8/24/2010 – Richard Reti? Nope. Nikolay Grigoriev? Try again. Henri Rinck? No, the following position, with only four pieces on the board is not from the torturous imagination of some study composer designed to have your mind standing upside down. This position actually arose in the game between Georgiadis - Sandalakis, played in 2010 in an Open on Crete. The player with White was faced with a delicate problem that had an elegant solution, worthy of a place in some endgame manual. Can you find the narrow path to victory? White to play and win.
Analysis by GM Karsten Müller on ChessBase Magazine Online.

8/23/2010 – The ticket to next year's Amber seemed almost a formality, as Anish Giri needed only a draw against Danish GM Nielsen, but a slip in the final liquidation forced him into a blitz tiebreak against renowned speed specialist, Hikaru Nakamura. The top American GM lived up to his reputation, as he took both games, snatching the ticket at the last minute. Report for rounds 9 and 10 with new pictures.

8/23/2010 – The former U.S. champion Hikaru Nakamura is fast. The quicker the pace on the chessboard, the more he seems to enjoy playing. His nimble skills helped him to secure a place for the next traditional Amber tournament, a blindfold and rapid chess extravaganza played every spring on the French Riviera. GM Lubomir Kavalek show us one of Nakamura's games – a 17-move cruncher.

8/23/2010 – This event took place in a very beautiful Dutch seafront location: in Vlissingen, historically known as Flushing, from where the Dutch Empire was built in the 17th century. Two players of a total of 250 scored 7.5/9, with top seed GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India beating German IM Thomas Henrichs on tie-break points. Five players followed half a point behind. Illustrated report.

8/22/2010 – Morphy versus the Duke and Count (Paris, 1858) was described by Frank Marshall as ‘the most famous game of all time’. Even so, as the Editor of Chess Notes demonstrates, modern masters’ views differ concerning its value, and there is much about the circumstances of the game which is still enveloped in mystery. Another intriguing historical investigation...

8/22/2010 – Bacrot was out for a record 7th title, and Fressinet was out for his first, but it was Romain Edouard and Fressinet who raced neck and neck throughout. Don't miss Romain's exquisite miniature against Tkachiev in the penultimate round. In the end, Fressinet showed his will to win, and took the tiebreak, while his wife, Skripchenko, took the Women's title. Report with pictures and videos.

8/21/2010 – The Rising Stars stopped the bleeding, after the Experience had reduced their lead to a single point, by winning the next two rounds. The stories of the rounds were Van Wely's 17-move loss to Nakamura after a bizarre memory hiccup, though punctuated by a nice tactic, and Giri's nice win over Ljubo, which regained him the sole lead. Nakamura is only a half point behind. Report for rounds 7 and 8.

8/20/2010 – "I will give you a report but stress that we keep all details confidential as we have strict orders from the authorities not to reveal any such detailed information to the media," wrote Thordur Bogason, the Icelandic lawyer representing Jinky and Marilyn Young in the Fischer paternity suite. But their Philippine lawyer Samuel Estimo did pass it on – to us and the New York Times. Detailed description.

8/20/2010 – In this typical IQP position White would like to avoid piece exchanges with 17.Ne4 but of course has to reckon with the knight sortie 17...Ncb4. What does this entail in your opinion?
A) advantage for Black;
B) advantage for White;
C) balanced play.

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

8/19/2010 – The chess match between Zahar Efimenko and Arkadij Naiditsch, organised by Universal Event Promotion and the Mukachevo Chess Club 32x64 in Mukachevo, Ukraine, was won by Naiditsch. The German GM held on to a second-round lead and drew the rest of the games to by a 3.5:2.5 score. Final report with game commentary by GM Mikhail Golubev.

8/19/2010 – In the sixth round, The Experience team once again outscored the Rising stars, closing the distance to 15.5-14.5. Nakamura beat Ljubojevic to come within a half point of Rising Star leader, Giri. Gelfand continues to stamp his authority, this time beating Howell, and van Wely scored his first NH Chess win after sixteen tries. Round six report with pictures and Gelfand's notes to his game.

8/18/2010 – Whenever White plays 4.Bd2 in the Bogo-Indian, most games end up after 4...Qe7 in an Indian-type position, in which Black is under pressure but can has chances to draw after the exchange of his problem dark-squared bishop. Mihail Marin presents a completely different variation. After 4...a5 5.g3 d5 6.Qc2 Nc6 7.Bg2 dxc4 8.Qxc4 Qd5 White cannot avoid the exchange of queens and the game immediately enters the ending. It's a good position to start out from, and the variation is also objectively playable. You will find another 11 articles on the DVD of CBM 137. Read: Marin's complete article