Ilyumzhinov: 'Candidates Tournament in Spring 2010'

11/27/2008 – Our previous report describes the new FIDE Candidates cycle. In an interview conducted by Yuri Vasiliev FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov defends the decision to create a new format. "The knockout, the Candidates and the Grand Prix are all my children," Ilyumzhinov says, "and I love them all. But time does not stand still, FIDE must adapt to the requirements." Sport Express interview.

A willingness to give up material in unusual ways

11/25/2008 – Bela Perenyi, who was killed in a car accident 20 years ago this month, has two immensely important main lines in the Najdorf named after him. He made significant contributions to other openings as well. Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos examines a remarkable game played in 1985 by this great openings theoretician. Be there at 9 p.m. ET.

Olympiad R11: Armenia wins Gold, Israel second

11/25/2008 – The Armenians defeated China, and Israel The Netherlands, each by 2½:1½, to take Gold and Silver respectively. In the women's section Ukraine and Georgia finished equal first, with Ukraine most likely taking gold. Biggest upset: USA beat Ukraine 3½:½. Full reports to follow on Wednesday; for now, we bring you results, games and statistics.

Survey: the role of talent and training in chess

11/24/2008 – In June we published an appeal for chess players to participate in a study by the psychologist Dr Robert Howard of the University of New South Wales in Australia. What is the most important factor in chess excellence? Is it a natural talent for the game? Or motivation and training, talent being a minor factor? These were the questions – 581 players participated. Preliminary answers.

Olympiad R10: Armenia back in the lead, together with Ukraine

11/24/2008 – Armenia beat Serbia 3:1, Ukraine took Israel down with a 2½:1½ win. Veselin Topalov ended his winning streak with a painful loss to Alexei Shirov (Spain beat Bulgaria 3:1). In the Women's Section China lost to Georgia and is now in place seven. The final round is on Tuesday and starts at 10 a.m. German time. Watch it live on our chess server Playchess.com. Full illustrated report.

December Grand Prix moved from Doha to Elista

11/24/2008 – In February FIDE announced its Grand Prix cycle, which contributes to the nomination of the challenger for the World Championship. The Third GP was fixed for Dec. 13th to 29th 2008 in Doha, Qatar. But now the organisers there have withdrawn and the event will be staged in Elista. Here's FIDE's terse press release together with a radical proposal to simplify the World Championship cycle.

Olympiad R9: Armenia and China falter in ninth round mixup

11/23/2008 – Two major shocks pulled the two teams that had been leading all the way away from the top: Armenia lost to Israel in the open section, and the overpowering Chinese lost to Serbia in the women's section. Suddenly on this snow-covered weekend in Dresden we have Israel in the sole lead in the former and Ukraine, Poland and Serbia leading the latter section. Full illustrated report.

Back from Bonn – the hero returns

11/23/2008 – After his remarkable success at the World Championship in Bonn, where he defended his title in a match against Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand has returned to India and his native Chennai to a hero's welcome. The festivities have just begun, but we have first videos from the arrival, where thousands were gathered in spite of the very late hour. Anand and his wife Aruna give interviews – in Tamil. Fascinating.

Lessons for life

11/22/2008 – Sometimes most of your pieces are in good position but you need that last piece to get into place before everything just clicks together for the final attack.  But what piece is it and where to put it? In his latest Powerplay DVD Daniel King shows you how to 'Improve Your Pieces'. Sean Marsh watched the new course and found a good deal of eternal wisdom. Buy it now or read more.

Olympiad R8: Armenia beats France, Israel in sole second

11/21/2008 – The French team, who were looking so good yesterday, suffered a painful ½:3½ beating at the hands of the leading Armenians, who are now a match point ahead of Israel, and two ahead of Russia and Ukraine. The biggest performance, 2936, has been given by Veselin Topalov, who is likely to climb to over 2800 in the next FIDE list. In the women's section China still leads. Full illustrated report.

Olympiad R7: Armenia lead ahead of Germany, Israel and France

11/21/2008 – The win came on board three: Gabriel Sargissian defeated Alexander Grischuk, and with it the Russian hopes of catching the leading Armenians. Now Kramnik and Co. are in the third tier, together with Ukraine, China, Vietnam and the US and behind Germany, Israel and France. In the women's section Ukraine has come to within a point of the leading Chinese. Big pictorial report.

Deep Fritz 11 is fast – and now available from ChessBase

11/21/2008 – Fritz 11 is a complete rewrite of the famous Fritz program. It is crammed with tactical strength and chess knowledge. But until recently it ran on just one processor. Now ChessBase has released a "deep" version that supports up to 16 CPUs or cores. On a quad system, fast becoming the industry standard, it runs almost four time faster than on a single core. A perfect partner for chess analysis.

