Pocket Fritz 4: Full ahead!

3/19/2010 – To play and to analyze – those are the most important element in a chess program. To this respect, Pocket Fritz 4 provides a real thoroughbred, not just a bean counter. But don't be afraid: you don't need a special training course to run this beast. Everything is very easy, with a pleasant and intuitive interface. To study and to have fun, Pocket Fritz 4 offers you versatility and power.

Killerladies

3/19/2010 – Passed pawn versus kingside attack was the theme of this game from the European Women's Championship, where mighty batteries had been erected in the c and g-file. White is to play – which move would you recommend to her now?
A) 34.c8Q
B) 34.Kxh3
C) 34.gxh3

The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Rijeka: Nepomniachtchi, Cramling European champions

3/18/2010 – The European Championship ended with a bang, not a whimper, with great games on the top boards. Open section leader nineteen-year-old Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was victorious against Armenian GM Vladimir Akopian. He took the title alone and with a 2868 performance. Swedish GM Pia Cramling defeated IM Viktorija Cmilyte to become Women's champion. Final report.

Amber: Carlsen's winning streak ends after seven games

3/18/2010 – It must surely be a record: seven wins in a row for the Norwegian super-talent Magnus Carlsen. But he was stopped by a defeat at the hands of Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine. Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler all scored 2-0 wins, while Vassily Ivanchuk celebrated his 41st birthday by regaining the overall lead at the Amber tournament. Round five report.

ChessBase show: Miles vs Karpov, the clash of styles (2)

3/17/2010 – In last week's Playchess by Dennis Monokroussos presentation we saw Tony Miles play the funny 1.c4 b6 2.d4 e6 3.d5 Qh4 against Anatoly Karpov, with the then-world champion eventually winning. This week, in part two, Miles plays the even more provocative 1.e4 a6! and wins the game with confident ease. The lecture is at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night – watch out for daylight saving time changes.

Amber: Carlsen continues with sixth victory in succession

3/17/2010 – This is a real Rambo-style comeback: after the shock 0-2 loss in round one Magnus Carlsen has won six games in a row, and caught the leading Vassily Ivanchuk in the overall score. Israeli GM Boris Gelfand shocked former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik with a 2-0 wipe-out. Gelfand and Grischuk are now a point behind the leaders. Wednesday is a free day. Round four report.

The Fantasy Variation under discussion

3/17/2010 – In CBM 133 Sergey Erenburg recommended a setup with 3...e6 against the Fantasy Variation 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3. In CBM 134 Lars Schandorff followed up with 3...dxe4, a recommendation for Caro-Kann players who do not like the "French"-type structures after 3...e6 and prefer a free development of their c8-bishop. Our reader Marcus Schmücker took the article by Lars Schandorff as a starting point to delve deeper into the material and to look for alternatives for White. His interesting suggestion after 3... dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Bc4 Nd7 goes 7.c3!? (7.0-0 was analysed by Schandorff). ChessBase Magazine Online.

Rijeka: Nepomniachtchi, Cmilyte take the sole lead

3/16/2010 – Tournament leader Baadur Jobava beat top seed Zoltan Almasi, but then lost to nineteen-year-old Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is now in the sole lead. In the women's section Polish GM Monika Socko lost her game and the lead to Lithuanian IM Viktorija Cmilyte. There are some interesting news tidbits from Silvio Danailov in the Europe Echecs video interviews by GM Robert Fontaine.

Amber: Carlsen back in business, with second 2-0 victory

3/16/2010 – The third round started with a misunderstanding: Magnus Carlsen wanted to key in a move in the blindfold game but found 1.e4 already on the screen for his opponent Peter Svidler. Magnus did not know he had black! But never mind, after a shot of orange juice he went on to demolish Svidler 2-0. Aronian also did a 2-0 round against Jan Smeets. Ivanchuk leads overall. Round three report.

Domination by the bishop

3/16/2010 – 18-year-old Niclas Huschenbeth showed great fighting spirit in coming from number 16 in the starting list to take the German championship title. Karsten Müller has selected and analysed one of the endgames of the new champion for ChessBase Magazine Online. This endgame is further proof that the young player from Hamburg prefers to fight out his games till the very last minute since during the tournament he turned down six offers of draws from his opponents. Here too he scored the full point with black, although White had drawing chances. But at the end of the game the domination by the bishop can be seen clearly.

Rijeka: Nepomniachtchi, Cmilyte lead into final

3/16/2010 – After nine round Ian Nepomniachtchi was sole leader in the open group, with 7.5/9, followed by no less than seven other players on 7.0/9 and a further eleven on 6.5/9. So what would they all do? Nepomniachtchi drew in 14 moves, and two of his main rivals in 16. Thank heavens for the women, where the top boards brought in decisive results. The hero and leader was Lithuanian IM Viktorija Cmilyte.

