The Fritz11 shootout mode

8/28/2008 – How do you get Fritz11 to play a game against itself? If you don't know, it's easy – and, best of all, you can start the game from a chess position of your choosing. Learn how in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

The Great ChessBase Simul Hunt (2)

8/27/2008 – The German Grandmaster Karsten Müller has chosen three further games submitted by readers. They are all tough, if relatively brief, fights and include a loss by a 14-year-old Magnus Carlsen in a display in Norway (where his overall score was +28 –1 =1). Contributions to our Simul Hunt continue to arrive, and more articles will be appearing. In the meantime, enjoy the latest crop of battles.

Tal Memorial 08: Kamsky beats Morozevich, Kramnik, Shirov win

8/27/2008 – The orbital flight that took him to number one in the world is over, Alexander Morozevich came crashing down to earth with a second loss, this time with the white pieces against Gata Kamsky. Vladimir Kramnik chalked up a second win, this time against Evgeny Alekseev, while Alexei Shirov improve his dismal last-place score with a win against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Round eight report.

Magical Moments with Mikhail Tal

8/27/2008 – The ongoing Tal Memorial is a very fine tournament, but there's very little about the play that would remind us of the man being honored. In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos provides us with a special treat: a vintage Tal game which starts positionally but in which Tal suddenly switches modes and overwhelms his opponent with wave after wave of attacks. Enjoy.

Rising Stars lead Experienced team by 24.5:10.5

8/27/2008 – How does he do it? Chinese GM Wang Yue won all of his first six games, and drew in round seven to take a one-point overall lead with 6.5/7 and a 3034 performance. Second in line is Ivan Cheparinov with 5.5/7 and a 2818 performance. 77-year-old Viktor Korchnoi won a second game for Experienced, and almost won a third which he tragically lost on time. Report after round seven.

Tal Memorial 09: Ivanchuk wins by a full point

8/27/2008 – Ivanchuk-Shirov: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 c5 5.Bxc4 e6 6.0-0 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ne5 Ke7 10.Be2 Bd7 11.Bf3 Nc6 12.Nxc6+ draw. That was it, Vassily Ivanchuk won the 2008 Tal Memorial a full point ahead of his nearest rivals (Morozevich, Gelfand, Ponomariov and Kramnik). His performance of 2861 took Ivanchuk to number two in the live world rankings. Final report.

Acropolis 2008: Smirin wins ahead of Parligras on tiebreak

8/26/2008 – The 23rd Acropolis 2008 International Open Chess Tournament was won by the Israeli GM Ilia Smirin, for the second consecutive year. He tied for first place with the Romanian GM Mircea Parligras but won on tiebreak points. WGM Anastasiya Karlovich provides us with impressions of the tournament location in Athens and portraits of the players in her big pictorial report.

Tal Memorial 07: Ivanchuk beats Morozevich, takes lead

8/25/2008 – What a round: four out of five games decided, the only draw a cliff-hanger. Ponomariov beat Shirov, Leko beat Kamsky (with black!), Alekseev beat Mamedyarov. A heart-stopping victory by Vassily Ivanchuk over player-on-fire Alexander Morozevich pushed the latter down from number one in the world on the Live List to number two behind Vishy Anand. High drama in Moscow.

Rising Stars: the Experience team without a chance

8/24/2008 – Remember how hard-fought these contests used to be? Well, in round five of the third NH Chess Tournament that pits Rising Stars against Experienced GMs it was 77-year-old Viktor Korchnoi who scored the first full point for the latter. Otherwise there were nine draws and 14 losses. Chinese GM Wang Yue leads the field with 5.0/5 points and a theoretical performance of 3400. Big pictorial report.

Topalov: 'Next Year I Will Challenge the World Champion'

8/24/2008 – A few days ago former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov visited the International Alcubeirre Tournament in Spain, where he gave a simultaneous exhibition and spoke to a local newspaper about Kasparov, the Zaragoza Expo, Scarlett Johansson ("I like her more in some ways, but my thing is chess"), his chess career and chess playing computers. Heraldo interview.

Meet Harika, Junior World Champion (girls' section)

8/24/2008 – She is seventeen, hails from Andhra Pradesh, India, and has just won the Under 20 Junior World Championship, ahead of the international – especially Eastern European – competition by a point and a half. Harika Dronavalli is is one of the nicest and brightest young ladies in the junior chess scene. Her goal: to be like Judit Polgar. Indepth interview by Özgür Akman.

Kramnik on the Tal Memorial, health and his match against Anand

8/24/2008 – In a rare interview Vladimir Kramnik, who is playing in the Tal Memorial in Moscow, sat down to a cup of coffee and a video interview with Europe Echecs reporter GM Robert Fontaine. The former world champion was very forthcoming about his performance in Moscow, his health problems (now solved!) and his chances and strategy for the match against Anand in October this year. Video and transcript.

