11/4/2010 – After beating their respective opponents in the semifinals, Ivanchuk and Nakamura met in the final, both of whom have had an excellent year. The Ukrainian immediately took the psychological initiative by choosing a King's Gambit in game one, surprising his opponent, and eventually prevailing in the endgame. Nakamura tried returning the favor in game two, but less successfully. Report and videos.

11/3/2010 – Chess and bottled water – a two-billion Forint company engaged in important environmental projects in Hungary and all over the world – a great team. In 2009/2010 Aquaprofit-NTSK emerged as national champions for a third time, and now they are going for another title. With the likes of Shirov, Naiditsch, Caruana, Beliavsky, Nisipeanu, Kotronias and none other than Vishy Anand on the team.

11/3/2010 – "I like to share my thoughts when I play tournaments," Magnus writes. "Not so regularly I also write about other things." And he does it mostly himself, with occasional assistance from his team during tournaments. The reports appear on the next day – a treasure trove of topical commentary and feelings. Magnus even tweets. Here are some sample blog entries.

11/3/2010 – At fifteen he was Oxford's youngest undergraduate since the 15th Century. He did a PhD on finite H-spaces, lectured on mathematics, and became one of Britain's strongest chess grandmasters. At 55 John's brain is still in top shape, as he showed by winning the problem solving world championship ahead of 70 mostly younger solvers. Truly amazing.

11/2/2010 – The 17th International Chess Festival “M. Chigorin Memorial” is taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia, from October 26 to November 5, 2010. The Rapid section is over, with six players at 7.0/9 points, the classical section is under way, with Ivan Sokolov leading at 5.0/5 points. The prize fund is 1.4 million Roubles = 32,000 Euros or US $46,000. Big pictorial report by WGM Irina Sudakova.

11/1/2010 – Fourteen federations of the European Chess Union have lodged a protest at the appointment by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov of five Vice Presidents, all of whom are political allies or supporters, without the required confirmation of the General Assembly. The letter was forwarded by ECU President Silvio Danialov to FIDE, with a reply requested by close of business on Monday.

11/1/2010 – The 2010 World Youth Chess Championship took place at Porto Carras, Greece, and once more crowned new champions, bringing to the fore names to be remembered. Among the most remarkable were American Steven Zierk, rated 26th at 2391, yet taking the gold with a 2723 performance, and Azerbaijani Kanan Azar Izzat, 35th, and also gold. See the photos of these future stars in the final report.

11/1/2010 – The rivalry between the two Ks is the stuff of legends. In Kasparov vs Karpov 1988-2009, an absorbing new book by Garry Kasparov, the centerpiece is his last world championship match against Karpov in 1990. The highlight was the 16th game with 102 moves, the longest win in world championship history. It contained a very special manoeuvre, which GM Lubos Kavalek describes in his chess column.

11/1/2010 – Truly exquisite play occurred in a little-known game won by Capablanca, at breakneck speed, in a simultaneous exhibition (St Petersburg, 1913). The Editor of Chess Notes presents some text-book discussion and cooperation on the subject among his readers. The pawn ending, involving the complexities of the distant opposition, gives rise to a number of highly instructive manoeuvres.

11/1/2010 – Magnus Carlsen, who has topped the world chess rankings since January 2010, lost a whopping 24 points in the last two-month period. But it is a tribute to the young Norwegian that he could take this and only slip to second place, two points behind World Champion Vishy Anand, who is back on top. Aronian has climbed to number three with a 2800+ rating. November 2010 FIDE rankings.

10/31/2010 – This double round robin tournament in Holland was won convincingly by the second youngest player in the field, top French GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave, who turned twenty a day before the start of the event. Maxime, rated 2721, lost no games, beat top seed Shirov once and Tiviakov twice, finishing a point ahead of the field and gaining 12 rating points. Happy birthday, Max!

10/31/2010 – Black equalises in the Caro-Kann against 3.Nc3; at the moment, only 3.e5 gives White some hope of an opening advantage. Things are as clear-cut as that according to Leonid Kritz. In any case, the German grandmaster also delivers his contribution to proving this statement, at least as far as the second part on the Advance Variation is concerned. In the critical line after 3...Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 he shows how White achieves a slight advantage both against 6...Qb6 and also 6...cxd4. The Olympiad game Karjakin-Eljanov confirms Kritz' analysis. You will find another 11 articles on the DVD of CBM 138. Read: Kritz' complete article