Playchess in Holland , and both hands in blitz

3/23/2009 – Last Saturday there was a press meeting of the Dutch Chess Federation to launch a new Internet chess project, in partnership with Playchess. We used the opportunity to visit the Hypercube Blitz tournament, which is held in Utrecht every year. As chance would have it we barged into a controversy on how many hands you can legally use in speed chess. Here are the graphic details.

Amber 2009: Anand in the lead after eight rounds

3/23/2009 – In round seven of the Blindfold and Rapid Tournament World Champion Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik overtook Levon Aronian to take the shared lead. Magnus Carlsen had no mercy with out-of-form Wang Yue, winning 2-0 and moved up to third place. In the key encounter of round eight Anand defeated Kramnik to take the sole lead, ahead of Aronian and Carlsen. New pictures by John Nunn.

ChessBase 10 folder shortcuts

3/23/2009 – Do you have too many icons in your ChessBase 10's database window? Is there so much clutter that it's becoming hard to see the woods for the trees? ChessBase Workshop columnist Steve Lopez just might have the answer for you with an often-overlooked and certainly underused ChessBase 10 feature. You can learn more about it in the latest Workshop.

Istanbul Women's Grand Prix – the closing ceremony

3/21/2009 – It took place on the 41st floor of Is Bank Towers, which is the highest spot in Istanbul – the highest incidentally in Southern Europe. Koneru Humpy, Elina Danielian and 15-year-old Hou Yifan picked up their trophies and checks for 6,500, 4375 and 4375 Euros for the first and joint second places. The Turkish Sports Minister and the bank chiefs were present. Pictorial report.

Annotation searches - Part 3

3/21/2009 – In our last two columns we've been examining the "Annotation" tab of the Search mask in both ChessBase and Fritz. In the third and final installment of the series on annotation searches, our columnist teaches you how to perform text and symbol searches in both programs. Read more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

European Women's Championship: Mkrtchian and Konsintseva win

3/20/2009 – IM Lilit Mkrtchian from Armenia and IM Tatiana Kosintseva from Russia both won their final round game to share first in Saint Petersburg. Tomorrow a tiebreak match will decide who takes the title. There are also matches for bronze (seven players shared third) and for a place in the World Championship. New videos by Europe Echecs and a giant portrait pictorial by Elena Mikheeva.

Tatiana Kosintseva new European Women's Champion 2009

3/20/2009 – The tiebreak for the title in St Petersburg was won by Russian IM Tatiana Kosintseva, who beat her Armenian rival IM Lilit Mkrtchian 1½–½. There was also a seven-player tiebreak for bronze, which was won by WGM Natalija Pogonina of Russia. And finally a playoff for the 14th place in the next World Championship, which was taken by the Ukrainian IM Mariya Muzychuk. Report and games.

Amber 2009: Aronian takes the lead, Anand and Kramnik follow

3/20/2009 – Levon Aronian, last year's winner, beat the two "kids", Magnus Carlsen in round five and Sergey Karkjakin in round six, each time with 1½–½ point. Vishy Anand scored a 2-0 victory over Teimour Radjabov to catch Kramnik in second place. Carlsen and Morozevich follow half a point behind. We bring you new impressions from Nice by our illustrious photo reporter GM Dr John Nunn.

Istanbul: Humpy wins Women Grand Prix

3/19/2009 – She actually did it! India's top female GM, Koneru Humpy, staged a big finish and won the Women Grand Prix with 8.5 out of 11. In the last round she pressured her French opponent, Marie Sebag, until the latter blundered and Humpy could win. Armenian IM Elina Danielian defeated Zhao Xue to finish joint second (with Hou Yifan) and earn a second GM norm in the process. Round eleven report.

Svidler: I am a better player than my current results show

3/18/2009 – The European Women's Championship is taking place in St Petersburg, Russia, just a stone's throw away from where top GM Peter Svidler lives. GM Robert Fontaine is producing video reports for the French chess magazine Europe Echecs there. The two got together for an indepth interview on Peter's career, development, ambitions, Topalov vs Kamsky and Anand vs Topalov. Must watch and read.

Istanbul: Zhao thwarts Humpy, stays in the lead

3/18/2009 – GM Zhao Xue came under considerable pressure in the Women's Grand Prix in Turkey, with India's Koneru Humpy pressing. But she managed to hold for 66 moves and remains in the lead. Hou Yifan drew against Marie Sebag, while Elina Danielian beat Martha Fierro to move into contention at equal third. The Turkish WIM Betül Yildiz scored her first victory, over Shen Yang. Round nine report.

Tomashevsky wins EU Championship – by a hair's breadth

3/18/2009 – The tiebreaks at the European Championship in Budva, Montenegro, produced a final between GMs Evgeny Tomashevsky and Vladimir Malakhov, both from Russia. Tomashevsky won the first rapid game and lost the second, so that an Armageddon game was required. Malakhov had the black pieces and only needed to draw. In fact he had a winning position and then hung a rook! Take a look.

