European Club Cup in Plovdiv

10/18/2010 – The European Club Cup is taking place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from October 16th-24th 2010. A total of 351 players are in the open section, with 135 GMs, 61 IMs, and 247 titled players altogether. 24 of them are rated over 2700 Elo, making it one of the strongest team events of the year. The women's section has 64 players with ten GMs, 23 IMs, and 51 titled players. Round one results and games.

Chess sets for the Jet Set

10/17/2010 – Got 140 thousand dollars and not sure what to spend it on? Maybe you have a few thousand lying around, and are just trying to meet your monthly chess quota. If you have been frustrated by our reviews and recommendations of relatively inexpensive items, let us make it up to you with a profile on chess sets designed exclusively for the rich and famous.

Tigran Kotanjian wins 3rd Karen Asrian Memorial

10/16/2010 – Spoiler: that's not him in our thumbnail, but a warrior carved in stone by the Jermuk lake. The third anniversary tournament for Karen Asrian, who died in June 2008 at the age of 28, was staged in the health resort in southern Armenia, and was won by seventh seed Tigran Kotanjian. Participants Siranush Andriasian and Liana Aghabekyan sent us a big illustrated report.

Twelve minutes for the new ChessBase 11

10/16/2010 – You know the feeling: the new program has arrived – as it did this morning at our doorstep. We want to install it, but that is going to be very tedious. Will everything stop running? Are we going to ruin a working system? Maybe we should do the installation tomorrow, or on Monday?! This time we took the plunge and started the DVD. In twelve minutes everything was running perfectly. Proof.

New simultaneous world record attempt in Israel

10/15/2010 – Next Thursday (October 21st) the Guinness record for simultaneous display will be challenged once again in the heart of the city of Tel-Aviv. GM Alik Gershon is going to face more than 500 opponents in Rabin Square, next to the town hall of the Israeli cultural capital, trying to defeat the official record set just 14 months ago in Teheran. Details.

Bilbao: Kramnik wins Chess Masters and eleven rating points

10/15/2010 – The 14th World Champion is in great form: after a good showing at the Olympiad he has now won the Shanghai-Bilbao Chess Masters, ahead of the 15th and reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand. World number one Magnus Carlsen was third with a loss of nine rating points. We bring you our final round report with GM commentary by Romain Edouard.

Bilbao: Carlsen comeback – Magnus beats Shirov

10/14/2010 – After a disastrous start – he lost his first two games – and some shaky moments in a subsequent encounter, the world's highest ranked player at last showed his regular form with a fine victory in an Arkhangelsk against Spanish GM Alexei Shirov. Kramnik vs Anand drew an exciting Ragozin in 37 moves. Round five report with GM commentary by Romain Edouard.

Bilbao: Two tough battles, both end in draws

10/13/2010 – All games drawn, again – but what exciting action! Vishy Anand was very close to winning against Alexei Shirov, then got into some trouble himself. Magnus Carlsen played all-out win-or-lose and almost managed to do the latter, holding against Vladimir Kramnik, who still leads the event. For you we have analysis by GM Romain Edouard and a splendid pictorial by Fred Lucas.

Monster Chess - Giant robot LEGO® chess set

10/13/2010 – There was a time LEGO® was the domain of children alone, then along came adults who decided they needed to outdo the kids, and there are even serious LEGO® artists who exhibit all around. Team Hassenburg put together a project dubbed "Monster Chess" made of over 100,000 LEGO® chess pieces, which they presented at Brickworld. See the videos of this giant robot LEGO® chess set.

Kavalek at Huffington: Chess Bundesliga Kicks Off

10/12/2010 – Five years ago, the current French women's champion Almira Skripchenko, became a poster girl for the German Bundesliga, arguably the world's strongest national chess team competition. Kicking the chess pieces, she made a symbolic connection between soccer and chess. GM Lubomir Kavalek annotates a round one game of the new Bundesliga season.

Your Next Move - Kasparov plays simul broadcast online

10/12/2010 – In an event organized by Your Next Move for the fourth time, promoting chess in schools and its status as a sport, Garry Kasparov played a simul against top Belgium CEOs, politicians and a selection of children. The event was broadcast online with live and lively commentary by GM Nigel Short and IM Almira Skripchenko. Here is a fun sample of scenes from the show.

Bilbao: Both games drawn, Carlsen battles for 175 moves

10/11/2010 – Anand, who is now number one in the world rankings, played Kramnik in one of the latter's specialities: a Catalan. Both players were well prepared and the result was an inevitable draw. Shirov-Carlsen was a Breyer that resulted in a totally messy position – but what else can you expect in a game between the two? We bring you the games with extensive analysis by GM Romain Edouard.