Carlsen (and Gelfand) bounce back with 2:0 victories

3/15/2010 – The youngest and oldest players took painful 0-2 defeats on the first day in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament. On the second day both bounced back with 2-0 wins. Magnus Carlsen demolished defending champion Levon Aronian, Gelfand fared similarly with Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov. Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov are in the lead in the overall standings with 3.0/4. Round two report.

Magnus Carlsen on his chess career

3/15/2010 – The German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel is the largest and most influential in Europe. At irregular intervals it turns its spotlight on chess. Today's edition has an unprecedented three-page interview with the world's number one player, with questions regarding general intelligence, chess talent, work ethics and his chess trainer Garry Kasparov. Interesting new insights.

Video report: Yazici and Danailov running for ECU President

3/14/2010 – So far two candidates have declared their intention to run for President of the European Chess Union: the President of the Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici, and the Bulgarian IM and manager Silvio Danailov. GM Robert Fontaine from Europe Echecs spoke to both candidates. Danailov also revealed that at the World Championship match against Anand Topalov will not accept or offer draws.

Ivanchuk-Carlsen 2:0 – shock start in Amber 2010

3/14/2010 – The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament began with a shock: top seed Magnus Carlsen played 1.a3 in his blindfold game against "Mr Amber" Vassily Ivanchuk and lost. Carlsen went on to lose the rapid game as well. Former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, playing for the first time, also won 2-0 against Boris Gelfand. Big report with pictures from the opening ceremony.

Rijeka: Special report – Women's group

3/14/2010 – We have been reporting quite extensively on the European Individual Championships, but contrary to urban legend we have been neglecting the female players. After the first seven rounds it is time to make amends. We do so with a look at a number of games, we offer you some tactical puzzles, and bring you a large number of uncaptioned pictures – and ask you to identify the players.

A splendid fighting game...

3/13/2010 – ... with an amazing final was played between Michal Krasenkow und Baadur Jobava in the 4th round of the European Individual Championship in the Croatian town of Rijeka. Here White had just attacked the black Nd5 for the third time with 33.Qg2. How would you assess the situation now?
A) the battery in the d-file decides for White; B) a clever unpinning trick leads to an endgame with a minus exchange for Black, but a likely draw. C) the second player wins.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Karpov to run for FIDE President

3/13/2010 – Fifteen years ago Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov was elected President of the World Chess Organisation. At the next election during the General Assembly of the FIDE Congress, which will be held during the 39th Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk in September this year, he faces a challenge by former World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Press release.

Rijeka: No change in the lead

3/13/2010 – Round seven saw no changes in the rankings prior to the rest day on Saturday, with draws on no fewer than the eight top boards. Though the tendency would be to write they “ended with a peaceful result”, that would be a very inadequate description for all the games except for Almasi-Nepomniachtchi, which did indeed end shortly after it started. Report with pictures of the Zemat Sport Center.

Amber 2010: Let the games begin

3/13/2010 – The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament begins today, with the first games at 2:30 p.m. EST (4:40 Moscow, 1:30 London, 8:30 a.m. New York) The participants include Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk (who jumped in for Alexander Morozevich), Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, and others. Watch the live action on the official site and on Playchess.

Karpov on his FIDE presidential campaign

3/13/2010 – Yesterday the twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov announced that he was running for FIDE President. Today he addressed the extraordinary meeting of the European Chess Union (ECU), which was meeting during the European Individual Championship in Rijeka. Karpov had hash words for the current FIDE leadership and outlined his own program for change in FIDE. Video interview by Europe Echecs.

Did you guess who the (future) grandmaster was?

3/12/2010 – A week ago we published a picture of a very young chess player who was destined to become a world class grandmaster. Most of our readers guessed instantly who it was – especially the lips gave him away. But going through the clues we unhelpfully provided, readers had many a doubt created in their minds. Read about it in our feedback and find out what Nigel Short was doing in Hamburg.

Rijeka: Two ahead, two behind, and the masked rider

3/12/2010 – No one was spared on the top boards in the European Championship, and exciting, uncompromising games were the result, to the delight of chess fans. Both top boards featuring Efimenko and Jobava against Nisipeanu and Timofeev leave two ahead and two playing catch-up. Also find out about the untitled Belarussian who is +1 against 2600+ competition. Round six report.

The fortress breaker

3/11/2010 – It is frequently anything but easy to make the material superiority of a rook over a bishop tell when all the pawns are on one side of the board. Last month we showed you a game with reduced material in which zugzwang brought about the decision. Today we follow that with an example with more pawns, in which White has to find access to a black fortress that is hard one to storm. The siege had already lasted for over twenty moves before White turned to radical measures with 55.f5!? GM Karsten Müller demonstrates how the game was decided and what additional defensive resources Black had. ChessBase Magazine Online.