Pawn careers

9/3/2011 – In this game from the current World Chess Cup, White's f-pawn had eaten its way to h7 early on and just remained there. What does that mean for the postion? The strike 28.Rxg7 now leads to ...
A)... victory for White
B)... perpetual check
C)... advantage for Black

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

Botvinnik Memorial Rapid Day two – Anand and Cmilyte take first

9/3/2011 – At the end of the day’s scrambling, Vishy Anand’s solid showing fetched him the title in the open section and Viktorija Cmilyte’s sharp play brought her the women’s top honours. Rating favourites Carlsen and Humpy finished tail enders. The mixed blitz doubles were won by Anand-Humpy, making it a fine day for Indians. Report with lovely photographs by Anna Burtasova.

World Cup R2 tiebreaks: The 2700 clashes are coming

9/2/2011 – In the second round, nearly half the matches were pushed into the tie-break phase, and one surprise exit was Michael Adams, who has a superb record in KO events, losing to the Danish GM Heine-Nielsen. Most of the favourites avoided surprises, such as Karjakin, Grischuk, Ponomariov and Svidler. Vallejo Pons was unable to complete his comeback against Cuban Bruzón Batista. Illustrated report.

Botvinnik Memorial Rapid Day one – Comedy of errors

9/2/2011 – Carlsen dropped both Anand and Aronian from his jaws on day one of the rapid tournament while Kramnik pleased spectators with a flamboyant piece sacrifice. Aggression in the women’s section reigned high with only two draws from nine games. Check out the incredible blunders, oversights and missed opportunities of these grandmasters. Here is the report with pictures by Anna Burtasova.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (68)

9/2/2011 – The Editor of Chess Notes has put together an extensive selection of chess-related cartoons and comic strips from the past century or so. They include satire, science fiction, a war adventure, a depiction of Pillsbury riding an elephant, Capablanca’s life story, an account of the 1972 Spassky v Fischer match in Reykjavik and, to begin with, two old cartoons about cheating at chess.

World Cup R2.1: Live by the sword, die by the sword

9/1/2011 – In the second round of the FIDE WC knock-out event, the current European Champion Vladimir Potkin was happy enough to perform an ideal attack against the well-known and fierce attacker Alexei Shirov, a top player who is famous for setting the board on fire. But the time always comes for those who live by the sword to die by it. Here is some very instructive analysis by GM Efstratios Grivas.

World Cup R2.2: Shirov and Movsesian sent packing

9/1/2011 – The second round had a bit of it all. There were Morozevich’s crushing 2-0 win over surprise opponent Fier, as well as Shirov’s surprise 2-0 loss to Potkin. Judit Polgar overcame Movsesian, and Kamsky erased his first-round scare with a clean win over Kasimdzhanov. Vallejo Pons rebounded with a win to push into the tiebreaks, and Karjakin was unable to bully So. Report and GM analysis.

Master Moves #16 – Botvinnik the World Champion

9/1/2011 – 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. All the shots here were played by Botvinnik from the 1948 World Championship and beyond. Are you world champion material?

FIDE ratings list – resurgence is the name of the game

9/1/2011 – The new ratings list is out, and the word 'resurgence' has never seemed a more appropriate description. From the very top, we see Kramnik once more the top Russian, Kamsky at the highest rating in his career, and Judit Polgar's return to the 2700 club to name but a few, but the biggest story is Morozevich's rocket gain of 43 Elo after three straight 2800+ performances. The September 2011 list.

Botvinnik Memorial Rapid: the big, fast faceoff

9/1/2011 – In another event dedicated to the memory of the Russian legend, Messrs Anand, Kramnik, Carlsen and Aronian will lock horns in rapid and blitz formats. Also featured is a formidable female section with Humpy, Kosintseva, Cmilyte and Danielian. And the rules have changed. Don’t be surprised if one of them suddenly deserts a heated tactical battle to plug into an iPod. Don't miss the fun!

Commemorating the 20th Independence Day and Cup

8/31/2011 – The “Kiev Cup - Independence of Ukraine Cup” was recently held in Kiev dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, celebrated on August 24. This year saw the participation of 15-year-old Ilya Nyzhnyk (2589 Elo), who saw the top spot snatched by Crimean colleague GM Yury Ajrapetjan. Here is a report replete with pictures by Tanya Kostiuk.

World Cup R2.1: small tragedies, expected victories

8/31/2011 – Alexei Shirov spoilt a comfortable position against Vladimir Potkin and lost in 28 moves. Francisco Vallejo applied pressure for 60 moves, then imploded and lost five moves later. Sergey Azarov tried the Jaenish Gambit against Vugar Gashimov and went down in 23 moves. Other top players (Ivanchuk, Radjabov, Morozevich) took home full points. Report and pictures.