Tal Memorial 06: Morozevich, Ivanchuk and Gelfand win

8/24/2008 – Two black wins: Boris Gelfand overwhelmed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a Semi-Slav (Anti-Meran); and Peter Leko was taken to the cleaners by Vassily Ivanchuk in a Closed Ruy Lopez (Chigorin). Ruslan Ponomariov was basically lost after eleven moves in a wildly tactcial Nimzo Indian against Alexander Morozevich, who moves to number one in the world on the Live Rating list. Round six report.

Tal Memorial 04: All games drawn, Morozevich leads

8/22/2008 – After a shock defeat or bad spell in a tournament it is usually advisable to avoid the risks involved in a quick comeback attempt and instead steady your nerves with a rock-solid draw. Vladimir Kramnik did it against Ruslan Ponomariov, and Alexei Shirov used it to score his first half-point against Boris Gelfand. The table remains unchanged with Morozevich ahead by half a point. Round four report.

New DVDs: Anand – My Career in Chess

8/22/2008 – Acclaimed as the "Fastest Brain in the World", Vishy Anand is the world number one and World Champion. Experts rate him as one of the biggest natural talents in the history of the game. Easy-going and humorous, he is also one of the best-loved players. Now he has recorded two ChessBase DVDs on his career, with a total of over eight hours of video comments and annotations. Order now.

Ilyumzhinov to Saakashvili: let your players participate

8/22/2008 – "Fully realizing all complexity of the present situation for the Georgian chess players," writes FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, "I am appealing to you for your kind assistance in providing the sportsmen with conditions for smooth participation in the World Championship." Letter from the President to the President.

Tal Memorial 05: Ponomariov and Mamedyarov win

8/22/2008 – Ruslan Ponomariov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov both had drawn all their games so far. Peter Leko was on plus one, Gata Kamsky on 50%. Leko lost a Marshall Gamit to Ponomariov, Kamsky the white side of a Sicilian Scheveningen to Mamedyarov. Morozevich still leads. The round was particularly exciting since we had Levon Aronian commenting on Radio ChessBase. You can watch the rerun.

Tal Memorial 03: Morozevich beats Kramnik, Leko beats Shirov

8/21/2008 – It was a stunner: Vladimir Kramnik played the new move in a Semi-Slav, saw some promising moments and then went down with flying colours in 31 moves to Alexander Morozevich. Peter Leko scored his first victory, against the luckless Alexei Shirov, who has zero points so far. Kamsky had a win against Gelfand but spoiled it to a draw. Round three report.

Meet Abhijeet Gupta – meet the Junior World Champion

8/21/2008 – Four years ago Nigel Short, while winning the Commonwealth Championship, ran into some problems: "In the second round I drew with some 15-year-old boy from some very obscure place, some village somewhere. I think his name was Abhijeet Gupta." Last week nineteen-year-old Abhijeet won the prestigious World Junior Championship in Gaziantep, Turkey. Interview.

When Reshevsky decides to have some fun

8/20/2008 – Sammy Reshevsky wasn't known as a freewheeling player. But in the last round or the 1944 US Open, having already having clinched first, he decided to have some fun with a 19th century sideline in the French. Reshevsky sacrificed a pawn and then a piece, and crushed his opponent with a magnificent combination. All of this on view in Dennis Monokroussos' Wednesday night Playchess lecture.

Ilyumzhinov reiterates: we should not mix sport and politics

8/20/2008 – Recently a number of participants in the World Women's Championship appealed to FIDE to have it moved away from a region of armed conflict. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the ECU and the organizers have appealed to the players not to politicize the event. Now Ilyumzhinov gives further assurances. Here's his latest message and letters from participants and readers.

Bisik-Bisik with GM Alexander Khalifman

8/20/2008 – Bisik-Bisik is a word from the Malay Archipelago, and means whispering from one person to another. In a series Edwin Lam seeks to “whisper” to our readers out there the previously unknown other side of his interview partners. Today he talks with GM Alexander Khalifman, who in 1999 became the FIDE world champion in Las Vegas. Today "El Khalif" runs a training web site and publishes books. Bisik-bisik.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (7)

8/19/2008 – Earlier this month, we introduced Mr Jones, a bookshop owner who is commendably eager to stock only the very best books. Readers have made many suggestions, and the Editor of Chess Notes now sets out a representative selection. It may also be regarded as a check-list of books which, as the cliché goes, should be in every chess lover's library.

Indians sweep the World Junior Championship

8/19/2008 – 19-year-old Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta became the third Indian ever to win the World Junior (after Anand and Harikrishna). He did it after winning his last five games in a row, with 10/13 points. Second was 15-year-old Indian GM Parimarjan Negi. The girls' section was won by Indian IM Harika Dronavalli, who finished a point and a half ahead of her nearest rival. Big illustrated report from Gaziantep.