Fritz 13 is now available – let's check who needs it!

10/13/2011 – “Success very often is the enemy of future success," Garry Kasparov warned us some months ago. Changing the world once is not enough, he said, we needed to do it again. Well, we are trying. Today we launch Fritz 13, which incorporates a tantalizing new feature: "Let's Check", which provides communal analysis in the cloud. You can order it now or download it for instant access.

Magnus Carlsen back in the World Championship cycle?

10/13/2011 – The shock came early in November 2010. The world's number one player, Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen, decided to drop out of the World Championship cycle, in which he had reached the Candidate stage of the last eight. Now FIDE has met some of his demands – e.g. that the final stage should be a tournament and not matches – and Carlsen has decided to participate in the next cycle.

Bilbao Masters – Carlsen takes first after blitz tiebreak

10/12/2011 – The signs were there, but nothing is written until it is over. The games were fairly sedate among the crosstable leaders with uneventful draws, though Anand came out swinging and avoided a last place finish by beating Vallejo. Top prize was decided by two blitz games, in which Carlsen concluded with a mating attack in the last game. Final report with pictures, video, and GM commentary.

Garry Kasparov beats Nigel Short 4.5-3.5 in Belgium Blitz

10/12/2011 – It was like in the good old days – back in London in 1993. On Sunday Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short played an eight-game blitz match. First Garry dominated, then Nigel fired back, and the decision came in the final game. It was an enthralling experience for the audience in Leuven, well organised by the Belgian charity "Your Next Move". Take some time for our big pictorial report.

Nalchik GP: Zhao Xue still with a perfect score after four rounds

10/12/2011 – The 26-year-old Chinese GM has won all her games at the FIDE Grand Prix that is being staged in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. This translates to a nominal performance of 3289. In second place is another Chinese player, WGM Ju Wenjun. Before the free day on Thursday we bring you a big illustrated report from Nalchik on rounds three and four.

Bilbao Masters – Carlsen beats Ivanchuk and ties for first

10/11/2011 – One could hardly ask for more drama than what transpired in the ninth round. It started with Anand completely losing focus in his game against Aronian, and losing in a mere 25 moves. Carlsen built a fantastic attack against Ivanchuk, beat him and is now tied for first, but the shocker was Nakamura's loss on time against Vallejo. Report, pictures, video, and annotations by GM Romain Edouard.

CBM Blog: The overgrown pawn and the South Eastern Corner

10/11/2011 – Today we are going to learn, from our resident endgame expert, how to open up an apparently impregnable fortress in a bishop and pawn ending; and where, geographically, the rook belongs when defending a R vs R+2P ending. GM Karsten Müller, whose is well known from his ChessBase Magazine video contributions, explains it all in his didactically annotated examples.

Nalchik Women's GP – Zhao Xue and Ju Wenjun take early lead

10/10/2011 – The third stage of FIDE Women's Grand Prix cycle 2011-2012 is being staged in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. There are twelve titled players participating, including nine GMs, though neither Women's world champion Hou Yifan nor Koneru Humpy are playing as they prepare for their world title match in November. Zhao Xue and Ju Wenjun have taken the early lead.

14-year-old wins World Amateur Chess Championship 2011

10/10/2011 – The Turkish beach resort of Kemer say 67 chess players from 16 countries in an event that restricts partcipants to players who do not have a FIDE title nor have been rated over 2000 for at least two years. The tournament was won by Sumiya Bilguun from Mongolia, who is just fourteen years old. We bring you a big pictorial report with some very charming pictures by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich.

Maurice Ashley rounds up Bilbao today!

10/8/2011 – This afternoon from New York, at 4 PM EST and 10 PM Paris, the dynamic and popular commentator GM Maurice Ashley will be the guest host of the Bilbao round up show on Playchess, where he will not only summarize the action of the day, but he will also take questions from the spectators. This show is free for Premium subscribers so consider upgrading if you haven't already. Don't miss it!

Bilbao Masters – Nakamura steamrolls Aronian; Carlsen wins too

10/8/2011 – Mathematically, Ivanchuk can still be caught, though Carlsen and Nakamura are the likeliest candidates. While Ivanchuk and Anand drew after a long duel, Carlsen was staring at a draw until Vallejo blundered a piece. Meanwhile, Nakamura completely outplayed Aronian in an equal endgame for a brilliant win. Report, videos, and notes by GM Romain Edouard.

CBM Blog: Triumphs and tribulations of Vassily Ivanchuk

10/8/2011 – He dominated the first half of the Grand Slam in São Paulo, got robbed at gun-point when he was leaving, started with a brilliant victory in the first round of the second leg, and yesterday lost a probably drawn rook ending in desperate time trouble against bottom seed Francisco Vallejo. We reported on round seven, and now bring you additional endgame analysis by GM Karsten Müller.

