Big pictorial: Après Chess in Dagomys

4/16/2009 – For the third time we bring you a "final report" on the Russian Team Championship and Leagues in Dagomys-Sochi, southern Russian. It features pictures taken mainly after the end of the event – prize giving and medal distribution, the closing party. There are a number of faces you probably have not seen before. Here's a megabyte and a half of pictures by Irina Sudakova and Elena Mikheeva.

Nalchik R2: Svidler and Aronian score

4/16/2009 – Peter Svidler profited from an over-optimistic combination that didn't work, unleashed by Vassily Ivanchuk. Levon Aronian nursed a small advantage into a promising knight endgame in which he won in 94 moves ("a perfect endgame, a textbook example of converting the advantage" – Shipov). It was Aronian's second win in two rounds. All other games were drawn. Pictures and GM commentary.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov: the world championship connection

4/15/2009 – In 2004 he won the FIDE world championship in Tripoli, knocking out an insane gauntlet of players, including Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Grischuk, Veselin Topalov and Michael Adams. Last year the Uzbek GM assisted Vishy Anand, decisively, in defending the World Championship title. Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us an instructive attacking game by the king-maker.

Anand’s difficult struggle

4/15/2009 – It is no simple business for World Champion Anand whenever he has to appear on first board in the Bundesliga against a player who has 180 Elo points less, and when he, Anand, has Black. The pressure on him to win the game is naturally even greater. In his game against Solingen’s Daniel Stellwagen, he accomplished his task with a flourish. The variation which was up for discussion had already been treated by our authors Evgeny Postny and Igor Stohl in their articles in CBM 117. The move chosen by the young Dutch player, 13.Bb5, is called picturesque by one of them and spectacular by the other, but both of them had pointed out the forced draw after 13…hxg5. More ...

Nalchik R1: Grischuk, Aronian win, Kamsky escapes

4/15/2009 – The fourth FIDE Grand Prix Tournament started with a number of exciting games. Alexander Grischuk outplayed Boris Gelfand very nicely, while Lev Aronian crushed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with the black pieces in 32 moves. Gata Kamsky hung on for dear life in a very grim position against Peter Leko and held a draw in 121 moves. Round one report with a wrap-up by GM Sergey Shipov

European Seniors: Russia wins, Korchnoi best

4/14/2009 – The 11th European Senior Team Championship in Velden, Austria, ended with a convincing Gold for the Russian team. Silver and Bronze went to Switzerland and Finland. The best player in the event was Viktor Korchnoi: the indomitable septuagenarian – he has just turned 78 – scored 7.5/9 on board one and had the highest performance in the event. Big illustrated report by Franz Rulitz.

A Chess Festival of a Different Kind

4/14/2009 – Different in the sense that in two days there will be groups competing in Fun Chess, Gift Chess, Chess Doubles, Chess 960, Chess Quiz, Blindfold knockout, Lost to Win and Problem Solving. Different because it is being held in a South Indian matchbox, firework and printing city in the middle of lush Western Ghat forests and waterfalls. Just after a Car Festival. Rathinam Anantharam reports.

Icon tasks in ChessBase 10 – Part 2

4/14/2009 – Tips and tricks for handling database icons in ChessBase 10 are the topics of the day – especially the right-click "Properties" menu and the many options you have to tweak up your Database window with this command. Learn all about it in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Reykjavik Open 2009 – chess in geothermal splendor

4/13/2009 – Iceland is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Many cars run on fuel cells, since Iceland is also one of a few countries capable of producing hydrogen in adequate quantities using geothermal energy. Anastasiya Karlovich uses the occasion of the Reykjavik Open tournament to retrace Fischer's path and to tell us more about this exciting North Atlantic island.

Tomsk-400 wins the Russian Premier League

4/11/2009 – This team won the highest Russian Team Championship in 2007, but did badly last year. Now they are back with a convincing two-point victory, with ShSm-64 and Ural taking silver and bronze behind them. The second-level "Higher League" was won by Polytechnik, ahead of Economist-SGSEU-2 and Yugra. We bring you a closing report of the tournament with portraits of the players.

The Barcza Memorial Tournament Scandal

4/11/2009 – It was scheduled to go from April 6th to 17th, and players had already arrived in Budapest – some from as far away as India. IMs had to pay a hefty starting fee, 600 Euros, in addition to their flights. Round one was played, but then the hosting hotel shut down the event since no expenses were being paid. Two victims of this scandal and the Hungarian Chess Federation give their views.

