Recent ChessBase disks

10/10/2007 – It seems like you can't swing a stick these days without hitting a newly-released ChessBase instructional disk. You'll find previews of three of these releases – King's Indian Saemisch System, 1...d6 Universal, and My Path to the Top – in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Vaganian and Mamedyarov with 2900+ at team championships

10/9/2007 – After four rounds the Alkaloid team was in the lead, but two consecutive losses set them back to place 12! Now, with one round to go, Linex Magic is in front, with 11/12 match and 24½ board points at the European Team Championships. In the women's section Monte-Carlo with Koneru Humpy has already wrapped it up. Today we look at individual performances.

Chess Expeditions: Humor in Chess

10/9/2007 – Sigmung Freud had a psychoanalytical theory of humor – and a repertoire of jokes that said more about him than about humor in general. The Scottish poet and essayist James Beatty came closer to a definition, but even today humor remains a subtle, not well understood phenomenon. So what about chess? Is there humor in the Royal Game? Prof. Christian Hesse has a positive answer.

King's Gambit and the story-teller Paul Hoffman

10/8/2007 – A new chess book is creating a buzz, and not just in the chess world. King's Gambit was written by award-winning author Paul Hoffman, who has had a life-long love affair with the royal game. The book is receiving international attention and good reviews in newspapers and magazines. Having known Paul for some time now we asked him for excerpts, which we duly received. Reviews and sampler.

New record for the European Youth Chess Championships

10/8/2007 – While Anand and co. were battling it out in Mexico, a 758-participant championship was taking place in Sibenik, Croatia: the Youth Championships in age categories 10-18 for boys and girls. Exciting, fighting chess by real enthusiasts who love the game – like this 10-year-old who won the under 12 with an incredible 8.5/9 score. Big pictorial report by Dr. Valery Golubenko.

Alkaloid and Monte-Carlo lead in European Club Cup

10/7/2007 – After four rounds the team of Alkaloid, with Mamedyarov, Georgiev, Volkov, Kozul and others (rating average 2611) is in the lead, having won all four matches so far and scoring a total of 18.5 board points. In the women's section it is the team of Monte Carlo, with Humpy, Arakhamia-Grant, Cramling and others (rating average 2535) with 12.5 board points. Results, games, pictures and videos.

The Days and Knights of Tom Murphy

10/6/2007 – Chess players and hustlers come from all over to be part of Washington's Dupont Circle scene. Tom Murphy, a member of the university's senior faculty, is holding a private seminar for a graduate of George Washington University who was taking a couple of weeks to hone his game of chess before joining the workforce. Must read must watch big Washington Post article.

Tournaments to watch and look forward to

10/5/2007 – Suffering from withdrawal after three weeks of the world championship in Mexico? There are a number of events coming up which you can mark up in your event calendar. The European Club Cup is under way, a rapid match between Leko and Ivanchuk starts on October 25, then there is the World Youth Championship, the World Chess Cup and the Corus Chess Tournament. Full information and links.

Simply mind-blowing

10/5/2007 – Each month, Danish FM Carsten Hansen writes a column at ChessCafe.com, focusing mainly on opening books and software. His current column includes a review of ChessBase Magazine 118. Hansen is deeply impressed with the 'astounding amount of material', the hundreds of annotated games etc., and recommends to give ChessBase Magazine a try now. Buy CBM 118 or read more.

Everybody's there – at the European Club Cup in Turkey

10/4/2007 – The 23rd European Club Cup for Men and the 12th European Club Cup for Women are taking place from October 2nd to 10th in Kemer, Antalya, Turkey. There are 56 teams participating in the men's section and 18 teams in the women's. You won't believe how many world class stars are participating. We bring you a first report with a video of the opening ceremony.

The secret Weapons of the Champions

10/3/2007 – GM Mikalchishin, former trainer of Anatoli Karpov, lately recorded two powerful training DVDs covering several middlegame themes. In his review of the first DVD, Steve Giddins stresses that already a single of Mikalchishin's nuggets is worth the price of the DVD and tells you how to make it a personal, one-to-one training session. Buy 'The secret Weapons' now or read more.

Anand crosses 2800 and leads the October 2007 FIDE ratings

10/2/2007 – FIDE didn't make the mistake of not including the world championship in their latest rating list, and must be commended for publishing it just hours after the tournament had ended. The result was that Anand gained nine points and crossed the magic 2800 mark. But guess who is now in place two, overtaking Kramnik and Topalov with a whopping 25 point increase. None other than Vassily Ivanchuk!

