Aronian wins Amber for a second time in a row

3/26/2009 – Looks like he is pretty good at the blindfold/rapid thing. Armenian GM Levon Aronian won the 18th Amber Tournament, after winning the 17th edition last year. Two draws against Veselin Topalov secured the half-point overall victory. Equal second were Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, with Magnus Carlsen half a point behind. Pictures by John Nunn in our final report.

Enter the Scotch Game with four knights

3/26/2009 – Thanks to Garry Kasparov the Scotch Game nowadays comes with a huge amount of theory. Nonetheless, it still is an attractive choice for 1.e4 players, and it can be adopted also without swotting. On his new DVD British GM Nigel Davies presents the Four Knights Scotch which is especially suited for club players and can be built into a world class Scotch repertoire. Buy it now or read more.

Amber 2009: Aronian and Carlsen catch Anand

3/25/2009 – After their free day on Monday it was back to work in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament. The ‘prologue’ to the next World Championship between Anand and Topalov ended in a tie, while Aronian and Carlsen won their matches to to draw level with Anand. Report with recreational pictures by John Nunn, video impressions by Europe Echecs and a video interview with Vishy Anand

A time when few GMs walked the earth

3/25/2009 – The name is well-known in the US: Larry Evans, chess columnist and associate of Bobby Fischer, was in his prime an exceptionally strong player, winning five US championships. Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us a particularly instructive game played in 1947. Be there at 9 p.m. ET.

Tomashevsky: It is all a question of motivation and mood

3/25/2009 – A week ago 21-year-old Evgeny Tomashevsky won the European Championship, and at 2664 Elo points he is clearly on his way to the super-tournament circuit. In a frank indepth conversation this young Russian GM, whom his friends call "the professor," talks about his chess career in general and the European Championship in particular. Interview by GM Dejan Bojkov.

Amber 2009: Aronian breaks away as Carlsen and Anand falter

3/25/2009 – In a dramatic penultimate round all (!) the blindfold games were decided – though many by simple blunders that occur when you do not have the pieces in front of you. Anand dropped a queen in one, and Magnus Carlsen played as if in a stupor. Only Lev Aronian won his match to go into the clear lead by a full point. Big pictorial report with an Europe Echecs video interview with Veselin Topalov.

Fourth FIDE Grand Prix in Nalchik

3/25/2009 – The fourth FIDE Grand Prix Series Tournament will be held from April 14th to 29th, 2009, in the Intour Hotel Sindica in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia. The fourteen participants include Ivanchuk, Aronian, Mamedyarov, Leko, Kamsky, Svidler, Karjakin and Grischuk. Average rating: around 2725 points. The total prize fund is 162,000 Euros. Full details in this FIDE press release.

A Mathematical Chessboard Paradox

3/24/2009 – In Germany 2008 was the “Year of Mathematics”, and at the same time there was a Chess World Championship and a Chess Olympiade in the country. Reason enough to take a look at an interesting problem at the interface of these two intellectual activities. It is a fascinating paradox which seems to prove that 64 is equal to 65 simply by cutting up a chessboard. Prof. Christian Hesse explains.

Playchess in Holland , and both hands in blitz

3/23/2009 – Last Saturday there was a press meeting of the Dutch Chess Federation to launch a new Internet chess project, in partnership with Playchess. We used the opportunity to visit the Hypercube Blitz tournament, which is held in Utrecht every year. As chance would have it we barged into a controversy on how many hands you can legally use in speed chess. Here are the graphic details.

Amber 2009: Anand in the lead after eight rounds

3/23/2009 – In round seven of the Blindfold and Rapid Tournament World Champion Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik overtook Levon Aronian to take the shared lead. Magnus Carlsen had no mercy with out-of-form Wang Yue, winning 2-0 and moved up to third place. In the key encounter of round eight Anand defeated Kramnik to take the sole lead, ahead of Aronian and Carlsen. New pictures by John Nunn.

ChessBase 10 folder shortcuts

3/23/2009 – Do you have too many icons in your ChessBase 10's database window? Is there so much clutter that it's becoming hard to see the woods for the trees? ChessBase Workshop columnist Steve Lopez just might have the answer for you with an often-overlooked and certainly underused ChessBase 10 feature. You can learn more about it in the latest Workshop.

Istanbul Women's Grand Prix – the closing ceremony

3/21/2009 – It took place on the 41st floor of Is Bank Towers, which is the highest spot in Istanbul – the highest incidentally in Southern Europe. Koneru Humpy, Elina Danielian and 15-year-old Hou Yifan picked up their trophies and checks for 6,500, 4375 and 4375 Euros for the first and joint second places. The Turkish Sports Minister and the bank chiefs were present. Pictorial report.

