2010 Chess Olympiad: Ukraine held to draw in round three

9/23/2010 – The third round can be considered the eye of the hurricane as it was the last one before the top teams all start colliding. Ukraine who had led until now, was held to a draw by Croatia, while Bosnian Ivan Sokolov beat his second 2700 player in three rounds, helping draw against Poland. The game of the round though was by Gata Kamsky who won in emphatic fashion. Round three report.

2010 Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk: Round 1 report

9/22/2010 – After the expected hustle-bustle of the opening day, the first round went underway with the strong paired against the weak. What this usually means is crushing scores on the one hand, and shock surprises on the other, and we were not disappointed. However, some players were able to shine, leaving a mouthwatering tournament ahead. Here is the report with games, results, and videos.

2010 Chess Olympiad Pictorial: Arrivals, opening and day one

9/22/2010 – The start of the Olympiad from the arrival, to the check-ins, not to mention the spectacular opening ceremony, are items that could certainly be described in words, but where pictures speak volumes more. In the following pictorial, with generous contributions from a variety of sources, we share the story on the start of the mammoth event all in pictures.

FIDE Presidential Election: The Karpov campaign summation

9/21/2010 – A week ago, on the basis of absolute neutrality, we invited the campaign managers of both candidates in the FIDE election to summarize their main policies, arguments and track-record, explain the areas of disagreement with the opposing side, and comment on the campaign itself. Only one of the teams accepted the invitation, and we therefore now give the summation by the Karpov campaign.

2010 Chess Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk: Preview

9/21/2010 – The numbers astonish and stagger: 143 nations, 1294 competitors, including no fewer than 254 grandmasters, 65 WGMs, 159 IMs, and 90 WIMs. There is no question that for the next two weeks, Khanty-Mansiysk will be the absolute Mecca of chess. The start was not without its issues, but the teams are there and the spectacular opening ceremony has taken place. Preview and video.

Can you out-predict Elo? – Competition update

9/21/2010 – Can we devise a more accurate method for measuring chess strength and predicting results than Elo, which has done good service for half a century? Jeff Sonas has given statisticians 65,000 games which they must use to predict the results 7,800 other games. The idea is to find out who can out-perform Elo. In the lead is 28-year-old Portugese biochemist Filipe Maia. Current status.

Kateryna Lahno – Women’s World Blitz champion

9/20/2010 – In its second edition in history, the Women's World Blitz championship took place from September 15-18. The final included players who had survived online qualifiers to the live semi-finals. In the end, Ukrainian GM Katerina Lahno, a known blitz specialist, overcame the women's elite and was hailed champion a round in advance. WGM Yana Melnikova provides a deeply illustrated report.

Kavalek at Huffington: Richard Reti's Marvelous Squares

9/19/2010 – You probably learned the rule of the square very early in your chess career. It defines when a king can catch an enemy pawn and is of extreme practical use – if you understand the concept and its consequences. Some important didactic work in this field was done by the world-class player and study composer Richard Reti, as Lubomir Kavalek shows us in his latest Huffington Post column.

With juvenile force...

9/18/2010 – ...the 'experienced' Peter Svidler had ripped open the kingside of 'rising star' Fabiano Caruana at this year's NH Chess Tournament, but now had to find the right way to finish off Black's monarch for good. What would be your choice?
A) 24.Ba4 Bxa4 25.Rxe7;
B) 24.Bxd5 Bf5 25.Qg3+ (Bg6);
C) both continuations win – with such a wrecked king position Black cannot survive.

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

Hungarian Championship 2010: Berkes breaks opposition

9/17/2010 – The 2010 Hungarian Championship, missed out on by elite players Peter Leko and Zoltan Almasi, was won by elo-favorite Ferenc Berkes (2678), who won both stages after overcoming a disappointing lackluster start. The event took place in Szeged, Hungary, considered its most beautiful city, once home to legend Geza Maroczy, and now to Peter Leko. Diana Mihajlova brings us her intimate report.

Ilyumzhinov proposes chess center at Ground Zero

9/17/2010 – There's a new player in the controversy over the plan to build an Islamic community center (a "Ground Zero mosque") just two blocks away from the location of the World Trade Center. The ever flamboyant Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has offered to buy the plot for ten million dollars – outbidding Donald Trump, who offered $7.5 million – and build a king-shaped chess center there instead. Press stories.

BBC lecture: Armenia, the cleverest nation on earth

9/17/2010 – Next Tuesday the 39th Chess Olympiad begins in Khanty Mansiysk, with Russia is the favourite in all categories. But wait – who won the last two? It was Armenia, a tiny country with a total population less than a third that of Moscow. How is that possible – is it something in the water? Gabriel Gatehouse of the BBC tries to answer this question in a wonderfully interesting BBC World Service broadcast.

