Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (45)

7/31/2010 – Chess problems are sometimes regarded as a daunting ghetto, of no real interest, let alone value, to active players. The Editor of Chess Notes has invited one of the world’s leading problem experts to select some compositions to illustrate the delights which many players deny themselves. A total of 12 positions are given, and even anti-problem die-hards may be enticed and charmed.

Fabiano Caruana wins Biel 2010

7/30/2010 – The Young Grandmasters section finished with a three-way tie for first place, making tiebreak games necessary. In the semifinals Fabiano Caruana, who turns 18 on Friday, defeated France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the Armageddon stage. He then went on to beat the Vietnamese prodigy Nguyen Ngoc Truong 1.5:0.5 to take the title. Final report.

Kavalek at Huffington: Fooling the gullible chess world

7/30/2010 – At the 1965 Student Olympiad Lubomir Kavalek faced a furious attack from a Romanian opponent, but found a funky defense which, for the next 25 years became a sleeper: nobody nobody played it, nobody wrote about it. It resurfaced in 1990 in Kasparov vs Spanish TV viewers, and two weeks ago was successfully used in the Dortmund Super-GM. In his latest column Kavalek reclaims its authorship.

Chinese Chess League Division A: midway report

7/30/2010 – The Chinese Chess League Division A is a huge double-round team event with a total of 18 rounds, spanning from April until December, and has all of the very best Chinese players, as well as a few imports. It just reached the midway point. The rounds are played throughout China including the Shanghai World Expo. Gu Xiaobing reports on the event bringing pictures and games.

Biel: Three players share first, tiebreaks on Thursday

7/29/2010 – Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana all scored seven draws and two wins in the Young Grandmasters section at the Biel Chess Festival. The Vietnamese GM has the best Sonneborn-Berger, so Vachier and Caruana play two two blitz games, and the winner takes on Son in the final of two rapid games. Illustrated rounds 7-9 reports.

World School Championship – getting to know you...

7/29/2010 – Our reporter, WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, has been sending us extraordinary pictures from this children's event in Turkey. Now she has started to interview the players and their minders, to identify these young participants from all over the world – the stars of tomorrow. The result is a wonderful pictorial report filed after round seven of the School Championship. You will melt.

Honorary Doctorate for chess grandmaster

7/28/2010 – Sir Harry Kroto was there – the emeritus professor who in 1996 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the C60 (buckminsterfullerene) molecule. He attended the same school as actor Sir Ian McKellan (Gandalf in Lord of the Rings) – and a chess grandmaster, who last week was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University. Can you guess who that was?

Daniel King: what can be done about the Catalan?

7/28/2010 – At the Super-GM in Dortmund there were seven Catalans, with five draws and two white wins. And in those draws Black's prospects of winning were almost zero. "It is really depressing if you are playing with the black pieces and the summit of your ambitions is just to draw," says our Powerplay trainer. GM Daniel King will tell us what to do on Playchess.com on Thursday at 8 p.m. CEST. See you then!

Of bishops and giant pawns

7/28/2010 – In endgames with bishops of opposite colours it is well known that the likelihood of a draw is particularly high. But when the bishop resembles a giant pawn, as in our present example, problems are of course also on the cards in this type of endgame.
What sequence of moves did Black (to move) use to bring about a winning position here?

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller on ChessBase Magazine Online.

Chess Classic Mainz – counting the days

7/27/2010 – The tenth edition of the Chess Classic Mainz has become a three-day event – but one at which you can see and play against dozens of world-class stars and strong grandmasters. There is also a 40-board simul with World Champion Viswanathan Anand and a 20-board 960 simul with women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. It's just ten days away, but you can still join the fun.

FIDE moves Candidates matches to Kazan, Russia

7/27/2010 – Just days after a request from the Russian Chess Federation to move the 2011 Candidates matches away from Baku, Azerbaijan, FIDE President Kirsan Illumzhinov has announced that the match will indeed now take place in Kazan. If Topalov refuses to play in Russia, as he has threatened, he will (brace yourself) be replaced by Alexander Grischuk. Sport Express report.

Radulski wins the Najdorf Festival in Warsaw

7/26/2010 – This nine-round Swiss open is dedicated to Mieczyslaw Najdorf, who was born in Warsaw on April, 15, 1910 but later lived in Buenos Aires (and changed his first name to Miguel). He died in Malaga, Spain, in 1997, still avidly interested in chess. The tournament was won by Julian Radulski of Bulgaria. We bring you an illustrated report with pictures you can help us identify.

