Looking back and forward to Baku

5/13/2008 – The FIDE Grand Prix in Baku ended a week ago. Now another big event starts in the capital of Azerbaijan: the Third President's Cup. Two rounds have already been played. Before we receive and publish first reports from this tournament we take a look back at the Grand Prix, with a round-up report by Zahir Ahmadov and some spectacular photography by Farid Khayrulin. A visual feast.

Devil's Advocate: Viswanathan Anand on mind games

5/13/2008 – World chess champion Viswanathan Anand is set for his title-defending match against challenger Vladimir Kramnik in October. Anand says Kramnik's challenge and taunts don't bother him because he believes "the main thing" is to win. "My own tendency is to just ignore him," Anand told Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate in CNN-IBN Live. Videos and transcripts.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (2)

5/12/2008 – The Editor of Chess Notes presents a challenge: half a dozen positions to solve from over-the-board play, ranging from quite straightforward to labyrinthine. But which are which? Although few, if any, clues are being given, readers are assured that there are some truly beautiful lines to puzzle out.

MTel R5: Ivanchuk aiming for infinity with 5.0/5

5/12/2008 – When's the last time we have seen anything like this? The amazing Vassily Ivanchuk has won his fifth game in succession, beating Levon Aronian. He has won all games of the first half of the category 20 tournament, and has beaten all of the other players, three times with black and twice with white. Veselin Topalov is also in top form, winning his third game, against Bu Xiangzhi. Full report.

MTel R4: Ivanchuk wins yet again, leads by 1½ points

5/11/2008 – This is it, a potentially all-time record-breaking run: Vassily Ivanchuk has his fourth game in round four, continuing to maintain a perfect score in a category 20 tournament with a 2737 average rating of the participants. His performance, if that can be counted for a 4/4 score, is 3530. The other two games were drawn, leaving Veselin Topalov in second place with 2.5/4 points. Full report.

Tweaking Fritz - PART 2

5/11/2008 – The second in a series of columns on "Fritz11 tweaks" discusses some of the options found under the "Game" tab, specifically those which control when the Fritz program will resign or accept a draw. You can find more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Lothar Schmid – the Complete Chess Authority turns 80!

5/10/2008 – He was born on May 10th 1928 in Dresden, Germany, son of a book publisher and heir to the Karl Mai adventure series. Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid became one of Germany's strongest grandmasters – and internationally famous as the arbiter in great matches, and a one of the world's leading collectors of chess books. Today he turns eighty. Happy birthday, Lothar!

MTel R3: Ivanchuk wins again, Topalov beats Cheparinov

5/10/2008 – For the third time in three rounds Vassily Ivanchuk scored a full point, utterly crushing Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi, who could have resigned right out of the opening. Veselin Topalov beat his second Ivan Cheparinov with the black pieces. Ivanchuk leads with a perfect 3.0/3 score. The only regret: he missed a chance for a perfect miniature by overlooking a spectacular mate in 13.

MTel R2: Ivanchuk beats Topalov

5/9/2008 – It was a wild and vicious game, one of the most enjoyable we have seen in a long time. Both sides had chances, and it was the trademark throw-everything-at-the-enemy strategy of Veselin Topalov that failed against Vassily Ivanchuk, possibly the most experienced player in top-level chess. The other games were drawn. Full report with commentary and videos.

Tweaking Fritz - PART 1

5/9/2008 – In a new ChessBase Workshop series, columnist Steve Lopez examines ways to "tweak up" your Fritz software. The first of the series covers the various settings contained within the "Clocks + Notation" tab of the Options dialogues. Learn more in the latest Workshop.

Breaking news: Anand Wins Chess Oscars for 2007

5/8/2008 – The traditional Chess Oscar, which has been conducted (with a break) since 1967, is awarded on the basis of votes cast by chess journalists for the ten best player of the past year. World Champion Anand was selected by 130 experts. In second place was Vladimir Kramnik, and third was Gata Kamsky. This is Anand's fifth Chess Oscar – more than any other non-Russian player.

MTel R1: All games decided, Bulgarians lead

5/8/2008 – The first round of the MTel Masters brought three decisive games. Both the "home boys", Veselin Topalov and Ivan Cheparinov, won their games against Levon Aronian and Bu Xiangzhi respectively. And Vassily Ivanchuk scored a shock black-piece victory over Teimour Radjabov. The event is being held in an "aquarium" – a revolutionary concept that just might represent the future of chess.

