2/19/2010 – All three games were full of fight: Aronian came close to defeating Gelfand but drew; Vallejo even closer to defeating Gashimov but lost; and Alexander Grischuk had clear winning chances against Veselin Topalov but was outplayed by the Bulgarian in the end. We bring you extensive and deeply insightful commentary on this exciting struggle, provided by GM Anish Giri. Miss it at your own peril.

2/19/2010 – ... was the scenario in this game from the Austrian Bundesliga, where White had just played 28.Bf4-c1, giving his rooks free view to the black king. How would you assess the situation now?

A) White wins due to the threat 29.Rf1+;
B) the game should end in a perpetual check
C) Black wins.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a  larger version of the diagram.

2/18/2010 – This young Vietnamese grandmaster is having an incredible run: after finishing joint first in the very strong Moscow Open, and without a single day's rest, he played in the Aeroflot and clinched sole first with a fine win over Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final round. Second was Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov. Final results, games and pictures from Moscow.

2/18/2010 – In the analysis of Short-Kramnik ("the wrong choice of ending") we saw a knight that had everything under its control triumph over the bishop. But having the superior minor piece does not always guarantee the full point, as can be seen in the game McShane-Sebag. White has an extra pawn and the last black pawn is fixed on the same colour square as the bishop. Black should be able to save the game here, because the winning potential in the position is just too slight. However, the reason for 134....Kd7? being the wrong move and how Black could have held the draw can be seen in Karsten Müller's analysis for  ChessBase Magazine Online.

2/18/2010 – The first pocket PCs all had very similar designs, with standard button and key arrangements. With the improvement of touch screens and the incorporation of mobile phone features, the design has changed, as have the number and functions of the keys in each device. So we need to allow every user to configure our program according to his/her preferences and needs. Here's how it is done.

2/18/2010 – Every so often a player has a run for the ages, and this incredible series inevitably ushers in a new name to be reckoned with at the highest echelons of chess. 19-year-old Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem has just had such a run, passing through the fiercest trial by fire the chess world has to offer, coming first or equal first in two super-strong Russian tournaments. Albert Silver reports.

2/17/2010 – The wait is over, the multi-processor version of our flagship program is now available and shipping. The parallel algorithms have been further optimised and now support up to 16 cores. The new dynamic scaling will also work well with the next generations of multi-core processors. All this make it one of the strongest chess engines around. Here's an interview with the author Frans Morsch.

2/16/2010 – The Hedgehog is a system against the English Opening that's easy to underestimate. In 1982 Lubomir Ftacnik, today part of the ChessBase team, produced a remarkable brilliancy with it against Lev Polugaevsky, one of the world's very strongest players at the time. It is the subject of this week's Playchess presentation by Dennis Monokroussos. See you on the server!

2/16/2010 – In today's round all games were drawn, but all of them were very interesting! Gashimov continued his opening discussion with Grischuk in the Qd3 line of the Poisoned Pawn Variation; Gelfand-Vallejo was a Slav sideline which led to very dangerous play; and Aronian-Topalov saw both sides miss opportunities to improve their chances. Commentary by GM Anish Giri.

2/16/2010 – Five players lead with 5.0/7 points in the A groupe of this prestigious Moscow open tournament – two Vietnamese and three Russians. Eleven GMs from various nations following half a point behind. The female players start at place 48. There are a lot of very nice but uncaptioned pictures on the official tournament site. Thanks for the help in identifying them – there are still a few names missing.

2/16/2010 – This is what happens when you travel half-way around the globe, accept more and more opponents in a strong simul, agree to play with white and black pieces, and start at 1 a.m. body time. You blunder a game against a 12-year-old and make it into the Canadian press. Alexei Shirov showed great sporting spirit in this Ottawa simul. Gordon Ritchie reports.

2/16/2010 – Our GM analyst Anish Giri sent us the following message: "Topalov: novelty, draw; Aronian: ending, technical, still draw; Grischuk: strange prep, maybe even worse, draw." That may be the shortest round wrap-up ever. Indeed after some very exciting games the three draws in round four were fairly uneventful. Draw ratio so far: 83%. Games, results, pictures.