6/19/2010 – We don't often see a non-sports international organization funding a chess tournament, especially a children's one. But that is exactly what the European Commission recently did in Uzbekistan. The event was organized by Europa House in Tashkent, together with the Uzbek Chess Federation, on the International Children's Day. Beautiful pictorial report by Jamshid Begmatov.

6/18/2010 – 154 moves had already been played in the game Aronian-Dominguez, when Aronian carried out a brilliant idea in the form of 155.Qb6+!. The intention is, after the forced exchange of the blockading queen with 155...Qxb6 156.Bxb6 and the bishop sacrifice Kxb6, to support the advance of the white passed pawn duo with 157.Kh5. So far, so good.
But what does White play if Black does not take the bishop but sets up a new blockader in front of the passed pawns with 156...Bg6? GM Karsten Müller has analysed the ending for ChessBase Magazine Online.

6/18/2010 – Have we seen this opening in top tournament play in the current century? After all it's supposed to be refuted. Magnus Carlsen used it in his game against top Chinese GM Wang Yue (possibly to avoid the Petroff) and won a full point. Radjabov and Ponomariov also won their games, making it 3-0 for White in this round. Radjabov and Carlsen lead. GM commentary by Dorian Rogozenco.

6/18/2010 – On April 1st of this year we reported – and it was not a tasteless April Fool's joke – that the remains of former World Champion Bobby Fischer could be exhumed to settle a paternity dispute. The District Court of Reykjavik did not allow it, but now the Iceland Supreme Court has overturned this ruling after receiving new evidence from the claimant Marilyn Young. The story is in the international news.

6/17/2010 – The XLV edition of the annual tournament dedicated to the greatest Cuban chess player ever, José Raúl Capablanca, is VI rounds deep. Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk is in top form and has scored IV plus half a point in VI games, followed by Nigel Short with III plus one half and a MMDCCLXVIII performance. What is wrong with us, you ask? As usual we have caught the Roman numeral fever.

6/17/2010 – Following the string of successful events, the ASEAN Championships were held in Subic Freeport, Olongapo City, Philippines from 4th to 13th June 2010. Participants competed in the U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U20 age groups for girls and in the open section. At the ASEAN Conference Norway presented its bid for the 2014 Olympiad. Pictures and videos by Europe Echecs.

6/13/2010 – In the first part Vishy Anand spoke about his expectations for the World Championship match in Sofia (the interview was conducted in December 2009). In part two he talked about match preparation, psychological tricks and the ominous "killer instinct". In the concluding section Anand discusses movies, "preparation music"and whether he still reads opening books. Part three.

6/13/2010 – He is not so jaded as some may think. Garry Kasparov was recently in Tel Aviv, Israel, as the winner of the "Name your Hero" competition, and did his 30-game simul thing, winning every game as usual. But he was most excited about meeting the famous scientists who had won the Dan David prizes. Like Leonard Kleinrock, who had failed to transmit the word L-O-G-I-N. Big illustrated report.

6/13/2010 – ... White had to consider when in this position he went for 21.Bxa6 with the threat 22.Rd6. How would you assess the situation after this?

A) White simply wins a piece;
B) the ultimate consequence is an endgame with white material advantage;
C) everything vanishes into thin air.

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

6/12/2010 – The 2009 tournament was a highlight of the chess year – and returned London to its former status as a great world centre of chess. The sponsors vowed to continue with the Chess Classic, and for this year's edition – from December 8 to 15 – they have secured the participation of the World Champion Vishy Anand plus the world number one Magnus Carlsen. This is an event you should not miss.

6/12/2010 – "For a Brighter Future" is the campaign slogan, the mission statement includes the fair allocation of tournaments, transparency, sustainable sponsorship, chess in schools and on the Internet. The German Chess Federation President, Prof. Robert von Weizsäcker (pronounced "fon why-tsecker"), is running for the European Union presidency, with a team of four grandmasters. Details.

6/12/2010 – After nine rounds Dimtry Jakovenko was leading by half a point, ahead of Sergey Karjakin, with four players half a point behind the latter. In round ten Jakovenko lost to Alexander Onischuk, while Karjakin drew. The other results left four players in the lead before the final round. We bring you a pictorial report by our colleagues from ChessPro on caged animals and suckling pigs.