Amber 2011: Aronian and Carlsen well ahead of the pack

3/20/2011 – After eight rounds Levon Aronian, who today defeated World Champion Vishy Anand 1½-½, remains in the lead. With three rounds to go Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Veselin Topalov by the same score, follows at half a point’s distance. In third place, Vishy Anand and Vasily Ivanchuk, are three points behind. Anish Giri won a nice game against Sergey Karjakin. Round eight report.

Gustafsson's Black repertoire against 1.e4: The Open Games

3/19/2011 – A couple of weeks Dennis Monokroussos raved about the first volume in the series, in which German GM Jan Gustafsson presented a very detailed Marshall Gambit repertoire. It was the best DVD on chess openings he had ever seen. "Vol. 2 doesn't quite live up to that ridiculously high standard, but it's excellent as well and certainly worthwhile for 1.e4 e5 players," Dennis writes. Here is his review.

Amber 2011: Aronian and Anand suffer first defeats

3/18/2011 – Levon Aronian maintained his sole lead in spite of suffering a first loss in this tournament, against Alexander Grischuk. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated the second-placed Vishy Anand, while Magnus Carlsen scored against his "twin" Sergey Karjakin. All of this happened in the rapid chess – all blindfold games were drawn. Aronian is now a point ahead of his nearest rival, Carlsen. Round six report.

Amber 2011: Aronian leads after 2-0 win over Gashimov

3/18/2011 – Magnus Carlsen collapsed against Vassily Ivanchuk in both his games, while Levon Aronian defeated Vugar Gashimov in both of theirs. Aronian now tops both the blindfold and rapid sections in Monaco, leading in the overall score with 8.0/10, 1½ points ahead of Vishy Anand in second place. Ivanchuk won the € 1,000 Game of the Day prize for his rapid win over Carlsen. Round five report.

Reykjavik Open – six players win with 7.0/9 points

3/17/2011 – Six players tied for first, with 7.0 points from nine games – performances ranged from 2662 (Hammer) to 2722 (Kuzubov). Naturally a lot of attention was given to 14-year-old GM Illya Nyzhnyk, who finished in the leading group with a 2688 performance. Top seed Luke McShane, 2683, played slightly below expectation and led the follow-up group of 21 players with 6.5/9 points. Final report.

Kasimdzhanov: Beating the French Vol. 3

3/17/2011 – In this third volume his French DVD Rustam Kasimdzhanov discusses the positions that arise after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4. It is a solid system which Kasim finds difficult to play against because it requires serious understanding and theoretical knowledge. Our reviewer, field biologist Kevan Cowcill, provides an in-depth review – and more fascinating pictures from his icy work in the Yukon.

Amber 2011: Aronian and Carlsen together in the lead

3/16/2011 – Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen continue to lead in the 20th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Monaco. Aronian defeated Ivanchuk, while Carlsen defeated Giri, both with 1½-½ scores. The € 1,000 Game of the Day prize was awarded to Sergey Karjakin for his blindfold win over Vladimir Kramnik. Round four report with photos by John Nunn.

Amber 2011: Aronian and Carlsen together in the lead

3/15/2011 – Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen have taken the joint lead after the third round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament. Their direct encounter ended in a 1-1 tie after a roller-coaster rapid game. Yesterday's co-leader Alexander Grischuk lost ½-1½ to compatriot Sergey Karjakin. The Game of the Day prize went to Vugar Gashimov for his fine blindfold win against Anish Giri. Round three report.

Reykjavik Open – Kuzubov leads, Nyzhnyk in hot pursuit

3/15/2011 – In our previous report on the MP Reykjavik Open, which is taking place from March 9th to 16th, we showed you nice win by a Belarusian WGM over a much stronger GM. This time it is our esteemed friend Jan Gustafsson, 2647, who got mated by a player knee high to a grasshopper: Illya Nyzhnyk, who at 14 is already a 2563 rated GM. Report from Iceland.

Japan: is the big one coming?

3/15/2011 – We are all sitting around watching the chess tournaments in Monaco and Reyjkavik, but keeping a nervous eye on the enormous crisis unfolding in Japan. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the following tsunami have probably taken tens of thousands of lives, and now there is the danger of a nuclear meltdown. A chess friend in California is tracking the events.

Amber 2011: Karsten Müller's queen endgame lesson

3/15/2011 – In his round two blindfold game Magnus Carlsen had a rook endgame against Vugar Gashimov, which he then converted into a queen ending with an extra pawn. Although the position was a theoretical draw, Magnus proceeded to win it. We did not analyse it further, we knew that we would receive detailed analysis from GM Karsten Müller. Yu can use his commentary as a didactic endgame lesson.

