8/14/2010 – The World Junior Chess Championship used to be held every two years – now it is an annual event. The winners from the past include a number of players who went on to become full World Champions: Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Anand (oops, we have spoilt our trivia quiz). Here's a first report with a large number of meticulously captioned pictures by Diana Mihajlova.

8/14/2010 – After striking their first blow to the Chinese men's team, the Russian men were entitled to some high-fives, and a slight feeling of relief. Unfortunately for them, the very next day the Chinese men struck back vigorously with a 14-11 win, in spite of Vitiugov's 4.0/5, and took the day for 26-24. It was high quality and entertaining chess with many flashy moments, which you won't want to miss.

8/14/2010 – Once a year the Ukrainian/German industrialist Josef Resch, founder of the UEP chess promotion company (that organised Anand-Kramnik in Bonn in 2008) stages a match between a top Ukrainian grandmaster and an interesting foreign player. This year it is Zahar Efimenko, 2689, vs top German GM Arkadij Naiditsch, 2684. Illustrated report with GM commentary.

8/13/2010 – In last week's column, entitled "French Aristocrat's Folly", GM Lubomir Kavalek examined the rules of pawn promotion as formulated by French aristocrat Barthelemy de Basterot and Australian writer Cecil J.S. Purdy, and presented three problems that followed these rules to the letter – but playfully misunderstood their intention. Today Kavalek provides the weird solutions.

8/13/2010 – It didn't seem normal to be reporting defeat after defeat of the Russian men who do actually have a ten elo advantage. They finally pulled in a victory, turning around more than one hairy situation. However, the Chinese women also rallied, and won their encounter by the same score, for an overall draw. Here is the report for Day Two, and more brain teasers for your pleasure.

8/13/2010 – ... of this year's Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund was the duel between Germany's number one Arkadij Naiditsch and the many times tournament winner Vladimir Kramnik. After a piece sacrifice by Black this position could have occurred. How would you judge the situation following 31...Qf4+ 32.Kb1 Qe4+ now ?
A) White's king can get into safety, his plus piece decides;
B) positional draw (perpetual check);
C) Black wins.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

8/13/2010 – They were originally scheduled for Baku, Azerbaijan, then moved to Kazan, Russia – in spite of a stern protest by Veselin Topalov. There are still some unresolved issues, e.g. who would fill the wildcard? Now Anatoly Karpov has proposed moving the Candidates matches to Kiev, Ukraine, and nominating former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov as a candidate. Press reports.

8/13/2010 – After the first series of games of the Chinese Chess League, the players enjoyed a relaxing stay at the (deep breath!) Ningbo Youngor Dapengshan Traveling Vacation Area. A competition between two impromptu teams, Team Beauty and Team Monster was made, with the losers having to go on the scariest rides there. WGM Gu Xiaobing brings pictures and a report on this light-hearted affair.

8/12/2010 – She took ill after round seven, played her round eight game on a free day, won five games and drew the rest. Chinese super-talent Hou Yifan, 16, scored 8.0/11 points with a performance of 2649 to win the event. Second was GM Antoaneta Stefanova, a former women's world champion, with three players sharing 3-5th places. Final illustrated report from the closing ceremony.

8/12/2010 – Recent research at Stockholm University shows that equally strong male and female chess players employ different opening strategies. The males tend to play aggressive openings against female opponents of the same playing strength, even if it increases the probability of losing the game. That has to be classified as irrational behavior. Paper by Swedish researcher Patrik Gränsmark.

8/12/2010 – After a free day with a friendly football match, the Russians might have hoped to rally and recoup from their tough loss in the slow games, but the gloves were off once more as the Chinese repeated their performance almost verbatim. With fifty games to choose from, we instead bring you the report and some tactical highlights to test your skills.

8/10/2010 – The Politiken Cup, held in Denmark, was dominated and won by an unexpected participant, Pavel Eljanov, rated 2755, who was not afraid to put his Elo on the line. The event also served to celebrate Bent Larsen's 75th year, with a rapid match between Svidler (2734) and Heine Nielsen (2700), and two blitz matches, one with the Larsen Opening as theme. Here is the report with videos.