2011 Chinese Championship: Ding Liren leads with 7.0/9

4/8/2011 – The 2011 Chinese Championships are underway and bring together most of China's top players, including Wang Yue (2734), Bu Xiangzhi, and teen wunderkinds Hou Yifan (playing with the men), and Yu Yangyi. The men's section is being dominated by 2009 champion, Ding Liren, with 7.0/9, while the women's section is led by both Zhan Xiaowen and Zhao Xue with 7.0/9. Report and pictures.

Cerdas Barus wins Telin International

4/8/2011 – He started off with five straight wins, then lost to his colleague GM Eugenio Torre, but fought back to finish as sole winner in this Swiss tournament in Jakarta. What makes Cerdas Barus unique is that he is not only a GM but also deaf. He learnt chess at a late age, and at 50 he remains one of his country's strongest players. Final report.

Fire against f7 ...

4/8/2011 – ... White could have opened in this game from the current Chinese championship with 36.Nf3-g5 (diagram). 
How is the situation following 36...Bg7xd4 37.Ng5xf7 to be assessed?
A) good for White
B) good for Black
C) still balanced

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

Clash of the Titans: Kasimdzhanov-Anand rapid chess match

4/7/2011 – No, that is not one of the titans, but 11-year-old Timur Igonin, who managed to beat World Champion Vishy Anand in a simultaneous exhibition the next day – and become a darling of the international news media. In the match against Rustam Kasimdzhanov Anand showed no mercy, winning 3.5:0.5. Big illustrated report from Tashkent by Jamshid Begmatov with GM annotations.

From our CBM Blog – Tricky knight tactics

4/7/2011 – Botvinnik's guideline that knight endings are like pawn endings has good points, as zugzwang and outside passed pawns play a major role here as well. But there are also differences due to the tactical possibilities of the knight, as seen in Aleksandrov-Flear and Lobzhanidze-Fejzullahu, Aix-au-Bains 2011. Our resident endgame specialist GM Karsten Müller gives us a lesson in knight play.

Telin International: sensational performance by 13-year-old girl

4/6/2011 – A field of 110 players from seven countries, 37 with FIDE titles, including nine GMs, are participating in this Swiss tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia. All eyes are on WFM Medina Warda Aulia, who is 13 and rated 2035. After seven rounds she is tenth on the table, with a score of 5.0/7. WGM Anastasiya Karlovich and sports trainer Kristian Liem have sent us this giant pictorial report.

Cheating scandal: Opinions, concerns and revelations

4/6/2011 – In a series of interviews, Robert Fontaine from Europe Echecs, culled the opinions of the players, to get a clearer idea on how players both French and foreign viewed the cheating scandal. A lengthy interview with Jean-Claude Moingt, the president of the French federation, revealed not only the next steps to be taken, but also that confessions were not only made to the players. An eye-opener.

Kavalek in Huffington: Texas Tech Wins Final Four of Chess

4/6/2011 – You don't see spectacular hoops and dunks and scoring is not done in twos or threes. No chest-pounding, no cheerleaders. The four-corner offense or zone defenses are not parts of the game either. There are brilliant moves, but they are done quietly. And yet, the Final Four in college chess was a dramatic experience, as GM Lubomir Kavalek shows. He also has a beautiful study by Leonid Kubbel.

Master Moves #9

4/6/2011 – 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 European Championship. Try some of the brain candy.

Fischer-Spassky board fetches record sum

4/5/2011 – The third game of the 1972 "Match of the Century" was played in a backroom of the Laugardalshöll theatre in Reykjavik, after Fischer had complained about disturbances in the main hall and not turned up for the second game. The board used in game three was subsequently given to one of the organisers, who has now sold it in a New York auction. It fetched a record price of US $76,275.

Viktor Korchnoi's 80th birthday clock simul

4/4/2011 – A week ago we celebrated Viktor Korchnoi's 80th birthday in Zurich. There was a gala dinner with chess prominence, but before that the octogenarian gave a handicap clock simul against ten talented members of the Swiss juniors. Viktor Lvovich won the match 8-2 and played some very attractive games. The juniors sent them to us with their notes. Big pictorial report.

TV series Endgame – World chess champion turned detective

4/3/2011 – If we had posted on April 1st that a new TV series had started in which a World Chess Champion was now using his superior analytical and visualization skills to solve crimes, well... you would have known that was the April Fools prank of the day, right? That is why it is not being posted on the first, because it is not a prank. Read about this unique chess champion turned detective.

