Moves for Life program in South Africa

10/28/2010 – October 26 will be remembered as a turning point in the development and popularization of chess in South African. At a gala dinner the country's President, Jacob Zuma, together with chess officials and industrial sponsors, launched the new program that hopes to emulate the example of other countries to bring chess to schools and young people. There Zuma delivered a memorable speech.

Nanjing R08: Anand threatens to win, all games drawn

10/28/2010 – The round started quietly, with Bacrot and Gashimov quickly shaking hands, for understandable reasons; Wang Yue left the opening against Carlsen up a pawn, but failed to find a way to improve, and the game of the day was Anand against Topalov, with the Bulgarian in chipper spirits, playing a dynamic, optimistic game. Report with game commentary by GM Romain Edouard.

14th Unive Tournament 2010 in Hoogeveen, Netherlands

10/27/2010 – This double round robin tournament is taking place in Hoogeveen, Netherlands, from October 22nd to 30th, 2010. The four players, Alexei Shirov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri and Sergei Tiviakov, have an average rating of 2696 – just five points shy of making it a Category 19. After the first half the two top seeds, Shirov and Vachier, lead. Pictorial impressions by Fred Lucas.

2010 Cap d'Agde rapid - Eight qualify, Nakamura blitzes

10/27/2010 – In the Cap d'Agde invitational rapid, sixteen players were invited including French talents Romain Edouard, Tigran Gharamian, and Sophie Milliet, as well as Vasily Ivanchuk, Judit Polgar and title-holder Hikaru Nakamura among others. Two groups played round-robins, and now the quarter-final matches will start. Report with pictures, videos, and games commented by GM Romain Edouard.

ChessBase Tutorials Open Games review

10/26/2010 – The new ChessBase Tutorials series on openings aims to provide amateurs and club players with a concise, working overview of the openings, providing a booklet, and 24 video lectures in both English and German, presented by eight masters and grandmasters. Each lecture presents the main theory and ideas behind the lines making openings study easier than ever. Review by Albert Silver.

Nanjing R06: Anand beats Wang, Carlsen leads

10/26/2010 – Coming out of the rest day, revitalized World Champion Vishy Anand scored a second win in this tournament, this time over Wang Yue, to move half a point higher on the cross table. Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov both struggled and were quite lucky to get draws, though both their games were tense thrilling affairs. Round six report with analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

2010 World Youth Chess Championship – midway report

10/26/2010 – The 2010 World Youth Chess Championship is underway at picturesque Porto Carras, Greece, and has just completed seven rounds. Nearly 1400 children have come from 87 countries to compete for the World Champion titles in categories ranging from Under-8 to Under-18, including players who are already repeat champions. Here is an illustrated report with many lovely pictures.

Israeli GM Alik Gershon breaks simul world record

10/25/2010 – "Israel destroys Iran – on the chess board". This was the gleeful headline of countless news reports. Last year Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob had played against 500 opponents with a 88.4% score. Now Gershon hast topped that by taking on 523 opponents with a 86% result, and got his name into the Guinness World Records book. We bring you a big pictorial report and videos.

Economist wins European Club Cup in Plovdiv

10/24/2010 – The Russian team won the 2010 title with 13 match points, ahead of four teams with eleven apiece. But the most outstanding performance came from Armenian GM Levon Aronian, playing for Mika Yerevan, who scored 4.5/6 with a 2884 performance that brings him to 2801 (and at least number three in the world) on the next FIDE rating list. Aronian is only the sixth player to cross the 2800 mark.

Nanjing R04: Giri analyses two games

10/24/2010 – Yesterday it was all about Anand's loss to Bacrot, in a position that he could have drawn. Now that the dust has settled (somewhat – the letters are still pouring in), we turn our attention to the two other games that we sadly neglected. Both were drawn but both interesting and one quite nerve-racking. Once again we bring you the entertaining and instructive commentary of GM Anish Giri.

Nanjing R05: Bacrot and Carlsen win

10/24/2010 – Another exciting day: while Anand settled for a safe draw against Vugar Gashimov (to recuperate on the free day), bottom seed Etienne Bacrot continued his rampage with a black-piece win against Wang Yue; and Magnus Carlsen continued his forceful comeback with another fine victory – over second seed Veselin Topalov. Illustrated report with analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

Nanjing R03: Anand beats Topalov with black – all games decided

10/23/2010 – Yesterday all games were drawn, while today, in round three, all three games were decisive, with Vishy Anand and Etienne Bacrot beating Veselin Topalov and Vugar Gashimov, both with the black pieces. Meanwhile Magnus Carlsen celebrated a second victory, this time against Wang Yue with white. We bring you a full report with analysis by GM Anish Giri.

