Acropolis 2008: Smirin wins ahead of Parligras on tiebreak

8/26/2008 – The 23rd Acropolis 2008 International Open Chess Tournament was won by the Israeli GM Ilia Smirin, for the second consecutive year. He tied for first place with the Romanian GM Mircea Parligras but won on tiebreak points. WGM Anastasiya Karlovich provides us with impressions of the tournament location in Athens and portraits of the players in her big pictorial report.

Tal Memorial 07: Ivanchuk beats Morozevich, takes lead

8/25/2008 – What a round: four out of five games decided, the only draw a cliff-hanger. Ponomariov beat Shirov, Leko beat Kamsky (with black!), Alekseev beat Mamedyarov. A heart-stopping victory by Vassily Ivanchuk over player-on-fire Alexander Morozevich pushed the latter down from number one in the world on the Live List to number two behind Vishy Anand. High drama in Moscow.

Rising Stars: the Experience team without a chance

8/24/2008 – Remember how hard-fought these contests used to be? Well, in round five of the third NH Chess Tournament that pits Rising Stars against Experienced GMs it was 77-year-old Viktor Korchnoi who scored the first full point for the latter. Otherwise there were nine draws and 14 losses. Chinese GM Wang Yue leads the field with 5.0/5 points and a theoretical performance of 3400. Big pictorial report.

Topalov: 'Next Year I Will Challenge the World Champion'

8/24/2008 – A few days ago former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov visited the International Alcubeirre Tournament in Spain, where he gave a simultaneous exhibition and spoke to a local newspaper about Kasparov, the Zaragoza Expo, Scarlett Johansson ("I like her more in some ways, but my thing is chess"), his chess career and chess playing computers. Heraldo interview.

Meet Harika, Junior World Champion (girls' section)

8/24/2008 – She is seventeen, hails from Andhra Pradesh, India, and has just won the Under 20 Junior World Championship, ahead of the international – especially Eastern European – competition by a point and a half. Harika Dronavalli is is one of the nicest and brightest young ladies in the junior chess scene. Her goal: to be like Judit Polgar. Indepth interview by Özgür Akman.

Kramnik on the Tal Memorial, health and his match against Anand

8/24/2008 – In a rare interview Vladimir Kramnik, who is playing in the Tal Memorial in Moscow, sat down to a cup of coffee and a video interview with Europe Echecs reporter GM Robert Fontaine. The former world champion was very forthcoming about his performance in Moscow, his health problems (now solved!) and his chances and strategy for the match against Anand in October this year. Video and transcript.

Tal Memorial 06: Morozevich, Ivanchuk and Gelfand win

8/24/2008 – Two black wins: Boris Gelfand overwhelmed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a Semi-Slav (Anti-Meran); and Peter Leko was taken to the cleaners by Vassily Ivanchuk in a Closed Ruy Lopez (Chigorin). Ruslan Ponomariov was basically lost after eleven moves in a wildly tactcial Nimzo Indian against Alexander Morozevich, who moves to number one in the world on the Live Rating list. Round six report.

Tal Memorial 04: All games drawn, Morozevich leads

8/22/2008 – After a shock defeat or bad spell in a tournament it is usually advisable to avoid the risks involved in a quick comeback attempt and instead steady your nerves with a rock-solid draw. Vladimir Kramnik did it against Ruslan Ponomariov, and Alexei Shirov used it to score his first half-point against Boris Gelfand. The table remains unchanged with Morozevich ahead by half a point. Round four report.

New DVDs: Anand – My Career in Chess

8/22/2008 – Acclaimed as the "Fastest Brain in the World", Vishy Anand is the world number one and World Champion. Experts rate him as one of the biggest natural talents in the history of the game. Easy-going and humorous, he is also one of the best-loved players. Now he has recorded two ChessBase DVDs on his career, with a total of over eight hours of video comments and annotations. Order now.

Ilyumzhinov to Saakashvili: let your players participate

8/22/2008 – "Fully realizing all complexity of the present situation for the Georgian chess players," writes FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, "I am appealing to you for your kind assistance in providing the sportsmen with conditions for smooth participation in the World Championship." Letter from the President to the President.

Tal Memorial 05: Ponomariov and Mamedyarov win

8/22/2008 – Ruslan Ponomariov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov both had drawn all their games so far. Peter Leko was on plus one, Gata Kamsky on 50%. Leko lost a Marshall Gamit to Ponomariov, Kamsky the white side of a Sicilian Scheveningen to Mamedyarov. Morozevich still leads. The round was particularly exciting since we had Levon Aronian commenting on Radio ChessBase. You can watch the rerun.

Tal Memorial 03: Morozevich beats Kramnik, Leko beats Shirov

8/21/2008 – It was a stunner: Vladimir Kramnik played the new move in a Semi-Slav, saw some promising moments and then went down with flying colours in 31 moves to Alexander Morozevich. Peter Leko scored his first victory, against the luckless Alexei Shirov, who has zero points so far. Kamsky had a win against Gelfand but spoiled it to a draw. Round three report.

