Hou Yifan beats Ju Wenjun to lead First Women's Masters

4/21/2011 – The top seeds collided in round four, and in that game it was reigning women's world champion who took the full point. This put 17-year-old Hou Yifan a full point ahead of the field. In round five that narrowed to half a point. Hou is now followed by fourth seed WGM Shen Yang and – surprise – ninth seed WGM Gu Xiaobing, who defeated GM Zhao Xue in round four. Report after round five.

CBM Blog: The Domination Game and Slovakian surprises

4/21/2011 – The rook is usually far superior to the bishop in an endgame. In 1993 the remarkable Noam Elkies proved that a certain position that was thought to be drawn was in fact a win for White. The knight really is a tricky piece, as shown by our GM endgame expert Karsten Müller in a second Bundesliga game. His CBM blog provides valuable instructions for novice and advanced players.

Four and a half million games at your fingertips – literally

4/21/2011 – Do you own an iPhone? Or an iPod, or a 64 GB iPad 2 with Wi-Fi and 3G, like some grandmasters we know? If like them you have been reading our info banners you will know that you can now have fast and mobile access to a 4½ million game database, with full statistical information and a game tree. And you can have it in minutes. Price: 3.99 Euros. ChessBase Online for Apple.

2011 US Championships: Hess and Krush first to finals

4/21/2011 – Four and five were the number of straight wins that Hess and Krush respectively posted to secure their spots in the finals. Despite nervy play play from all, Hess showed his nerves were steadier than most, much as Krush who won five straight games after her initial loss. Foisor lost the lead after a slip though should make it. The final two rounds will be intense! Illustrated report with videos.

2011 Russian Team Championship led by Tomsk-400 with 100%

4/20/2011 – Despite being only fifth on the starting line, Tomsk-400 has been tearing the opposition apart with seven wins in seven, featuring Ponomariov and Motylev with 2800+ performances. HSM-64 has also dropped only one draw, spearheaded by teenage stars Caruana and Giri, with Evjeny Najer covering the rear with a 2959 performance! The women's event has also started. Report and pictures.

Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta wins Dubai Open

4/20/2011 – Everyone thought it would be Indian GM Parimarjan Negi, who had led the field for most of the tournament. But in the final round he had to play his compatriat Abhijeet Gupta, with just a draw required to win solo first. However Parimarjan blundered and Abhijeet took the point and the title, while his opponent had to settle for second in a group of four GMs. Final report.

Get your chess degree

4/19/2011 – Learning chess strategy is not only a matter of improving your play. Gaining a new and deeper understanding here is accompanied by a change in view of the game and a refreshed interest in it. GM Mikalchishin's new DVD-series "Strategy University" is an excellent example, providing you with lots of new aspects that you may never have been aware of. Buy it now or read this review.

Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun lead in First Women's Masters

4/19/2011 – The event is taking place in Wuxi, China, and features top national female players. Top seed – by 83 points – and clear favourite is reigning women's world champion GM Hou Yifan, who together with second seed WGM Ju Wenjun has scored 2.5/3 points. To start our reporting on this very attractive event we present the participants in a big picture parade.

2011 US Championships: midway through prelims

4/19/2011 – Past the midway mark of the preliminaries in the US championship, one of the men's groups is seeing 19-year-olds Robert Hess and Sam Shankland take the reins, while the other group is dominated by veterans Kamsky and Shulman. The women's is still led by Foisor followed closely be a resurgent Krush. The illustrated report of rounds three and four includes a video interview with Hikaru Nakamura.

US Championship: Men's qualifiers started, Foisor leads women

4/18/2011 – The 2011 US championship started with the top American players there, albeit missing Nakamura in the men's section, but gaining Seirawan who breaks his eight-year fast. The men's event is still broken into two sections qualifying two players from each section. The women's is a classic round-robin in which Foisor surprised with an opening win over champion Irina Krush. FM Mike Klein reports.

Grivas Training: Building a Repertoire

4/18/2011 – "In contrast to the middlegame and the endgame, where theory is objective and accepted by everyone, in the opening each chess player makes his choices in accordance with his emotions and his personal experience. Noopeningloses, noopeningwins." World renown chess trainer GM Efstratios Grivas explains how you should build your repertoire in Part 3 of his lecture series.

Dubai Open: Ghaem Maghami wins blitz, Negi and Hammer lead

4/17/2011 – Friday was a free day, but there was a blitz tournament, won in a tie-break sudden death blitz game by Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami. In the Open Parimarjan Negi, 18, and Jon Ludvig Hammer, 20, lead with 6.0/7 points. Our attention was, however, caught by a player in place 47. Vahap Sanal is from Turkey and just twelve years old. His performance: 2524. Portrait of a young talent.

