Aeroflot Open 2010 – Le Quang Liem in the lead

2/12/2010 – After three rounds of this massive tournament GM Le Quang Liem is the only player left with a clean score: three wins in three games. He is followed by another Vietnamese GM (and a Bulgarian and a Russian), with 31 players behind them – of whom two are female and one an IM. We bring you results and games, plus photo impressions by WGM Yana Melnikova.

Norwood's Bahamas beneficiary simul

2/11/2010 – David Robert Norwood, 41, is a grandmaster, writer and a successful businessman. These days he lives on an island, far away from the mainstream of chess, business, or in fact society in general. Where exactly is a secret, but you may draw your conclusions from a simultaneous exhibition David gave to support the Caribbean Chess Sub Zonal scheduled for June this year. Report by Kean Smith.

ChessBase show: James Tarjan, the librarian GM

2/10/2010 – Many of America's best players have abandoned the game and gone into other fields – like GM James Tarjan who in 1984, while still in his early 30s, became a librarian. He was an exceptional player, and in this week's Playchess presentation by Dennis Monokroussos we get to see two games which will rivet your attention.

ChessBase Magazine 134 now shipping

2/10/2010 – It is the essential electronic (and 52-page print) magazine for any serious chess player. Edition 134 contains extensive material – games, GM analysis, multimedia commentary – on the FIDE World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, the London Chess Classic and the World Team Championship in Bursa, plus the latest openings surveys by leading experts. Don't miss it.

Zugzwang

2/10/2010 – Although there are of course beautiful examples of zugzwang in the middlegame, it is much more a motif from endgames, many of which could not be won without zugzwang. Even when there is a clear superiority in material, as for example in the duel between a rook and a bishop, it is often only possible to make progress by employing zugzwang. Here is a typical example. After 68.Kb5 Black could, with the correct continuation, have retained his chances of a draw. What that was and the instructive winning method used by White after 68...Bc5? are things you can find out from Karsten Müller's analysis in  ChessBase Magazine Online.

Pocket Fritz 4: More formats, more chances

2/9/2010 – Pocket Fritz 4 supports the file formats CBH (ChessBase game database), CBV (ChessBase zipped game database) and CTG (ChessBase opening book or tree), which are familiar to users of other ChessBase products. This is an important qualitative and quantitative step that gives you access to a wide range of chess data, with unquestionable advantages introduced in this article.

Aeroflot Open 2010 has started in Moscow

2/9/2010 – The 9th Aeroflot Open is taking place from Feb. 9–18, 2010, in the tourist complex Izmailovo Hotel Gamma-Delta. The prize sum is EUR 180,000. There are four open tournaments (A1, A2, B and C) which are made up according to the rating of the participants. The A1 tournament has players with a rating of 2550 or higher. Results and games of round one.

Chernyshov wins Moscow Open 2010

2/8/2010 – This event took place from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7, just before the 9th Aeroflot Open (Feb. 8–19) – which meant that many strong players were in the Russian capital to participate in both tournaments. Four players shared first in the Moscow Open, with 7.0/9 points. The winner was Konstantin Chernyshov on tie-break, with the decisive factor being that he had the most wins. Illustrated report.

Bisik-Bisik with Garry Kasparov – Part 3

2/7/2010 – In the first part Garry talked about his growing up years and his collaboration with Magnus Carlsen. In part 2 he touched on the preparations made for his very first match against Karpov and the recent K-K anniversary exhibition match. In this third part Kasparov answered questions about “making a comeback”, his family, politics and a new variant of Fischer Random chess. Interview.

Sherlock Holmes chess

2/6/2010 – A very original sequence happened in this Sicilian encounter from the recently finished festival in Wijk aan Zee. The black knight is attacked, but onto which square it should go now is only one question (A).
The other interesting issue is: what was actually White's last (and best!) move (B),
as a reaction in turn to which black move (C)?
What do you think, Watson?

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

Gibtel Masters – Adams wins in play-offs

2/5/2010 – Nine players were tied for first after ten rounds, and four went into the tiebreaks. British GM Michael Adams eliminated first Jan Gustafsson of Germany in an Armageddon game, and then Francisco Vallejo (who had knocked out Indian GM Sandipan Chanda) to take overall victory at the Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar. There was a prominent visitor during the second half of the event. Final results.

Fire on board...

2/4/2010 – ... has become Alexei Shirov's trademark. In the tournament in Wijk aan Zee, which Shirov started with five wins in a row, the 37-year-old chess magician from Riga once more justified this reputation. In many middlegame positions he managed to put his opponents under pressure with inventive attacking play. And even in the endgame, one always has to take into account that Shirov might set the board on fire. This happened in the eleventh round in his game against Vladimir Kramnik, where he played 35.c5! in the diagram position. GM Karsten Müller has analysed the endgame for ChessBase Magazine Online.

