6/23/2009 – The top encounter Gelfand-Ivanchuk did not develop into the merciless battle many expected – it ended in a draw by repetition in twenty moves. Shirov vs Radjabov ended in 38 moves peacefully. In Kamsky-Nisipeanu the American GM missed very good winning chances – he went for a beautiful knight sacrifice but missed the study-like win. Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

6/23/2009 – Exchange variations of nearly all openings are quite unpopular with the second players, since White often gets to play for the advantage without any risk. Naturally, in these lines there is a very high demand to obtain an active game with Black. GM Dejan Bojkov shows how this is possible against the King's Indian with 6.h3 and 7.dxe5, which he proved in practice at the Bulgarian Championship when he used this variation to rake in the full point and clinch the title. Here you can see the article (one of a total of 12 opening contributions) in full length. Complete survey of ChessBase Magazine 130. See Bojkov: Kings Indian 9.Bg5 Na6 10.Nd5 Rd6

6/22/2009 – Vassily Ivanchuk chalked up the third win in succession at the Romgaz Turneul Regilor in Romania, beating Alexei Shirov in a beautifully entertaining game. The Ukrainian, who came last in the Sofia Super-GM in May, with a performance of 2610, is now playing at 2946! Teimour Radjabov scored his first victory in this event against Gata Kamsky, who is having a really bad tournament. Round seven report.

6/22/2009 – Bulgarian chess trainer Valeri Lilov gives live online training on the Playchess server. On Mondays at 20:00h CEST (7 p.m. London, 2 p.m. New York) he will comment practical chess problems and key parts of games from recent super-tournaments. This time, the games will be from the recently finished Super GM tournament in Poikovsky and there will be live audio commentary. For this week's Playchess lecture you can try to solve the following position. The solution will be revealed in the Monday evening show. Come Monday night and improve your chess while having a lot of fun! Take a look, it’s free!

6/22/2009 – On June 11-12, FIDE held a special meeting in Athens, Greece to discuss the implications of changes to the FIDE rating system, especially the increase of the K-factor. Ratings experts from around the world (including John Nunn and GM Bartlomiej Macieja) were brought together to recommend a course of action to the Presidential Board.  Jeff Sonas reports on the meeting.

6/22/2009 – Playing a quiet move with the enemy king being completely exposed can be very difficult, and even an absolute attacking artist like World Champion Mikhail Tal often could not resist the temptation of giving check. In this position White had just gone for 34.Rf1-f2. How would you assess this move? A) Just the right thing to do, White is not in a hurry and will safely rake in the full point after this. B) A mistake allowing the opponent a spectacular draw. C) This blunders the game - now a double attack decides for Black. The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.larger version of the diagram.

6/21/2009 – Vassily Ivanchuk chalked up a second win in this event when his opponent Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu once again fell victim to over-creativity. Alexei Shirov tricked his opponent with a nice bishop manoeuvre on moves 9 and 10. Boris Gelfand and Teimour Radjabov drew in a complicated strategical battle. Ivanchuk leads with 4.5/6. GM commentary by Dorian Rogozenco.

6/20/2009 – On June 5, 2009 WGM Natalia Pogonina and Peter Zhdanov got married – she a Women's Grandmaster, he a successful IT-specialist and debate expert. Peter is also Natalia’s manager, together they are writing a book called "Chess Kamasutra". Today they share with us their views on the perennial topic why women are worse at chess than men, and take a look at the future of women’s chess.

6/19/2009 – When you think of international chess it is unlikely that Scotland springs to mind. Steinitz, the future first World Champion, participated in an international tournament in Dundee 1867. After this promising start Scotland has rarely featured on the map for strong players. However this year’s Scottish Championship is a step in the right direction. Jonathan Grant, Director of Chess Scotland, explains how.

6/19/2009 – At half-time in this double round robin the two oldest players are leading: Boris Gelfand, who defeated Alexei Shirov, when the latter blundered a pawn; and Vassily Ivanchuk, who profited from an error by his opponent Gata Kamsky. Ivanchuk and Shirov are leading at half-way time and have 3.5/5 points. Friday is a free day. GM commentary by Dorian Rogozenco.

6/18/2009 – The First SCS International Open GM tournamnent hosted more than 80 title holders, was held in the state of Orissa, India. Five players tied for first, with Ukrainian GM Yuri Drozdovskij taking first on tiebreak points. We bring you games and results, plus a spectacular travelogue on this very popular tourist spots in India by GM Sergey Tiviakov. Enjoy the temples and animals.

6/18/2009 – Nisipeanu produced a move nine novelty in the Ruy Lopez, gained the initiative but saw it neutralised by his opponent Shirov. Ivanchuk played a strong novelty against Radjabov and got a very promising endgame, which in the end he was unable to turn into a full point. Gelfand-Kamsky was an important theoretical game, which was drawn in 37 moves. GM commentary by Dorian Rogozenco.