8/11/2009 – Without error there would be no chess, but that exalted thought will probably be of limited comfort to anyone who has just overlooked a quick mate. The Editor of Chess Notes catalogues a variety of lost opportunities, including the particularly unfortunate case of a player who, instead of giving mate in one with his queen, blundered the piece away.

8/10/2009 – The Swedish GM Ulf Andersson played 310 opponents in 1996, then Andrew Martin took on 321 in 2004. His record was broken in 2005 by Susan Polgar (350 opponents). Currently the record stands at 360, set earlier this year by Kiril Georgiev. Now the 29-year-old Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob intends to get his name in the Guinness Book next Thursday by taking on 500 opponents.

8/10/2009 – There are at least three great reasons to attend this event, says GM Dejan Bojkov, who reports for us from Greece. Luxembourger Alberto David won the A tournament on tiebreak points. It took place during the hottest part of the year in a beautiful location, with wonderful conditions for the player and great hospitality of the locals. Kavala is in a historically interesting. Big pictorial report.

8/10/2009 – This was the greatest performance of her career: Polish GM Monika Socko shared first place with 14-year-old IM Ray Robson of the US, Bulgarian IM Marijan Petrov and Sweden's top GM Emanuel Berg. But she took the title on tiebreak points and with a performance of 2639. We bring you a final report by IM Torstein Bae with a beautiful Robson game and pictures and videos from Tromsø.

8/10/2009 – The fifth FIDE Grand Prix Series Tournament is being held from August 9 to 23, 2009, in the Armenian health resort of Jermuk and is dedicated to World Champion Tigran Petrosian, who would have turned eighty this year. You can watch the games on the excellent official web site or on Playchess.com. In the first round of the event Peter Leko and Ivan Cheparinov scored wins. Round one report.

8/10/2009 – ... as well as a treat to annotate was the following highlight of last year's European Individual Championship, containing a great deal of combinatorial motifs - deflection, mate patterns, passed pawns, sub-promotion... In this position Black could have uncorked 31...Qc2, and after 32.Nf8+ Kg8 your judgement is required: A) White can throw in the towel. B) Black is not the only one to unpack study-like moves – the game ends in a draw by force. C) keeping his nerves, White also keeps the full point. In the game Black continued 1...exf1+ 32.Qxf1 Kxg6 and lost - why? The solution is here but first ponder it with a larger version of the diagram.

8/9/2009 – Egyptian International Master Aly Yasseen is a well-known and prominent figure in the African and the Arab chess worlds. His chess achievements are many, among which include being a two-time Egyptian Champion. He now works as a technical director and coach in the Smouha Club Chess Academy (SCCA) in Alexandria, Egypt. He shares his views in this exclusive interview.

8/8/2009 – Originally it was bigger, with the winners of six major tournaments invited to participate in the Basque town of Bilbao. A major financial crisis led to the down paring of the event to a four-player double round robin (six rounds) and the prize fund considerably reduced from last year's total of €400,000. Now one of the participants, Veselin Topalov, has opted out, and is replaced by Levon Aronian. Press release.

8/8/2009 – Make no mistake, it is GM Monika Socko, not her top-rated husband Bartosz, who is leading the Arctic Challenge with 6.0/7 and a 2703 performance. No less sensational is that 14-year-old IM Ray Robson is sharing first with a 2679 performance. The action is exciting ("hammer time") and the landscape lovely in the land of the midnight sun. Big illustrated report by Misha Savinov.

8/7/2009 – The Netherlands Championship, which took place from July 21st-30th, was finally won by GM Erwin L'Ami. 15-year-old Anish Giri, who had led with 5.0/5 points and a 3164 performance, ended in second place, together with Jan Timman and FM Roi Miedema. "There are now one billion photographers on the planet," sighs Dutch professional Fred Lucas. Here are his extraordinary visual impressions.

8/7/2009 – Sunday, 9 August 2009, heralds the start of the events around the 200-year anniversary of the Schachgesellschaft Zürich, the oldest chess club in the world. Attendees on the final weekend (August 22-23) include Kasparov, Anand, Karpov, Korchnoi, Kramnik, Spassky, Ponomariov and Topalov. Richard Forster and Christian Rohrer retrace the historical development of the Schachgesellschaft.

8/7/2009 – In Canadian youth and junior chess, a number of names are becoming difficult to forget, but note these two: FMs Raja Panjwani and Eric Hansen. They will not be going away anytime soon, as indicated by recent performances at the Victoria Summer Chess Festival. With the Bluvshtein-Nakamura encounter serving as a warm up to the main events, things just got better from there.