European Team Chess Championship starts in Halkidiki

11/4/2011 – This nine-round Swiss, which will run from November 4-12, has a total of 38 countries in the open and 28 in the women's section. In round one on Thursday the top seed Russia squeaked out a win over Moldova, ranking 20th, while the Russian women – actually the Kosintseva sisters – demolished the Israelis 3-1. We bring you a richly illustrated round one report.

Whoah! We're Going To Ibiza

11/3/2011 – Ibiza (or Eivissa) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea, 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is known as the Party Capital of the world, but also for its beautiful Mediterranean scenery and climate. The Eivissa Chess Festival, which was held there, was comfortably won by Dutch GM Erwin l'Ami (7.5/8 points). His wife, WGM Alina l'Ami, sent us this lovely pictorial report.

White Mouse Sebag wins trip to Bejing

11/3/2011 – The qualifier for a fully funded trip to the SportAccord World Mind Games in Bejing (December 8-16), which was held on the Playchess server, was won by a player called Sourisblanche – white mouse in French. Turns out this is Marie Sebag, former wonder girl and at 25 a full grandmaster, who outplayed her very strong but tiring rivals from Asia and Russia. Congratulations Marie!

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (72)

11/3/2011 – The Editor of Chess Notes turns his attention to one of chess history’s most famous games, a 15-move miniature from the nineteenth century which features ‘Boden’s Mate’. The books contain a large amount of contradictory information about when the game was played, and a particular mystery is the exact identity of Boden’s opponent. The chess historian investigates.

Chess classes for convicts in Brazil

11/2/2011 – It is an inspiring story: a chess trainer, Walter Ferreira Jr., has been working with the inmates of a correctional facility in Itaúna-MG, Brazil, where he has installed a library of chess books and the students play with sets they have fashioned out of bottle caps. The lessons are keenly followed, as is the lecture and simul of a visiting master. The project is drawing international attention.

Anand wins Corsican Masters Knockout

11/1/2011 – The fourteen top players from the Corsican Open were joined by two seeded world-class grandmaster for the Masters Knockout. The latter showed why they sit on the top of international rating lists by going through to the final. There World Champion Vishy Anand outplayed Azeri Super-GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with a clean 2-0 result. Annotations by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

Now it's official: Kasparov is training Nakamura

11/1/2011 – Some knew, some thought they knew, and speculation was rampant during the Grand Slam Final in São Paulo and Bilbao. Yes, Garry Kasparov, who famously trained Magnus Carlsen, is now working with Hikaru Nakamura. The real story is in the details, straight from the protagonists themselves, and you can find them in the latest issue of New in Chess Magazine.

15th Corsican Circuit – final Anand vs Mamedyarov on Monday

10/31/2011 – The Open tournament was won by Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran, half a point ahead of English GM Gawain Jones and a full point clear of the rest of the field. In the Corsica Masters Knockout "Sasi" gave his compatriot Vishy Anand a scare, but the World Champion went throught to the final against Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The match starts at 2 p.m. Report with videos.

Fritz 13 and Let's Check – Lesson one: getting started

10/31/2011 – You have ordered Fritz 13, on DVD or as a download in the ChessBase Shop. And you have heard a lot about the new Let's Check function. How do you get started? In our tutorial series we begin with some very basic instructions on how to activate the program and then take a few initial steps into the world of cloud computing. Too daunting? Take a look – it's easier than you think.

Iran, Seirawan and the incorrect chessboard

10/30/2011 – A number of recent articles published on our news page have raised serious questions. Should players who boycott colleagues from certain countries be punished with disqualification? Are Yasser Seirawan's thoughts on the current state of chess endorsable? What was behind the photo-shoot error of two high-ranking German politicians. Entertaining, thought provoking feedback from our readers.

Endgame lessons at the Chigorin Memorial 2011

10/29/2011 – The annual M. Chigorin International Chess Festival was held in the Hotel Azimut from October 12-22 in St. Petersburg, with a rapid tournament and, of greater interest to us, a nine-round Swiss with classical time controls. It was won with a clear half-point lead by GM Dmitry Bocharov. We use the opportunity to give you your weekly point-winning endgame lesson by GM Karsten Müller.

Seirawan's comeback – his views on the chess world today

10/28/2011 – Yasser Seirawan is something of a legend: World Junior Champion in 1979, four times US Champion, he has played played all the chess greats. In 2007 the Syrian born US grandmaster stopped playing competitive chess, but has now returned to the game, last week coming joint first in the Barcelona GM. After this success he gave IM Anna Matnadze an extensive, must-read interview.

