Kasimdzhanov: Beating the French Vol. 2

2/28/2011 – The French Defense is one of those fascinating defenses that never seems to lose its luster at all levels. Rustam Kasimdzhanov just released three DVDs to remove the veil of mystery, with the second on the position arising after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6. French enthusiast Kevan Cowcill gives his in-depth review – with pictures of a biologist in the Yukon.

Gustafsson's Marshall Gambit: best chess opening DVD ever?

2/28/2011 – "Maybe!" says Dennis Monokroussos. "If you play the Marshall Gambit you would be insane not to buy this disk, even if you're a grandmaster. Gustafsson is one of the world's absolute experts on the Marshall, and in the intro clip he says he's going to tell the viewer everything he knows. Yeah, right! Then you watch the DVD and realize that – gasp! – he might be telling the truth." Review.

Four pawns for the piece ...

2/27/2011 – ... the first player had in this position from the current Women Grand Prix. Yet the black Nf8 is safeguarding the kingside single-handed, while the white minor pieces on the queenside are not participating in the game. How is your judgement here? White is...
A) ... winning
B) ... a shade better
C) ... actually slightly worse
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Bartel wins Polish Championship despite a disturbing thought

2/27/2011 – Mateusz Bartel (2617) and Jolanta Zawadzka (2371) won the Polish Chess Championship men’s and women’s sections respectively. Both the winners came clear first, scoring 7/9. GM Bartel won the tournament for the second time in a succession and showed a respectable 2789 performance. That in spite of disturbing night-time thoughts. Pictorial report by Piotr Kaim.

Can anyone (or anything) stop this lady?

2/26/2011 – She was born in Baku in 1978, but is of Armenian origin and plays for that country. At the Women's Grand Prix in Doha GM Elina Danielian is on fire. She has won her fifth game in a row and leads the field with 5.0/5. Three players, Pia Cramling, Martha Fierro and Marie Sebag, follow two points behind. Big illustrated report with lovely photos by Maria Bolshakova and and Nastia Karlovich

Garry and Dasha win 20,000 for ailing children

2/26/2011 – In Georgia there is a TV show modeled after "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” The prize sum is quite modest by Western standards, but when Garry Kasparov and his wife Dasha took part they had pledged to donate their winnings to a brother and sister who urgently need heart surgery. We have all the questions and challenge you to match your wits with the former World Champion.

Danielian leads Women's Grand Prix with 3.0/3

2/25/2011 – Danielian Elina is in great form in Doha, Qatar. The Armenian GM has won her first three games and leads the event, ahead of Martha Fierro Baquero and Nana Dzagnidze with 2.0/3 each. Martha, an IM from Ecuador and nominally the bottom seed, scored a victory against the second seed from Georgia. The event has seen eight black wins, six with white and only four draws. Illustrated report.

Nigel Davies: Bamboozle your opponents with 1.g3

2/25/2011 – He's made a DVD about the King’s Indian Attack, as well as one on 1.g3. So it was nice for GM Nigel Davies to see his fellow DVD presenter Andrew Martin transpose into the latter using the former! In a recent game Black was forced to play …c6-c5 and contract serious weaknesses. After this Martin trussed him up like a chicken and executed him on the kingside. Instructive video lesson.

Chess in the War – Part II

2/24/2011 – Here’s a question which no chess magazine editor would ever want to face – what do you put in your magazine in the event of a world war? The November 2010 issue of CHESS looked back at how BH Wood coped with the onset of World War Two, and how difficult running a magazine became as the war escalated. Today John Saunders takes another look into chess in the war years.

HIARCS 13 – the perfect analysis partner

2/23/2011 – The British chess program Hiarcs, written by Mark Uniacke, won its first computer chess world championship in 1991. Today it is still famous for its sharp attacking style and the ability to find the unexpected moves that are so useful when looking for novelties and new possibilities in a position. Top chess players including World Champions have used Hiarcs in their preparations. Get your copy now.

Kavalek in Huffington: new King Tut puzzles

2/22/2011 – Last week GM Lubomir Kavalek, writing in his popular Huffington Post column, presented some unusual chess problems that entailed burying the king inside a sarcophagus of eight pawns – invoking memories of the Egyptian King Tutankhamun, who spent 3,245 years undisturbed in his tomb. This week we get solutions to last week's problems and a slightly different King Tut motif.

After Deep Blue: IBM's Watson defeats Jeopardy champs

2/22/2011 – In 1997 Deep Blue defeated the world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. It was considered a stunning achievement and a significant step forward in the field of artificial intelligence. Fourteen years later another IBM computer that is about 100 times faster than Deep Blue beat the best humans in an exhibition game of Jeopardy – and received world-wide attention.