Thai Open: Gustafsson ahead of Vallejo and Short on tiebreak

4/17/2011 – All three top seeds entered the final round with 6.5/8 points. English GM Nigel Short smoothly outplayed his opponent, while GMs Jan Gustafsson (Germany) and Paco Vallejo (Spain) had to navigate through tricky endings. But with all three winning their games they ended on 7.5/9 in tie for first. Gustafsson was awarded the trophy on tiebreak. Final report.

Test your Hedgehog IQ

4/17/2011 – White space advantage vs. black bishop pair was the scenario in this Hedgehog position from the English opening. A move by which piece gives the first player a long-lasting initiative?
A) queen
B) knight
C) pawn

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

2011 Russian Team Championship has started

4/16/2011 – An ever intriguing affair, the Russian Team Championship is underway with an impressive array of players and teams. It is a round-robin event with twelve teams, ranging from the ultra-strong CHF-St. Petersburg with a 2719 average Elo and Ivanchuk and Svidler, to MHS-64 bringing in Caruana and Giri. A real treat for chess fans this weekend. Here is a pictorial report after four rounds.

Opinions and proposals in the ECU performance debate

4/16/2011 – The 2011 European Championship generated controversy owing to the unusual tie-break system used. There was a formal protest by GM Peter Heine Nielsen and a thoughtful article by the statistician Jeff Sonas. Naturally we received a large number of letters, and among them two from GMs David Navara and John Nunn. Their proposals are included in the feedback from our readers.

Sonas: Assessment of the EU performance calculation

4/16/2011 – The 2011 European Individual Championship left 29 players with a tied score vying for eight places in the next World Cup. To break the tie the ECU used performance ratings, but calculated them in a way that led to some bizarre results – and to a formal protest by at least one player. Jeff Sonas introduces us to other, more logical systems. As usual his report is presented with exceptional clarity.

Kavalek in Huffington: Chess history from Fischer to Nakamura

4/15/2011 – The 2011 US Chess Championship begins today in Saint Louis, Mo. In 1963/64 Bobby Fischer won all 11 games of Championship, finishing 3½ points ahead his nearest rival. He played in eight U.S. championships and won them all; and at 14 he was the youngest US champion in history. GM Lubomir Kavalek uses the occasion to acquaint us with remarkable results in historic tournaments.

Thai Open: Short takes and loses the sole lead

4/15/2011 – After six rounds English GM Nigel Short was in the sole lead in the Thailand Open 2011, half a point ahead of five players. One of them, German GM Jan Gustafsson, played Short in round seven and downed him with the black pieces. That put Gustafsson in shared first place with top seed Paco Vallejo. The two will meet in a much-awaited penultimate round encounter on Saturday. Pictorial report.

Three lead in the 13th Dubai Open

4/15/2011 – After five rounds of play and before the free day three players share the lead in the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup, each with 4.5/5 points: Indian GMs Krishnan Sasikiran and Parimarjan Negi, as well as Mikheil Mchedlishvili from Georgia. 17 players follow with 4.0/5. Friday is a free day, on Saturday there will be two rounds, starting at 10:00 a.m. local time. Results, games and videos.

Ask the Experts – tonight with Kasimdzhanov and Reeh

4/14/2011 – On Thursday at 21:00h CEST (3 p.m. New York) we will hosting our third "Ask the Experts" show on the Playchess server. The guests are former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov and IM Oliver Reeh. You can direct questions at the experts in the Playchess chat and watch them answer. The broadcast is in English. Here are excerpts from previous shows.

Aruna and Anand have a baby boy

4/14/2011 – It was a carefully kept secret, known to only a few close friends. On April 9th came the phone call: Aruna Anand has delivered a healthy boy, mother and son are doing great. His named Akhil and, in the south Indian tradition, will be called Anand Akhil. Parents, relatives and friends are overjoyed. We celebrate with a pictorial review of the couple. Congratulations Vishy and Aruna!

Master Moves #10

4/14/2011 – All the deepest plans or endgame technique are useless if you fall victim to a shot that leaves you in a lost position. Likewise, sometimes that superior play will only offer a single window of opportunity to deliver that final blow, so it is vital to be ready for it when it does. In this edition all the positions are from the 2011 Chinese Championship and the 1st Mangini Memorial. Burn some neurons.

13th Dubai Open Chess Championship

4/13/2011 – The Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup is taking place from April 9th to 19th, 2011 in the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. It is a nine round Swiss, with time controls of one hour and 30 minutes for the whole game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. We bring you a big pictorial report with panorama 360° views of the chess club, video reports and plenty of new faces.