Ponomariov catches Nakamura, loses tiebreak

7/17/2009 – The American GM Hikaru Nakamura had led the tournament from the start, and looked like a slam-dunk winner. But in the last round he drew his game, while former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov won his, and both finished at 6.5/9 points. Nakamura went on to win the blitz tiebreak games 2-0 and was thus the winner. We bring you games and final standings in our final illustrated report.

Mainz 2009: We are not looking for short term commitments

7/17/2009 – Just ten days, three hours and 54 minutes (at the time of writing) until the Chess Classic Mainz 2009 begins. This year will see World Champion Vishy Anand defend his series of titles in the Rapid World Championship against Levon Aronian, Arkadij Naiditsch and Ian Nepomniachtchi. There are many other events, including the world's biggest Rapid Chess Open. Interview with the sponsor.

SO Kavala still the best in Greece

7/16/2009 – In the past weeks three important tournaments took place in Kalithea, Greece. First, the youth individual championships, for all ages up to sixteen; secondly, the final four matches of the Greek Cup; and finally, there was the Greek National Team Championship. All were hotly contested, with no love lost, but with serenades on a guitar soon following. GM Dejan Bojkov reports.

Adrian Mikhalchishin: Grandmaster, author and chess trainer

7/16/2009 – Born in 1954, GM Adrian Bogdanovich Mikhalchishin (or Mihalcisin or Mihalčišin) established himself as a strong grandmaster who was the second to World Champion Anatoly Karpov. He went on to become an internationally renowned trainer and a prolific author of chess books. Adrian discusses his life and the strategy of chess training in this interview with Özgür Akman.

Watch the man behind the new Philidor Defence

7/16/2009 – Just a couple of years ago the shocking pawn sacrifice 5.g4 entered the theory of the dignified Philidor Defence. If you check with the ChessBase online database, you will find 208 games and an amazing score of 64% for White. The creator of this ultra-sharp new line, Alexei Shirov, recently recorded a Fritz Trainer DVD on both the new and the classical Philidor. Buy it now or read more.

Benjamin and the Philidor Defense

7/15/2009 – There is nothing (too) wrong with Philidor's Defense, and its notable advocates include stars like Nisipeanu, Beliavsky, Azmaiparashvili and –- at least in the 2009 World Open – Joel Benjamin. It seemed to go pretty well for him, at least until his round seven game against Polish IM Jacek Stopa, which is the subject In this week's Playchess lecture by Dennis Monokroussos. 9 p.m. ET.

2009 Canadian Open: five players lead with 4.0/4 points

7/15/2009 – They are GMs Victor Mikhalevski, Hua Ni, Mark Bluvshtein, Surya Ganguly and FM Raja Panjwani – the latter is the top player on his team at the University of Western Ontario. Top seed Alexei Shirov conceded a draw against Chinese GM Zhao Xue and dropped to second berth, which he shares with 12 other players. Big illustrated report with annotations by GM Alexander Shabalov.

The World’s Oldest Chess Club: Part II (1914–1945)

7/14/2009 – In August there will be a spectacular event celebrating the 200th jubilee of the oldest chess club in the world: the Schachgesellschaft Zürich, which was founded in 1809. Attendees include Kasparov, Anand, Karpov, Korchnoi, Kramnik, Spassky, Ponomariov and Topalov. To prepare you for the jubilee Richard Forster and Christian Rohrer retrace the historical development of the club.

San Sebastian: Nakamura leads with 5.0/6

7/14/2009 – This Category 18 event – averaging rating 2682 – is being dominated by American GM Hikaru Nakamura, who after six rounds of play has put a full point between himself and his nearest rivals, Peter Svidler and Maxime Vachier Lagrave. There are three rounds to go. Here are the games, results and a pictorial report by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich which includes the free day activities.

The Zalakaros Chess Festival

7/13/2009 – Just prior to the start of summer there is a noteworthy event which for 28 years has held a prominent place in the Hungarian chess calendar. Zalakaros is located in the south western part of Hungary, 200 km far from both Budapest and Graz. The event is favoured by many Hungarian GMs and IMs, in addition to players from further abroad. Pictorial report by Diana Mihajlova.

2009 Canadian Open Chess Championship

7/13/2009 – For the second time in recent memory, Alberta plays host to the Canadian Open. As in the 2005 edition, the top seeds sit amongst some of the best players in the world. Alexei Shirov has returned to defend the title he split with GMs Mark Bluvshtein and Vassily Ivanchuk, and has scored two fine victories in the first two rounds. Illustrated report with annotations by GM Alexander Shabalov.