Andrew Martin – Black is OK in the Benko

2/22/2011 – "The running time of six hours can seem a little daunting when you think about how to find that kind of time to devote to watching a DVD. However, the video files mostly run twenty minutes (more or less), so it is easy enough to watch one or two segments per day; and, once you begin, each segment leaves you looking forward to the next." Review in Chess Cafe.

The 6th Women's FIDE Grand Prix in Doha has started

2/22/2011 – With turmoil in one Arab state after another the Emirate of Qatar is enjoying peace and paying host to a FIDE Women's Grand Prix (Feb. 22nd to March 5th). Five former Women's World Champions are present, four playing and one on the Appeals Committee. In the first round there were five out of six decisive games, with Black scoring four wins. Illustrated report.

World Blitz Championshp Qualifier: Videos!

2/21/2011 – After the last round of the Aeroflot Open, a qualifier for the World Blitz Championship was held, which brought in several top players to join in the fray, such as Mamedyarov, Karjakin, Grischuk and more. Though game scores are not available, someone with a camcorder made sure the event was not reduced to a mere crosstable with results. Here are videos by Sergey Sorokhtin.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (58)

2/21/2011 – One of the most sensational moves ever seen on a chessboard was played in Liverpool in 1910. The game was published in a contemporary magazine, only to be ignored by the chess world for nearly a century. Finally, though, the move was hailed as perhaps even exceeding Marshall’s ‘golden’ 23...Qg3 for beauty and shock value. The Editor of Chess Notes relates an extraordinary case.

Master Moves #6

2/20/2011 – All the deepest plans or endgame technique are useless if you fall victim to a shot that leaves you in a lost position. Likewise, sometimes that superior play will only offer a single window of opportunity to deliver that final blow, so it is vital to be ready for it when it does. All the positions in this column are from the Aeroflot Open A and B. Can you see as sharply as an eagle?

The Deloitte/FIDE Chess Rating Challenge

2/20/2011 – Statician Jeff Sonas and Kaggle, a site specializing in data modeling with regular prediction competitions, have launched a new online contest to develop a more accurate chess rating system. Professional services firm Deloitte provides a $10,000 prize to the winner, and FIDE will also bring a top finisher to Athens, Greece to present their rating system. Report and California pictorial.

Correspondence Chess Database 2011 – an invaluable aid

2/19/2011 – "This DVD can be a valuable tool for all chess players," says Chess Cafe reviewer Bo Bredenhoff. "CC players can find data about all his or her opponents, making it an invaluable aid in preparing for a new tournament. Upon using it myself for a while, I can really recommend it for all chess players!" The DVD contains 834,849 games, many thousands with expert analysis. Review, sample.

Andrew Martin: Anyone up for the Grob?

2/19/2011 – Amateurs are always trying to emulate top chess professionals. But trying to play like a grandmaster is useless for 99.99% of casual chess players, says chess trainer IM Andrew Martin, who instead advocates understanding one's limitations and doing what is possible. Why not try an off-beat opening, like the one created by his hero IM Henri Grob? Annotated games.

Aeroflot Open: Le Quang Liem supreme; Mamedyarov wins blitz

2/18/2011 – It had seemed like a no-brainer to predict a second straight win for Le after his incredible start, but a loss to Cheparinov almost changed the whole story. Then it was the Bulgarian who had a shocking loss to Vitiugov, allowing his opponent to reap the benefits of his victory from the previous day. Mamedyarov won the World Blitz Qualifier and with the report we have a pictorial by Yana Melnikova.

On a knife's edge ...

2/18/2011 – ... was this game from the current Polish championship where White had just played his knight to f3, heading for e5 but allowing its colleague to strike on f2. What do you think? The one to win after this (29...Nxf2) is...
A)... Black
B)... White
C)... neither side (equality)

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

Women's Championship 2011 – Gaziantep or Tbilisi?

2/18/2011 – The Individual European Women's Championship 2011 was given to Gazaintep in Turkey – with for the first time a prize fund that was larger than the corresponding Men's Championship. After a disagreement with the European Chess Union the Turkish Chess Federation withdrew its bid. It was renewed – now with an increased prize fund. But chances are it will go to Tbilisi, Georgia. Politics as usual.

Play like a Girl – new book by Jen Shahade

2/18/2011 – She has a knack for catchy titles: after her first book, Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport, two-time US Women's Champion Jennifer Shahade has written a prequel which is a showcase of puzzles by top women players in history. Jen cleverly reverses the insulting connotation of the title phrase. She has also provided us with a stylish video trailer.