Fritz calculation training - part two

3/21/2008 – In Part Two of our ChessBase Workshop series on Fritz11's new calculation training feature, we learn how Fritz can take nearly any chess position and turn it into a test of your chess visualization, even grading you on how well you calculate a variation. Sound too good to be true? Learn more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Melody Amber: Aronian leads by a full point

3/20/2008 – Armenian GM Levon Aronian has taken the sole lead in the Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament that is taking place in Nice, France. Vladimir Kramnik defeated Veselin Topalov in their match, which started without a handshake. Vishy Anand lost his match against Peter Leko, but was adequately compensated by receiving a third honorary doctorate. Results, games and video reports.

Unfought draws – reader feedback

3/20/2008 – Last week we published an article of the perceived problem of unfought "grandmaster draws" in professional chess. Kung-Ming Tiong, a mathematician and logician at School of Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia, put together the arguments presented so far, and his analysis of their conclusions. Today we present further imaginative proposals from our readers.

Atatürk Istanbul: Hou Yifan wins with a round to spare

3/19/2008 – Victory against a potential rival, Ekaterina Atalik, gave Chinese wonder Hou Yifan, who turned 14 three weeks ago, an unsurpassable lead of a full point ahead of her nearest rival. This became possible because Swedish GM Pia Cramling lost her game against Lela Javakhishvili of Georgia. Wednesday is a free day, the final round is on Thursday. Illustrated report.

The consultation game of the century

3/19/2008 – Imagine a game with Anand, Kramnik, Topalov, Gelfand and Leko on one side, and Carlsen, Aronian, Morozevich and Ivanchuk on the other. A game like that would be a real event, something we'd all love to see – especially in a lively opening. In 1952 a game of this sort took place. Our Playchess.com lecturer Dennis Monokroussos describes it in his Wednesday night lecture.

Opening Surveys in ChessBase Magazine 122

3/19/2008 – The innovation of the year in 2007 probably occurred when the Polish player Grzegorz Gajewski simply played ...d5 rather than ...c5 in a position of the Ruy Lopez which had been seen over a thousand times. In his survey for ChessBase Magazine 122 (one of 11 in the issue) the Danish grandmaster Lars Schandorff has brought together the most important games and variations.

Atatürk Istanbul: Cramling and Hou Yifan in the lead

3/18/2008 – With two rounds to go in this super women's tournament the most senior and most junior players are in the lead: Pia Cramling and Hou Yifan have 5.5/7 points each. The Swedish veteran beat the previous round's leader Ekaterina Atalik, while the 14-year-old Chinese girl took a point from US IM Irina Krush. Turkish junior Betül Yildiz also won her game. Illustrated report.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (26)

3/18/2008 – This latest selection from Chess Notes provides a stark warning against gullible quotation of alleged remarks of the old masters, including Alekhine, Nimzowitsch and Tartakower. There may be no area of chess literature with more dark corners or where the risk of error is greater. Many familiar quotes are, at best, dubious and, at present, lack authentification. Can readers help?

Melody Amber blindfold and rapid starts in Nice

3/16/2008 – The annual Melody Amber tournament has started, this time not in Monaco but in the beautiful French seaside resort of Nice, with twelve leading grandmasters playing blindfold and rapid chess games. The prize fund is a massive 216,000 Euro (currently US $336,000). Vishy Anand started the event with a spectacular win over Vladimir Kramnik. Can you find the winning move?

Atatürk Istanbul: double victory for Turkish ladies

3/16/2008 – Betül Cemre Yildiz, 18-year-old Turkish talent, had a single draw in the first four rounds of the women's super-tournament in Turkey. In round five she scored an attacking win against IM Irina Krush of the US. Meanwhile IM Ekaterina Atalik, Turkey's strongest female player, defeated Ukrainian IM Anna Ushenina. Celebrations all around in Istanbul. Round five report.

Atatürk Istanbul: Ekaterina Atalik leads

3/16/2008 – The local derby between IM Ekaterina Atalik, rated 2408, and 18-year-old WIM Betül Cemre Yildiz, two hundred points her inferior. The younger girl missed a great chance to draw and went down to her more experienced opponent. Former world champion Zhu Chen outplayed her compatriot Zhao Xue to score her first win in this event. Atalik now leads the field by half a point. Illustrated report.

Melody Amber: Anand, Ivanchuk, Aronian lead

3/16/2008 – After three rounds of this annual tournament in Nice, France Ivanchuk, Karjakin and Morozevich lead in the blindfold scores (1.5/3), Anand and Aronian in the rapid section (2.0/3), and Anand, Ivanchuk and Aronian in the combined scoring (3.0/6). We bring you results, games and video reports from the tournament site.

