5/17/2010 – The Max Euwe Veteran-Youth match challenge finished , and can be considered an unequivocal success. Five young Dutch talents had the opportunity to butt heads with experienced grandmasters in serious four-game matches, a rare opportunity to learn and gain experience. Four were beaten by the GMs, 15-year-old Dutch Champion Anish Giri, scored a remarkable 2-2 draw. Final report.

5/16/2010 – In the second round of the Max Euwe event, the action started to heat up as the Youth struck back at the older guard with the weapons young players are usually so well-equipped with: tactics. The one exception was in fact board one, where GM Nigel Short came within a whisper of beating his opponent, 15-year-old rising star, GM Anish Giri. Report after round three.

5/16/2010 – On Friday we reported that the Russian Chess Federation had nominated Anatoly Karpov as its candidate for FIDE Presidency by a quorum vote of 17/32. The incumbent, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that this "decision" was shrouded in clear deceit – "it makes a mockery of Karpov and his team, who believe they are capable of running a future FIDE." Open letter.

5/14/2010 – The 2010 US Chess Championship is taking place from May 13 (round one at 2:00 p.m. local time) to May 25 (possible tie breakers) at the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, which is hosting the event for the second year in a row. The prize fund has risen to $170,000 – more than a 25 percent increase from last year. The winner will take home $35,000. Live coverage on Playchess.

5/14/2010 – ... was Black's reasoning in this position, when he surprisingly uncorked the exchange 19...Bxd5. How would you evaluate the situation after 20.Rxd5?

A) the double attack 20...Qa8 simply conquers a piece;
B) White can save his material by a counterattack;
C) Black wins after all, but the real hammerblow is yet to come.

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

5/14/2010 – Three weeks ago the chairman of the supervisory board of RCF, Arkady Dvorkovich, stated that the Federation had nominated incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as its candidate for FIDE presidency. A quick response by rival Anatoly Karpov said this was a unilateral decision by an Ilyumzhinov ally, not the formal vote that was required. That took place today and nominated Karpov. Details.

5/13/2010 – The location is the same as for the first five Grand Prix tournaments: the Caucasian region in southern Russia. There are 14 players in a round robin, with high stakes, since the players are competing for a place in the candidates' matches. This explains the sluggish start with 76% draws after three rounds. On the other hand, the opening ceremony was quite flashy. Pictorial report.

5/13/2010 – Immediately after the final game of the World Championship match in Sofia GM Robert Fontaine, roving reporter of the French chess magazine Europe Echecs, conducted an interview with the old and new Champion. Anand discussed his thoughts in some key positions, and about the match in general, in a second interview with the Indian news agency NDTV. Definitely worth a watch.

5/13/2010 – The Max Euwe Centrum is located in the Max Euweplein 30-a in Amsterdam. It is a chess promotion center which periodically holds high-category events, like the one that is currently running and pits five talented young Dutch players against experienced grandmasters. Top pairing: Nigel Short vs Anish Giri. Find out why Anish was barred from the opening ceremony.

5/12/2010 – Naturally Anand's victory was celebrated most of all in India, where he has around one billion fans. The broadsheets were full of the event – with rush video or telephone interviews, of which we have a number of examples for you to enjoy. The reporters also descended on Anand's parents and extracted statements from them. Review of the reports and feedback from our readers.

5/12/2010 – The endgame of rook+bishop against rook+knight is also known in chess literature as the Fischer ending, at least if the side with the bishop has the upper hand. The name arose because the American world champion Robert James Fischer was very successful with this distribution of material against Soviet grandmasters, with one of many examples being the fourth game in his Candidates match against Taimanov in Vancouver 1971. Karsten Müller has annotated for ChessBase Magazine Online a recent model example of the Fischer endgame, namely the game Jakovenko-Rakhmanov. ChessBase Magazine Online.

5/12/2010 – In this tutorial on the Playchess software, you will discover some of the new features in the interface related to broadcasts – such as watching several boards at once, not to mention many of the great options available for free to premium accounts such as multimedia commentary of events, and multimedia lectures (openings, famous games, etc.). Don't miss out on the fun.