To be reopened? Fischer paternity suit

9/16/2010 – It seems all fairly conclusive, but Jinky and Marilyn Young's Philippine lawyer Samuel Estimo continues to fight on – despite some fairly compelling DNA evidence, provided by a University Clinic in Germany, against the plaintiffs. Estimo cites circumstantial evidence, including an expensive house Fischer bought for his "daughter" in an exclusive suburb of Manila. Evidence and arguments.

Women's World Chess Blitz Championship: semifinal

9/16/2010 – The semifinals of the first Women's World Chess Blitz Championship took place from which six qualify to the final where they will rejoin ten other players awaiting them. The clear winner was American IM Irina Krush, 1.5 points ahead of 2nd place, WGM Nebolsina. Zhukova, Skripchenko, Gaponenko, and Muzychuk also made the final. Report by WGM Yana Melnikova with many beautiful pictures.

G-Star RAW Challenge with Magnus Carlsen – in videos

9/15/2010 – Last weekend we brought a report describing how Magnus pounded the world in the RAW Chess Challenge. It was staged in New York and had a sparkling row of guests in attendence. The hosts, jeans manufacturer G-Star, had a professional video team capturing it all. Spend some time watching these HD impressions of what can plausibly claim to be the chess spectacle of the year.

Chinese Chess League Division A: Rounds 10-12

9/14/2010 – The monumental 18-round Chinese League Division A, which spans over eight months, played in each team's hometown, pursued its course with three rounds played this weekend. Shangdong continues to dominate with eleven wins, led by Bu Xiangzhi and Hou Yifan. Alexander Motylev is on a seven-win streak and 2848 performance. Here is the pictorial coverage with tactical highlights.

Odessa City Chess Birthday Celebrations

9/14/2010 – The city was founded 216 years ago, and commemorated this with annually with a colorful birthday spectacular. Since it is Ukraine chess plays a prominent role, and this year again there were simuls, a living chess match and many other activities around the nation's favourite passtime. A lot of prominence was present, as you will see in this beautiful pictorial report by GM Mikhail Golubev.

Playchess.com – and now we are nine

9/14/2010 – My, how time flies. It seems like just yesterday we launched our chess game server, with dozens of people waiting at the virtual door when we switched it on. That was September 14, 2001. Today Playchess has grown into the biggest professional chess server in the world, with hundreds of thousands of members and hundreds of millions of games played. Here are some birthday statistics.

Müller: The Beauty of Rook Endings

9/13/2010 – Rook endings occur very frequently, so John Nunn’s latest work, Chess Endings Vol. 2, is particularly useful for the tournament player. Nunn is ideally qualified as an author owing to his vast experience in the field, as Dr Karsten Müller explains in his review. We use it to return to the subject of astronomy and explain how the Orion Nebula made it to the cover of a chess book.

Kasparov beats Short in London fund-raiser

9/13/2010 – "The guest list included over 100 millionaires and three billionaires," says our awestricken reporter Steve Giddins about the Gala fund-raiser in London. It was in benefit of Anatoly Karpov's campaign for the FIDE presidency and included a consultation game between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, which Steve managed to broadcast to Playchess directly from Simpson's-in-the-Strand. Here's his report.

Magnus pounds The World in RAW Chess Challenge

9/12/2010 – It was the chess spectacle of the year. Tens of thousands of spectators joined three strong grandmasters to play the world's highest ranked player Magnus Carlsen. The event took place in a penthouse overlooking New York City, with GMs Maurice Ashley and Garry Kasparov commenting, and Hollywood actress Liv Tyler dropping in. We bring you pictures and the annotated game.

BBC lecture: Seeking the Endgame

9/12/2010 – Got a minute? Actually 25. Simon Terrington has done a lively review of the current state of chess in the world, with special attention to computers intruding into the erstwhile exclusively human game. Some of the program was recorded during the Sofia World Championship earlier this year, and you hear the voices of Anand and Cheparinov. Part one of the report.

Kavalek at Huffington: Chess Great Bent Larsen

9/12/2010 – "I was fortunate to witness Larsen's many victorious drives in tournaments and matches," writes GM Lubos Kavalek in his Huffington Post chess column. "From 1963 till 1986, we played 30 games against each other all over the world." Kavalek show us a game in which Larsen destroys him but wrote "To Lubos, who allowed me to believe in chess beauty." Must read.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (47)

9/12/2010 – The Editor of Chess Notes turns his attention to the Fédération Internationale des Echecs (FIDE), the chess world’s governing body, from the historical standpoint. When, for instance, did the FIDE motto Gens una sumus first appear? There are also references to the Federation’s anthem and to various other administrative and political activities of FIDE since its foundation in 1924.