Alimini Open - Chess, sand, and sports

8/29/2011 – The Alimini Open took place in the beautiful scenery at the south-eastern extreme of Italy. Though fighting chess was displayed to the end, the titled players generously helped weaker players analyze their games. Everyone was treated to a wave of daily activities ranging from football, volleyball (the girls won!) and even poker with a professional dealer. Report and lovely pictures by Martha Fierro.

World Cup R1.2– Leko, Wang Yue eliminated

8/29/2011 – Hungarian former vice champion of the world Peter Leko and Super-GM Wang Yue were both eliminated after the second game of round one of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Chinese generally had a bad day, with all but three players eliminated. Kamsky and Vallejo were forced into the tiebreaks (on Tuesday) by much lower-ranked players. Full report with pictures and video.

World Cup R1.1 – A few upsets and vivid coverage

8/29/2011 – In the first round of the FIDE World Cup brought many players with large rating differences – 250-350 Elo points – together on the first ten boards. Almost all ended in the favorites beating the underdogs, but we saw losses by Super GMs Wang Yue and Peter Leko to lesser opponents. The HD video coverage from Khanty-Mansiysk is very impressive and vividly shows the drama of the game.

Vienna Game

8/28/2011 – In view of possible pin motifs, capturing the e-pawn in the diagram position had to be well considered. What do you think? After 19...Nxe5, Black ...

A)... simply wins a second pawn;
B)... can give up his queen for good compensation;
C)... loses a full piece

The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Gunina leads in the Russia Women's Superfinal

8/27/2011 – This event, staged in the Central Chess Club in Moscow, determines the 2011 National Women's Champion. For the last two years Alisa Galliamova has taken the title, but this time after seven of nine rounds Valentina Gunina looks like the the runaway winner: she has 6.0/7 (performance: 2717) and is a point and a half ahead of her nearest rival. Big illustrated report by Anna Burtasova.

FIDE World Chess Cup starts in Khanty-Mansiysk

8/27/2011 – For the fourth time Russia’s Ugra region in Siberia is hosting this event, which is a 128-player knockout with 128 participants from all over the world, playing two-game matches from August 27th until September 20th. The opening ceremony was spectacular, and all captured on HT video, which you can watch and enjoy before the games begin on Sunday at 11:00h CEST.

Botvinnik Memorial Open picture parade

8/26/2011 – The International Chess Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mikhail Botvinnik saw 166 players taking part in a very strong Open, with seven tying for first at 7.0/9 points. The women did not play in a separate section but did get a separate ranking table. We wrap up this event with a splendid pictorial provided by Irina Sudakova and Elena Mikheeva with lots of new faces.

Vachier-Lagrave wins 2011 French Championship

8/26/2011 – After ten rounds there were two players vying for the title: reigning champion Laurent Fressinet and the top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, both with 6.5/10 points on the score table. Fressinet lost a kamikaze Pirc against Christian Bauer, while Vachier-Lagrave survived a lost position against Etienne Bacrot, who would have won the Championship if he hadn't blundered on move 26.

YACS at the Botvinnik Memorial Open

8/25/2011 – This tournament, part of the International Chess Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mikhail Botvinnik, was won by seven players with a score of 7.0/9. But it was the 98th placed player who got the most attention. Sergey Klimentiev, rated 1698, had been crushing FMs and IMs, until his briefcase and pen were taken from him, after which he collapsed. Yet another cheating scandal.

Illumzhinov: Gaddafi is alive and well in Tripoli

8/24/2011 – The rebels stormed his compound in Tripoli, NATO and US Intelligence are searching with satellites and surveillance drones for him, without success. But in the middle of the manhunt for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi the President of FIDE received a call on Tuesday evening. The Libyan dictator told Ilyumzhinov he was alive and well, and 'certain to win'. His forces would 'drive the rats out of the city.'

Turkish Rapid Chess Championship in Datca

8/24/2011 – The town is a fine vacation spot, a place where the Aegean Sea meets the Mediterranean, where Turks and Greeks can swim out to meet each other. It is also the place where this year's Turkish Rapid Championship took place – in the Open and U16 categories. It was fun for all, especially the youngest players, whom WGM Anastasiya Karlovich has caught in her wonderful pictorial report.

The 5th PanArmenian games are a success

8/24/2011 – For those not from that corner of the world, the idea of PanArmenian games may sound strange. The underlying purpose is a peace effort to reconnect Armenians and Armenians in diaspora with their country of origin, most notably those living in the independent but not officially recognized (thus not on official maps) state of Nagorno-Karabakh. Here is an illustrated report by Liane Aghabekyan.

