Aerosvit 2008: Carlsen wins yet again, 3100 performance

6/13/2008 – This is becoming quite incredible: Magnus Carlsen beat Alexei Shirov (who blundered in a drawn position on move 61). His score is now 4.5/5, with a performance just a point shy of 3100. If the world rankings were published today he would be number two behind Vishy Anand. Three other games were decided in a day of exciting chess. Round five report.

Survey: the role of talent and training in chess

6/12/2008 – What is the most important factor in chess excellence? Is it a natural talent for the game, have it or give up? Or is it motivation and training, talent being a minor factor? Dr Robert Howard of the University of New South Wales in Australia is a psychologist who is carrying out a online survey on this subject. Anyone with an FIDE rating is invited to participate.

Levon Aronian – a future world champion?

6/11/2008 – He is not the usual child prodigy. His rise into the upper echelons of world chess in the last few years has nonetheless been dramatic, and our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos believes that top Armenian GM Levon Aronian has as good a shot as anyone to become a world champion sometime in the near future. Dennis illustrates this in his Wednesday night show.

'Football is like chess, only without the dice'

6/11/2008 – Football – soccer to the Americans – is one of the most popular games on the planet. Currently the European Championship is being staged, and a whole continent is gripped by football fever. The game also inspires men to come up with profound sayings, paradoxical koans, gems of wisdom. The German striker Lukas Podolsky produced one that will go down in football and chess history. Digression.

Aerosvit 2008: Carlsen wins again, leads with 3050 performance

6/11/2008 – Magnus Carlsen won another game, this time with black against Pavel Eljanov. This put him in the lead with 3.5/4 points and a performance of 3050. But Magnus is being pursued by the other "youngster", 18-year-old Sergey Karjakin, who beat Dmitry Jakovenko and has 3.0/4 points. Van Wely beat Alekseev, the other three games were drawn in less than 20 moves. Round four report.

Aerosvit 2008: Ukrainians win on all boards

6/10/2008 – A great day for the host country: three Ukrainian players scored, defeating a Russian, a Romanian and an American GM. Meanwhile Alexei Shirov scored a second victory, over Dmitry Jakovenko, to take the lead in the Black Sea tournament. And good news: Magnus Carlsen's bags have been located and delivered at the hotel. Round two report.

The modern way to master the Modern Benoni

6/10/2008 – The Modern Benoni is one of the sharpest openings against 1 d4. Black is ready for active counterplay, especially with his pawn majority on the queenside. But it takes a first-class teacher like Andrew Martin to explain to you the critical positions without beating around the bush. 'Thumbs up!' says Bob Long after 4+ hours of enjoyment with this new video course. Buy it now or read his review.

Aerosvit 2008: Five wins in round three, Carlsen leads

6/10/2008 – Another exciting round in Foros, Ukraine. Magnus Carlsen outplayed Loek van Wely to go into the sole lead. Pavel Eljanov, Evgeny Alekseev and Dmitry Jaovenko won their white games against Alexei Shirov, Peter Svidler and Andrei Volokitin respectively. The draw average is 44%, while exactly half of all games were won by White (and one by Black). Full report.

Kransenkow wins Mumbai Mayor’s Cup

6/9/2008 – The top seed was in the clear lead right to the final round, where he stumbled over Uzbek GM Anton Fillipov. This loss put Michal Krasenkow into a tie with five other players, and cost him around $4000 in prize money. But a superior tiebreak made him the winner of the tournament anyway. In close contention: India's remarkably talented female GM Koneru Humpy. Report by Praful Zaveri.

Armageddon at the US Women's Championship

6/9/2008 – At the 2008 Women's Chess Championship IMs Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush tied for first, then played rapid and blitz tiebreakers, and finally a very dramatic Armageddon game, which Anna won in the last possible second. Irina has protested in an open letter that her opponent was making moves before she had completed her own. You can watch the scene in a forensic video – in slow motion.

Top Armenian GM Karen Asrian dies at 28

6/9/2008 – We have received word that one of Armenia’s leading grandmasters, Karen Asrian, died today. Apparently he suffered a heart attack while driving a car. Karen Asrian won the title of Armenian champion three times. He also earned a gold medal at the 2006 Olympiad held in Turin. His final rating, in April this year, was 2630. A terrible loss.

Chess Giants Rapid starts in Yerevan

6/9/2008 – The capital of Armenia is playing host to a rapid chess tournament, with eight players holding a two-game mini-match per day, starting at 18:00h local time. Average rating: 2719. To start things off, Alexander Morozevich and Peter Leko won a game each, against Boris Gelfand and Bu Xiangzhi respectively. All other games were drawn. Day one report.