The winner takes it all, the loser standing small...

8/30/2011 – We are reporting enthusiastically on the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, concentrating, as any news site would do, on the stars and the winners. But what about the players who on Tuesday all met at the airport for an early flight to Moscow? They had been knocked out in round one. Chess trainer Efstratios Grivas tells us the story of one of them, with two instructively annotated games.

GM Karsten Mueller: Chess Endgames 8 – Practical Rook Endings

8/30/2011 – You all know him from his regular CBM blog on our news pages. Now ChessBase has published a training DVD by GM Karsten Müller, the eighth of a series. "Although the lessons on this DVD are difficult, they are very worthwhile for keen students of the endgame, writes Sean Marsh in his Marsh Towers review. He calls this DVD one of the brightest jewels in the ChessBase crown.

World Cup R1 tiebreaks: favourites through, no big surprises

8/30/2011 – Gata Kamsky won one of the first two rapid games, Morozevich both of them. Etienne Bacrot struggled a bit against youngster Ray Robson – each won a game, then Bacrot won both the fast rapid games. One match, Drozdovskij vs Motylev, went all the way to the sudden death (Drozdovskij won). We bring you a full updated report with video and pictures.

Alimini Open - Chess, sand, and sports

8/29/2011 – The Alimini Open took place in the beautiful scenery at the south-eastern extreme of Italy. Though fighting chess was displayed to the end, the titled players generously helped weaker players analyze their games. Everyone was treated to a wave of daily activities ranging from football, volleyball (the girls won!) and even poker with a professional dealer. Report and lovely pictures by Martha Fierro.

World Cup R1.2– Leko, Wang Yue eliminated

8/29/2011 – Hungarian former vice champion of the world Peter Leko and Super-GM Wang Yue were both eliminated after the second game of round one of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Chinese generally had a bad day, with all but three players eliminated. Kamsky and Vallejo were forced into the tiebreaks (on Tuesday) by much lower-ranked players. Full report with pictures and video.

World Cup R1.1 – A few upsets and vivid coverage

8/29/2011 – In the first round of the FIDE World Cup brought many players with large rating differences – 250-350 Elo points – together on the first ten boards. Almost all ended in the favorites beating the underdogs, but we saw losses by Super GMs Wang Yue and Peter Leko to lesser opponents. The HD video coverage from Khanty-Mansiysk is very impressive and vividly shows the drama of the game.

Vienna Game

8/28/2011 – In view of possible pin motifs, capturing the e-pawn in the diagram position had to be well considered. What do you think? After 19...Nxe5, Black ...

A)... simply wins a second pawn;
B)... can give up his queen for good compensation;
C)... loses a full piece

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

Gunina leads in the Russia Women's Superfinal

8/27/2011 – This event, staged in the Central Chess Club in Moscow, determines the 2011 National Women's Champion. For the last two years Alisa Galliamova has taken the title, but this time after seven of nine rounds Valentina Gunina looks like the the runaway winner: she has 6.0/7 (performance: 2717) and is a point and a half ahead of her nearest rival. Big illustrated report by Anna Burtasova.

FIDE World Chess Cup starts in Khanty-Mansiysk

8/27/2011 – For the fourth time Russia’s Ugra region in Siberia is hosting this event, which is a 128-player knockout with 128 participants from all over the world, playing two-game matches from August 27th until September 20th. The opening ceremony was spectacular, and all captured on HT video, which you can watch and enjoy before the games begin on Sunday at 11:00h CEST.

Botvinnik Memorial Open picture parade

8/26/2011 – The International Chess Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mikhail Botvinnik saw 166 players taking part in a very strong Open, with seven tying for first at 7.0/9 points. The women did not play in a separate section but did get a separate ranking table. We wrap up this event with a splendid pictorial provided by Irina Sudakova and Elena Mikheeva with lots of new faces.

Vachier-Lagrave wins 2011 French Championship

8/26/2011 – After ten rounds there were two players vying for the title: reigning champion Laurent Fressinet and the top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, both with 6.5/10 points on the score table. Fressinet lost a kamikaze Pirc against Christian Bauer, while Vachier-Lagrave survived a lost position against Etienne Bacrot, who would have won the Championship if he hadn't blundered on move 26.

YACS at the Botvinnik Memorial Open

8/25/2011 – This tournament, part of the International Chess Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mikhail Botvinnik, was won by seven players with a score of 7.0/9. But it was the 98th placed player who got the most attention. Sergey Klimentiev, rated 1698, had been crushing FMs and IMs, until his briefcase and pen were taken from him, after which he collapsed. Yet another cheating scandal.