World Junior: Free day outing to Mahabalipuram

8/24/2011 – It is a 7th century port city with extraordinary architectural works, and the participants of the Sdat-RAMCO World Junior were taken there during the event in Chennai. Press officer R.R. Vasudevan has sent us a beautiful pictorial report which is meticulously captioned – a relief from the photo dumps that are usually thrown at chess fans. His report also contains a lot of videos. Take time and enjoy.

Feller's interview, and a solution to the cheating scandal

8/23/2011 – The French Championship is in its eighth round, with four GMs in the joint lead. The event is marred by continued suspicion and anti-cheating measures, brought on by accusations that one of the participants had in the past engaged in organised cheating. Sébastien Feller has given an interview on the subject, and we have a proposal on how to clear up the matter quickly.

CBM Blog: Coordination is crucial + the king attacks

8/23/2011 – When two rook fight against a queen it is often extremely important whether the rooks can coordinate or not. That is the first lesson of our endgame expert Dr. Karsten Müller, who goes on to show us how normally drawish opposite colored bishop endings can be transformed if there are rooks present. Today's lessons include a very instructive blitz game. Look and learn.

Kavalek in Huffington: Pitching a Perfect Chess Game

8/22/2011 – "There is no perfect game in chess," Fischer once said. After all, we are human and we make mistakes. But the twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov came close to playing a mistake-free game at the 1974 chess olympiad in Nice, France. His opponent in that game was GM Lubomir Kavalek, who shows us how Karpov improved an essentially drawn position and turned it into a win.

Szczepkowska and Rajlich win First Radzikowska Memorial

8/22/2011 – Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska, born in 1931, was a Polish WGM who won the national championship nine times, and played in Olympiads and Candidates Tournament. She died in 2006, and this women's tournament in Warsaw was the first to he held in her memory. It was won by Karina Szczepkowska-Horowska (don't even try!) and Iweta Rajlich, who has annotated an interesting game.

Which US presidents played the royal game?

8/22/2011 – Here are the answers to our August weekend puzzle: of the 43 presidents of the United States, over the last 222 years, 24 , i.e. more than half, have played and enjoyed chess. It started with the first president, George Washington, and ends with Barack Obama, who has occasional games with Michelle. Here is the full list and some interesting bits of information.

86th French Championship in Caen

8/21/2011 – The French Chess Championship is taking place from the 14th to the 27th of August 2011. After seven rounds top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is leading, together with Romanian GM Andrei Istratescu. In the women's section the former French Champion Sophie Milliet is a full point ahead of the field. The organisers are delaying the Internet broadcast as an anti-cheating measure.

Which US presidents played the royal game?

8/20/2011 – Here's an August weekend puzzle for our readers: which of the 43 presidents of the United States, over the last 222 years, have played and enjoyed the royal game of chess, as a form of recreation or distraction? It may surprise you that some were pretty good, and that one in fact won a battle because of a love of the game (though not his own). The answer will be given on Monday.

Collect or consolidate?

8/19/2011 – In this endgame from the Russian Superfinal White here took on e6 with the rook and thus refrained from 37.a3 (diagram) which would have given Black the option of playing 37...Rxc5 38.bxc5 d3. With what result, in your opinion?
A) victory for Black;
B) perpetual check after mutual promotion;
C) victory for White.

The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

The Kasimdzhanov/Shipov draw proposals – readers' feedback

8/19/2011 – Former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov recently proposed that there were too many draws in chess, and that eliminating them from top-level chess would greatly enhance the popularity of the game. After him GM Sergei Shipov made a similar proposal, involving tie-break rapid or blitz games to be played immediately after draws. Here a selection of reactions from our readers.

Paul Morphy Chess Club challenge in Sri Lanka

8/18/2011 – In the small island nation off the tip of India, Sri Lanka has its own vibrant chess community with highly disputed league events for all categories. The Paul Morphy Chess Club just finished organizing a generously prized eighteen-round blitz tournament, sponsored by Acer and Perera and Sons to celebrate its tenth anniversary, bringing in players from all around the country. Illustrated report.

Master Moves #15 - Botvinnik the challenger

8/18/2011 – 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 were played by Botvinnik prior to winning his first World Championship title in 1948. Challenge the challenger!