12/31/2009 – FIDE has just released its January 1st 2010 rating list, and it has the 19-year-old Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen with 2810 in the number one slot, five points ahead of number two Veselin Topalov, and twenty points above World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Magnus is the youngest player to cross the 2800 mark and to top the world rankings. Congratulations!

12/30/2009 – There were chances of a late-round upset, but in the end the two leading players stayed in front, winning the men's and women's sections by half a point. Alexander Grischuk had a 2851 performance that will put him on place nine in the world on the next rating list. Alisa Galliamova won the women's title with a 2715 performance. The two picked up $25,000 and $11,700 respectively. Final report.

12/30/2009 – In 1856 the great Sam Loyd composed a chess problem, which 75 years later inspired Alexey Troitsky, one of the greatest composers of endgame studies, to create a puzzle with a similar theme. It proved to be flawed. 75 years after Troitzky another great composer, Pal Benko, took up his problem, improved on it and submitted it for our Christmas Puzzle page.

12/29/2009 – When 21-year-old Paul Morphy travelled to Europe in the summer of 1858 he destroyed all opposition. Except for one of Europe's chess heroes, who avoided a confrontation. Howard Staunton would only play consultation games, where you can blame a loss on your partner. In his Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us an interesting example. Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET.

12/29/2009 – That's a praiser of past times, conservative, old fashioned, classic. It describes our reporter at the International Chess Congress in Hastings – 28th December 2009 through to 5th January 2010 – but also the event itself. Steve Giddins, who received a Latin phrasebook for Christmas, is said reporter. We are using "oldstyle" ChessBase diagrams to keep him happy. Round one report.

12/28/2009 – ... was the situation in this recent game from the German Bundesliga, where White to play had to calculate the consequences of 27.Rf7-f4+. How would you assess the position after that (diagram)?
A) White is better; 
B) the position is balanced; 
C) Black has the advantage.

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

12/20/2009 – ‘Goal-oriented oppositionally paired dualities’ are certainly enjoyed by our readers, whether they realize it or not. In plain English, the term means ‘games’, but not all authors seem capable of writing plainly. A selection of pretentious and trite passages about our beloved duality is offered by the Editor of Chess Notes in an article which is guaranteed to have your head spinning well before Christmas.

12/20/2009 – When Magnus Carlsen convincingly outplayed that well known openings connoisseur Peter Leko in the very first round of the tournament in Nanjing, the world of chess pricked up its ears, because the Norwegian had done so with a Scotch, an opening which in modern times has been associated above all with the name of Garry Kasparov, who is now known to be Carlsen's trainer. This game spurred Igor Stohl on to take an extremely close look at the variation employed. Here is the complete article, one of a total of 12 on the DVD of CBM 133.
Stohl: Scotch with 10.f4

12/19/2009 – A number of subsidiary events took place during the Chess Classic in London, one of the most attractive of which was the Women's Invitational. It was won by a "chess tourist", Arianne Caoili of Australia, who had planned to visit London with her boyfriend Levon Aronian to see the sights. When he did not obtain his visa Arienne decided to play in the Invitational. Big pictorial report.

12/19/2009 – It is billed as the "Battle of the Giants", between tenth World Champion Boris Spassky, 72, and multiple World Championship challenger Viktor Korchnoi, 78. The latter is still very active in competitive play, while Spassky has essentially retired from chess. In the first game an exhausted Korchnoi (he had rushed to Kalmykia from London) put the pressure on Spassky and won. Illustrated report.

12/17/2009 – The final agreement between FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation Stefan Sergiev was signed in Sofia, Bulgaria. The prize fund is two million Euros (we are told that it is to be transferred to FIDE on January 10th). Ilyumzhinov met with the President Georgi Parvanov of Bulgaria, who is guaranteeing the conditions of the match. FIDE press releases.

12/17/2009 – ... of the Najdorf used to be one of the favourite weapons of Bobby Fischer when he wanted to play for the full point (i.e. practically always). Nowadays many lines have been analysed out to a draw, yet the fascinating complications keep on attracting players. This position occurred at the last Bundesliga weekend. After 28...Ra7, which assessment is true in your opinion: A) Black has a won position; B) White must give perpetual check; C) he actually wins.

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