Amber 2011: Carlsen score 2-0 to join the leaders

3/14/2011 – Magnus Carlsen joined Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk in the shared lead in the overall standings by defeating Vugar Gashimov 2-0.His victory with the black pieces won the € 1,000 "Game of the Day" prize. Aronian beat Hikaru Nakamura 1½-½, while Grischuk had the same result in his mini-match against former co-leader Boris Gelfand. Round two report with video GM analysis.

Magnus in the New Yorker

3/14/2011 – Normally we would not make such a big thing out of it, but this is one of the most prestigious magazines in the world, and the story is nine pages long, and exceptionally well-written – great for a lay audience. The author, D.T.Max, met up with Magnus Carlsen a number of times, and also queried other players (Anand, Kasparov). The article is not free online, so go buy the magazine this week.

Fressinet takes French Rapid crown

3/14/2011 – The 9th International Meurthe and Moselle Chess Festival took place this weekend in Nancy, France, with 202 players including former FIDE world champion Kasimdzhanov, French stars Bacrot, Fressinet, Indian Harikrishna, and Germany's top three: Naiditsch, Meier and Fridman. Reigning French classical champion, Laurent Fressinet, also became the French rapid champion. Report + videos.

Amber 2011: Anand and the domination game

3/13/2011 – In our first report of round one we dealt with all kinds of accidents and blunders that befell the players in this blindfold and rapid chess tournament. Today we turn to a remarkable 67-move game in which the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand used the domination motif to take a point off his last-year's challenger Veselin Topalov. GM Karsten Müller explains how it was done.

The chess twins of the chess twin

3/13/2011 – She is an IM, WGM, and a professor at the Faculty of Culture and Media at a Belgrade University. He is an FM, TV sports editor, chess columnist and since recently editor of the prestigious Chess Informant. On February 21st Dr Alisa Maric and Josip Asik became parents of twins – not a complete surprise, since Alisa was a twin herself. We congratulate the proud chess couple.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (60)

3/12/2011 – The death has been announced of the chess historian and archivist Jeremy Gaige of Philadelphia. In 1988 the Editor of Chess Notes received from Gaige, his close associate, a unique document which was not to be disclosed during the American’s lifetime: a ‘self-obituary’. The text is made public here for the first time, to mark the passing of a magnificent figure in the history of chess.

Amber 2011: Four players start with 2-0 scores

3/12/2011 – The four winners were Gashimov, Gelfand, Grischuk and Aronian, and the corresponding 0-2 losers were Ivanchuk, Karjakin, Kramnik and Giri. There was a lot of luck – both good and very bad – in play, which is hardly surprising in a blindfold and rapid tournament like the 20th Melody Amber. This is incidentally the last edition. Round one report.

FFE Cheating: Judge rules incriminating SMS inadmissible

3/11/2011 – After unearthing a series of SMS messages between players accused of cheating at the Olympiad using a phone lent by the French Chess Federation vice president, the FFE sought to have those messages transcribed and included as evidence in the upcoming Disciplinary Committee. A judge ruled that secrecy could only be waived if the FFE sued in court, as the FFE explains in a public statement.

Discovered attacks ...

3/11/2011 – ... on various diagonals White had to consider when in this position he went for 20.Bg5 harrassing the black queen. What is your verdict - the counterstrike 20...Nxd4 leads to...
A)... advantage for Black
B)... advantage for White
C)... dynamic equilibrium

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

You win some, you lose some – MP Reykjavik Open

3/11/2011 – Last year's Reykjavik Open winner, Icelandic GM Hannes Stefansson (2557), finished his first game in this year's event with a summary execution of his much weaker opponent in just ten moves. Then Hannes faced the dauntingly lovely Belarusian WGM Anna Sharevich, well over 200 points his inferior, and got crushed in 35 moves. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Report from Iceland.

Tiviakov wins 19th Fajr Open – and goes caving!

3/10/2011 – In another display of Iran's vibrant chess community, after the recent world records set in giant simuls, the 19th Fajr Open was held, bringing together 25 GMs, 15 IMs and 10 FMs. This event allows Iranian players a rare opportunity to seek title norms in their home country. It was won by Sergey Tiviakov. No games are available, but Sergey sent us underground photographic impressions.

Alaa in Tahrir Square

3/10/2011 – Photo report. Article.

HIARCS 13 – the Professional Openings Book

3/10/2011 – The British chess program Hiarcs is famous for its sharp attacking chess. This is ideally enhanced by one of the best openings books around, derived from top correspondence and OTB human games together with the best computer games, producing the latest cutting edge chess theory and a wealth of novelties to provide a huge repertoire of finely tuned variations. Examples.