9/23/2010 – The second round continued with disparate pairings, but this time, instead of the oddball upset, top teams stumbled against opponents they were expected to beat. Who would have thought Bulgaria with Topalov would go down to Croatia, much less Azerbaijan, with Mamedyarov and Radjabov, to Vietnam? They no doubt dearly miss Gashimov now. Round two report with videos and games.

9/23/2010 – This is one of the best-known principles in rook endings, formulated by Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch (1862-1934), who was at the turn of the century one of the strongest players around as well as being an extremely influential chess theoretician on account of his writings on chess which earned for him the nickname of Praeceptor Germaniae. Now, you will certainly point out that in this position from the game Acs-Timman the white rook is already in position behind the passed h-pawn. And yet, White found a strong move which is in total harmony with the Tarrasch rule. Analysis by GM Karsten Müller on ChessBase Magazine Online.

9/23/2010 – It has been reported that former World Champion Boris Spassky is in intensive care after suffering a stroke in his Moscow apartment. Doctors said that after receiving an emergency call they discovered the 73-year-old Spassky in a semi-conscious state, paralyzed on his left side. They said his condition was grave. We wish our dear friend Boris Vasilievich a speedy and complete recovery.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.