CHESS Magazine: Starry, Starry Knights

10/28/2011 – This is the story of GM Stuart Conquest’s adventurous summer, losing his belongings in Switzerland but finding the grave of a famous chessplayer in London. He did some digging (literally!) and found out a lot more about the player, and a world famous artist who was in London at the same time and may have crossed his path. Read all about it in the latest issue of CHESS Magazine.

Reminder: SportAccord World Mind Games qualifier on Saturday

10/28/2011 – As previously reported – from December 8-16 a special Mind Games event is being staged in the capital of China, with the disciplines bridge, chess, draughts, go and xiangqi. In the chess section there are players like Karjakin, Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Grischuk and Kamsky. Would you like to attend? You can, by taking part in a special Playchess qualifier on Saturday, October 29.

Andrew Martin – First Steps in Defence

10/27/2011 – Everyone knows that attacking in chess is fun, but do you realise that the same can be said about defence? Especially if it is raised to the level of an art, as defined and described by an internationally know chess trainer, IM Andrew Martin from England, who gives us a lot of precious tips that will help you to save many valuable half points. Brand new training DVD.

Move by move – politicians playing chess

10/27/2011 – A new book is creating quite a discussion in Germany. It is about two politicians, one a former chancellor of the country (1974 to 1982), the other quite plausibly a future chancellor (2013–), one 93 years old and razor sharp in his mind, the other, 64, a preeminent critic of global predatory capitalism. Both are chess players and the book uses a game motif on its cover. Take a closer look.

Queens' quartet

10/27/2011 – Both sides are about to promote their pawns. How is the position after 53...e1Q 54.a8Q to be assessed? Black ... 

A) ... regains the white plus piece, with equality;
B) ... wins by force through checkmate or queen capture;
C) ... must give perpetual check.

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

European Team Chess Championship in November

10/26/2011 – A total of 38 countries are sending four-player teams to this nine-round Swiss, which will be staged from November 3-12 in the five-star Porto Carras Grand Resort on the Halkidiki peninsula of northern Greece. We see illustrious names like Aronian, Karjakin, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Topalov, as well as Kosintseva, Lahno, Muzychuk and Danielian in the women's section. Full information.

CBM Endgame training: the octopus, Kosteniuk's combination, races

10/25/2011 – This edition of GM Karsten Müller's endgame instructions is devoted exclusively to the ladies. Three former women's world champions feature in the games he has selected for our attention, two from the recently concluded Grand Prix in Nalchik. Studying examples like these in the regular deliveries of ChessBase Magazine will do your practical playing strength a world of good.

European School Championship 2011 in Antalya

10/25/2011 – Turkey has has adopted FIDE's Chess in Schools program and has been successfully running championships for the past few years. The European School Championship 2011 was staged in Kemer, Antalya, last week and saw 204 players from five countries participating in twelve different categories. Anastasiya Karlovich and Fatma Ozturk have sent us a thoroughly charming photo report.

Political problems at the 15th Corsican Circuit

10/25/2011 – The event is fifteen years old and thriving – this year it has a record number of participants (over 800) and a great prize fund (95,000 Euros). Everything went smoothly until round four, when GM Ghaem Maghami from Iran refused to play against Israeli FM Ehud Shachar, demanding a re-pairing. The organisers refused, the game was forfeited. Video reports and background.

Wijk aan Zee: Tata Steel tournament breaks records

10/25/2011 – This is the second tournament named after the Indian Steel company. But it has been played in the wind-swept Dutch sea resort since 1938. Group A is this year the strongest ever, with a rating average of 2752 (Category: 21). There are eight female players in the three groups, also a record. The event takes place from January 13 to 29. Pre-tournament information with history and statistics.

Sonas: what exactly is the problem of draws – Part 2

10/24/2011 – Recently chess statistician Jeff Sonas showed us that short draws in top-flight chess are on the decline. But what are "short draw"? John Nunn suggested that one should target draws that barely leave known theory, so Sonas decided to analyze every move in Mega 2011 to show us the current trends in elite play. Don’t miss this very important article – or the very challenging quiz at the end.

Valeri Lilov: Tactics: From Basics to Brilliance, Vol. 1

10/24/2011 – "Initially, my impression of this DVD was that many of the discussions were just too lengthy to hold the attention of viewers," writes Chess Cafe reviewer Steve Goldberg. "But then, around half a dozen segments into the DVD, I couldn't help but find myself attracted to Lilov's presentations. He continually finds especially interesting examples to demonstrate the themes." A slightly different DVD.