Nanjing R04: Bacrot beats Anand, Carlsen leads

10/23/2010 – After a very nice win yesterday World Champion Viswanathan Anand today suffered a painful defeat when he apparently misjudged an endgame of four pawns vs bishop and two pawns. The winner: French GM Etienne Bacrot, who is now in place two on the table. Anand, it turns out, could have saved the "wrong-colored bishop" endgame, as our resident expert Dr Karsten Müller shows.

Kavalek at Huffington: Chess Champion's Class Act

10/22/2010 – Vishy Anand is the most versatile world chess champion. He is also a class act and gives credit where credit is due. Twice this year, Anand turned the Lasker Variation of the Queen's Gambit, a favorite defense of his former coach Artur Yusupov, into gold – both times against Veselin Topalov. GM Lubomir Kavalek annotates today's game in Nanjing and provides solutions to last week's puzzles.

Romantic king's march in the Silicon era

10/22/2010 – After playing at the Olympiad, and now at home enjoying a much deserved rest, Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi, whose interests range from stand-up comedy to Richard Dawkins, commented on his admiration for Nigel Short's romantic opening choice of the Max-Lange in the 5th round against Laurent Fressinet. He shares here his detailed and highly entertaining notes.

Lisa Lane - The first chess beauty queen

10/21/2010 – While Alexandra Kosteniuk made headlines by promoting beauty and glamor along with her chess, 50 years ago two-time US Women's Champion Lisa Lane graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and was the subject of pictorials in Life magazine, Newsweek, and more. This singular personality was decades ahead of her time in promoting chess. A portrait by Sarah Beth.

Nanjing R01: GM commentary and pictures

10/21/2010 – This is one of the highest caliber events of the year – with three players rated 2800 or higher. After our express report with pictures of the opening ceremonies we bring you full analysis – by French GM Romain Edouard – of all three games of round one, together with some remarkable player portraits by Yu Feng. Round one indepth.

Plovdiv: Three teams lead in European Club Cup

10/21/2010 – After four rounds the Club Cup has three leaders: Socar Azerbaijan, Mika Yerevan and Economist I from Russia. There were some rough clashes and at least one surprise result: Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer defeated Vassily Ivanchuk (but his club lost 1:5). In the women's section AVS and Samaia Tbilisi lead. From Plovdiv we bring you a big pictorial by Elena Mikheeva.

Nanjing R02: All games drawn – but exciting battles

10/21/2010 – When a lay audience sees all the games of a round ending without decision the first reaction is disappointment. But when a strong grandmaster looks at the games they can be filled with excitement – as was the case with our guest commentator today. GM Anish Giri, the rising star of Dutch chess, did express analysis and gives us his take on the round. Now with pictures.

Rook endings are always drawn...

10/21/2010 – , but in tournment practice when the clock is ticking away, it is often anything but easy to discover the correct defence. In this example from the Bundesliga match Werder Bremen-Hamburger SK Radoslaw Wojtaszek (White) on top board for the Hamburg side against Zahar Efimenko could still win, although there were pawns left only on the kingside. Efimenko defended against the attack on his h-pawn by 57...h5 58.gxh6 e.p. Ra5?. Karsten Müller has taken a look at the ending and shows you in his analysis how to liquidate to a won pawn ending and a stalemate trick with a desperado rook. ChessBase Magazine Online.

Ashley’s Secret: Aikido Chess!

10/20/2010 – American GM Maurice Ashley is one of the games premier commentators. He has authored books, traveled the world promoting the virtues of chess and has recently released a DVD in partnership with ChessBase. It offers a new and general strategy: look for what your opponents last move did that actually hurt his position. Review by Michael Jeffreys.

Self-pin - suicide or salvation?

10/20/2010 – In this position from the 20th game of the world title match Alekhine-Euwe 1935, Black (Alekhine) had just played 29...Rd6-a6 putting his pieces in very a delicate situation on the queenside. How would you judge the situation now?
A) equal, Black will unpin on the next move with ...Bb5;
B) White can prevent this manouvre leaving the black pieces on a dead track;
C) he wins material instantly.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Nanjing R01: First blood – Carlsen beats Bacrot

10/20/2010 – After a spectacular opening ceremony the first round of the Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess tournament got under way, with World Number one Magnus Carlsen bouncing back from a string of disappointing results with a clean win over French GM Etienne Bacrot. Anand-Wang Yue and Topalov-Gashimov were both drawn. Commentary to follow, here's our big pictorial report.

Nanjing 2010 - Preview

10/19/2010 – Nanjing 2010 is possibly the hottest round-robin tournament of the year, and is the first in history with three players rated 2800 in it. That it takes place in China is not so surprising considering they not only champion their own oriental values but even classical music. Read the preview, see the 1000 piano extravaganza, and above all, don't miss the breathtaking Yuja Wang!