6/14/2010 – Regular readers of the ChessBase news page know that since his retirement from over-the-board chess John Nunn has developed an increasing interest in astronomy. Other players like Viswanathan Anand have also taken it up as a serious hobby. During the World Championship in Sofia Christian Sasse gave both John and Vishy time on his remote telescopes. John Nunn reports.

6/13/2010 – In the first part Vishy Anand spoke about his expectations for the World Championship match in Sofia (the interview was conducted in December 2009). In part two he talked about match preparation, psychological tricks and the ominous "killer instinct". In the concluding section Anand discusses movies, "preparation music"and whether he still reads opening books. Part three.

6/13/2010 – He is not so jaded as some may think. Garry Kasparov was recently in Tel Aviv, Israel, as the winner of the "Name your Hero" competition, and did his 30-game simul thing, winning every game as usual. But he was most excited about meeting the famous scientists who had won the Dan David prizes. Like Leonard Kleinrock, who had failed to transmit the word L-O-G-I-N. Big illustrated report.

6/13/2010 – ... White had to consider when in this position he went for 21.Bxa6 with the threat 22.Rd6. How would you assess the situation after this?

A) White simply wins a piece;
B) the ultimate consequence is an endgame with white material advantage;
C) everything vanishes into thin air.

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

6/13/2010 – 20-year-old Sergey Karjakin came straight from a victory in the World Rapid Cup in Odessa; Moldavian GM Viktor Bologan had won his ninth and tenth round games. Both scored full points, against Sutovsky and Motylev respectively, in the final round to finish at 7.0/11. Karjakin took the final victory on tiebreak points. Final report.

6/12/2010 – After nine rounds Dimtry Jakovenko was leading by half a point, ahead of Sergey Karjakin, with four players half a point behind the latter. In round ten Jakovenko lost to Alexander Onischuk, while Karjakin drew. The other results left four players in the lead before the final round. We bring you a pictorial report by our colleagues from ChessPro on caged animals and suckling pigs.

6/12/2010 – The 2009 tournament was a highlight of the chess year – and returned London to its former status as a great world centre of chess. The sponsors vowed to continue with the Chess Classic, and for this year's edition – from December 8 to 15 – they have secured the participation of the World Champion Vishy Anand plus the world number one Magnus Carlsen. This is an event you should not miss.

6/12/2010 – "For a Brighter Future" is the campaign slogan, the mission statement includes the fair allocation of tournaments, transparency, sustainable sponsorship, chess in schools and on the Internet. The German Chess Federation President, Prof. Robert von Weizsäcker (pronounced "fon why-tsecker"), is running for the European Union presidency, with a team of four grandmasters. Details.

6/11/2010 – In December 2009 Jaideep Unudurti conducted an indepth interview with Viswanathan Anand. Some of it was published in Mint – a collaboration between the Hindustan Times and the Wall Street Journal – but a lot fell on the cutting room floor. Thankfully Jaideep saved the entire interview, which provides deep insights into the personality of the current World Champion. Here's part two.

6/11/2010 – The event is taking place on June 4-14 2010. It was opened with pageantry and politics, with a spectacular Arabic dance number and with Morten Sand campaigning for the Norwegian city of Tromsø to stage the 2014 Chess Olympiad. International dignitaries, including FIDE Presidential candidate Anatoly Karpov, were informed. Pictures and videos by our colleagues at Europe Echecs.

6/11/2010 – A remarkably simple concept underlies the Spanish Exchange Variation: White swaps off all the pieces and wins the pawn ending. On his new Fritz Trainer DVD Andrew Martin explains you this concept, that was once brought to perfection by Bobby Fischer. "An excellent DVD", says Lance Martin at chesscafe.com.Buy it now or read more.

6/11/2010 – The following instructive bishop versus knight endgame arose in the encounter Lu Shanglei - Ji Dan, played during the Chinese Championships 2010 in Xinghua. With his strong central knight, White is dominating the bishop, which is tied to the defence of the pawns on c6 and g6. White also has a 3:2-pawn majority on the kingside, which is just waiting to be set in motion. But, despite these weighty positional advantages it is not a simple matter to crack open the black position. What do you think? Which continuation did Lu Shanglei choose in order to make progress? GM Karsten Müller for ChessBase Magazine Online.