World Championship Mexico: the closing ceremony

10/1/2007 – After his win on Saturday night Vishy Anand was treated to a fine victory dinner by his hosts. Then, on Sunday, a long day of activies followed, crowned by the celebrations and festivities of the closing ceremony, in which the new world champion was crowned. Now it is Sunday night, muy tarde – very late. Before we embark on our return trip we bring you pictorial impressions.

Two more from Daniel King

10/1/2007 – GM Daniel King has been hard at work on his Power Play series of instructional DVDs. His two latest efforts are entitled "Pawn Storm" and "Start Right". You can discover what's contained on these DVDs by reading previews of them in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (16)

9/30/2007 – Did Lasker invent a tank? Why did Mieses complain to FIDE about Bogoljubow? What merchandising carried Flohr’s name? Who coined the term ‘grandmaster draw’? What did Hans Frank write about Alekhine? Did Tom Thumb play chess? These are just some of the questions discussed in the latest selection from Chess Notes. Readers are invited to join in the hunt for clues.

GM Mihail Marin: Anand's triumph in the final round

9/30/2007 – Anand chose a safe plan against Leko's Marshall Attack and had little trouble to reach the draw that ensured him the supreme title. In a sharp line of the Najdorf, Svidler defeated Grischuk. Morozevich-Gelfand was an interesting hard-fought game. Aronian reacted badly against Kramnik's novelty and went down without too much fight. GM analysis and video interviews with Anand.

GM Mihail Marin: A spectacular round, with big fights...

9/29/2007 – ...and three decisive games. Anand, playing with black against Svidler, annihilated White's initiative with relative ease and drew. Morozevich was once again successfull with an original opening experiment against Grischuk. Kramnik produced another impressive Catalan performance to beat Leko. And Gelfand beat Aronian to narrow the gap to the leader. GM analysis and video.

Mexico R13 – Leko wins, Anand squeaks by to retain lead

9/29/2007 – Fans of the Indian grandmaster were sweating blood, when Vishy Anand got into a seemingly lost rook endgame against Alexander Grischuk. But in the end iron defence paid off and the game ended in a draw. Boris Gelfand drew against Vladimir Kramnik, so Anand's lead in the final round is a full point. Peter Leko beat Alexander Morozevich to move into fourth place. Express report with pictures.

GM Mihail Marin: Tension to the end

9/29/2007 – The only relatively short game in round 13 was Gelfand-Kramnik, with the draw agreed in a position where there was practically nothing left to play for. Anand carried out a risky opening experiment against Grischuk and had to suffer in a rook ending before reaching a draw. Aronian-Svidler was a tense positional fight. Leko employed a new idea to defeat Morozevich. Analysis and video.

Mexico 2007: Vishy Anand is world champion!

9/29/2007 – An effortless 20-move draw against Peter Leko clinched it: Indias's Viswanathan Anand won the World Championship in Mexico City 2007 to become the undisputed World Chess Champion. The other games are still in progress, but nobody can catch Anand, who finishes undefeated with 9.0 points out of 14 games. Kramnik beat Aronian to move to second place. Express report.

Mexico R12 – Gelfand, Kramnik and Morozevich win

9/28/2007 – Things are becoming exciting: Anand drew against Peter Svidler; his nearest rival, Boris Gelfand beat Levon Aronian with black to narrow the gap to the leader to just one point. Vladimir Kramnik beat Peter Leko to step into the slot half a point behind. So there are upset possibilities in the final two rounds on Friday and Saturday. Express report with pictures.

GM Mihail Marin annotates the games of round eleven

9/27/2007 – Grischuk-Kramnik was a quick draw. Gelfand-Svidler and Leko-Aronian lasted longer, but also ended in draws. Anand could have repeated moves against Morozevich, which would have suited his tournament position, but he bravely decided to play on, although the position was quite irrational. Caissa smiled on the courageous and Anand could increase his lead. GM analysis.

Kasparov wins opposition primaries in Russia

9/27/2007 – The Moscow branch of the Other Russia opposition party Monday chose former world chess champion Garry Kasparov as candidate for the 2008 presidential elections. Kasparov garnered 66 of a possible 113 votes at the all-important Moscow primary, defeating ex-premier Mikhail Kasyanov. In addition to many international reports there is a remarkable 12-page (!) story in the New Yorker.

Mexico 2007: The Pyramids of Teotihuacán

9/27/2007 – A free day at the World Championship means more hard work for the players. But not for journalists and dignitaries, who are given the opportunity to visit places of interest. So for instance the famous pyramids, just 40 km from the city. The Pyramid of the Sun is 246 feet high, making it the third largest pyramid in the world. Teotihuacán was, as our photo report shows, a spiritual experience.