Fritz calculation training - part one

3/16/2008 – In a new ChessBase Workshop series, dedicated to the new Fritz 11 calculation training, we begin with a discussion about chess visualization and how it colors nearly everything we do as players. But how can we as players traditionally hone our visualization skills? With Fritz 11. Steve Lopez explains this in a new series of his Workshop.

Atatürk Istanbul: three players in the lead

3/14/2008 – Pia Cramling, the first women to to qualify for the "men's" world championship cycle, was lucky to survive the black piece attack of Hou Yifan, a player who was born two years after Pia had earned her GM title. Turkey's Ekatrina Atalik and India's Dronavalli Harika won their second games in a row. Drawing average still a very low 20%. Round three report.

Unfought draws – mathematical, logical and practical considerations

3/14/2008 – The problem of short "grandmaster" draws is one that has occupied our readers for some time. A number of proposals have been made, some quite ingenious, to force tournament and match players to be more aggressive, risk more and go for wins. Today we bring you a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the debate, by a mathematician and logician in Malaysia. Long interesting read.

Atatürk Istanbul: 13-year-old Hou leads women's super-tournament

3/14/2008 – Actually the shocking part is that the former women's world champion Zhu Chen is running a negative score of 0.0/4. In round four she lost against the new prodigy Hou Yifan, who is now in the lead with 3.5/4 points. Half a point behind are local player Ekaterina Atalik and Swedish veteran Pia Cramling. With four drawn games today the drawing average rose to 35%. Round four report.

Kharkiv: Rebellion of the Youngsters

3/13/2008 – This year the international tournament “Rector Cup”, staged in Kharkiv, Ukraine, celebrated its tenth anniversary. During that time participants from more then 20 countries have taken part. This year it was won by 16-year-old IM Vladimir Onishuk – for the second time in a row! And the women's section by a 15-year-old, Irene Kharisma Sukandar of Indonesia. Big pictorial report (with video).

Atatürk Istanbul: just one draw so far

3/13/2008 – After five decided games in round one, the second round saw Irina Krush pressure Ekaterina Atalik for 57 moves before conceding a draw. The other games were all decided, with three white and one black win. That's a total of one draw in ten games. Exciting aggressive chess again in the women's super-tournament in Istanbul. Illustrated report.

Five stars for Davies' Accelerated Dragon

3/13/2008 – The Accelerated Dragon is a great choice for club players as well as for IM and GMs. It gives Black excellent practical chances not just against 1.e4 – it can also be used against 1.c4, 1.Nf3 or even 1.d4. FM Carsten Hansen, a reviewer for Chess Cafe, wrote a book on the opening. He gives Nigel Davies' ChessBase DVD the full five stars. Buy it now or read more.

The Master of the Nimzo-Indian

3/12/2008 – One of the most important openings in all of chess is the Nimzo-Indian Defense, and within it one of the most important approaches for White starts with 4.Qc2. But is there a downside to this opening? Our Playchess.com lecturer Dennis Monokroussos uses a game by an artist of the white side of the NI Defense, GM Mihail Gurevich, to explain the principles. Tune in and learn.

Atatürk Istanbul: No draws in Women's Super-tournament

3/12/2008 – This is what people want to see. After hours of media attention, technical discussions and the opening ceremony, the participants of the İş Bankası Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament sat down to play aggressive, fighting chess. All games in round one were decided, not a single one drawn. We bring you a first big pictorial report from Istanbul.

Threeway tie for first at Reykjavik Open 2008

3/12/2008 – The two Chinese GMs, Wang Hao, 2665 and Wang Yue, 2698, together with GM 7.0 GM Hannes Stefansson, all scored 7.0/9 at the Icelandic tournament. Wang Hao had the best tiebreak, the other two tied for 2nd-3rd. Longtime leader Fabiano Caruana was half a point behind. Boris Spassky and Pal Benkö were in Reykjavik to commemorate Bobby Fischer's 65th birthday.

International chess tournament in Fajr, Iran

3/11/2008 – It is not often that we can report from a chess event in this part of the world. Located in the north-western part of Iran, in spitting distance of Mosul and Kirkuk, the city of Urmia – Orumiyeh in Persian – played host to the sixteenth International Fajr Chess Tournament. It was in commemoration of the 29th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. FM Arash Akbarinia reports.

David Howell meets world champions in Barcelona

3/11/2008 – What a drag! The youngest grandmaster ever in the UK, David Wei Liang Howell, 17, was invited to Barcelona, Spain, to play in the Catalonian League. There he was forced to escort a bevy of bubbly young girls, most of them world junior champions (who probably also hero-worship him), on sightseeing tours through the city and the famous Parc Güell. His host IM Anna Matnadze reports.