4/6/2010 – These championships are taking place from April 1–10 in Dagomys, Sochi, close to the Russian border with Georgia. The area is famous for its botanical gardens, tea plantations and spectacular scenery, with Caucasus Mountains overlooking the Black Sea. Ten teams are competing in the Premier League, eight in the Higher League and seven in the Women's section. Report after round five.

4/6/2010 – Commentators have remarked that certain masters have favourite moves, an example being Gideon Ståhlberg’s liking for the pawn advance ...c4 in the Queen’s Gambit Declined and the French Defence. The Editor of Chess Notes gives a number of examples of such predilections and invites readers to delve further into the subject on the basis of research with databases.

4/5/2010 – Cementing its status as the epicentre of the chessboxing universe, London’s historic Boston Dome hosted three action-packed fights. Followed by a sell-out 500-strong crowd. It was the first of five UK chessboxing events planned for London in 2010, ably promoted by Tim Woolgar of the GBCBO, in partnership with the WCBO. Pictures by James Bartosik, report by Rajko Vujatovic.

4/4/2010 – On the first day of this month our readers expect us to produce a fake news report. We published three stories on April 1st, one about the Large Hadron Collider and the concern it has raised in some grandmasters; the possible exhumation of Fischer's remains; and the discovery that Magnus Carlsen was the second cousin of Hollywood actor Matt Damon. Did you guess right?

4/3/2010 – Fritz is one of the best known and most widely used chess programs in the world. ChessBase recently released the Deep Fritz 12 downloadable version. This is an excellent initiative and allows players in remote locations to receive their software instantly. There are a few restrictions, but many useful features are available.Buying an activation key will lift all restrictions. Review by Zhigen Lin.

4/2/2010 – ... Black had spotted in this position when he went for 28...Bh3 to allow his c-rook to forcefully occupy the second rank while clearing the diagonal b6-g1. How would you assess the situation after the capture of the bishop?
A) Black wins; 
B) the position is balanced;
C) White gets the advantage.

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

4/2/2010 – They are known as the ‘post-Carlsen generation’: young players not so dependent on computers, not obsessed with the opening theory, looking for much more practical and aggressive play. They are Wesley So, Berbatov, Nyzhnyk – and Richárd Rapport of Hungary, who became a grandmaster at thirteen and who has now launched a professional career. Indepth portrait of a young professional.

4/1/2010 – On Tuesday, at 13:06h CEST, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland/France achieved the world's first seven tera electron volt collisions. It was a great moment in physics, but also a topic of discussion in GM circles for some years now. There is reason for their concern: could the LHC generate micro black holes that destroy the earth? Theories and explanations.

4/1/2010 – After his death on January 17, 2008 an Icelandic court awarded Bobby Fischer's estate to his wife Miyoko Watai. Then Marilyn Young, Fischer's "Filipina live-in partner", filed a claim on behalf of her eight-year-old daughter Jinky, who she says was fathered by the former World Champion. Now it appears the case will be settled by the disinterment of Fischer's remains for DNA testing. Press release.

4/1/2010 – Two weeks ago we published an interview by the German magazine Der Spiegel with Magnus Carlsen, with a picture that one of our readers found familiar. "He looks remarkably like my son," thought Professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige of Lesley University of Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a little research we discovered that the two are second cousins. Guess who the American relative is.

3/31/2010 – Every book on rook endings tells us that positions with pawns on the same wing are usually drawn, even when one side has an extra pawn. In Nice, Magnus Carlsen demonstrated that even with an equal number of pawns (four against four on the kingside) there are still plenty of practical chances, especially in a rapid game. Playchess spectators were enthralled to see how a hopelessly drawn endgame turned in the hands of the Norwegian into a winning position. In his analysis for ChessBase Magazine Online, Karsten Müller reveals to you exactly where Carlsen's opponent Ponomariov left the path which led to a draw.

3/30/2010 – The world economic crisis is being felt in chess. In Bulgaria the the annual MTel tournament has been cancelled this year, and the very popular Mainz Chess Classic has been reduced to a three-day simul and open. Still, two world champions are part of the former, and a very large elite field of GMs is expected to play in the latter, which carries a prize fund of €30,000. Press release.