ChessBase Magazine and Pocket Fritz 3

7/13/2009 – If you own Pocket Fritz 3, you will have known for some time that the program allows you convenient access to almost all the data from the ChessBase Magazine DVD (since CBM 126). This means that the combination of Pocket Fritz 3 and ChessBase Magazine is unbeatable training and reference tool when you are away from home. Peter Schreiner gives more details…

Dortmund 9: All games drawn, final result still open

7/12/2009 – Vladimir Kramnik played a fine black game against his compatriot Dmitry Jakovenko, and was a hair's breadth away from winning the game and the event. But he untypically missed the chance and with the other two games drawn there are four contenders for first place (Kramnik is half a point up on the other three). Note: the game on Sunday start at 13:00h CEST! Round nine report.

Dortmund 10: Kramnik wins Dortmund for the ninth time

7/12/2009 – This is definitely his tournament: Vladimir Kramnik won it eight times previously, and after an inauspicious start the former World Champion mopped up in the second half to finish a full point ahead of his nearest rivals. They were Peter Leko, Magnus Carlsen and Dmitry Jakovenko, all at 5.5/10 points. Kramnik's performance: 2848. Final report with statistics.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (23)

7/12/2009 – Chess authors and publishers have a tendency to become over-excited, to put it mildly, when trying to induce potential customers to part with their money. But a darker side also emerges on occasion. With some grim examples the Editor of Chess Notes shows that there are cases where hype tips over into something far more reprehensible. It is time for a reality check.

Dortmund 7: All games drawn, Carlsen leads

7/10/2009 – Two games – Magnus Carlsen vs Peter Leko and Etienne Bacrot vs Vladimir Kramnik – ended in relatively uneventful draws. The third encounter, between Arkadij Naiditsch and Dmitry Jakavenko, developed into a drama in which the German GM let an advantage slip away, then got an unexpected gift from Jakavenko, but failed to capitalise on it. Round seven report.

Karpov in Syria – a pictorial feast

7/10/2009 – The legendary twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov has long been an ambassador for chess. In his latest mission he travelled to Syria to make the first move of the Arabic Chess Championships Under 14. He was accompanied by roving chess journalist GM Robert Fontaine of Europe Echecs, who sent us a pictorial report, including high-def video footage. Extraordinary visual impressions.

Michael Jackson – the chess connection

7/10/2009 – On June 25th the iconic pop star died in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest. While the world stopped to mourn and millions followed his memorial service, we discovered an interesting factoid: Jackson owned a very luxurious gold-and-marble chess set, which he actually used, back in 2000, to teach his son Prince Michael, then aged three, the first steps in the game. Here is video evidence.

Your judgement, please

7/10/2009 – An advanced knight outpost in the enemy camp is a fine thing, and two of them often make you believe the game should just win on its own. Playing 29.Bg5, White had just provoked the losing move 29. ... f6 here. What would you recommend to him now? A) There are no forced continuations, but the modest bishop retreat to c1 keeps all the advantages of his position; B) Don't stop half way, the strike 30.Nxf6+ clearing the d-file wins at once; C) Sacrificing is correct, but the right method is rook h3 with the threat 31.Rxh5+. The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Dortmund 8: Kramnik beats Carlsen, leads

7/10/2009 – And suddenly things have changed... After two relatively uneventful rounds Vladimir Kramnik was able to go into the lead at the Sparkassen tournament in Dortmund, after the leader since round one Magnus Carlsen blundered in a probably drawn position. Dmitry Jakovenko was able to defeat Etienne Bacrot in an 81-move marathon. Round eight report with pictorial impressions.

Donostia Chess Festival in San Sebastián

7/9/2009 – The Basque seaside town of San Sebastián, famous for its intense cultural life and international festivals of film and jazz, is paying host to a category 18 event, with ten GMs averaging 2682 – amongst them the legendary 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov and two former FIDE world champions. After two rounds US GM Hikaru Nakamura leads. Pictorial report by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich.

When knowing is losing – gender factors in chess

7/9/2009 – Normally knowing your enemy is an advantage. Not so in chess games between the sexes. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology Dr Anne Maass (et al.) pitted male and female players against each other via the Internet. Women showed a 50% performance decline when they were aware that they were playing a male opponent. Very thought-provoking!

A chess music formula

7/9/2009 – Can a game of chess translate to a music piece? Following a dream in which he played a blindfold game, communicating moves with a guitar, Dionisios Marinos decided to develop a formula to convert the moves of a game into a musical score. In this article he describes his algorithms and shows us a number of examples of chess games set to music.

How do you do it, Mr. King?

7/9/2009 – Losing a must-win position owing to a tactical blunder can make you feel really sick. That is why calculation is a core ability in chess and why Daniel King finally covers it in the latest DVD of his Powerplay series. It is vol. 10 now but the DVDs just keep getting better and better, says Michael Jeffreys. Buy Powerplay 10 - Calculation now or read this review.