Mukachevo: Nigel Short pulls ahead with game five victory

9/26/2009 – "So we have four games played and White could not win a single game yet," noted match commentator Klaus Bischoff. "Today we will see Nigel's last try with the white pieces." Try he did, and in fact pulled off a fine victory to take a 3.0-2.0 lead in this match (with one game to go). Not a single game so far has been unfought or boring. Report with GM analysis.

Three GMs lead in SPICE Cup in Texas

9/26/2009 – This Category 16 event, billed as the "highest rated international invitational tournament in U.S. history", is named after its founder, former Women's World Champion Susan Polgar. After six rounds GMs Kuzubov, Andreikin and Hammer lead, but Group B (Cat. 11) is also interesting, since 14-year-old IM Ray Robson is trying to pick up his final GM norm. Illustrated report.

The natural move...

9/25/2009 – ... is a continuation which immediately springs to mind in a position - if, for example, a piece can be developed to an active square in the opening with tempo. In the diagram, playing 16.Rad1 White occupied the d-file with his rook and at the same time attacked the opponent's queen. What is your judgement on this?
A) simple and strong, the move maintains a powerful initiative;
B) here nature is against White, Black gets the advantage; 
C) neither nor, with a precise reaction the position is kept in balance.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Valencia: Kasparov's blitz win, final score 9:3

9/25/2009 – Everyone expected an easy win by Kasparov, but their eight-game blitz encounter started with a shock loss. Karpov drew first blood, Kasparov took a "deep breath" 17-move draw to clear his head, and then went on to score five wins in a row. The final game was a draw, leaving Kasparov winning the blitz with 6.0:2.0 and the match with 9.0:3.0 – exactly as their ratings predicted. Illustrated report.

Valencia: Karpov wins game three, Kasparov wins the match 3-1

9/24/2009 – Day two of the commemorative rapid chess match saw Anatoly Karpov win a fine game against the man who dethroned him as World Champion 25 years ago. In the final game Garry Kasparov only needed a draw, but put on the pressure until Karpov crumbled and lost – again – on time. The final score of 3.0:1.0 is exactly what the ratings predicted. Illustrated report with videos.

Mukachevo: fourth game drawn, score 2-2

9/24/2009 – "Enjoy your free day," our commentator GM Klaus Bischoff imagined the arbiter saying, though Bischoff assumed both players would spend it in front of their laptops. Not quite. Nigel Short went on an outing to Mukachevo Castle, located at the dizzying height of 68 meters, where he made a number of new friends, some of flesh and some in bronze. After that the fourth game was drawn. GM analysis.

Grandmaster Shukhrat Safin passes away at 39

9/24/2009 – He was a much-loved member of the Uzbek national team, playing in numerous Olympiads, Asian and World team championships. He was a gentleman and a chess altruist, who never hesitated to share his home preparations with teammates. He was the loving father of two girls and a boy. Shukhrat Safin died on 20 September of blood cancer. Eulogy by Jamshid Begmatov.

Vladimirov in 2004: Magnus will be number one!

9/23/2009 – Four and a half years ago, at the 2004 Dubai Open, GM Evgeny Vladimirov suffered a stunning defeat against a 13-year-old. The former Kasparov trainer was so impressed that he predicted that young Magnus Carlsen would one day be the number one in chess. In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos looks at this astonishing game. Nine p.m. ET on the server.

Valencia: Kasparov starts with 2:0 crunch

9/23/2009 – Twenty-five years and still going strong: Garry Kasparov started his commemorative match against eternal rival Anatoly Karpov with two quick wins. The first game was over in 24 moves, when Karpov overstepped his time; and the second ended in 28 moves after a flashy kingside attack by Kasparov. The international press is reporting extensively, and we have some interesting video documents.

The eternal duel between bishop and knight II

9/22/2009 – At the Grand Slam Masters in Bilbao Alexander Grischuk took second place behind Levon Aronian. Whereas he had good results with white and won two of those games, he had to submit to two defeats as black. GM Karsten Müller has annotated for ChessBase Magazine Online Grischuk's pretty endgame success against Alexei Shirov from round two. In it, it is once again the bishop which triumphs over the knight.
Analysis of the ending Grischuk-Shirov
Endgame DVDs

Kasparov and Carlsen on Norway's NRK talk show

9/22/2009 – Nobody watches long interviews on the Internet any more – Google and YouTube have satiated us pretty much. But sometimes you have to make an exception. Here are Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen talking about their cooperation to make the latter the number one in chess. The discussion on Norway's NRK Nett-TV talk show is charming and insightful. Video and full transcript.

Karpov-Kasparov: Match start in Valencia today

9/22/2009 – Exactly 25 years after their first encounter – the World Championship match in Moscow – the perennial opponents Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov are playing a twelve-game rapid and blitz match in the Spanish city of Valencia. The rounds start on Tuesday at 19:00h CEST (21:00h Moscow, 1 p.m. NY), with two days of rapid games and one for blitz. Watch it on Playchess.