Arboretum and Dolphinarium – something fishy in Sochi

4/11/2009 – The Russian Team Championships were exciting and yielded five big reports, mainly with portraits of chess players. But the southern city of Dagomys is not just about chess. On the free days players and journalists were able to visit the world famous Arboretum and a Doplhinarium that features painting Beluga whales. Irina Sudakova and Elena Mikheeva sent us this beautiful pictorial report.

Spartak wins Russian Women's League – narrowly

4/10/2009 – The women's section is over. Spartak, which had been coasting, suffered a big setback by losing in the final round. Their main rival AVS drew their match, leaving both teams tied for first. But Spartak had 18 board points to AVS's 17 and so took gold. IM Tatiana Kosintseva scored 6.0/7 on board two with an incredible 2750 performance. Pictures and statistics.

Icon tasks in ChessBase 10

4/9/2009 – "Right-clicking gets you everywhere in ChessBase 10". It's a true statement; there are lots of features which can easily be reached by clicking the righthand mouse button; in fact, that's the only way to get to a few of them. We'll prove it -- never leaving the Database window to boot. Find out more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

11th European Senior Team Championship in Velden

4/8/2009 – Hang on, doesn't that ring a bell? Yes, of course! In 1983 the candidate’s quarterfinal clash Smyslov vs Huebner was decided by the throw of a roulette ball, after a tie in the match, in Casino Velden, and almost 30 years ago Viktor Korchnoi played and won a candidate’s match here against Tigran Petrosian. After three rounds Viktor, now 78, has yet to concede a loss or draw. Report by Franz Rulitz.

Tomsk-400 leads in Russian Team Championship

4/8/2009 – After four rounds in the Premiere League the team of Tomsk-400 with Jakovenko, Timofeev, Inarkiev, Tiviakov and others is in the lead, followed by ShSM-64 and Ecomomist SGSEU-1. In the Women's tournament Spartak leads after five rounds with four wins and a draw, and in the Higher League it is Polytechnik and Yugra with 10/12 points. Video and photo report from Dagomys.

Anand on the World Championship in Bonn

4/8/2009 – In the fourth and final part of our interview series Viswanathan Anand talks about his games against Vladimir Kramnik last October. When did his seconds tell him he had missed a forced mate? When did he decide to play 1.d4 with white? How close exactly was game five, and how many minutes before its start did he decide what to play? Fascinating insights.

Bogoljubow: trash talking in chess

4/7/2009 – The tradition of trash talking is by no means new to chess. In 1925 Ukrainian-German grandmaster Efim Bogoljubow wrote some fairly nasty stuff about José Raúl Capablanca, and three years later was humiliated by the great Cuban in a highly instructive game which our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos will show us on Wednesday night (Thursday morning in Europe). 9 p.m. ET.

Database screwups

4/7/2009 – Our ChessBase Workshop columnist breaks a long-standing vow and offers -- *gasp* -- Windows tips regarding database recovery techniques. You can enjoy this unusual and historic moment merely by reading the latest installment of ChessBase Workshop.

Mammoth chess event won by 680½ to 671½

4/7/2009 – The city of Hamburg is divided in two parts by a river and lake. Every year for the last 51 years there has been a traditional chess tournament between schools located to the left and to the right of the Alster. This year the students from the left bank won the match by just nine points. At the same time one school was playing matches against teams in Madrid and Durban. Pictorial report.

ChessBase 10's database pane

4/7/2009 – There are numerous ways to configure your ChessBase 10's "database desktop", which is the first thing you see when you launch the program. It lets you navigate to a database anywhere on your computer. The latest edition of our ChessBase Workshop shows you how to find a configuration for the desktop which is exactly right for you. Steve Lopez explains.

Russian Team Championship and Leagues in Dagomys

4/6/2009 – The world financial crisis has led to a reduction of the teams, but still there are plenty of high-calibre players to get excited about. The Premier League has the “crème de la crème”, the Higher League is also full of strong GMs, and the Women's League features some of the strongest player in the world. We bring you an extraordinary photo report by WGM Irina Sudakova and Elena Mikheeva.

Washington Post: Kavalek on Stellwagen vs Anand

4/6/2009 – Every week the Washington Post provides a column by GM Lubomir Kavalek on its online edition. In the latest he takes a look at Anand's incredible final Bundesliga game against Daniel Stellwagen. Anand will be 40 this year, but instead of taking it easy he shows nerves of steel in picking one of the most complex and difficult opening lines in chess. Washington Post column.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (19)

4/5/2009 – The Editor of Chess Notes had extensive contact with Capablanca’s second wife and has been able to draw together her detailed (and absorbing) reminiscences of life with the Cuban genius. Here, by way of introduction, is a compendium of photographs and other illustrations, many of which were made available by the late Olga Capablanca herself. Enjoy a pictorial feast.