10/23/2010 – Yesterday all games were drawn, while today, in round three, all three games were decisive, with Vishy Anand and Etienne Bacrot beating Veselin Topalov and Vugar Gashimov, both with the black pieces. Meanwhile Magnus Carlsen celebrated a second victory, this time against Wang Yue with white. We bring you a full report with analysis by GM Anish Giri.

10/23/2010 – After a very nice win yesterday World Champion Viswanathan Anand today suffered a painful defeat when he apparently misjudged an endgame of four pawns vs bishop and two pawns. The winner: French GM Etienne Bacrot, who is now in place two on the table. Anand, it turns out, could have saved the "wrong-colored bishop" endgame, as our resident expert Dr Karsten Müller shows.

10/22/2010 – Vishy Anand is the most versatile world chess champion. He is also a class act and gives credit where credit is due. Twice this year, Anand turned the Lasker Variation of the Queen's Gambit, a favorite defense of his former coach Artur Yusupov, into gold – both times against Veselin Topalov. GM Lubomir Kavalek annotates today's game in Nanjing and provides solutions to last week's puzzles.

10/22/2010 – After playing at the Olympiad, and now at home enjoying a much deserved rest, Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi, whose interests range from stand-up comedy to Richard Dawkins, commented on his admiration for Nigel Short's romantic opening choice of the Max-Lange in the 5th round against Laurent Fressinet. He shares here his detailed and highly entertaining notes.

10/21/2010 – While Alexandra Kosteniuk made headlines by promoting beauty and glamor along with her chess, 50 years ago two-time US Women's Champion Lisa Lane graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and was the subject of pictorials in Life magazine, Newsweek, and more. This singular personality was decades ahead of her time in promoting chess. A portrait by Sarah Beth.

10/21/2010 – This is one of the highest caliber events of the year – with three players rated 2800 or higher. After our express report with pictures of the opening ceremonies we bring you full analysis – by French GM Romain Edouard – of all three games of round one, together with some remarkable player portraits by Yu Feng. Round one indepth.

10/21/2010 – After four rounds the Club Cup has three leaders: Socar Azerbaijan, Mika Yerevan and Economist I from Russia. There were some rough clashes and at least one surprise result: Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer defeated Vassily Ivanchuk (but his club lost 1:5). In the women's section AVS and Samaia Tbilisi lead. From Plovdiv we bring you a big pictorial by Elena Mikheeva.

10/21/2010 – When a lay audience sees all the games of a round ending without decision the first reaction is disappointment. But when a strong grandmaster looks at the games they can be filled with excitement – as was the case with our guest commentator today. GM Anish Giri, the rising star of Dutch chess, did express analysis and gives us his take on the round. Now with pictures.

10/21/2010 – , but in tournment practice when the clock is ticking away, it is often anything but easy to discover the correct defence. In this example from the Bundesliga match Werder Bremen-Hamburger SK Radoslaw Wojtaszek (White) on top board for the Hamburg side against Zahar Efimenko could still win, although there were pawns left only on the kingside. Efimenko defended against the attack on his h-pawn by 57...h5 58.gxh6 e.p. Ra5?. Karsten Müller has taken a look at the ending and shows you in his analysis how to liquidate to a won pawn ending and a stalemate trick with a desperado rook. ChessBase Magazine Online.

10/20/2010 – American GM Maurice Ashley is one of the games premier commentators. He has authored books, traveled the world promoting the virtues of chess and has recently released a DVD in partnership with ChessBase. It offers a new and general strategy: look for what your opponents last move did that actually hurt his position. Review by Michael Jeffreys.

10/20/2010 – In this position from the 20th game of the world title match Alekhine-Euwe 1935, Black (Alekhine) had just played 29...Rd6-a6 putting his pieces in very a delicate situation on the queenside. How would you judge the situation now?
A) equal, Black will unpin on the next move with ...Bb5;
B) White can prevent this manouvre leaving the black pieces on a dead track;
C) he wins material instantly.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

10/20/2010 – After a spectacular opening ceremony the first round of the Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess tournament got under way, with World Number one Magnus Carlsen bouncing back from a string of disappointing results with a clean win over French GM Etienne Bacrot. Anand-Wang Yue and Topalov-Gashimov were both drawn. Commentary to follow, here's our big pictorial report.