Kievchess wins the Ukrainian Team Championship

6/8/2008 – There was no real battle for first place. The team Kievchess from, you guessed it, Kiev, took first place after a half-hearted challenge by the youngsters of a team called "Lviv University named by I. Franko”. One member of the victorious Kiev team is remarkable: FM Illya Nyzhnyk, rated 2397, who holds his own in blitz against grandmasters. Illya is eleven. Pictorial report by Anastasiya Karlovich.

Aerosvit 2008: Carlsen and Shirov win in round one

6/8/2008 – The first round of the traditional tournament that is taking place in the sanatorium complex Foros on the shores of the Black Sea saw top seed Magnus Carlsen win a fine game against veteran Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk. Alexei Shirov took a point with the black pieces against Loek van Wely. The event is a category 19 with an average Elo of 2711. Illustrated report.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (2)

6/7/2008 – Whose name has been inscribed by the World Champion Vishy Anand in the prize copy of My Best Games? And who will be receiving Fritz 11 signed by him? All is now revealed, as the Editor of Chess Notes presents the remaining four solutions in the Chess Explorations quiz – including victories by James A. Leonard and Rudolf Loman. Announcement of the winners.

Chess, psychoanalysis, psychology and pseudoscience

6/7/2008 – Is the driving force behind the game of chess the desire of players to use the queen – the mother piece – to attack and neutralise the king – the father piece, in a monumental Oedipal struggle? Certainly a number of Freudian psychologists have held this view, which is described in David Shenk's book "The Immortal Game". Evolutionary psychologist Massimo Pigliucci takes issue with the theory.

Nigel Short wins King's Tournament in Bazna

6/5/2008 – With four white piece wins and no losses British GM Nigel Short, former world championship challenger, finished this tournament in Romania with 7.0/10 points. In joint second were veteran grandmasters Lajos Portisch and Ulf Andersson. Henrique Mecking, who had been doing well until round eight, lost twice and dropped to seventh place. Big illustrated report.

Clean Tricks and creative attacks

6/5/2008 – As Sean Marsh puts it on his review of two of Nigel Davies' new Fritz Trainer DVDs, the British GM is a "club player's friend, forever imparting sensible and useful information." While his "1.e4 Creative Attacker" comes with a full surprise repertoire, "Chess for Scoundrels" will tell you more about psychology in chess than you may have dreamed of. Buy them now or read this review with samplers.

Tweaking Fritz - PART 6

6/5/2008 – In Part Six of his ChessBase Workshop series on configuring Fritz, Steve Lopez solves one of the biggest mysteries concerning the software: what do the "Tournament" settings under the "Options" tab control? The veil is lifted in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Magnus at 15 – visions of Karpov and Petrosian

6/4/2008 – We all know that 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen, with his ridiculous 2765 rating, is an extraordinary talent. Take a look at his performance at 15, when he outplayed an experienced Swedish GM easily and completely in a drawish position – as if he had left the board and been replaced by Karpov or Petrosian, says our Wednesday night Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos. Details on the server.

Miskolc: Carlsen wins the rapid chess match 5:3

6/3/2008 – Game seven was make-or-break for Peter Leko, and things looked quite promising for the Hungarian GM. But on move 42 he faltered badly, and Magnus Carlsen lashed out with a crushing win. In the final game the young Norwegian was never in danger and drew in 27 moves. He finished with a two-point overall victory. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

Morozevich decelerates, finishes Sarajevo with 1.5 point lead

6/3/2008 – After seven rounds Morozevich had scored 6.0 points, and a performance of 2987. He was on track to becoming number two in the world – theoretically he could have even overtaken Anand to occupy the number one slot. But then came three draws and the uberflieger settled for a third place in the next FIDE rating list. Results, games and rankings.

Four-way tie for first in Odessa Rapid

6/3/2008 – Four players – Tregubov, Drozdovskij, Gelfand and Ponomariov – finished the double-round rapid chess Pivdenny Bank Chess Cup in Odessa, Ukraine, with 9.0/14 points. Pavel Tregubov took possession of the winner's cup on tiebreak points. The most poignant game of the tournament was between arch rivals Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi. Big pictorial report.

Ivanchuk beats Anand in León Rapid final 2.5:1.5

6/2/2008 – Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk overcame World Champion Vishy Anand in the final of the XXI Magistral Ciudad de León. Both players won their first games, with black, the third was drawn, and then Anand blundered a move transposition and resigned after 16 moves. It was the first time ever that he did not win this tournament. Illustrated report by GM Zenón Franco Ocampos.