Mr ‘First Saturday’ – Laszlo Nagy in Budapest

2/4/2010 – Once a month a world-renowned tournament is conducted in Budapest. It provides budding players with an opportunity to test their skills and achieve title norms. Carlsen, Sutovsky, Milov, Radjabov, Sofia Polgar, Nakamura have passed through the grinding mill of the tournament that has been running for 17 years now, organised by a former chemist in the Hungarian army. Big pictorial report.

Gibtel Masters – four leaders with one round to go

2/3/2010 – The leaders, with 7.0/9 points, are Sergei Movsesian, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Michael Adams and Jan Gustafsson. The Gibtelecom Chess Festival is being held in Gibraltar, which is basically a giant rock on the Spanish Mediterranean coast (but a British overseas territory). In winter it is populated by chess players, who on a free day's outing got to know some of the native residents.

ChessBase show: Colle against the Queen's Indian

2/3/2010 – Due to a problem with the server, or at least his connection to it, last Wednesday night's ChessBase presentation by Dennis Monokroussos was cut off practically from the very beginning. So we'll try it again this week at the usual hour: Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET/Thursday morning at 3 a.m. CET. The hero of our narrative: Frederick Dewhurst Yates.

Fritz 12 – learning without the manual

2/2/2010 – It is not a completely trivial task to get to know all the functions of a program as sophisticated as our chess playing flagship Fritz 12. You can browse through the condensed handbook or read the extensive reference manual supplied with the program. But now you can also simply follow multimedia instructions, recorded by an expert. Visit the new Fritz 12 workshop by Nick Murphy.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (36)

2/1/2010 – The Editor of Chess Notes discusses a quintet of positions submitted by readers. The common theme is that in each case it has so far proved impossible to find the full game-score. Can further details about the games be discovered? Even if not, readers will certainly enjoy some entertaining and instructive play from a cast which includes Ehlvest, Nimzowitsch, Pachman, Simagin and Soultanbéieff.

Magnus Carlsen wins Wijk aan Zee 2010

1/31/2010 – The top seed and leader of the A-Group, Magnus Carlsen, drew his final game, as did his main contenders, which left the 19-year-old Norwegian the sole winner of the tournament. His FIDE ranking in the next list will most likely be the second highest in history. Kramnik and Shirov share 2nd-3rd. In the B-Group Anish Giri was first, ahead of top seed Naiditsch. Illustrated report.

Gibtel Masters – live video and three hours of Spassky

1/30/2010 – The Chess Festival in Gibraltar has set up an innovative broadcast suite called Archie, costing £100,000, which provides live audio and video streaming from the playing venue. The host is GM Stuart Conquest, who yesterday invited the guest of honour Boris Spassky to join him "for a few minutes". This turned into nearly three hours! Here are links and the solution to our Tannhäuser puzzle.

Wijk 12: Anand beats Kramnik, Carlsen leads

1/30/2010 – Vishy Anand drew the first nine games of this event, and was to be found in the bottom half of the field. Today the World Champion beat his 2008 challenger Vladimir Kramnik, and after a win in round ten he is now in place four. After a draw against Peter Leko, Magnus Carlsen leads alone, half a point ahead of Kramnik and Shirov. The final round games begin an hour earlier tomorrow. Illustrated report.

Gibtel Masters – Adams, Fressinet, Gustafsson lead

1/29/2010 – An Englishman, a Frenchman and a German – sounds like the start of a tired old music-hall joke – are in the lead with 3.0/3 points in the Masters group of the 8th Gibtelecom Chess Festival in Gibraltar. They are Michael Adams, Laurent Fressinet and Jan Gustafsson. Notworthy: Super-GM Ivan Cheparinov drew after a queen-sac brilliancy by Norwegian amateur Victor Havik. Round three report.

Danny King: Power Play 12 – The Hedgehog

1/29/2010 – You know him from the live commentary of Wijk aan Zee on Playchess. Grandmaster Daniel King has been a professional chess player for more than twenty years. At the same time he has distinguished himself as a coach, helping many of England‘s younger generation to achieve their potential. He can help you too, with his popular Power Play DVDs, of which there are now a dozen.

Wijk 11: Carlsen wins again, catches Kramnik

1/29/2010 – Vladimir Kramnik was in a bit of trouble with his Petroff against Alexei Shirov, but his defences held. Meanwhile his main rival in this tournament, Magnus Carlsen, kept up the pressure and his opponent Leinier Dominguez cracked in time trouble. With that he caught up with Kramnik on the scoreboard. Carlsen's trainer Garry Kasparov showed us some lines in a previous game. Illustrated report.

Wijk aan C

1/28/2010 – Seeing all these superstars at the Corus Tournament 2010, one can easily forget that also the C-group provides a wealth of highly interesting chess. For example this game, where White after Black's last move 23...Bg7-f6 had to parry the attack on his queen. The strike 24.Rxf5 in your opinion leads to what?
A) advantage for White;
B) balanced play;
C) advantage for Black.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a  larger version of the diagram.