Judit Polgar – how to play the anti-Najdorf

7/22/2009 – Judit Polgar burst on the scene in the late 80s and early 90s as a great attacking player and tactician. But the strongest female in the history of the game can, when necessary, maneuver and utilize the strategic advantages in a position. She proves it a game against Vishy Anand that is the subject of this week's Playchess lecture by Dennis Monokroussos. Be there to watch at 9 p.m. ET.

Biel 2009: Ivanchuk beats Caruana, Morozevich leads

7/22/2009 – At Elo 2703 the 40-year-old Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk may be only the fifth seed in the 2009 Biel International Chess Festival, but everyone knows that he is one of the best players in the world (number three in the January 2009 list). In round three he showed his expertise in a rook and bishop ending to grind down the youngest participant Fabiano Caruana. Report and correction.

Tromsø 2009 – the Arctic Chess Challenge

7/22/2009 – The city of Tromsø, located within the Arctic Circle in Norway, has become a hot-bed of chess. Not only is Tromsø bidding for the Chess Olympiad 2014 – every year they stage a very attractive chess tournament in this beautiful location. This year the Arctic Challenge will be staged from August 1st to 9th, with 132 entries and lots of title holders – an ideal opportunity to make norms.

Biel 2009: Morozevich starts with a 2-0 score

7/21/2009 – The mercurial Russian GM Alexander Morozevich, 32 years old, Elo 2751, ranked 10th in the world, seems to mean business: he has scored two victories in the first two rounds of the 2009 Biel International Chess Festival, defeating last year's winner Evgeny Alexeev and top seed Boris Gelfand. Morozevich is a full point ahead of the field. Round two report.

Canadian Open: Canadians take it all

7/21/2009 – Nine players were in contention, five drew their games, two lost and two Canadians won. GM Mark Bluvshtein and IM Edward Porper beat FM Theo Hommeles and GM Surya Ganguly to take first places. Bluvshtein won the title on tiebreak. In the next slot, 3rd–8th, we find Shirov, Adams and Irina Krush! Illustrated report with round eight commentary by GM Alexander Shabalov.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (24)

7/20/2009 – The Editor of Chess Notes looks back at the remarkable legacy of a writer of erudition, wit and urbanity who combined rigorous research with sparkling quips. In some quarters today, however, that writer’s name may barely be recognized, so we have pleasure in introducing, or re-introducing, readers to one of the great neglected figures of chess lore.

Nakamura vs Ponomariov – the tiebreak games reconstructed

7/20/2009 – In an earlier report we told of the 2-0 victory of US GM Hikaru Nakamura in the tiebreak blitz after he and Ruslan Ponomariov had tied for first in the Dondstia San Sebastian Category 18 tournament. Unfortunately owing to a malfunction in the sensor board all the moves of the second game were not recorded. Not to worry: David Llada filmed it all and provides us with a video document of both games.

Mainz 2009 – Schmitt: 'I suffer vicariously with Anand'

7/20/2009 – The organiser of the Chess Classic, which begins on July 27 in Mainz, Germany, is a self-professed "dinosaur". Hans-Walter Schmitt has been staging the massive event since 1994. In that year he met a young chess star from India, Vishy Anand, from which grew a deep and warm friendship. The following interview with "HWS" contains some rare insights and startling revelations. Must read.

Canadian Open: Nine players lead after penultimate round

7/19/2009 – Just a round ago it was four players, now a total of nine share the lead with 6.5/8 points. Shirov and Adams drew their round eight games, while Ganguly beat Zhe Quan and Perlshteyn beat Kovalyov to join them. IM Irina Krush, US, won her last three games to take a place in the top berth. Congratulations! Pictorial report with round seven commentary by GM Alexander Shabalov.

2009 Canadian Open: four players with 6.0/7 points

7/18/2009 – Two top seeds and internationally well-known players, Alexei Shirov and Michael Adams, are accompanied by two players below 2600 on the rating scale: GM Mark Bluvshtein and IM Edward Porper at the top of the table after seven rounds of this event. We bring you extensive annotations of the last three rounds by GM Alexander Shabalov, together with pictorial and video impressions by MonRoi.

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.