Annotation searches - Part 3

3/21/2009 – In our last two columns we've been examining the "Annotation" tab of the Search mask in both ChessBase and Fritz. In the third and final installment of the series on annotation searches, our columnist teaches you how to perform text and symbol searches in both programs. Read more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

European Women's Championship: Mkrtchian and Konsintseva win

3/20/2009 – IM Lilit Mkrtchian from Armenia and IM Tatiana Kosintseva from Russia both won their final round game to share first in Saint Petersburg. Tomorrow a tiebreak match will decide who takes the title. There are also matches for bronze (seven players shared third) and for a place in the World Championship. New videos by Europe Echecs and a giant portrait pictorial by Elena Mikheeva.

Tatiana Kosintseva new European Women's Champion 2009

3/20/2009 – The tiebreak for the title in St Petersburg was won by Russian IM Tatiana Kosintseva, who beat her Armenian rival IM Lilit Mkrtchian 1½–½. There was also a seven-player tiebreak for bronze, which was won by WGM Natalija Pogonina of Russia. And finally a playoff for the 14th place in the next World Championship, which was taken by the Ukrainian IM Mariya Muzychuk. Report and games.

Amber 2009: Aronian takes the lead, Anand and Kramnik follow

3/20/2009 – Levon Aronian, last year's winner, beat the two "kids", Magnus Carlsen in round five and Sergey Karkjakin in round six, each time with 1½–½ point. Vishy Anand scored a 2-0 victory over Teimour Radjabov to catch Kramnik in second place. Carlsen and Morozevich follow half a point behind. We bring you new impressions from Nice by our illustrious photo reporter GM Dr John Nunn.

Istanbul: Humpy wins Women Grand Prix

3/19/2009 – She actually did it! India's top female GM, Koneru Humpy, staged a big finish and won the Women Grand Prix with 8.5 out of 11. In the last round she pressured her French opponent, Marie Sebag, until the latter blundered and Humpy could win. Armenian IM Elina Danielian defeated Zhao Xue to finish joint second (with Hou Yifan) and earn a second GM norm in the process. Round eleven report.

Svidler: I am a better player than my current results show

3/18/2009 – The European Women's Championship is taking place in St Petersburg, Russia, just a stone's throw away from where top GM Peter Svidler lives. GM Robert Fontaine is producing video reports for the French chess magazine Europe Echecs there. The two got together for an indepth interview on Peter's career, development, ambitions, Topalov vs Kamsky and Anand vs Topalov. Must watch and read.

Istanbul: Zhao thwarts Humpy, stays in the lead

3/18/2009 – GM Zhao Xue came under considerable pressure in the Women's Grand Prix in Turkey, with India's Koneru Humpy pressing. But she managed to hold for 66 moves and remains in the lead. Hou Yifan drew against Marie Sebag, while Elina Danielian beat Martha Fierro to move into contention at equal third. The Turkish WIM Betül Yildiz scored her first victory, over Shen Yang. Round nine report.

Tomashevsky wins EU Championship – by a hair's breadth

3/18/2009 – The tiebreaks at the European Championship in Budva, Montenegro, produced a final between GMs Evgeny Tomashevsky and Vladimir Malakhov, both from Russia. Tomashevsky won the first rapid game and lost the second, so that an Armageddon game was required. Malakhov had the black pieces and only needed to draw. In fact he had a winning position and then hung a rook! Take a look.

Istanbul: Humpy wins, Zhao loses for an exciting finish

3/18/2009 – French GM Marie Sebag actually did it: she outplayed the leading Zhao Xue to give the Istanbul Women's Grand Prix a rousing finish. Especially since Koneru Humpy scored a crushing win against Antoaneta Stefanova, and Hou Yifan survived a tough game against Elina Danielian. So it's Humpy, Hou and Zhao with 7.5/10 in the final round. All have the black pieces. Watch it on Playchess.

Correspondence players – a potent chess playing entity!

3/17/2009 – "With all the super-tournaments going on nowadays, it's easy to forget that there are other great players producing work of art." Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos is referring to correspondence players and shows us an impressive example. Be there at 9 p.m. ET.

Amber R4: Kramnik goes into the lead

3/17/2009 – In Round 4 of the 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament Vladimir Kramnik defeated the luckless Wang Yue 2-0 to take the sole lead in the overall scores. He achieved this mainly with a fine 3.5/4 performance in the blindfold section. In second place are last year's winner Levon Aronian and Alexander Morozevich, who won Amber in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Report after round four.

Congestion at the top of the European Championship in Budva

3/17/2009 – After ten rounds, with one to go, a total of nine players are in the lead, poised to win the event, half a point behind are fourteen more who have theoretical chances. So the final round on Tuesday is bound to bring a lot of action, which you can follow on the Playchess server. The official web site has many hundreds of (uncaptioned) pictures of players. Photo report of soccer, sun and sea.