Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (9)

9/13/2008 – The Editor of Chess Notes recalls some of the longest chess combinations ever played, focussing on the old-timers, including the trio of world champions Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine. There are instances of the winner seeing 10, 12 or 15 moves ahead, and readers will certainly marvel at these over-the-board exploits.

Chessboxing in London’s East End

9/12/2008 – The UK’s first chessboxing extravaganza kicked off on a sultry summer’s night on 15 August in the East End of London. Famous for Jack the Ripper, Pearly Kings and Queens, and 1960’s gangsters, the area is now the hub of a vibrant night scene. Rajko Vujatovic gives his inside account as chess arbiter on the night, whilst Tim Woolgar offers a unique first hand report of his debut chessboxing bout.

Nalchik R5: 14-year-old Hou Yifan in the final

9/12/2008 – Facing the top seed GM Koneru Humpy of India in the Women's World Championship the young Chinese super-talent proved to have the better nerves. After winning the first rapid chess game she lost the second, but then in the blitz playoff it was Hou all the way. With two wins in succession she reached the final and will play Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. Full illustrated report.

Bilbao R9: all games drawn, Topalov leads

9/12/2008 – Anand vs Topalov was a Caro-Kann, with unambitious play by the World Champion, who seemed satisfied with a draw-and-nothing-more. Radjabov vs Carlsen was a tough fight that ended in a 53-move draw. Ivanchuk vs Aronian saw the Ukrainian achieve a winnable position and then spoil it to a draw in time trouble. Note: the final round begins on Saturday at 4 p.m. local time. Illustrated report.

EU Individual Championships: death by ringtone

9/12/2008 – The prize fund is 30,000 pounds, the venue is the World Museum in Liverpool, England. 38 grandmasters and a bunch of other title holders. After three rounds six players have perfect 3/3 scores. But the highlight so far was round two, when suddenly a Nokia cellphone played a few tinkling bars of Tarrega’s Gran Vals, which led to a well-known GM defaulting his game. Full background story.

Nalchik R5: Kosteniuk through, Hou and Humpy in tiebreak

9/11/2008 – GM Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia outplayed her Swedish opponent GM Pia Cramling in the first game of the semi-finals of the World Women's Championship, and then drew the second game to advance to the Final. Top seed GM Koneru Humpy of India lost her first game against Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan but won the second one, narrowly, to foced a tiebreak. Illustrated report.

Bilbao R8: Topalov beats Carlsen, Aronian beats Anand

9/11/2008 – And the amazing Vassily Ivanchuk won his game against Teimour Radjabov after a terrible time scramble – and advanced to number one in the Live Rankings. Vishy Anand spoilt a perfectly good game with a blunder immediately after the time control and lost after a 75-move struggle to survive. Veselin Topalov defeated Magnus Carlsen's Sicilian Dragon in 48 moves. Full illustrated report.

Make your ChessBase Rybka-ready

9/11/2008 – Running the strongest chess engine under the best ChessBase program ever is a real big thing – but not a big deal at all. With both Rybka 3 and ChessBase 10 installed on your system, all you have to do is to upgrade your ChessBase program. Buy ChessBase 10 and Rybka 3 now or read all about how to get the two to work in perfect harmony.

Bilbao R6: Carlsen defeats Aronian, leads in Masters

9/9/2008 – A convincing victory by the player of the year, Magnus Carlsen, brought the young Norwegian to the top of the scoreboard according to the Bilbao system (a win counts for three points, a draw for one). Veselin Topalov, the leader after the first half, is now in second place, after a tough draw against Teimour Radjabov. In the unofficial "Live Ratings" Magnus now leads by six points. Round six report.

Carry on up the Armageddon – reader feedback

9/9/2008 – In a recent provocative article John Saunders, editor of British Chess Magazine, discussed the issue of 'Armageddon' and 'Sudden Death' games, which are often used to decide the outcome of events, including World Championships. But can we find less frenzied alternatives to the single-game shoot-out. Our readers have come up with a number of comments and constructive suggestions.

Bilbao R7: Ivanchuk and Aronian defeat Carlsen and Topalov

9/9/2008 – Both top players in this event suffered shock losses on Tuesday. Magnus Carlsen blamed his downfall in a very sharp game against Vassily Ivanchuk on a single move in the opening. Levon Aronian recovered from his two losses with a miracle cure which he revealed after his convincing victory against Veselin Topalov. Radjabov-Anand ended in an interesting 29-move draw. Round seven report.

Nalchik R4: Kosteniuk, Humpy, Hou and Cramling in Semifinals

9/8/2008 – The top seeds have made it in the Women's World Championship. Indian GM Koneru Humpy, rated 2622, defeated Chinese WGM Shen Yang 2-0; Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk eliminated Anna Ushenina of Ukraine; 14-year-old Hou Yifan knocked out Lilit Mkrtchian of Armenian; and GM Pia Cramling of Sweden defeated GM Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria. Round four report.

Carry on up the Armageddon

9/7/2008 – 'Armageddon game', 'Sudden Death' – these terms may attract the attention of the general public - but what a let-down when they find that no physical violence is involved. John Saunders, editor of British Chess Magazine, looks back at two cases that raised controversy and searches for less frenzied alternatives. Could chess even be the powder-keg for real-life Armageddon? Be very afraid...

Nalchik R3: And then there were eight

9/6/2008 – Two Chinese girls, Hou and Shen, one Russian, one Ukrainian, an Armenian, Bulgarian, Swede and an Indian remain in the Women's World Championship in Nalchik. Both the high-rated Konsintseva sisters were eliminated in round three, the reigning junior world champion Harika is out as well, so is Svetlana Matveeva, who eliminated World Champion Xu Yuhua in round two. Pictorial report.

Bilbao R5: All games drawn

9/6/2008 – After a furious round four, with all games decided, round five brought three draws – but none of them your unfought, GM agreements. Anand got into trouble against Magnus Carlsen, dropping an exchange, but escaped in the end; Ivanchuk-Topalov was a standard Nimzo-Indian and drawn in 44 moves; Radjabov played another Scotch, drawing with Aronian in 34 moves. Full pictorial report.

Bilbao R4: Topalov topples Anand, Carlsen #1 in the world

9/5/2008 – When was the last time we saw Anand resign a game in just 25 moves? It happened, in round four of the Chess Grand Slam Final in Spain against Veselin Topalov. Levon Aronian defeated Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen, still ailing from his Moscow bug, defeated Teimour Radjabov. Topalov leads in Bilbao, but Carlsen is now number one in the world live rankings. Full pictorial report.

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.