Emil Sutovsky's Masterpiece in Miniature

5/7/2008 – Baku, Azerbaijan, seems almost a factory for great chess players. Garry Kasparov, Teimour Radjabov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vugar Gashimov, Vladimir Akopian, and the star of today's Playchess show, Emil Sutovsky. Dennis Monokroussos shows us a beautiful attacking game by the now-Israeli GM, played in 2002. See you on the server.

Reactions to Milener's draw diagnosis

5/7/2008 – In his recent chess-3 essay Gene Milener claimed that chess variants like shogi indicate that the high draw rate in chess is due to insufficient piece power in the game. He then described a variant that would add piece power while being as close to chess as possible. Reactions to the essay ranged from interest to disdain. Here is a selection of feedback from our readers.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (1)

5/6/2008 – Moving on from mysteries, the chess historian Edward Winter now turns to myths. Euwe's 'sportsmanship' in playing a rematch against Alekhine in 1937, allegations that Frederick Yates gassed himself, and the Lasker v Janowsky match wrongly called a world title contest. These cases are explored by the Editor of Chess Notes, who sets out the facts here.

Baku R13: Gashimov, Wang and Carlsen win Grand Prix

5/5/2008 – There are three winners of the First FIDE Grand Prix in Baku: Vugar Gashimov, Wang Yue and Magnus Carlsen, all of whom ended at 8.0/13 points. The leaders Gashimov and Wang drew their games, while the incredible Magnus Carlsen scored his second win in succession (when it mattered!) to join the leading group. We bring you games, results, prizes, photos and videos.

Baku R12: Five wins, two draws, Gashimov and Wang lead

5/5/2008 – Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov defeated Alexander Grischuk to take the lead away from the Russian player. He joined Wang Yue of China in the lead. Magnus Carlsen defeated Michael Adams to join the pursuers half a point behind. Peter Svidler and David Navara won their black games against Gata Kamsky and Teimour Radjabov. Full report with analysis, pictures and videos.

GM Nigel's Radio Revs – here to answer your questions

5/5/2008 – Once a week grandmaster Nigel Davies gives live online training on the Playchess server, from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. UK time. That means it starts at midnight CEST, 6 p.m. New York or 08:00 a.m. Sidney. This time, due to team commitment, the show will be on Tuesday, May 6th. Send in your questions.

Plovdiv: Playoffs of the European Individual Championships

5/4/2008 – Sergey Tiviakov and Kateryna Lahno won their titles outright, but there were a number of playoffs for the medals and places in the FIDE World Cup. Reconstruction everything was not easy, but we have tried to prepare a clear overview of the games, results, medal winners and qualifiers. We bring you these together with a big pictorial report from Plovdiv.

Plovdiv: Tiviakov, Lahno win European Individual Championships

5/3/2008 – One round before the end eight players were tied for first. All top games of the final round were drawn, except that Sergey Tiviakov defeated Emil Sutovsky to take the title of European Champion all by himself. In the women's section Kateryna Lahno became the champion with and identical score (8.5/10) and a 2600+ performance. Full report with commentary by Sergey Tiviakov.

Baku R11: Wang Yue beats Svidler to join Grischuk

5/3/2008 – The period of sole leadership for Alexander Grischuk is over. The Russian GM drew with Magnus Carlsen in round eleven, while Wang Yue from China scored a victory over Peter Svidler. Grischuk and Wang now lead with 7.0/11 and 2800+ performances. Ernesto Inarkiev defeated Etienne Bacrot after the latter committed the blunder of the tournament. Full report.

Plovdiv: Exciting final round on Friday

5/2/2008 – In the men's section of the European Individual Championships 2008 no ness than eight players are tied for first – and they all play each other in the final round. In the women's section GM Kateryna Lahno of the Ukraine leads, with four internationally known player in hot pursuit. Others can only pray. Come and watch the final action on the Playchess server.

Baku R10: Heavy rain and six draws in FIDE Grand Prix

5/2/2008 – It was raining cats, dogs and half-points today, our friends in the Azerbaijan capital tell us. Karjakin came close to beating Gashimov with black, and Peter Svidler was two pawns down against Bacrot with white. Both games were drawn. Only Ivan Cheparinov continued his remarkable comeback with yet another win, with black against Radjabov. Full report with exciting rain pictures.

Plovdiv: Three players lead in men's and women's section

4/30/2008 – 6.5 points from eight games – that is the score shared by three grandmasters in the men's section and two grandmasters and an IM in the women's section. Emil Sutovsky, Pavel Tregubov and Sergei Movsesian lead in the former, Kateryna Lahno, Anna Ushenina and Pia Cramling in the latter. Three rounds are left in the European Individual Championships 2008. Illustrated report.