Sexy and smart: Natalia on Brazilian Radio Xadrez

10/11/2010 – She is beautiful, smart, fun and super strong in chess. We are talking about the WGM Natalia Andreevna Pogonina, 25 years old, a resident of Saratov in Russia. At 2491 Elo points (she's had up to 2501), she defended the #1 board of Russia-2 in the Chess Olympics. Now Natalia, a law student, has given an indepth interview on different aspects of her life.

The Gashimov Saga and Azmai's reaction

10/10/2010 – Perhaps the most significant story in the run-up to this year’s Olympiad was the Azerbaijan team’s decision to leave out Vugar Gashimov. They paid the price at the chess board (finishing 12th), but there were also more problems between the team and the captain Zurab Azmaiparashvili, who lost his FIDE Vice Presidency and now threatens to sue the World Federation. The conflict continues to rage.

2010 Bilbao Masters: Kramnik wins second straight.

10/10/2010 – The second round of the Third Masters Final was precipitous, with two decisive games. Kramnik struck again, this time overcoming Shirov after the latter was punished for neglecting his development. Carlsen had an endgame against Anand that was perfectly under control when he went astray and never found his way back. Games, analysis, and an illustrated report on A Day in Bilbao.

Khanty-Mansiysk pictorial: all players identified

10/10/2010 – A few days ago we published some very nice portraits of Olympiad participants. They were all taken from the official web site, where they appeared without captions. So we asked chess fans to help us identify the players. The results are now in and we can present you with the names and some biographical information of all of the players. And: the prize winners have been informed.

2010 Bilbao Masters: Kramnik draws first blood against Carlsen in round one.

10/9/2010 – If Carlsen's many fans had hoped to see a change of fortune after his less than dazzling Olympiad result, today was not that day. Vladimir Kramnik capitalized on the opportunities missed by his opponent to press home his accrued advantage with an attractive win. Shirov and Anand debated a Ruy Lopez Berlin where neither had any compelling new arguments. Round one report.

A pinned rook on g2...

10/9/2010 – ... usually is not the best defender of the white king, and here the first player had just managed to cover the mate threat on e1 with his last move 27.h2-h3. How would you assess the situation now?
A) Black wins with 27...Rg5
B) Black wins with 27...Rh5
C) neither nor, White can defend in both cases.

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

Huffington Post: How to Make Chess Cool

10/9/2010 – Chess as a marketing tool is both a strength and a weakness. It is unique enough to reach a niche market but misunderstood enough to confuse. 39 million people in the US play chess, other statistics claim 600-700 million people worldwide know how to play. So clearly a lot of people know the rules to the game; whether they truly understand beyond that is another story. Article and videos.

2010 Bilbao Masters preview

10/8/2010 – Though you may barely have caught your breath after all the chess from the Olympiads, brace yourself as the Third Masters Final starts tomorrow, featuring world number one Carlsen, World Champion Anand, and the qualifiers from Shanghai: Kramnik, and Shirov, in the highest-rated event in history. The opening ceremony took place today with the drawing of lots. Read the preview.

Road to Grandmaster

10/8/2010 – Can a 21-year-old Class A player become a grandmaster on command? Will Taylor of Bridgwater, UK, rated around 1900, believes he can. The English bookmakers William Hill believe he can't and offered odds of 25:1 against it happening. Taylor has wagered £200 with them, with a potential return of £5,000. We will be helping him along and tracking his progress.

Maurice Ashley: The Secret to Chess

10/8/2010 – Since going into a self-imposed hiatus from tournament chess, GM Maurice Ashley has not rested on his laurels as arguably one of the game's premier commentators. He has authored a couple of books, traveled the world promoting the virtues of chess and has recently released another DVD in partnership with ChessBase. Review in Chess Drum.

2010 Chess Olympiad : Statistical overview

10/5/2010 – Want to know who the largest performers were? Which team won the most games, not to be confused with the most matches? How about the teams that did well, but won the fewest games? Curious about who the biggest Elo winners were? If any of these questions are gnawing at you, then read on as we give you the lowdown on the Olympiad’s stats, with table after table to sate your curiosity.

Kavalek at Huffington: Ukraine wins Chess Olympiad

10/5/2010 – To win gold medals at any chess olympiad, you need exceptional performances of at least two players, who know how to take risks and collect points. But you also need a few others who can steady the team – solid players hard to defeat. If that is not enough, you need some luck. The team of Ukraine had it all at Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk. GM Lubomir Kavalek annotates.