Meet Abhijeet Gupta – meet the Junior World Champion

8/21/2008 – Four years ago Nigel Short, while winning the Commonwealth Championship, ran into some problems: "In the second round I drew with some 15-year-old boy from some very obscure place, some village somewhere. I think his name was Abhijeet Gupta." Last week nineteen-year-old Abhijeet won the prestigious World Junior Championship in Gaziantep, Turkey. Interview.

When Reshevsky decides to have some fun

8/20/2008 – Sammy Reshevsky wasn't known as a freewheeling player. But in the last round or the 1944 US Open, having already having clinched first, he decided to have some fun with a 19th century sideline in the French. Reshevsky sacrificed a pawn and then a piece, and crushed his opponent with a magnificent combination. All of this on view in Dennis Monokroussos' Wednesday night Playchess lecture.

Ilyumzhinov reiterates: we should not mix sport and politics

8/20/2008 – Recently a number of participants in the World Women's Championship appealed to FIDE to have it moved away from a region of armed conflict. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the ECU and the organizers have appealed to the players not to politicize the event. Now Ilyumzhinov gives further assurances. Here's his latest message and letters from participants and readers.

Bisik-Bisik with GM Alexander Khalifman

8/20/2008 – Bisik-Bisik is a word from the Malay Archipelago, and means whispering from one person to another. In a series Edwin Lam seeks to “whisper” to our readers out there the previously unknown other side of his interview partners. Today he talks with GM Alexander Khalifman, who in 1999 became the FIDE world champion in Las Vegas. Today "El Khalif" runs a training web site and publishes books. Bisik-bisik.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (7)

8/19/2008 – Earlier this month, we introduced Mr Jones, a bookshop owner who is commendably eager to stock only the very best books. Readers have made many suggestions, and the Editor of Chess Notes now sets out a representative selection. It may also be regarded as a check-list of books which, as the cliché goes, should be in every chess lover's library.

Indians sweep the World Junior Championship

8/19/2008 – 19-year-old Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta became the third Indian ever to win the World Junior (after Anand and Harikrishna). He did it after winning his last five games in a row, with 10/13 points. Second was 15-year-old Indian GM Parimarjan Negi. The girls' section was won by Indian IM Harika Dronavalli, who finished a point and a half ahead of her nearest rival. Big illustrated report from Gaziantep.

Tal Memorial 02: Kamsky beats Shirov with black

8/19/2008 – Four games were drawn today in Moscow, one game resulted in a traumatic second loss for firebrand Alexei Shirov, who, playing with the white pieces, sacrificed a pawn unsuccessfully against US grandmaster Gata Kamsky. Yesterday's winners Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexander Morozevich and Vladimir Kramnik lead with 1.5/2. Express report.

Adams wins second successive Staunton Memorial

8/18/2008 – Michael Adams justified his position as the top seed in the 2008 Staunton Memorial, by winning the tournament for the second successive year. He can be justifiably happy with his result, as can all six of the Dutch players, who dominated the team event once again. Bob Wade, who is in his late 80s, battled wonderfully, but ultimately came up empty-handed. Final report.

Chess in the Arctic Circle – GM Igor Kurnosov triumphs

8/18/2008 – For the third time the Tromsø Chess Club staged an International Open in the Arctic Circle. It ran from August 2nd to 10th 2008, with sky high prizes, by Norwegian standards (total prize fund 11,000 Euros). The venue is spectacular, the atmosphere warm and generous. And the place is full of Carlsens: Magnus, Henrik, Sigrun, Ellen, Ingrid and Signe. Part one of our big pictorial report.

Tal Memorial 01: Kramnik, Morozevich, Ivanchuk win

8/18/2008 – The annual Tal Memorial has started, in the heart of Moscow, a round robin with ten players averaging 2745 Elo points. In the first round there was plenty of fighting spirit and action. Vladimir Kramnik beat his old nemesis Alexei Shirov, Alexander Morozevich positionally outplayed Evgeny Alekseev and Vassily Ivanchuk played a crusher against Gata Kamsky. Round one report

Women's World Championship: Georgian players withdraw

8/17/2008 – "The Organizing Committee is deeply disappointed and bewildered by the attempts of some circles to break up the competition," writes Chairman Arsen Kanokov. "If the world championship is not shifted to another country, it will be impossible for the Georgian chess players to participate," writes the Georgian Chess Federation. Background information and a WSJ article by Garry Kasparov.

Staunton Memorial: Adams lead by a full point

8/17/2008 – We repeat the previous Staunton Memorial headline. Top British GM Michael Adams drew a highly complicated game against Peter Wells in round eight, and then beat Jonathan Speelman in round nine to score 7.0/9 point, one more than his nearest rival Loek van Wely. Jan Timman follows with 5.5, behind him Short and Smeets with 5.0 each. Rounds 8-9 reports.