12/9/2010 – After such an exciting first round, who would have thought the second could do as well, yet it did. After McShane's shock win over Carlsen, he followed it up with a second win over Short, taking sole lead. Carlsen put his slip behind him and defeated Adams in a combative game, while Anand was unable to beat Howell. Kramnik was unrecognizable and was soon lost to Nakamura. Pictorial report.

12/8/2010 – The 2nd London Chess Classic started magnificently for the spectators, with no fewer than three wins out of four games. The shocker was English GM McShane's explosive win over Magnus Carlsen, winning in grand style no less. Adams had little trouble with Howell, while Kramnik slowly shoved his way into Short's position. Anand-Nakamura was a 74-move draw. Round one report.

12/7/2010 – The strongest event in Britain – and one of the premier tournaments of the year 2010 – begins tomorrow at 14:00h in the Olympia Conference Center in Kensington, London. It includes Anand, Carlsen and Kramnik. Today was the opening press conference and the drawing of lots, which results in a full pairing table. To get you in the right mood we bring you a big photo report.

12/7/2010 – The striking disparities in pairings that existed in the first round are gone, and for some players, this was the true beginning of competition. The first surprise was Tatiana Kosintseva's collapse after botching a dead won position, to actually end up losing. On the other hand, some showed growing form such as Elisabeth Paehtz who found all the right moves to beat Cmilyte. Illustrated report.

12/6/2010 – The three Polgar sisters – GMs Susan and Judit, IM Sofia – live on three different continents, each with a family of two children. Recently they were all brought together by the chess-friendly Hungarian company Aquaprofit, for simultaneous exhibitions, book signings and chess art. Diana Mihajlova has sent us a big pictorial report and some very nice video impressions.

12/6/2010 – In an unusual pairing system that had top boards sporting over 500 Elo over their adversaries, while the middle of the field played virtual mirrors, it seemed unlikely any of the strongest would suffer, yet even such shielding was not enough. The biggest name was Cramling's loss to local Turkish talent, Yildiz. However, Kovanova's spectacular win over Pogonina was the game of the round. Report.

12/5/2010 – Who is the strongest player in the world? Does the World Champion win his title in the most effective way? How much should we depend on the Elo rating system, and are there better alternatives for determining world rankings? After three years spent writing a PhD thesis on games and sports at the Paris-Sorbonne Manouk Borzakian turns his attention to chess in this thought-provoking paper.

12/5/2010 – Sixty-four of the top female players in the world have gathered at Hatay, Turkey, to fight for the title of World Champion, and register their names in the annals of history. The tournament is a knockout event held in a beautiful, but unusual locale: the Antakya Archaeological Museum, famed for its impressive collection of ancient mosaics. Here is the opening and first round report.

12/4/2010 – This morning we opened the biggest Hamburg newspaper to see a full page on Vishy Anand, talking about computers and how they have changed his and the world's approach to the game. Yes, and also about quitting chess at 41 (spoiler: he is not considering it). Yesterday the Telegraph had an interview with Magnus Carlsen. All because of the London Chess Classic that begins next Wednesday.

12/3/2010 – Black's cornered king was already stalemated in this game from the recent Remco Heite Tournament, meaning that he had only to give both his rooks to achieve the desired half point. The sequence 39...Rf1+ 40.Kxf1 Rf2+ leads to
A) victory for White;
B) draw;
C) victory for Black (just kidding).

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

12/2/2010 – Did you know that you can follow our ChessBase Magazine Blog on this special index page, which lists all columns? There is a permanent link to it on the left of our main news page. In the CBM Blog extraordinary experts keep you briefed on games and occurrences in recent days and weeks. Like the endgame on the left, in which it is Black to move. He is fighting for a draw with bishop and king against the pair of white passed pawns (g4,h4). In the game, the pawns outran him. Now it is your turn to try and find the narrow path to safety. CBM endgame expert GM Dr Karsten Müller has analysed the ending for ChessBase Magazine Online.

12/2/2010 – The winners of this team tournament, staged at the National Law Academy in Kharkov, Ukraine, was won by a team with the catchy name of A DAN DZO-PGMB from Chernigov. Their top board, Baadur Jobova, scored 3.0/3. The event is aptly named after Femida, Goddess of the Justice. Big illustrated report by Anastasiya Karlovich.