8/1/2009 – In Chess960 the pieces are shuffled before the start of each game – to eliminate all opening preparation. But does that render top GMs helpless? It does not. For a long stretch Gata Kamsky, was leading. He lost to former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov in the final round, so that the winner in the end was top seed Alexander Grischuk. Report with lovely pictures by Christian Bossert.

8/1/2009 – The first day of the Rapid Chess World Championship in Mainz brought a nasty shock for the eleven-fold Chess Classic winner Vishy Anand, who lost his first two games, both with white, to Levon Aronian and newcomer Ian Nepomniachtchi. Anand retained chances to enter the final on Sunday by beating Arkadij Naiditsch in the third game. Aronian and Nepomniachtchi lead with 2.5/3. Illustrated report.

7/31/2009 – From July 20-28, Victoria, British Columbia played host to a number of events, including the Canadian Youth and Junior Chess Championships, and the British Columbia Open. Well attended and well received, the festival was highlighted by an encounter between GMs Mark Bluvshtein and Hikaru Nakamura during the opening ceremonies. Pictorial report.

7/31/2009 – ... is almost half done with a bishop placed on d3 (d6), keeping the enemy king in the c-file. Here Black sent out a clear signal with 23. ... Qxa2 - the white king is to be hunted down with 24...Nb3+. How do you judge the situation now?
A) Checkmate can only be prevented by giving up the queen, leaving Black on the victory path;
B) Thanks to Black's back rank weakness, White just so manages to escape into a roughly equal endgame;
C) White actually wins.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

7/31/2009 – On the first day of the Chess960 World Rapid Chess Championship in Mainz Levon Aronian had dominated, winning all three of his games. On the second day US GM Hikaru Nakamura had won all of his to get into the finals. And there he beat Aronian in the first three of four games to take the 2009 title of 960 World Championship. Illustrated report. with video.

7/31/2009 – At 14 years and four months he was the ninth youngest GM in history. Today, at eighteen, he is rated 2703 and number 29 in the world. The French GM was leading after nine rounds, and with all three games from round ten being drawn he retained his half-point lead to take sole victory in the tournament. Alexander Morozevich and Vassily Ivanchuk took Silver and Bronze. Final report.

7/31/2009 – The annual rapid tournament of Villarrobledo, Spain, concluded a few days ago, with good news for German fans. GM Arkadi Naiditsch finished clear first, with a solid 7.5/9, leaving the likes of GMs Alexei Shirov and Alexander Grischuk in his wake. Though an impressive showing, the victory was not without some serious adversity. Illustrated report.

7/30/2009 – Alexander Morozevich continues his roller coaster play with a win over tournament leader Vassily Ivanchuk (who essentially dropped a rook). The Russian GM has single-handedly contributed to the low 63% draw ratio in this event, having drawn only two games in nine rounds. French GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave drew his game against Boris Gelfand and is now alone in the lead. One round left.

7/30/2009 – On the first day of the Chess960 World Championship in Mainz a somewhat jet-lagged Hikaru Nakamura had scored a disappointing 1.0/3 points. On the second day the American GM fought back, winning all three games and bringing Levon Aronian into the danger zone of not qualifying for the final. But the Armenian did and Thursday will bring a clash between the two.

7/29/2009 – It is a form of chess, originally proposed by Bobby Fischer, in which the position of the pieces – not the pawns – is shuffled randomly before the start of each game. This eliminates deep opening preparation and fosters a new form of creativity. Armenia's top GM appears to have plenty of that. After the first day he leads with 3.0/3 – after a 40-board simultaneous display. Illustrated report.

7/29/2009 – In a recent poll on the Russian website chesspro.ru they picked their ten best games of 2008. The winner was Topalov-Kramnik, from Wijk aan Zee – an explosive game between two mortal enemies. This game is the subject of Dennis Monokroussos' Playchess lecture this week. If you don't know it, you'll love it; if you do, you'll enjoy a second, closer look. 9 p.m. ET.

7/29/2009 – After eight of ten rounds two players are in the lead by a full point: French GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Ukrainian perennial Vassily Ivanchuk. Russian GM Alexander Morozevich has been doing a roller coaster, with Caissa frowning on him in round six, smiling in round seven and frowning again in round eight. Illustrated round seven/eight report.