2011 US Championships: midway through prelims

4/19/2011 – Past the midway mark of the preliminaries in the US championship, one of the men's groups is seeing 19-year-olds Robert Hess and Sam Shankland take the reins, while the other group is dominated by veterans Kamsky and Shulman. The women's is still led by Foisor followed closely be a resurgent Krush. The illustrated report of rounds three and four includes a video interview with Hikaru Nakamura.

Get your chess degree

4/19/2011 – Learning chess strategy is not only a matter of improving your play. Gaining a new and deeper understanding here is accompanied by a change in view of the game and a refreshed interest in it. GM Mikalchishin's new DVD-series "Strategy University" is an excellent example, providing you with lots of new aspects that you may never have been aware of. Buy it now or read this review.

US Championship: Men's qualifiers started, Foisor leads women

4/18/2011 – The 2011 US championship started with the top American players there, albeit missing Nakamura in the men's section, but gaining Seirawan who breaks his eight-year fast. The men's event is still broken into two sections qualifying two players from each section. The women's is a classic round-robin in which Foisor surprised with an opening win over champion Irina Krush. FM Mike Klein reports.

Grivas Training: Building a Repertoire

4/18/2011 – "In contrast to the middlegame and the endgame, where theory is objective and accepted by everyone, in the opening each chess player makes his choices in accordance with his emotions and his personal experience. Noopeningloses, noopeningwins." World renown chess trainer GM Efstratios Grivas explains how you should build your repertoire in Part 3 of his lecture series.

Dubai Open: Ghaem Maghami wins blitz, Negi and Hammer lead

4/17/2011 – Friday was a free day, but there was a blitz tournament, won in a tie-break sudden death blitz game by Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami. In the Open Parimarjan Negi, 18, and Jon Ludvig Hammer, 20, lead with 6.0/7 points. Our attention was, however, caught by a player in place 47. Vahap Sanal is from Turkey and just twelve years old. His performance: 2524. Portrait of a young talent.

Thai Open: Gustafsson ahead of Vallejo and Short on tiebreak

4/17/2011 – All three top seeds entered the final round with 6.5/8 points. English GM Nigel Short smoothly outplayed his opponent, while GMs Jan Gustafsson (Germany) and Paco Vallejo (Spain) had to navigate through tricky endings. But with all three winning their games they ended on 7.5/9 in tie for first. Gustafsson was awarded the trophy on tiebreak. Final report.

Test your Hedgehog IQ

4/17/2011 – White space advantage vs. black bishop pair was the scenario in this Hedgehog position from the English opening. A move by which piece gives the first player a long-lasting initiative?
A) queen
B) knight
C) pawn

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

2011 Russian Team Championship has started

4/16/2011 – An ever intriguing affair, the Russian Team Championship is underway with an impressive array of players and teams. It is a round-robin event with twelve teams, ranging from the ultra-strong CHF-St. Petersburg with a 2719 average Elo and Ivanchuk and Svidler, to MHS-64 bringing in Caruana and Giri. A real treat for chess fans this weekend. Here is a pictorial report after four rounds.

Opinions and proposals in the ECU performance debate

4/16/2011 – The 2011 European Championship generated controversy owing to the unusual tie-break system used. There was a formal protest by GM Peter Heine Nielsen and a thoughtful article by the statistician Jeff Sonas. Naturally we received a large number of letters, and among them two from GMs David Navara and John Nunn. Their proposals are included in the feedback from our readers.

Sonas: Assessment of the EU performance calculation

4/16/2011 – The 2011 European Individual Championship left 29 players with a tied score vying for eight places in the next World Cup. To break the tie the ECU used performance ratings, but calculated them in a way that led to some bizarre results – and to a formal protest by at least one player. Jeff Sonas introduces us to other, more logical systems. As usual his report is presented with exceptional clarity.

Three lead in the 13th Dubai Open

4/15/2011 – After five rounds of play and before the free day three players share the lead in the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup, each with 4.5/5 points: Indian GMs Krishnan Sasikiran and Parimarjan Negi, as well as Mikheil Mchedlishvili from Georgia. 17 players follow with 4.0/5. Friday is a free day, on Saturday there will be two rounds, starting at 10:00 a.m. local time. Results, games and videos.

Thai Open: Short takes and loses the sole lead

4/15/2011 – After six rounds English GM Nigel Short was in the sole lead in the Thailand Open 2011, half a point ahead of five players. One of them, German GM Jan Gustafsson, played Short in round seven and downed him with the black pieces. That put Gustafsson in shared first place with top seed Paco Vallejo. The two will meet in a much-awaited penultimate round encounter on Saturday. Pictorial report.