Congestion on the third rank

10/7/2011 – White has brought up all his heavy artillery on the kingside. A move with which piece gives him a decisive attack now?
A) queen
B) rook
C) bishop


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

Comeback kid Sadler leads in Oslo International

10/7/2011 – This Norwegian tournament has two heroes: on the one hand, the successful author Hans Olav Lahlum, who has saved the Gausdal tradition by creating and sponsoring a new event after the former disappeared. The second is the British GM Matthew Sadler, who, after a protracted absence from chess, is back with a vengeance. Big report with pictures by GM Sergei Tiviakov.

Bilbao Masters – Vallejo overcomes Ivanchuk

10/7/2011 – It was a round full of tough chess, and fascinating games for all tastes. The first game to finish was Anand against Nakamura in a Ruy Lopez Berlin that went the distance. Aronian found himself suffering throughout the game against Carlsen though he survived. Vallejo beat Ivanchuk, when the latter faltered in time trouble. Illustrated report with video and annotations by GM Romain Edouard.

Bilbao Grand Slam leg starts today

10/6/2011 – After an exciting first half in São Paulo, Brazil, the players have now settled down and, hopefully, adjusted to the five hours' time difference. Today is the first round of the second half in Bilbao, Spain. Top match: Magnus Carlsen vs Vishy Anand. Playchess will broadcast it all live. To get you in the mood here are pictures from the opening ceremony and some interesting video reports.

Saint-Petersburg CF wins the European Chess Cup

10/6/2011 – The seven-round event, which took place in Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia, had 65 men's and 12 women's teams participating. It was won by St Petersburg, headed by World Cup winner Peter Svidler. Second was SOCAR, headed by Teimour Radjabov, who scored 4.5/5 points with a 3019 performance. Teimour, we hear, is to get married on October 7th. Full illustrated report.

Bilbao Masters – Ivanchuk runs over Nakamura

10/6/2011 – One would have been justified in thinking that after his fifth round loss to Carlsen, and the terrible incident that marred his trip to Bilbao, Ivanchuk would be unable to continue his Grand Slam Masters ravage. However, the tire marks he left on Nakamura, after he ran over the American's Sicilian, dismissed this thought. The other games drew. Pictorial and video with analysis by GM Romain Edouard.

Clock simul: Topalov vs the Irish national team

10/5/2011 – On Monday 3rd of October 2011 GM Veselin Topalov, Elo 2768, played a clock simul exhibition match in Dublin against the Irish team, consisiting of GM Alexander Baburin, 2535, IM Sam Collins, 2436, IM Alex Lopez, 2414 and IM Mark Quinn, 2398. The final score: 2-2, with a win apiece for each side. Owing to a firewall problem a live broadcast was not possible. Report with games and videos.

Historical banter: Grouch and Kashdan on chess

10/5/2011 – And now, as the Pythons were wont to say, for something completely different. The immortal Groucho Marx of Marx Brothers fame, did a quiz show for radio and then for TV, from 1947. It was mainly used to showcase his ad-libbing talent. In one show he had chess GM Isaac Kashdan, whom he calls "Ashcan", as a guest and joked around about chess. Take a break and watch this rare footage.

Kavalek in Huffington: The Most Treacherous Defense in Chess

10/5/2011 – Named after the Austrian master Ernst Grünfeld, the defense has been around for nearly 90 years. At first, it was looked upon with suspicion: giving White a strong pawn center that could only be tickled by Black's dark bishop and other pieces didn't seem to be a fair deal. In this week's column GM Lubomir Kavalek tells us how he taught a World Championship challenger how to play the Grünfeld.

13th Open International in L'île de la Réunion

10/4/2011 – Réunion? Where on earth is that? It is a chunk of France floating between Madagascar and Mauritius, a tropical paradise, where an open tournament is currently being held. Our on-site reporter is WGM Kruttika Nadig of India, who has sent us a wittily written and wonderfully illustrated report with her first impressions. We welcome Kruttika to our permanent team of contributors.

São Paulo Masters – Highway robbery in São Paulo!

10/4/2011 – In a tragic end to the São Paulo leg of the Grand Slam Masters, Vassily Ivanchuk and his wife were robbed at gunpoint in the hotel driveway, before boarding the taxi that was to take them to the airport. To make things worse, his wife's passports were taken, and she could no longer accompany him to Bilbao, instead forced to return to Ukraine. Ivanchuk has threatened to abandon the tournament.

A history of cheating in chess (2)

10/4/2011 – Coaching players during the game is probably the most widespread form of cheating (rivaled only perhaps by bribery and the throwing of games). Although this practice began long before the advent of chess playing machines, computers have added a new and dramatic dimension to this method of cheating in chess. You will never guess: who were the pioneers of cheating with computers?