Mukachevo: third game a fighting draw

9/22/2009 – The first two games of this match were both won by Black, after hard and interesting fights. Would White achieve a better result today? Almost. Former World Championship challenger Nigel Short had his younger Ukrainian opponent on the ropes, and only with a strong and imaginative defence could Zahar Efimenko save his bacon. Game three analysis by GM Klaus Bischoff.

Efimenko draws first blood in Mukachevo match

9/21/2009 – The six-game encounter between former World Championship challenger Nigel Short and the promising Ukrainian grandmaster Zahar Efimenko started with musical pomp in the West-Ukrainian town of Mukachevo. In the first game Efimenko showed great style in beating his more famous and higher-rated British opponent with the black pieces. First round report with GM commentary.

Mukachevo: Short strikes back, beats Efimenko with black

9/21/2009 – In the first game the higher-rated player, Nigel Short, was somewhat shockingly defeated by his young Ukrainian challenger Zahar Efimenko, who had the black pieces. Today the British GM struck back with his own very convincing black-piece victory to equal the score. This looks like it's going to be a really hard-fought match. Game two analysis by GM Klaus Bischoff.

'Without major pieces...

9/19/2009 – ...there wouldn't be any weak back ranks,' says an old German chess wisdom which once again hits the mark in the following position, where Black added fuel to the fire with 33...e3. How would you assess the situation now?
A) White achieves victory by deflecting the black queen with 34.a4;
B) advantageous is the rook swap on e8 followed by 35.Qxb6 (despite the rejoinder 35...exf2); 
C) the position is dynamically balanced.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram

Gil and Marsel – Schoolmates and Champions

9/18/2009 – It's been a good chess year for Israel, ranked third in the world behind Russia and Ukraine. The historic silver medal at the Dresden Olympiad was exhilarating, as were a string of individual victories in big events. Now two of the brightest young talents, Gil Popilski and Marsel Efroimski, have won the U16 boys' and U14 girls' European Championships. IM Yochanan Afek reports.

Mikhalchishin and the Arkhangelsk Defence

9/18/2009 – GM Adrian Mikhalchishin is a well-known chess trainer. He has assisted Romanishin, Beliavsky, Anatoly Karpov, the Polgars, the Polish, Dutch and Turkish national teams. He has captained a team with Karpov, Anand, Kramnik, Beliavsky, Short and Gelfand. He is also a leading expert on the Arkhangelsk Variation, and he provides five hours of video lessons on it on this new training DVD.

World Women's Team Championship in Ningbo

9/18/2009 – We promised you one more report from this Chinese tournament, with the lovely photos of Ye Rongguang, who apart from being China's first GM, is an avid photographer. On the free day Rongguang accompanied the players to the Ningbo Museum and Dongqian Lake, where many posed willingly in front of the Song Dynasty statues. We also revisit the controversy over the final round draw.

Media blitz: Kasparov and Carlsen in Oslo

9/17/2009 – A scheduled training session with Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen was used as an occasion to meet the Norwegian press. The two sat down for a friendly game against Education Minister Solhjell, and all three answered questions for a Channel 2 journalist. The government is set to back their brightest chess star, said the Minister, and his country's bid to host a Chess Olympiad. Video report.

Generation encounter: Beliavsky vs Nakamura under scrutiny

9/16/2009 – One, the current US Champion, was born in the year the other, a former World Championship candidate, had just won the Soviet Championship for the third time. Their scintillating encounter, analysed by Dennis Monokroussos in his Wednesday night Playchess lecture, took place earlier this year at the NH Tournament in Amsterdam. Watch and learn on the server.

World Women's Team Championship in Ningbo

9/16/2009 – We reported recently on the event and the results, but with a disgracefully meager number of pictures. We just didn't have any – until suddenly our friend Ye Rongguang, the first Chinese player in history to gain the GM title, sent us a huge quantity. Rongguang is an avid photographer with professional equipment. Here is part one of a giant pictorial: impressions of Ningbo.

T.A.C.T.I.C – a Turkish African Cooperation...

9/16/2009 – ... for Training and Instruction in Chess. The aim is to help in the development of chess federations in Africa, in the critical areas of introducing chess in schools, raising membership, organizing tournaments, getting finances and obtaining sponsorship. The first week of lectures and activities is to be held in a somewhat controversial location: Khartoum, Sudan. Press release of the TCF.

Fritz11: Threatened squares

9/16/2009 – Some of the best Fritz11 beginner features are the ones which give us hints but require us to think for ourselves. One such feature hints at attacks and defenses but makes us figure out why they work as they do. Intrigued? Check out the latest ChessBase Workshop in which the mysteries are revealed...