Wednesday night training on Playchess

11/18/2009 – He has never been the world chess champion or the #1 ranked player (though he has come close on both counts). But Vassily Ivanchuk is one of the world’s greatest and most original players for the past 20 years. The Ukrainian GM is the subject of the Playchess lecture at 9 p.m. ET by FM Dennis Monokroussos. Before that IM Merijn van Delft discusses current games. Schedule.

Trials and Tribulations of a Blitz Player

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.

World Blitz Championship: Carlsen wins by three-point margin

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.

Kramnik: I am counting on regaining the world title

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.

World Blitz Championship – pictorial impressions from Moscow

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.

World Blitz Championship day two: Carlsen takes over

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.

German Team Championships – second weekend

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.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (30)

11/16/2009 – Another pot pourri is presented by the Editor of Chess Notes. A prediction about Garry Kasparov made when he was only 11, a curious Lilienthal reference in a chess poem, an almost unknown player who reportedly challenged Alekhine for the world title in 1927, and an oft-published nineteenth-century miniature which is spurious. A further visit to the wonderful world of chess lore...

World Blitz Championship day one: Anand leads

11/16/2009 – World Champion Vishy Anand, who turns forty in just under a month, is leading this event with 12.0/14 points, two more than his nearest rival Magnus Carlsen. Behind the Norwegian we find a big surprise figure (hint: he is almost twenty years older than Anand), followed by Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk. A photo report will follow, here for now are the results and games.

Tal Memorial 2009 – impressions from Moscow

11/15/2009 – We received a number of baffled letters asking us why we did not, as is usually our habit, include large numbers of pictures in our daily reports on the Tal Memorial. Well, our usual photographers unfortunately took ill, and it was only in the final round that WGM Yana Melnikova arrived at the venue and sent us a bunch of photos from the end of the tournament. Here is her report.

Kramnik wins Tal Memorial 2009, Carlsen number one

11/14/2009 – Aronian beats Anand with the black pieces, Carlsen did the same to Leko, Ponomariov beat Morozevich, while Kramnik drew against Ivanchuk. The result: Kramnik wins the tournament, with 6.0/9 and a 2883 performance. Ivanchuk and Carlsen share 2nd-3rd, with the young Norwegian trainee of Garry Kasparov going to number one in the world in the unofficial live rankings. Final round report.

Tal R07: Ivanchuk beats Gelfand

11/13/2009 – Four draws today, in 23, 31, 36 and 40 moves, with Morozevich holding Anand to a draw and preventing the World Champion from catching up with his predecessor Kramnik. The game of the day was Ivanchuk-Gelfand, two winners of round six. There was only one winner today: Vassily Ivanchuk, who moves up to share second with Anand. Report plus an interview with Alexander Morozevich.

White squares and diagonals...

11/13/2009 – ... were the issue in this position where the first player had sacrificed an exchange to occupy the 7th rank and drive the black king to g6. Yet after 25...Rad8 an idea was required. What do you think, is the best continuation a move...
A) with the queen; 
B) with a bishop; 
C) or with a pawn?

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

All Saints in Stockholm

11/13/2009 – Sweden is not really the most romantic place on earth in November. It is quite cold already and the days are getting shorter and shorter. Nevertheless, two brave chess players from Hamburg/Germany did not mind all the weather circumstances and came to Stockholm to play chess. Cheap flights and Swedish hospitality made it possible. Pictorial report by Andreas Albers.

Tal R08: Carlsen beats Ponomariov, moves to sole fourth

11/13/2009 – Feeling better? At last the top seed Magnus Carlsen, 18, has scored a win in this tournament. It came in the form of an explosive English Attack in the Scheveningen, which floored the former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov in 31 moves (actually with a mate in three). With plus one Carlsen now occupies fourth place alone, behind Kramnik, Anand and Ivanchuk. Full report with annotations.

Interview with the World Junior Champion 2009

11/12/2009 – On November 4th the World Junior Championship in Patagonia, Argentina, ended, with a final-round surge by the French participant (and top seed) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who caught his main rival, Sergei Zhigalko from Belarus, to take the title. Maxime has given us an exclusive English language interviews, while we use the opportunity to take a nostalgic look back at past events.

Tal R05: Anand beats Leko, joins Kramnik in the lead

11/11/2009 – Almost exactly a year ago the two were playing for the title of World Champion. Now Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand are battling each other for the lead in the Tal Memorial in Moscow. Kramnik worked very hard in an 81-mover against Boris Gelfand, but had to concede a draw. Anand beat Peter Leko in a Semi-Slav and joined Kramnik in the lead. Round five report.

Wednesday night training on Playchess

11/11/2009 – Sammy Reshevsky (1911-1992) was at one time one of the strongest players in the world. He did have some weird weaknesses, though. Apart from time trouble and carelessness in opening preparation he had an apparent blind spot to stalemate. This is the subject of the Playchess lecture at 9 p.m. ET by FM Dennis Monokroussos. Before that IM Merijn van Delft discusses current games. Schedule.

Knight in the corner

11/11/2009 – "A knight on the rim is dim" - there is no aphorism which is known more widely to amateur players than this one. And although there are more than enough exceptions to this rule, the phrase naturally is also fully justified. All the more so when the case involves not just a knight on the edge of the board, but that rarely spotted example of the species: a knight in the corner. Recently, one such example caused Ivan Cheparinov all sorts of problems, when the sad-looking steed was corralled in the corner with the help of a bishop. GM Karsten Müller analyses the ending Cheparinov-Caruana for ChessBase Magazine Online.

Fischer's daughter Jinky files claim to his estate

11/11/2009 – Yesterday we published a report on an Icelandic court awarding Fischer's estate to his lawfully wedded wife Miyoko Watai. Today we received a message from Marilyn Young, Fischer's "Filipina live-in partner", who is seeking justice for her and Fischer's eight-year-old daughter Jinky. The two are on their way to Iceland to file their claim. Marilyn has sent us some fairly compelling photographic evidence.

Tal R06: Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand win

11/11/2009 – And Vladimir Kramnik has once again taken the sole lead, with plus three and a 2955 performance. In a remarkable game against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, Kramnik pressed for 81 moves until the Ukrainian's succumbed to zugzwang. Gelfand laid Aronian's Meran System to waste, Morozevich-Ivanchuk ended in a black victory by the masked chessplayer!

Iceland: Fischer's estate, his final resting place

11/10/2009 – The chess legend Bobby Fischer died in Iceland on January 17, 2008. He was buried in the compound of a church in Selfoss, 60 km from the capital Reykjavik. Since then there has been a battle over his estate, which is claimed by his nephews Alexander and Nicholas Targ. Now the Reykjavik District Court has ruled in favour of Fischer's lawfully wedded wife, Miyoko Watai. Pictorial report.

Gong interview with Silvio Danailov

11/9/2009 – "Veselin will rest on the Canary Islands, Anand rests on old laurels," is the title of the telephone interview by the Topalov manager in the Bulgarian sports newspaper Gong. Danailov expects that in the six months before the World Championship match in Sofia "the team of Anand will do everything possible to make us nervous." But they are ready, steeled by experience in Elista. Highlights.

The secrets of a top grandmaster

11/9/2009 – On the latest Elo rating list we find Pavel Eljanov at 2729 Elo points on place 17. In the live rankings, with his extraordinary European Team Championship results evaluated, he is number 11 in the world. The Ukrainian GM has been climbing steadly since April. His secret: enormous talent, hard work – and marriage! We bring you a photo report and an annotated brilliancy by Pavel Eljanov.