Zalakaros Chess Festival 2010

6/23/2010 – IM Tamas Horvath is the organiser of this impeccably run event, which takes place in a pretty little spa town in the Balaton lake region of Hungary, an oasis of peace and tranquility. The 2000 Euro first prize drew a large number of titled players: nine GMs, 22 IMs and 19 FMs, WGMs and WIMs. Young talents abound. You will see many new faces and this big pictorial report.

Medias R7: Carlsen wins fourth game in a row

6/22/2010 – The Kings Tournament has moved to its original location in Bazna, and Magnus Carlsen continues his amazing series, scoring his fourth consecutive win, this time on the white side of a Sicilian Dragon against Teimour Radjabov. The performance of the 19-year-old Norwegian: 2955. Gelfand defeated Nisipeanu and is now alone in second place. Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

From the Z1 to the Singularity – Zuse's 100th birthday

6/22/2010 – The German engineer and computer pioneer Konrad Zuse was born one hundred years ago today. He is considered the inventor of the world's first programmable computer, and the first high-level programming language. This anniversary leads us to pause and consider how far we have come in a single human lifetime – and where the development of computers is leading. Food for thought.

Medias R8: Carlsen draws (at last), leads by one point

6/22/2010 – For a while there, towards the end of his game against Boris Gelfand, it looked as though the Norwegian super-GM was going to pull off a fifth victory. Actually Magnus Carlsen had escaped from some pressure exerted by his Israeli opponent. Radjabov-Ponomariov ended in a draw, while Wang Yue messed up his white game against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and lost. GM commentary.

Medias R6: Carlsen's hat-trick against Ponomariov

6/21/2010 – Two games in round six of this Category 20 Super-GM ended in draws, but the ever astonishing Magnus Carlsen struck out again, for the third time in succession and with the black pieces, this time goading Ruslan Ponomariov into complication which the young Norwegian understood better. His performance so far is 2919, his "live rating" 2821. Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

Openings surveys in CBM 136

6/21/2010 – After 6...c5 in the Vienna Variation of the Orthodox Queen's Gambit, theory frequently stretches far into the middlegame. But recently 6...h6 has come into contention – Kramnik, Aronian and Ivanchuk have all tried it. If this alternative turns out to be reliable, Black will have an elegant option to simply avoid the thicket of variations after the main move. Evgeny Postny has looked into the subject and provided us with thorough analysis of top games. His conclusion is cautious, since the idea is still fresh. But in the next issue of CBM there will be fresh annotated games with 6...h6. Read: Postny: Vienna with 6...h6.

Ivanchuk wins Capablanca Memorial with 2839 performance

6/21/2010 – Vassily Ivanchuk has won the Elite Group of this auspicious tournament, for the fourth time – something no other player has yet achieved. Second was 19-year-old GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, followed by Leinier Dominguez and Nigel Short. The FIDE presidential campaign has hit Cuba, with both Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Anatoly Karpov visiting the closing ceremony. The former came there bearing gifts.

The Rybka4 Book – a treasure trove for tournament players

6/21/2010 – Two weeks ago we brought you an interview with the Rybka4 autor Vasik Rajlich. Today his openings specialist Jiri Dufek, who was a member of the Veselin Topalov World Championship team, tells us about the Rybka4 Book, which was generated with a 100-core machine and which not only makes the program even stronger – it also contains important novelties for tournament players. Part one.

Cheparinov wins Ruy Lopez Masters with 2904 performance

6/20/2010 – The Master Group of the Ruy Lopez International Chess Festival 2010 was an eight-player Category 14 event (average Elo 2599), with mainly young and ambitious chess talents participating. It was won with a stunning 6.0/7 score by Ivan Cheparinov, known for seconding and assisting former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov. Report with beautiful pictures by Jorge Armestar Marroquin.

Medias R5: Carlsen strikes again, leads the field

6/20/2010 – It's not easy being the hot favourite in a Category 20 tournament – anything but clear victory would be considered a sensation. Well, top seed Magnus Carlsen has set to work. After three draws he has won two games in a row and leads the field ahead of Radjabov and Gelfand. On the free day there was a soccer match. Pictures and GM commentary of round five.

Smeets, Peng win the 2010 Dutch Championships

6/20/2010 – Anish Giri, the reigning champion, and Jan Smeets led the 2010 Dutch Championship from the start. They were joint leaders until the penultimate round, when young Anish lost to veteran Loek van Wely. In the final round Smeets secured the title with a three-move draw against the tail ender. In the women's section Peng Zhaoqin won her twelfth title. Final report.

No things by halves...

6/20/2010 – ... but a whole piece White had already invested into his attack in this game. How would you assess the position after the greedy capture 24...Rxb2?

A) Black wins;
B) White checkmates;
C) there is dynamic equilibrium.

