in nine chess Olympiads. For 34 years, he wrote an exceptional chess column for the New York Times. His good friend Lubomir Kavalek, also a writer, remembers his colleague.

Ivanchuk's initiative, Radjabov's rook pawn

4/15/2013 – One last look at the London Candidates? It produced exciting chess and some fascinating endgames, which have been commented by our ChessBase Magazine columnist GM Karsten Müller. Today he looks at two instructive encounters, and also shows us an endgame from the Israeli Championship. Learn and enjoy.

Robert Byrne, April 20, 1928 – April 12, 2013

4/14/2013 – We are sad to inform you that grandmaster Robert Byrne has died, just days before his 85th birthday, after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. Byrne beat Bobby Fischer in the 1965 US Championship, which he himself won in 1972. He worked as a university professor, author and long-time New York Times chess columnist. Our eulogy includes video commentary in a tribute by Andrew Martin.

CF St. Petersburg wins Russian team championship

4/14/2013 – It was close, both in the open and the women's sections, with match point ties for first, and both winners taking gold by just 1.5 game points. Key was Alexander Grischuk's win on the black side of an instructive Spanish against Ian Nepomniatchi, while in the women's a topsy turvy win by Ekatrina Atalik against Alexandra Kosteniuk did not change the final result. Pictures and videos galore.

Cold-blooded, pragmatic, melancholic even...

4/14/2013 – These were some of the words that Vladimir Kramnik used in a recent interview to describe the victor of this year's Candidates Tournament, Magnus Carlsen. In the latest entry for the Herald Scotland, GM Jonathan Rowson depicts how the young super-star dashes his chess game with realism and sombreness and how it separates him from his predecessors.

Ramirez: Attacking with the Benko Gambit

4/13/2013 – For those who may be unfamiliar with the presenter, Alejandro Ramirez is an American Grandmaster. He has been a Benko Gambit exponent for many years and here proposes a repertoire for Black. "Overall, I really enjoyed this DVD – Ramirez presents clearly and his enthusiasm for the opening is inevitably transferred to the viewer," writes the reviewer in CHESS Magazine.

Garry Kasparov turns fifty

4/13/2013 – He is widely considered the greatest chess player of all time – the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion. Garry Kimovich Kasparov dominated chess for twenty years, until his retirement in 2005. Since then he has devoted his time to politics and writing. Today Garry turns fifty, and we wish him a very happy birthday with a nostalgic look at the past 25 years.

Kavalek in Huffington: Kramnik's critical game

4/12/2013 – As the Candidates Tournament in London drew to a close there were two players in the lead: Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik. Both suffered unexpected defeats in the final rounds, with Carlsen squeaking by in the end to become the challenger for the World Championship match. GM Lubomir Kavalek has analysed the critical game that sealed Kramnik's fate in part two of his HuffPo column.

Four moves in, we are all blind

4/12/2013 – Algorithms is a unique documentary about three blind boys from India who dream of becoming chess masters, supported by their blind coach and mentor. Filmed over three years, it follows the boys and a totally blind player turned pioneer to competitive national and world championships. The Kickstarter project still needs some very modest funding. Full information and videos.

Russian Team Championships in Loo, Sochi

4/12/2013 – Eighteen teams are competing, with 88 grandmasters, 26 of whom sport ratings of 2700 or higher. Top players are Karjakin, Caruana, Mamedyarov, Grischuk and Morozevich. Last year's winners Tomsk, however, did not make it, for financial reasons. The women's section has six teams and in a round robin. Big illustrated report with pictures by Maria Fominykh.

Indepth interview with Vladimir Kramnik

4/11/2013 – Immediately after the Candidates tournament in London Russian NTV journalist Marina Makarycheva did an extraordinarily substantial interviews with Vladimir Kramnik: how did the Candidates go, who has the better chances in the 2013 World Championship, and what the future has in store for him. The interview is in Russian, but has been faithfully transcribed by Peter Zhdanov.

Cosmopolitan's sexiest men of 2013

4/11/2013 – Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women, founded in 1886. Every year they publish a list of the 25 sexiest men – "the ones that are making us go weak at the knees." This year Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5 made first place. Actor Max Irons is second, then comes model David Gandy, and fourth on the list is diet Coke model Andrew Cooper. Interesting...

Kasparov to receive Human Rights Award

4/10/2013 – UN Watch has decided to grant the Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award to Garry Kasparov for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in Russia. Kasparov will receive the award on June 5 at a gala dinner in Geneva's historic Hotel des Bergues. Executive director Hillel Neuer said: 'Mr. Kasparov is not only one of the world's smartest men, he is also among its bravest.'