British Problem Solving Championship – the solutions

4/3/2011 – A mate in two, one in three and a selfmate in five. Those were the problems that John Nunn selected from the BPS Championship for our readers. Today we give you the solutions, carefully explained by the winner. It is an ideal opportunity to learn how to approach these otherwise daunting chess problems. And how to deconvolute and generally enhance astronomical pictures.

2011 European Ch: Potkin champion, Wojtaszek 2nd, Polgar 3rd!

4/3/2011 – It was an enthralling event through and through, and a just result for the players who showed exceptional fighting spirit when it mattered and quality of play. Potkin had seemed to be losing steam, but when it mattered the most he secured his lead and top spot. Wojtaszek was next to join him, and then Judit Polgar won her fourth straight game and a historic third place. Final report with videos.

ChessBase news – back to normal

4/2/2011 – It was, of course, just an April Fool's prank. Not the Zhu Chen Magnus Tyrannosaurus story, though that was indeed quite incredible, coming exactly at this time. No, it was the idea that we could put the unbearably gaudy, blinking, flashing adverts on our page. We are now switching back to normal, with a special link for people who liked the blinky stuff, plus a selection of feedback messages.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (61)

4/2/2011 – Adolf Anderssen is often said to have lost a brilliant miniature involving a strange queen sacrifice (13...h5). Both Max Lange and Jean Dufresne have been credited with the win, but was the game actually played at all? With assistance from correspondents in England, Switzerland and Germany, the Editor of Chess Notes has conducted another historical investigation.

2011 European Championship: And then there were...twelve

4/2/2011 – With the leader taking his foot off the accelerator, it is not really surprising now to see twelve players sharing the lead with 7.0/9. Notables who joined the leader are Polgar, Jobava, Wojtaszek, and Vallejo-Pons, who is actually ahead on tiebreak. We also have a video report, endgame analysis by GM Karsten Müller and, in reply to the open letter, a video interview with Sébastien Feller.

New giant dinoasaur found – named after chess champions

4/1/2011 – A giant predatory dinosaur, similar in size and stature to Tyrannosaurus rex, has been discovered in eastern China. The new theropod probably stood four metres tall and weighed around six ton. It has been named Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus, as far as we can tell after former Women's World Chess Champion Zhu Chen and current world number two Magnus Carlsen. BBC Earth News report.

ChessBase news goes mainstream – with new commercial design

4/1/2011 – Remember our info banners? The nicely styled box that appeared the first time you accessed our news site. It provided information on new ChessBase products, but also on special events and services available on any given day. Unfortunately a number of visitors objected vigorously to the "accursed pop-ups”, which we have now abandoned, and restyled our page to match other news sites.

Rapid questions

3/31/2011 – In this sharp position from the 3rd game of the recent match Anand-Kasimdzhanov Black here played 16...Nxf2 preventing the opening of the h-file through h3xg4, which was followed by 17.Ng5 f6. How would you assess the situation after that?
A) favourable for White
B) favourable for Black
C) balanced
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

On the origins of the Lewis Chessmen – A reply

3/31/2011 – Gudmundur. G. Thórarinsson, the author behind the main material in The Enigma of the Lewis Chessmen, a discussion on the origins of the world's most famous chess set, was dismayed at the belligerent tone in an article seeking to refute his hypotheses regarding its Icelandic roots. He replies here and adds 'the potency of these arguments necessitates formidable counter arguments'.

Problem solving grand slam – solutions

3/30/2011 – The months of January and February saw two other major solving events. Both were won by John Nunn, a remarkable feat given that he was one of the older participants. John sent us sample positions from both contests, which we passed on to our readers. His explanation of the solutions is possibly even more valuable than the problems themselves. We start with the ISC Solving Contest.

The Elo rating system – correcting the expectancy tables

3/30/2011 – In recent years statistician Jeff Sonas has participated in FIDE meetings of "ratings experts" and received access to the historical material from the federation archives. After thorough analysis he has come to some remarkable new conclusions which he will share with our readers in a series of articles. The first gives us an excellent overview of how the rating system works. Very instructive.

Cheating in chess: the problem won't go away

3/30/2011 – As you know the recent suspicion of organized cheating during a Chess Olympiad has led to three French players being suspended. One is currently playing in the European Individual Championship, where his colleagues have published an open letter demanding additional security. For years we have been proposing a remedy for this very serious problem. It needs to be implemented now.