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

Nepomniachtchi chasing Ivanchuk in Capablanca Memorial

6/19/2010 – 19-year-old GM Ian Nepomniachtchi started with four draws before losing to Ivanchuk in round five. Since then the tide has changed: first he defeated Alekseev in a 66-mover in round six; then he took Bruzon's Berlin Defence apart; and finally Ian had a bit of luck against Nigel Short. Now, with two rounds to go, Ian is just half a point behind the leader, Vassily Ivanchuk. Round eight report.

EC funds children's chess tournament in Tashkent

6/19/2010 – We don't often see a non-sports international organization funding a chess tournament, especially a children's one. But that is exactly what the European Commission recently did in Uzbekistan. The event was organized by Europa House in Tashkent, together with the Uzbek Chess Federation, on the International Children's Day. Beautiful pictorial report by Jamshid Begmatov.

Medias R4: Carlsen plays the King's Gambit in the King's Tournament!

6/18/2010 – Have we seen this opening in top tournament play in the current century? After all it's supposed to be refuted. Magnus Carlsen used it in his game against top Chinese GM Wang Yue (possibly to avoid the Petroff) and won a full point. Radjabov and Ponomariov also won their games, making it 3-0 for White in this round. Radjabov and Carlsen lead. GM commentary by Dorian Rogozenco.

Icelandic Court: Fischer’s remains can be exhumed

6/18/2010 – On April 1st of this year we reported – and it was not a tasteless April Fool's joke – that the remains of former World Champion Bobby Fischer could be exhumed to settle a paternity dispute. The District Court of Reykjavik did not allow it, but now the Iceland Supreme Court has overturned this ruling after receiving new evidence from the claimant Marilyn Young. The story is in the international news.

The struggle against the blockading pieces

6/18/2010 – 154 moves had already been played in the game Aronian-Dominguez, when Aronian carried out a brilliant idea in the form of 155.Qb6+!. The intention is, after the forced exchange of the blockading queen with 155...Qxb6 156.Bxb6 and the bishop sacrifice Kxb6, to support the advance of the white passed pawn duo with 157.Kh5. So far, so good.
But what does White play if Black does not take the bishop but sets up a new blockader in front of the passed pawns with 156...Bg6? GM Karsten Müller has analysed the ending for ChessBase Magazine Online.

11th ASEAN + Age Group Chess Championships

6/17/2010 – Following the string of successful events, the ASEAN Championships were held in Subic Freeport, Olongapo City, Philippines from 4th to 13th June 2010. Participants competed in the U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U20 age groups for girls and in the open section. At the ASEAN Conference Norway presented its bid for the 2014 Olympiad. Pictures and videos by Europe Echecs.

Ivanchuk leads Capa Memorial with MMDCCCLXXXI performance

6/17/2010 – The XLV edition of the annual tournament dedicated to the greatest Cuban chess player ever, José Raúl Capablanca, is VI rounds deep. Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk is in top form and has scored IV plus half a point in VI games, followed by Nigel Short with III plus one half and a MMDCCLXVIII performance. What is wrong with us, you ask? As usual we have caught the Roman numeral fever.

One for Black, one for White

6/17/2010 – Last weekend Viktor Bologan became co-winner in the top-class Poikovsky tournament. The Moldavian GM is also a great chess trainer and has recorded two Fritztrainer DVDs, one on the Philidor Defence (for Black) and one on the Sicilian Rossolimo (for White). Sean Marsh reviewed both and recommends them especially to advanced players. Place your order now or read this review.

Dutch Championships: Giri, Smeets lead, Peng with 6.0/6

6/16/2010 – The 2008 and 2009 Dutch Champions, Jan Smeets and Anish Giri, are duly in front after five rounds, in the women's section Peng Zhaoqin's has scored a phenomenal 6.0/6. Meanwhile Loek van Wely participated in a medical experiment to record emotional reactions during the game. His opponent tested them sorely with a 13-fold repetition. With beautiful pictures by Frans Peeters.

Medias R3: Radjabov beats Ponomariov

6/16/2010 – After errors by Ruslan Ponomariov in a King’s Indian Teimour Radjabov built up pressure and won rather easily in 48 moves. Nisipeanu-Wang Yue was a quiet draw in the Petrov’s Defence. Carlsen-Gelfand saw the Moscow Variation of the Semi-Slav. Gelfand neutralized White’s attacking intentions and in fact got a slightly better endgame, which was a draw. GM commentary by Dorian Rogozenco.

Karpov releases platform, ticket to be announced

6/16/2010 – It's been a few days since we looked in at the race for the FIDE presidency. Ilyumzhinov already announced his ticket and platform, now it's Anatoly Karpov's turn. Eight pages of policy includes finances, federalism, and, of course, the World Championship. He's also made known almost all of his ticket and we're sure you'll recognize the latest addition.

Medias R2: All games drawn, Gelfand, Nisipeanu lead

6/16/2010 – In the second round of the Turneul Regilor in Romania all three games ended in a draw. Wang Yue tried to outplay Ponomariov in a quiet Catalan endgame; Gelfand-Nisipeanu was balanced and resulted in a safe endgame with knights versus bishops; Radjabov-Carlsen, the longest game of the round, saw the Norwegian equalise and vainly press for a win. Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco.