Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (13)

12/1/2008 – The famous brilliancy in which Carl Carls defeated Schuster lasted under a dozen moves, but the Editor of Chess Notes points out that there are many complications. These are historical (when did the game occur, and did Carlos Torre score an identical victory the following decade?) as well as analytical (was the combination sound?). A detailed investigation is presented.

Magnus Carlsen – now we are eighteen

11/30/2008 – We first introduced the Wonderboy, the "Mozart of Chess", to our readership back in January 2004. In the meantime countless articles have been written about this super-star of chess, who for a few days in September this year topped the live world rankings. Today he is eighteen – a good opportunity to embarrass him with some baby photos we dug up. Happy Birthday, Magnus!

Bob Wade – eulogies to a well-loved personality.

11/30/2008 – Robert Wade, player, writer, arbiter, coach and chess promoter, passed yesterday at the age of 87. Our report on his life and work found a world-wide echo, and we received dozens of messages from close friends and chance acquaintances. They include Speelman, Nunn, Short, Levitt, Levy, O'Connell – and a long article with annotated games by GM Raymond Keene. A fond farewell to Bob Wade.

Chess legend Bob Wade dies at 87

11/29/2008 – Robert Graham Wade, player, writer, arbiter, coach and chess promoter, was born in New Zealand, where he won the national championship three times. After moving to England he won the British Championship twice and played for England in six Olympiads. He beat Korchnoi and helped Bobby Fischer prepare for his match in Reykjavik. Bob died in the early hours of the morning. In memoriam.

Olympiad in Dresden: Closing ceremony and prize giving

11/29/2008 – 1,270 players took part in the event, hailing from 141 different countries. 722 men and 548 women played a total of 6,050 games. In the end Armenia and Georgia had won Gold in the men's and women's sections. But there were also prizes in different Elo categories, medals for best performances on different boards. We bring you all the winners in this big pictorial report.

Good humour, personal stories, and the champion's best games

11/28/2008 – Vishy Anand's clear victory at the World Championship in Bonn was the chess highlight of the year. During the match one wag suggested Kramnik might have fared better had he watched Anand's DVDs 'My Career'. Steve Goldberg of Chesscafe did just that and enjoyed the great combination of humour, anecdotes and in-depth annotation in volume two. Buy it now or read more.

Olympiad R11: Photographic impressions from Dresden

11/27/2008 – It started at ten in the morning, in chilly Dresden. After the final round was over an incident with Vassily Ivanchuk and the doping controls. Then the closing ceremony and awarding of medals, then a dinner and final farewells. The next day everyone was in the air or on road or rail. The ChessBase team is safely back in Hamburg and brings you a big pictorial report of the final round.

FIDE decides on a new Candidates format

11/27/2008 – The General Assembly of the 79th FIDE Congress has approved a new World Chess Championship cycle for 2011. It will be an eight-player round robin or knockout (the organiser gets to decide which); and the participants will be two each from the Grand Prix and World Cup, the loser of Kamsky-Topalov; the loser of Anand vs Kamsky-Topalov; the highest ranked player; and an organiser nominee. Details.

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.