Istanbul: Humpy wins, Zhao loses for an exciting finish

3/18/2009 – French GM Marie Sebag actually did it: she outplayed the leading Zhao Xue to give the Istanbul Women's Grand Prix a rousing finish. Especially since Koneru Humpy scored a crushing win against Antoaneta Stefanova, and Hou Yifan survived a tough game against Elina Danielian. So it's Humpy, Hou and Zhao with 7.5/10 in the final round. All have the black pieces. Watch it on Playchess.

Correspondence players – a potent chess playing entity!

3/17/2009 – "With all the super-tournaments going on nowadays, it's easy to forget that there are other great players producing work of art." Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos is referring to correspondence players and shows us an impressive example. Be there at 9 p.m. ET.

Amber R4: Kramnik goes into the lead

3/17/2009 – In Round 4 of the 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament Vladimir Kramnik defeated the luckless Wang Yue 2-0 to take the sole lead in the overall scores. He achieved this mainly with a fine 3.5/4 performance in the blindfold section. In second place are last year's winner Levon Aronian and Alexander Morozevich, who won Amber in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Report after round four.

Congestion at the top of the European Championship in Budva

3/17/2009 – After ten rounds, with one to go, a total of nine players are in the lead, poised to win the event, half a point behind are fourteen more who have theoretical chances. So the final round on Tuesday is bound to bring a lot of action, which you can follow on the Playchess server. The official web site has many hundreds of (uncaptioned) pictures of players. Photo report of soccer, sun and sea.

European Women's Championship: three players on top

3/17/2009 – On her birthday Iweta Rajlich, wife of Rybka programmer Vasik Rajlich, made herself a special gift: she defeated Nino Khurtsidze and joined Hungarian GM Hoang Thanh Trang in the lead. Salome Melia also won her game and made it a threesome. Eleven players follow half a point behind. We bring you results and games, new videos by Europe Echecs and a pictorial report by Elena Mikheeva.

Istanbul: the tide turns, Zhao beats Hou

3/17/2009 – The meteoric path of 15-year-old Hou Yifan has been stopped – by her compatriot Zhao Xue, who defeated her after the younger girl blundered on her last move before the time control. Zhao now leads with 7.0/8 points and a 2790 performance. Behind the Chinese girls and always good for a big finish: India's GM Koneru Humpy, the second strongest female player in history. Big pictorial report.

Kasparov: Anand’s reign will end soon

3/17/2009 – It sounds ominous, when quoted by the broadsheets and repeated in chess blogs. "Vishy is a brilliant player," Kasparov said in New Delhi, "but it is very difficult to compete at 40. I will be surprised if he can go on any longer." Kasparov himself will soon be 46, Anand is pushing forty, and there are 13 and 14-year-olds out there baying at their heels. Article, transcripts and a video interview.

European Championship – prepare for a Wednesday spectacle

3/17/2009 – Eleven players finished the European Championship with 8.0/11 points, which produces a tiebreak spectacle tomorrow, starting at 10:00 a.m. local time. A final decision on what will transpire will be taken late tonight by the Technical Commission. It will probably be a knockout system with byes in the first round. If you are on the Playchess server at 10 a.m. you can watch the drama unfold.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (18)

3/16/2009 – Chess books can be notoriously carefree, and the gaffes of publishers and/or authors may be visible even before the tome is opened. Only the stout-hearted should look at the examples given by the Editor of Chess Notes, such as a publisher unable to spell its own name and specimens of faulty titles, wrong names and incorrect cover illustrations. It all makes for irresistibly grisly reading.

Amber R2: Morozevich joins Aronian in the overall lead

3/16/2009 – Chinese GM Wang Yue has in the past week travelled from Linares to Beijing to Nice – not such a good idea when you are facing 2700+ opposition in your events. Russian GM Alexander Morozevich beat him with white in the blind chess game and completely outplayed him in the rapid. Morozevich joins Levon Aronian who today made Peter Leko an unexpected present. Photos by John Nunn.

Istanbul: Chinese girls dominate, Hou with 2900+ performance

3/16/2009 – Owing to technical and communications problems we have not been able to do wall-to-wall coverage of the very attractive FIDE Women Masters in Turkey, where the Chinese GMs Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue are dominating in stunning fashion, with 2905 and 2746 performances respectively. But now we intend to take up reporting again for the last four rounds. Here for starters is a big pictorial report.

EU Women's Championship: Hoang Thanh Trang leads

3/15/2009 – After seven rounds of the European Individual Women's Championship, an 11-round Swiss with 168 players which is taking place from March 7–21 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the sole leader is GM Hoang Thanh Trang with 6.0/7 points. Twelve players follow half a point behind. We bring you results and games, new videos by Europe Echecs and beautiful player portraits by WGM Irina Sudakova.