1/21/2011 – The idea for a series of commercial spots, produced with the former World Champion Dutch banking giant ING, is unique: Kasparov and a host wear the hats of different countries and speak about openings named after them: the English, Polish, Russian. The video clips, posted on the bank's home page and on YouTube, are multilingual, short and going viral in the chess community. Enjoy.

1/21/2011 – An exciting day, with four black victories (and none with white) in group A, Carlsen, Kramnik, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi being the winners. With that Hikaru Nakamura joins Vishy Anand in the lead, both with 2900+ performances. In the B-group six of the seven games were decisive, three with the black pieces. Luke McShane leads with 5.0/6 and a 2921 performance. Round six report.

1/21/2011 – The Wijk aan Zee “B” and “C” groups have traditionally served to herald rising stars, such as Karjakin, Carlsen, and Anish Giri the last two years. This year seems unlikely to be an exception with McShane having a breakthrough period since the London Classic, and 14-year-old GM Nyzhnyk in the "C" event just behind Italian GM Daniele Vocaturo. Illustrated report with analysis by GM Karsten Mueller.

1/20/2011 – Viswanathan Anand applied systematic pressure on Jan Smeets until the Dutch GM blundered and gave the World Champion the sole tournament lead. Magnus Carlsen did pretty much the same to Erwin l'Ami, only to blunder the won position to a theoretical draw – which the amazingly determined Norwegian GM went on to win! Alexander Grischuk lost to Chinese GM Wang Hao. Round five report.

1/19/2011 – Three weeks ago the Turkish Chess Federation withdrew its offer to host this attractive event, due to a conflict with the European Chess Union. According to a New York Times report the ECU President Silvio Danailov implied that the TCF had simply run out of funds. Now the Turkish side is renewing its offer: we will stage if you will be polite. Open letter + new NYT article.

1/19/2011 – Shockingly, Nepomniachtchi blundered in ten moves against Aronian, but fortunately attention was drawn away to Anand's lovely positional piece sacrifice against Wang Hao. Anish Giri gave leader Nakamura no end of trouble, but was unable to win. Our report has analysis by GM Karsten Müller plus video commentary by GMs Daniel King and Sergey Shipov, and photos by Fred Lucas.

1/13/2011 – The new ones are clear: World Champion Vishy Anand, who at 41 can look back on his career contentedly; Hou Yifan, the women's champion, at age 16 the youngest in chess history; and Magnus Carlsen, who last January became the world's top-rated player. In his chess column GM Lubomir Kavalek focuses on a player who clinched the world title a half century ago: Mikhail Tal (1936-1992).

1/13/2011 – Many players hope that they will never have to face at the board the ending of knight and bishop against king, because they are afraid that they will not be able to manage to mate correctly. The right way to do so was demonstrated recently by no less than Ivanchuk in his game against Morozevich.

GM Dr. Karsten Müller has dealt with the subject for ChessBase Magazine Online and shows everyone whose technique is still less than perfect how to master this mate completely by making use of the W-manoeuvre.

1/12/2011 – As most chess players will tell you, how or where to attack an enemy king is not always obvious. Chess traniner and GM Daniel King provides the necessary knowledge on this DVD. "I cannot praise this 'DVD of the Year' enough," says retired teacher Ralph Deline. "Every chess player from beginner to master, coach to trainer, should go through it until they understand the contents." Review.

1/11/2011 – In December Ian Nepomniachtchi caught the leading Sergey Karjakin in the last round of the Russian Superfinal and then won the playoff in an Armageddon blitz game. Now Karjakin had a chance to avenge the defeat – and avenge it he did. Yevgeny Potemkin captured the action in video, and we are able to offer you a special treat: watch the match from a front seat.

1/10/2011 – It was not illegal computer assistance – Alexander Zubov proved that it is possible for an amateur to win a big tournament. The Ukrainian IM, rated 2574, is a honey producer by profession, but was able to win the Cracovia Open (for a second time in succession), held from December 27th 2010 to January 4th 2011 in Cracow, Poland, on tiebreak points. Big pictorial report by Piotr Kaim.

1/10/2011 – 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. Here are some positions from recent master and grandmaster practice. Test you tactical eye.