11/26/2009 – He lost in round two of the World Cup against 16-year-old Wesley So of the Philippines. Vassily Ivanchuk, one of the all-time greats of chess has taken it to heart and announced that he no longer considers himself a professional player. "Chess will become hobby for me from now on – I will just be a chess fan," said the heart-broken Ivanchuk. FIDE interview.

11/25/2009 – A very shocking day: Peter Svidler and Teimour Radjabov lost their games with the black pieces, Alexander Morozevich and Vassily Ivanchuk with white, making a comeback in the return round on Wednesday even harder. We have to go down to board eight to see a favourite (Grischuk) actually win. We bring you a full updated report with highlights and pictures by Galina Popova.

11/25/2009 – Games full of tactical ups and downs and mating motifs rightly charm every chess fan, and so it will come as no surprise that a successful attack on the king always represents a dainty morsel for all chess lovers. We have selected and annotated two attractive attacking games from the Russia Cup in Saint Petersburg. In the first of them (diagram) we see how Ian Nepomniachtchi sets about an uncastled Sicilian king. In the second game, a Ruy Lopez, Alexei Fedorov managed to reduce to rubble the castled position of the black monarch. IM Michael Kopylov for ChessBaseMagazine Online.

11/25/2009 – That would be fourth seed Alexander Morozevich, who lost 0-2 to Czech GM Viktor Laznicka; fifth seed Teimour Radjabov, who went down against Konstantin Sakaev, and Vassily Ivanchuk, who was eliminated by 16-year-old Wesley So. Top seed Boris Gelfand had a narrow scrape against Farrukh Amonatov, and Peter Svidler equalised against Tomi Nyback. Impressions by GM Peter Heine Nielsen.

11/24/2009 – After Bobby Fischer and before Magnus Carlsen, the "Best in the West" was the Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman. He played many games against Anatoly Karpov – including two title matches – beating the former world champion no fewer than eleven times. One remarkable game is the subject of this week's Playchess lecture by FM Dennis Monokroussos. Be there and watch.

11/24/2009 – A total of 1324 participants from 90 countries took part in six age groups, for boys and girls, at this World Youth Championship in Turkey. A great success for the host nation was the bronze medal for local talent Kübra Öztürk in the Girls U18 section. A protest has been submitted by the Israeli Chess Federation because no anthem was played for the winner of the Girls U14 section. Results and games.

11/18/2009 – Three minutes for the entire game, two seconds' increment per move – this fast version of chess produces its own brand of drama, with wonderful chances and bitter tragedies going hand in hand. There was plenty of that at the World Blitz Championship in Moscow – you can watch it all unfold on the Playchess server. Here are some highlights from day two.

11/18/2009 – Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian chess phenomenon, has won this event with 31.0 points from 42 games, three points ahead of World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who himself finished three points ahead of the next-closest rival (Sergey Karjakin). Carlsen's overall performance was 2894, Anand's 2835. In fourth place we find Vladimir Kramnik. Results, games and statistics.

11/17/2009 – A few days ago former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik won the brutally strong Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow, scoring 6.0/9 with a 2883 performance that increases his FIDE rating by 13.7 points. He is now on fourth place in the "live rankings" – and clearly striving for more. Kramnik talks about the event and his aspirations in this Interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

11/17/2009 – The Tal Memorial and the World Blitz are tremendously exciting events, followed with great enthusiasm by fans all over the world. But both have been characterised by an unusual dearth of pictures on our news pages. Put it down to the flu. But with our photographers recovered we can return to normal reporting and present you with a big photo report by Misha Savinov.

11/17/2009 – Yesterday World Champion Vishy Anand was leading Magnus Carlsen by two points, today the Norwegian caught and overtook his Indian friend, finishing with 21.0 points from 28 games, with just two draws on his account. Both lost a game to Alexandra Kosteniuk. Anand is now second, one point behind, followed by Sergey Karjakin, 1.5 points below Anand. Results, games and statistics.

11/16/2009 – The German Schachbundesliga – team chess championship – is the strongest in the world, with 273 players from 34 countries in 16 teams. The top female player is IM Anna Musychuk of Slovenia. The 2009/10 season went into its second weekend with rounds three and four. Werder Bremen, had to play without their top Azeri players owing to visa problems. Pictures, results and games.