Morelia 07: Fighting chess pleased the organisers

2/24/2008 – The Morelia part of the tournament has finished, the players need a good rest. Fighting hard in every game is not an easy job. In the last games due to tiredness many players performed below their usual level. On the other hand chess professionals must get used to play every game until the end and I hope we'll see this tendency in the Linares part as well. GM Dorian Rogozenko analyses.

Morelia R6: Radjabov beats Carlsen, Topalov-Anand draw

2/23/2008 – It was a long day. Topalov vs Anand was the first game to end, in a tough draw. Ivanchuk-Shirov followed suit. Then Teimour Radjabov succeeded in overcoming the defences of Magnus Carlsen and scoring a full point. Shortly after nine p.m. Lev Aronian gave up trying to beat Peter Leko. We bring you a summary and lots of pictures in our express report.

Morelia 06: No quarter given, no holds barred

2/23/2008 – The last free day in the Morelia part of the tournament allowed the grandmasters to rest and come fresh to their games in the fighting mood again. In this unpredictable tournament it is highly difficult to guess the results, but one thing the spectators can be sure of: the players are always trying hard to show their best. The sixth round was no exception. GM Dorian Rogozenko analyses.

Another French cruncher

2/22/2008 – You can not take the solid 3...dxe4 fortress in the French by storm. But former world champion Kasimdzhanov in his Beating the French vol.3 shows you where to set your pieces and how to increase the pressure step by step. "Watching this DVD has strengthened my understanding of the French probably 100-200 rating points!" says Bob Long. Buy it now or read his review with sampler.

Nepomniachtchi wins Aeroflot Open 2008

2/22/2008 – We are going to have to learn to pronounce his name. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia scored 7.0/9 to finish clear first in the 2008 Aeroflot Open in Moscow. His performance was a resounding 2822. Behind him we find Russian GMs Alexander Motylev and Alexey Dreev, each with 6.5 points. We bring you the final standings, games, pictures and videos.

Life After Chess – Kasparov in Newsweek

2/21/2008 – Recently Garry Kasparov wrote a eulogy for Bobby Fischer in Time Magazine. This week the former world chess champion and author of general life strategy books is featured in a Newsweek article, conducted via Skype call. Other stories tell of Kasparov's detention on a trip to Sochi, his lawsuit against a pro- Kremlin youth organisation and his question to US Presidential candidates.

Morelia R5: Carlsen beats Topalov, Anand wins

2/21/2008 – The first win on this dramatic day was by Vishy Anand, over Peter Leko, who was overrun by Anand's black kingside pawns. Then followed Magnus Carlsen's victory over Veselin Topalov, which he achieved, believe it or not, on the black side of Alekhine's Defence (1.e4 Nf6). The results put Anand in the sole lead. We bring you lots of pictures in our express report.

Magnus Carlsen wins with the Alekhine

2/21/2008 – In the fifth round of the Morelia tournament the participants continued to please the spectators with entertaining chess, which resulted in two wins for Black and two draws. No boring openings, no "lazy" draws, but rare openings like the Janisch gambit and, in round five, the Alekhine Defense. We are witnessing a highly exciting and interesting tournament. GM Dorian Rogozenko analyses.

High drama in Morelia

2/20/2008 – The tournament in Morelia provided another round of exciting chess. The leader Veselin Topalov lost to Alexey Shirov, but the drama of the day was Ivanchuk's blunder in a winning position against Aronian. The ratio of decisive games is unusually high for such a top tournament: nine out of 16 games ended with a win for one side. Remarkable indeed! GM Dorian Rogozenko analyses.

Morelia Round three GM analysis

2/19/2008 – Topalov and Anand are marching through in Morelia. The Bulgarian is leading with 2.5 points out of three (3000+ Elo performance!), the world champion has half a point less. Together they scored four wins so far. No one else has a plus score after the first three rounds. GM Dorian Rogozenko analyses all four games from this exciting round. Learn and enjoy.

Aeroflot 2008: Two players lead with 4.5/5 points

2/19/2008 – They are Maxim Rodshtein from Israel and Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia. Behind them are two further Russian GMs, Artyom Timofeev and Alexey Dreev. The Aeroflot Open 2008 has completed five rounds in the "Gamma-Delta" Hotel in Moscow. We bring you standings, games, pictures and videos.

Super-GM in Mexico – impressions of Morelia

2/19/2008 – For the third time we are spending a fortnight at this category 21 tournament – mainly in front of a computer. Which is fine, once communication problems are solved and you have been given a superior suite. We celebrated by taking a stroll though the beautiful Mexican town, where we witness a Quince Años ceremony and got to see a pink stretch Porsche. Big illustrated report.

