5/7/2010 – The Grünfeld was finally back after the disaster in game one – if anything to show Anand's house was in order. The opening went well and he equalized easily, but a very sharp Topalov found a way to lead him astray. A classic endgame with a bishop pair advantage followed. The Bulgarian made inroads and pushed, but a finesse by the Indian put a halt to them and secured the draw.

5/6/2010 – In round eight Tatiana Kosentseva was in trouble but managed to draw bottom seed Betul Yildiz. Since her main rivals lost their games it was enough to put her a point and a half ahead of the field. In round nine Tatiana drew again, while Hou Yifan and Pia Cramling won, so that the gap, two rounds before the end, is one point. Illustrated report.

5/6/2010 – Recently Anatoly Karpov, candidate for the Presidency of FIDE, suggested that the incumbent President had yet to receive official support from any major chess federation. Wrong, says Ali Nihat Yazici, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had received support from his, the Turkish Chess Federation. Meanwhile Ilyumzhinov has moved into the international news spotlight with a story of alien abduction.

5/6/2010 – The longest game of the match. Anand switched to a Nimzo-Indian, forsaking the Catalan that had served him so well. His choice seemed to be vindicated as Topalov found himself in trouble in an ultra-complicated endgame with an imbalanced position. Anand made it to the winning line more than once, but faltered at the last moment. The Bulgarian's resilience paid off with a draw.

5/5/2010 – Former World Champion Garry Kasparov was in Norway to speak at the Oslo Freedom Forum – but also to meet up with his young colleague and sometime student Magnus Carlsen, currently number one in the world rankings. The two were interviewed by the national NRK TV. We have translated and transcribed some of the material and provide you with the video and screen grabs.

5/5/2010 – In this game Topalov and Anand again played the Slav Variation that Anand had used successfully in games three and five. This time he ended up with a miserable looking position, however Topalov allowed a bishops of opposite colour endgame. Anand got a completely drawn position and then blundered. In contrast to game seven both players played poorly. All very odd, thinks IM Malcolm Pein.

4/30/2010 – ... was the constellation in this game, where Black just had played 28...Bg5 targetting the weak spot on e3. What do you think, which assessment is valid in this situation?
A) White has the advantage, but the realization of his plus pawn is difficult;
B) he can win instantly;
C) the position is balanced;

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

4/30/2010 – The players played a hard fought Slav in game five, repeating the opening from game three. This time, we were able to finally see what is expected of World Championship match play, and what makes it so different from tournaments: a war of opening preparation, thematically played, with incremental attempts to improve on earlier play. Express report.

4/30/2010 – This week ChessBase Magazine's endgame expert Karsten Müller analyses the endgame from Ghaem Maghami-Aleksandrov, played in the Dubai Open 2010. It is an instructive rook endgame in which the correct checking distance for the rook has an important role to play. Remember: when the pawns are on a single wing, generally speaking one extra pawn is not enough for victory, as long as the attacking pieces are not allowed to become too active. In the position in the diagram it is White's move and his task is to find a satisfactory defence (which he didn't). What would you recommend?

4/29/2010 – Four local grandmaster (Mamadyarov, Rajabov, Mamadov and Guseinov) are joined by four foreigners (Kramnik, Kamsky, Polgar and Sutovsky) are taking part in an eight-player rapid round robin event in Baku, Azerbaijan. After two rounds Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is in the lead, after having beaten Vladimir Kramnik in the second round. Illustrated report.

4/29/2010 – This event, which is taking place from April 25th to May 8th in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia, has produced eight white win (and zero with black) in three rounds. In the first bottom seed Betul Cemre Yildiz of Turkey produced a shock win against the Grand Prix leader Zhao Xue of China. GM Tatiana Kosintseva leads with 2.5/3 points. Illustrated report.

4/29/2010 – Nigel Short called game four "superb stuff from Anand," while NIIT wrote: "Anand goes into the second rest day tomorrow with a psychological edge, while it's another sleepless night for Topalov." We have collected another bunch of news stories and, after the very detailed on-the-spot analysis by GM Anish Giri yesterday, we bring you new commentary by IM Malcolm Pein.