Fritz11's engine parameters

9/5/2008 – There are numerous ways to tweak a chess engine's performance: hash tables, different time controls, endgame tablebases, handicap modes. But a little-used performance tweak for Fritz11 is its engine parameters. You can find out more about these variable settings in the new edition of ChessBase Workshop.

Magnus Carlsen in the International Herald Tribune

9/4/2008 – The 17-year-old chess player Magnus Carlsen appears to spend his time after school much as any typical teenage boy would. He vanishes to his small, sparsely furnished bedroom at the top of a yellow clapboard house in this suburb of Oslo and settles in front of the computer. "Maybe I spend too much time chatting with people," he said with a smile. Interesting IHT story.

Nalchik R3: Four players score in first game of round three

9/4/2008 – "Hou do you think will win the Championship?" skyped Nigel Short after today's round. Indeed. The 14-year-old Chinese talent Hou Yifan has won all five games she has played so far and must be considered a hot favourite for the title. In other games Ushenina beat Matveeva, Stefanova crushed Gaponenko, Cramling beat Ruan Lufei, top seed Humpy was held by Hoang Thanh Trang. Full pictorial report.

Bilbao R3: Topalov beats Carlsen with black

9/4/2008 – On move 21 a clearly out-of-sorts Magnus Carlsen – our Spanish colleagues tell us he brought a bug with him from the Moscow blitz – dropped a pawn, and then was ruthlessly punished for this inaccuracy by Veselin Topalov, never a player to let such an opportunity pass. Both the other games were drawn. Topalov leads in the tournament. Full illustrated report.

Topalov brings life to a staid opening

9/3/2008 – One rarely associates the Queen's Indian Defense with sharp and lively play. But (together with his second, Ivan Cheparinov) Veselin Topalov, a dazzling player we have been neglecting of late, has detonated many dangerous novelties on the white side of this opening. In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos provides us with an example. See you on the server.

Nalchik R2: World Champion Xu Yuhua knocked out

9/3/2008 – 4-3-2-1. No, it's not the latest scoring system, but the number of players of different nationalities to qualify for round three: four Russians, three Chinese, two Indians, two Ukrainians, and one player each from Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Sweden. Reigning World Champion Xu Yuhua was knocked out by Svetlana Matveeva, 14-year-old Hou Yifan has won all four games. Full pictorial report.

Bilbao R2: all games drawn, Carlsen leads

9/3/2008 – All three games were drawn today, and according to the Bilbao rules that gives each player one point (a win counts for three). The game of the day was the Dragon between Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen – it had spectators on the Playchess server enthralled. An exchange sacrifice, a piece sacrifice and in the end a perpetual. Carlsen continues to lead in Bilbao and regular points. Full report.

Nalchik R2: Matveeva beats world champion Xu Yuhua

9/2/2008 – The first game of round two in the Women's World Championship saw 33rd seed IM Svetlana Matveeva of Russia defeat the reigning Women's World Champion and top seed GM Xu Yuhua of China. IM Elisabeth Paehtz lost her white game against Anna Ushenina, while Chinese wondergirl Hou Yifan beat WGM Bathuyang Mongontuul of Mogolia. Big pictorial report with lots of new faces.

Bilbao Grand Slam starts today

9/2/2008 – It is one of the strongest chess tournaments ever: six players averaging 2775.6 Elo points, making it a Category XXII event. The games are being played in the middle of the town square, in a sound-proof glass cabin. The scoring system is unusual, with three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The prize fund? A cool 400,000 Euros (US $585,000). First pictorial report from Bilbao.

5th Dato’ Arthur Tan Open – Li Chao wins again

9/2/2008 – The Chinese grandmaster did what his predecessors failed to do: he won the tournament for a second year in succession. This further cemented China’s position as the leading chess superpower in Asia. There were 112 participants at the Mid Valley City venue in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With a $24,000 prize fund was the richest ever edition in the series. Pictorial report by Edwin Lam.

Bilbao R1: Carlsen beats Aronian with black

9/2/2008 – The Super-super-GM in Bilbao started with a bang. Radjabov's Scotch against Topalov simplified to a drawn ending which was played out to bare kings. Anand had one of his sweating-blood games against Ivanchuk but survived in the end. Magnus Carlsen, the incredible young man from Norway, simply blew away world-class GM Levon Aronian with the black pieces. Big illustrated report.

Nalchik: most favourites through, Zhukova, Sachdev falter

9/1/2008 – Most of the top seeds in the Women's World Championship won their round one matches without much difficulty, with a few long struggles (Elisabeth Paehtz squeaked through in the fifth tie-break game) and a few shockers (13th seed Natalia Zhukova was knocked out by 52nd seed Katerine Rohonyan). We bring you a big pictorial report and some new dramatic Armageddon footage.