Dortmund 2010: Ponomariov wins, Le Quang takes sole second.

7/26/2010 – The last round of Dortmund could easily have been an anticlimatic affair, but the players continued their combative to the end, with two decisive games, and near last round miss by Le Quang who drummed up serious winning chances against the leader Ponomariov. In the end, the leader prevailed. We bring the report with pictures and analysis. Addendum: caption suggestions by our readers.

21st International Chess and Games Festival Czech Open

7/26/2010 – After completing the European Youth Team Championship (with eight four-member boys’ teams and eleven two-member girls’ teams) the Czech Republic Open Championship started this weekend. The participation of 110 four-member teams make it the biggest in the history of the Festival. There are also many other games. Report from Pardubice.

XXVIII International Open of Andorra

7/26/2010 – The 28th edition of the International Open of Andorra, held in Andorra, with a field of 150 players was won unexpectedly by Israeli IM Dan Zoler, ahead of 15 grandmasters and 19 international masters. 14-year-old Peruvian Jorge Cori came in 5th. We bring you the report on this event as well as an illustrated introduction to this micronation hidden in the mountains.

Dortmund 2010: Ponomariov keeps lead going into final round

7/25/2010 – The game between tournament leader Ponomariov and second-place Mamedyarov was clearly critical for the final standings, and the Azerbaijan was ready to try it all as he unleashed an absolutely astonishing 5.g4 in a QGD. Kramnik on the other hand played a speculative attack against Naiditsch that went south, while Le Quang and Leko played a long nervy draw. Report and analysis.

Caruana leads in Young Grandmaster Biel

7/25/2010 – Going into the seventh round, the Young Grandmaster Tournament in Biel, Switzerland, is not the most exciting event in the world. Italian GM Fabiano Caruana, 17 years old, is in the lead with plus two, behind him five GMs with plus one. In round six most games lasted less than 25 moves, in five rounds 70% of the games were drawn. Pictorial report.

Karpov wowed by Singapore chess fans

7/25/2010 – “Chess is for Everybody in Singapore” is a movement that believes that chess keeps the mind alert and is beneficial to the young, adults and veterans players alike. The organisation and the chess fans of the island country last week were visited by the 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov, who was in campaign mode for his FIDE presidency bid. Pictorial report.

Death rides a horse

7/25/2010 – This was the favourite example of yours truly in the tactics section of CBM 131 and also one of the first multiple choice questions. How would you assess the situation after 33...Nc4?
A) White has a beautiful strike, deciding the game in his favour.
B) Black has sufficient resources to fend off the attack, he wins.
C) With best play the game will end in a draw.

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

Ilyumzhinov to resign as Kalmyk President?

7/24/2010 – The Russian newspaper Gazeta is reporting that the leaders of two regions of the Russian Federation (the political one, not chess) will be stepping down. One of them is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who has been the President of Kalmykia since 1993. Unfazed, Ilyumzhinov is in full campaign mode for his FIDE reelection, visiting South American and giving interviews. Excerpts and links.

Dortmund 2010: Ponomariov outpaces the opposition

7/24/2010 – In the eighth round, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov came within two rounds of completing what has been a virtuoso performance. While his opponents were unable to gain any momentum out of the starting blocks, he cemented his lead by beating top German Arkadij Naiditsch in a strong game which he concluded with flawless technique. Report and pictures.

FIDE to move Candidates Matches, Topalov threatens boycott

7/24/2010 – The Candidates Matches for the next FIDE World Championship cycle were scheduled to be played in Baku, Azerbaijan. Since one of the candidates, Levon Aronian, is Armenian, and the two countries are de facto at war, FIDE wants to move the matches to Kazan in Russia. To this another candidate, Veselin Topalov, has issued a very sharp protest and threat.

World School Championship – Oh the intensity!

7/24/2010 – There is something very special about children playing chess. Especially when it's many hundreds of them, from scores of different countries. This truly edifying event is taking place in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri (Turkey) and we are lucky to have a dedicated and ambitious photographer at the venue. Enjoy the latest extraordinary pictorial report by Anastasiya Karlovich.

Dortmund 2010: Shak attack

7/23/2010 – After suffering a defeat for wanting more in the fifth round, and then getting hit by the sort of chess blindness every player experiences at least once, after conducting a beautiful game in the sixth round. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov bounces back with a powerful game against Peter Leko, tying him for second and placing him in contention once more. Round seven report.