Olympiad R6: Armenia and Russia lead with 11/12 points

11/20/2008 – After a 2:2 against Ukraine, and wins by Russia and Armenia over England and Azerbaijan respectively, the leading Germany join six other teams in the second slot. In the women's section China beat Hungary to take a two-point lead, with Russia, Netherlands, Ukraine, USA and Poland in second place. TV ChessBase is producing interviews after the games. Pictorial report.

Aronian: 'I have a lot of blood in my brain'

11/20/2008 – The world's number seven ranked player has some unusual (or maybe not) views on the game at which he so excels. "Women cannot play chess," he says flat out, "they are generally much too emotional." And "chess programs are our enemies, they destroy the romance of chess." We have translated his interview from last weekend in the Berliner Zeitung. Interesting fellow.

Kamsky-Topalov to be held in Bulgaria, Feb 16–28, 2009

11/19/2008 – FIDE has announced that an agreement has been reached for the Challenger Match between Topalov and Kamsky. It will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 16th to 28th February, 2009 with a prize fund of US $250,000, which will be shared equally by the players. Press release and blitz interview.

Chessboxing Triumph in London

11/19/2008 – This hybrid sport, with four-minute sessions of chess interspersed with three minutes of boxing, is the brainchild of Dutch event artist Iepe Rubingh. The match ends in checkmate or knockout. Chessboxing is fast becoming a world-wide phenomenon, overtaking chess in the number of spectators it can attract. The latest match took place in London. Pictorial report.

Olympiad R5: Six teams with 9/10 points

11/18/2008 – Germany and Russia drew their match, Armenia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and England won theirs, so now there are six teams with an equal number of match points at the top of the table. The day's sensation: Adams lost with white against 16-year-old Fabiano Caruana. In the women's section China thrashed their main rival Poland to take the sole lead. Results, games, giant pictorial.

Tromsø – a Chess Olympiad in the midnight sun?

11/18/2008 – It lies well within the Arctic Circle and has a history of chess activity. Now the city of Tromsø is bidding to host the 2014 Chess Olympiad in one of the most attractive regions of Europe. A full presentation is being made at the Olympiad in Dresden. We visited the city this summer and support their bid with some WYSIWYG evidence of why it is ideally suited for an Olympiad. Photo report.

Olympiad R4: Germany ahead of Russia

11/17/2008 – Talk about home advantage: the German Olympiad team is in the lead, a few tiebreak points ahead of Russia, both teams having won all their matches so far. Israel beat Egypt in a somewhat charged political match. In the women's section China and Poland have won all their matches and lead with 8/8. We bring you results, games and once again a giant pictorial report.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (12)

11/17/2008 – The Editor of Chess Notes has been working with the Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary on chess lexicology. Three fields are covered: the oldest occurrences of chess terms, unusual vocabulary, and ‘chessy’ words. Enter the world of the skewer, x-ray attack, sui-mate, pedaneous chess, and chessikins. We present the current listings, and readers are invited to contribute further citations.

Olympiad R3: Norway beats China, Ugandans forfeited

11/16/2008 – The shocker of round three was nineteenth seed Norway's 2.5:1.5 win over third seed China. Armenia and Germany won to take first and second place on the table. The Ugandan team appeared for the round with only one player, owing to visa problems, and have sent an urgent appeal for assistance. In the women's section top seed, Russia almost lost to eleventh seed India. Big pictorial report.

Olympiad R2: Azerbaijan and Armenia lead, US twice upset

11/15/2008 – After two rounds at the Olympiad in Dresden 20 teams have four points each, with Azerbaijan and Armenia leading on tiebreak points. The upset was the 2:2 draw between 10th seed US against 27th ranked Greece. In the women's section Israel, ranked 21st, beat the seventh seed Americans. Fourteen teams lead with four points each, with Russia ahead on tiebreaks. Massive photo report.

Olympiad R1: Azerbaijan and Armenia score 4-0

11/14/2008 – The first round of the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, began with white-wash victories by Azerbaijan and Armenia. Host Germany defeated Scotland 3.5:0.5, and the second team actually beat Bulgaria 2.5:1.5. In the women's section Russia crushed Azerbaijan 4-0, while Germany was held by Iran. We bring you the results of the top boards and photographic impressions of the participants.

Kamsky-Topalov: Bulgarian offer, Chernenko's $935,000 guarantee

11/14/2008 – The Bulgarian Chess Federation confirmed that it wishes to host the match, but is "extremely surprised why the financial arrangements have been changed" [from $150,00 to $250,000]. Now Gata Kamsky's manager Oleksandr Chernenko tells us that his US $935,000 bid will be transferred to FIDE the moment he sees the contracts and knows what he is paying for. Open letters.