Morelia R4: Shirov beats Topalov, Ivanchuk blunders

2/19/2008 – Vassily Ivanchuk is one of the world's most experienced players. And one of the strongest. In round four he ran into his old nemesis: the clock. Just before the first time control he blundered away a highly promising position against Levon Aronian and lost the full point. Meanwhile Alexei Shirov outplayed Veselin Topalov for his first Morelia 2008 victory. Express report with pictures.

Alik Gershon and Igor Nor on San Luis 2005

2/18/2008 – St Petersburg 1909, New York 1924, New York 1927, Zurich 1953 – these tournaments are remembered not just for the players and the games, but for the magnificent tournament books that were written about them. Now two chess writers have set out to do the same for the 2005 World Championship in San Luis. The genesis of such a project is illustrated in our interview with the authors.

Morelia R3: Anand and Topalov win

2/18/2008 – Vishy Anand bounced back from his round two loss with a fine black-pieces win against tournament youngster Magnus Carlsen. Veselin Topalov scored his second victory, a wonderful game against veteran Vassily Ivanchuk, to take the lead in this event. The other two games were drawn. Brief comments are provided by our Mexican friends in this illustrated report.

Tuesday night: 'Radio Rustam' on Morelia 2008

2/18/2008 – Former FIDE Chess World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov will be giving live online training on every Tuesday from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. CET/GMT +1 on the Playchess server. In tomorrow's show, Rustam will present the highlights of Morelia-Linares 2008 so far. The transmission will feature live audio commentary, the entrance fee is ten Ducats. Review by GM Jacob Aagaard.

Morelia R2: Aronian beats Anand, Ivanchuk beats Leko

2/17/2008 – After yesterday's victory Vishy Anand fell to a terrible blunder on move 30 in his game against Levon Aronian. Similarly Peter Leko lost the thread around move 38 against Vassily Ivanchuk and gave up the full point. Radjabov spoilt a promising game against Veselin Topalov to a draw, while Shirov and Carlsen never really left the draw window. Express report with pictures.

Morelia R2: When everything goes wrong for a world champion

2/17/2008 – How often does Anand lose with the white pieces? In 2007 there wasn't a single game. On the other hand when the Indian champion does lose, he can do it in such a painful way. In his round two game against Levon everything went wrong. Here we see the full contingent of bad factors concentrated in a single game. GM Dorian Rogozenko analyses this and other games. Learn and enjoy.

The Guinness World Records Slump

2/17/2008 – In the early 1980s chess historian Edward Winter corresponded with the publishers of The Guinness Book of Records, and improvements to the chess coverage resulted. It was a very different story when he revisited the book a few years ago, and since then he has written in Chess Notes four annual reports on how Guinness treats chess nowadays. Readers may laugh or cry, or both.

Morelia R1: GM Dorian Rogozenko annotates

2/16/2008 – The starting round in Morelia provided three decided games out of four. Topalov and Leko won with the white pieces against Aronian and Radjabov respectively, while Anand scored a win with black against Shirov. "Let's hope that 'the return of the Sicilian' will remain the trend of this extremely strong tournament," says our GM commentator Dorian Rogozenko, in his analysis of round one.

Aeroflot Open 2000 under way in Moscow

2/16/2008 – It will probably be the strongest open of the year, and is taking place from February 13th to 22nd. The venue and official hotel the "Gamma-Delta" Hotel, which can accomodate 3,500 guests. The festival consists of four tournaments, each a nine rounds Swiss Tournament. We bring you results and games from the first two rounds, and a number of video links that provide impressions of the tournament.

Morelia R1: Three wins in round one

2/16/2008 – The Mexican half of the Morelia-Linares tournament has started with a bang. Three of the four games ended in decisions. Vishy Anand beat Alexei Shirov with the black pieces, Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov won their games against Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian respectively with white. Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk drew in 39. Pictorial report.

Morelia-Linares Super-GM starts today

2/15/2008 – For the third time this double-round robin tournament, split between Mexico and Spain, is being held, and for the third time we are attending. After a 28-hour trip we have arrived in Morelia, where all eight players are already gathered. The first round is on Friday, with live coverage on the official site and on Playchess.com. We bring you a first pictorial report.

Challengers Match Kamsky-Topalov to be held in Bulgaria...

2/14/2008 – ...unless a country comes up with a US $250,000 bid by April 11th. FIDE has announced its decision to tentatively accept the US $150,000 bid made by the Bulgarian Chess Federation. The match is scheduled for Nov.-Dec. 2008, after the Anand-Kramnik match. Spanish Playwright Fernando Arrabal has published the entire correspondence between FIDE and Kamsky. Press release and links.