Tal Memorial Blitz: Ivanchuk wins again, ahead of Kramnik and Carlsen

9/1/2008 – A big qualifier with dozens of international stars, then the final with 18 players and an average rating of 2726. The Tal Memorial Blitz Tournament in Moscow was one of the strongest ever held. After the first half Vladimir Kramnik led, ahead of Magnus Carlsen. The second half was all Vassily Ivanchuk – the Ukrainian beat both Kramnik and Carlsen to win the event. Games, photos and videos.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (8)

8/31/2008 – Over the years a number of correspondents have submitted to the Editor of Chess Notes their photographs of the final resting-places of various chess masters, including Anderssen, Capablanca, Grünfeld, Morphy and Nimzowitsch. There is even the remarkable case of the two masters who share the same grave. A pictorial record is presented here.

Rising Stars beat Experienced team by 33½-16½

8/31/2008 – It was pretty much a rout. The lowest scorer in the Rising Stars team ended up a full point ahead of highest scorers of the Experienced Grandmasters. One must remember that the oldest player in the tournament had completed his third world championship final match eleven years before the youngest player was born. We bring you a big pictorial report with stunning photos by Fred Lucas.

Festive opening at the Women's World Championship in Nalchik

8/30/2008 – The Presidents of the World and Russian Chess Federations were there, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and the Kabardino-Balkaria President. But not the Georgian players, and some international participants, who did not attend due to the Russian-Georgian conflict. They lost their games by default. Otherwise most of the top seeds won their first games comfortably. Big pictorial report with video.

Chess in Space: Houston, we have a checkmate

8/29/2008 – How's this for an unusual chess match: US astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who is currently aboard the International Space Station, is playing against the Ground Stations. The first game was won convincingly by Chamitoff, who is a decent amateur player. Now he is playing six simultaneous games against different Ground Stations. We have pictures and an indepth interview with the astronaut.

World Championship 2008: the commentators speak

8/28/2008 – Just 46 days to go until the start of the World Chess Championship in Bonn, Germany. The match between Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik will be covered by a battery of online commentators, including GM Yasser Seirawan in English, GMs Artur Yussupov, Dr Helmut Pfleger, Klaus Bischoff in German, GM Miguel Illescas in Spanish. Here are pre-match interviews with the experts.

The Fritz11 shootout mode

8/28/2008 – How do you get Fritz11 to play a game against itself? If you don't know, it's easy – and, best of all, you can start the game from a chess position of your choosing. Learn how in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

The Great ChessBase Simul Hunt (2)

8/27/2008 – The German Grandmaster Karsten Müller has chosen three further games submitted by readers. They are all tough, if relatively brief, fights and include a loss by a 14-year-old Magnus Carlsen in a display in Norway (where his overall score was +28 –1 =1). Contributions to our Simul Hunt continue to arrive, and more articles will be appearing. In the meantime, enjoy the latest crop of battles.

Tal Memorial 08: Kamsky beats Morozevich, Kramnik, Shirov win

8/27/2008 – The orbital flight that took him to number one in the world is over, Alexander Morozevich came crashing down to earth with a second loss, this time with the white pieces against Gata Kamsky. Vladimir Kramnik chalked up a second win, this time against Evgeny Alekseev, while Alexei Shirov improve his dismal last-place score with a win against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Round eight report.

Magical Moments with Mikhail Tal

8/27/2008 – The ongoing Tal Memorial is a very fine tournament, but there's very little about the play that would remind us of the man being honored. In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos provides us with a special treat: a vintage Tal game which starts positionally but in which Tal suddenly switches modes and overwhelms his opponent with wave after wave of attacks. Enjoy.

Rising Stars lead Experienced team by 24.5:10.5

8/27/2008 – How does he do it? Chinese GM Wang Yue won all of his first six games, and drew in round seven to take a one-point overall lead with 6.5/7 and a 3034 performance. Second in line is Ivan Cheparinov with 5.5/7 and a 2818 performance. 77-year-old Viktor Korchnoi won a second game for Experienced, and almost won a third which he tragically lost on time. Report after round seven.

Tal Memorial 09: Ivanchuk wins by a full point

8/27/2008 – Ivanchuk-Shirov: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 c5 5.Bxc4 e6 6.0-0 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ne5 Ke7 10.Be2 Bd7 11.Bf3 Nc6 12.Nxc6+ draw. That was it, Vassily Ivanchuk won the 2008 Tal Memorial a full point ahead of his nearest rivals (Morozevich, Gelfand, Ponomariov and Kramnik). His performance of 2861 took Ivanchuk to number two in the live world rankings. Final report.