Magnus Carlsen withdraws from Grand Prix

12/5/2008 – After a week of correspondence with the FIDE office in Athens, and after receiving replies he deemed unsatisfactory, Magnus Carlsen, the world's number four ranked player, has decided to withdraw from the 2008-2009 FIDE Grand Prix cycle. Instead, the Norwegian GM, who turned 18 last Sunday, will "concentrate on playing well organised and interesting top level events elsewhere". From Magnus' blog.

FIDE announces bidding procedure for World Championship

12/4/2008 – Are you the mayor of an affluent town or community? The head of PR for a major corporation? If you are seeking world-wide publicity you can obtain it by staging the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship – or the World Championship itself. The price of the former has been slashed from a million to €400,000; the latter needs a million Euros in prize money. Announcement.

Wijk aan Zee 2009 – players, places, dates and times

12/4/2008 – The annual Wijk aan Zee tournament takes place from January 16th to February 1st 2009. Anand, Topalov and Kramnik are missing, but Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Carlsen, Aronian and Radjabov make for a star-studded field. Groups B and C are also well equipped with interesting players, including a former world champion and the current junior world champions. Full information.

World Champion vs lowly IM – a crush

12/3/2008 – Mikhail Tal was winning Gold for the Soviet team at the Olympiad. In the final round he faced IM Jonathan Penrose. As one might expect, it was a crush – but the "crushee" was Tal. In his Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos introduces us to this remarkable player and his remarkable game. Be there at 9 p.m. ET.

Nigel Davies – The English Opening

12/3/2008 – "I don’t know many people who actually enjoy playing against the English Opening," the reviewer writes. "In my experience, club and tournament players are rarely well prepared to meet it. Thus it seems a very reasonable idea to add it to your collection of favourite openings." You can do this with Nigel Davies' trainer DVD. Order it now or read this review by Sean Marsh.

Carlsen on the Grand Prix + readers' feedback

12/3/2008 – The cauldron is on the boil, FIDE has changed the World Championship qualification regulations, Alexei Shirov has lodged a protest. Now Magnus Carlsen, represented by his father Henrik, hints at legal action and withdrawal from the cycle. We bring you a report from his blog and feedback from readers on this and other subjects (including Aronian on women and computers!). A long, interesting read.

Olympiad Dresden: statistics and stories

12/2/2008 – The games are over, but there are still plenty of stories to tell about one of the biggest and most spectacular chess Olympiads ever. We start our series of retrospective articles with one on the Elo winners, a medal-deciding game, on the most unusual results, the stolen diamond, the reception of the winners in their home countries and the trauma of a 0-4 loss against your arch rivals. Enjoy.

Alexei Shirov: 'Let us ban FIDE!'

12/2/2008 – "I don’t know how many times I have said to myself," says the world class GM and world championship runner-up, "that it makes no sense at all to keep getting involved in chess politics and that I should just concentrate on my work. But the recent FIDE 'developments' possibly made many late great champions turn in their graves. That means the living chess players should speak out." Press release.

Olympiad Dresden: The Ivanchuk Files

12/2/2008 – The events surrounding the failed attempt to get Vassily Ivanchuk to submit to a doping test have hit the broadsheets and news services. A number of chess players, most publicly Alexei Shirov, have expressed fears that Ivanchuk may be banned from competitive chess and the medals redistributed. Before you make up your mind where you stand, here are all the details of the case.

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.