Kavalek in Huffington: Chess history from Fischer to Nakamura

4/15/2011 – The 2011 US Chess Championship begins today in Saint Louis, Mo. In 1963/64 Bobby Fischer won all 11 games of Championship, finishing 3½ points ahead his nearest rival. He played in eight U.S. championships and won them all; and at 14 he was the youngest US champion in history. GM Lubomir Kavalek uses the occasion to acquaint us with remarkable results in historic tournaments.

Ask the Experts – tonight with Kasimdzhanov and Reeh

4/14/2011 – On Thursday at 21:00h CEST (3 p.m. New York) we will hosting our third "Ask the Experts" show on the Playchess server. The guests are former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov and IM Oliver Reeh. You can direct questions at the experts in the Playchess chat and watch them answer. The broadcast is in English. Here are excerpts from previous shows.

Aruna and Anand have a baby boy

4/14/2011 – It was a carefully kept secret, known to only a few close friends. On April 9th came the phone call: Aruna Anand has delivered a healthy boy, mother and son are doing great. His named Akhil and, in the south Indian tradition, will be called Anand Akhil. Parents, relatives and friends are overjoyed. We celebrate with a pictorial review of the couple. Congratulations Vishy and Aruna!

Master Moves #10

4/14/2011 – 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. In this edition all the positions are from the 2011 Chinese Championship and the 1st Mangini Memorial. Burn some neurons.

13th Dubai Open Chess Championship

4/13/2011 – The Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup is taking place from April 9th to 19th, 2011 in the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. It is a nine round Swiss, with time controls of one hour and 30 minutes for the whole game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. We bring you a big pictorial report with panorama 360° views of the chess club, video reports and plenty of new faces.

Nielsen protests ECU performance calculations

4/12/2011 – The 2011 Individual European Championship was also a qualification tournament, with the top 23 finishers getting a seat in the 2011 World Cup. Problem was that behind the first 15 players there were 29 with a tied score. So the performance was used to break the tie. However the system produced some bizarre results, as GM Peter Heine Nielsen explains.

Thailand Open 2011 Chess Championship under way

4/12/2011 – This event is taking place from 11th to 17th April 2011 in the five star Dusit Thani Resort and Spa in Pattaya, Thailand. More than 200 players from 40 countries are participating, making it the biggest and strongest ever held in Thailand. The first prize is 100,000 Baht (€2300 or US $3300). After the first three round two top seeds, Paco Vallejo and Nigel Short, lead with 3.0/3. Pictorial report.

2011 Chinese Championship: Ding Liren and Zhang Xiaowen win!

4/11/2011 – 19-year-old Ding Liren, showed his previous title in 2009 was no fluke, and despite the presence of top players such as Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Yue (2734), Ding cleaned up the field with a colossal 9.0/11 and a 2867 performance. Zhang Xiaowen won the women's section with 8.5/11. Still, a reader drew our attention to an absolutely amazing game that deserves to be on the shortlist for game of the year.

1st Jose Thiago Mangini: Sun, beaches, and chess

4/11/2011 – In a growing wave of events with norms in Brazil, the 1st José Thiago Mangini event, held in Rio de Janeiro was won with a perfect 100% score by IM José Cubas followed by IM Diego di Berardino. With the eyes of a visitor, and the familiarity of a native, here is a report on the event as well as a look into life in this tropical city, in a large intimate pictorial by Albert Silver.

Emine – the Turkish Chess Delight

4/11/2011 – In today's chess world it is not easy to find a coach who combines passion for the game with the ability to inspire children. A Chess Centre in Salihli, Turkey, is lucky enough to have a tutor who possesses the best qualities of a chess coach whilst being a strong player herself. The English magazine CHESS has a lovely story on Emine Yanik Süral, to which we added a lot of new pictures.

Gustafsson: Politician's Simul in Berlin + product review

4/10/2011 – Last Wednesday the Hamburg Representation to the German Government in Berlin invited politicians to take part in a sixteen-board simultaneous exhibition given by the German GM Jan Gustafsson. Prizes for the best players: Jan's recently recorded training DVDs that provide a complete black repertoire against 1.e4. Here's a five-star review by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson.

Garry Kasparov in Naples

4/9/2011 – It cost $1000 for a place in the simul, $5000 for a blitz game against the famous World Champion. The money went to an organisation called Revere America, and the event took place in the private Collier Automotive Museum, in Naples, Florida. Garry gave the visitors a pleasurable evening, the visitors took home photos and signed memorabilia. One of them, Keith Trainor, sent us his impressions.