The essentials

1/11/2008 – ChessBase Workshop columnist Steve Lopez has often mentioned "the essentials" – ChessBase products that he finds himself unable to do without. But he's never provided us with a comprehensive list of said essentials – until now. You'll find his list in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

DGT presents: new clocks, technology – and Vladimir Kramnik

1/10/2008 – The Dutch company Digital Game Technology, founded in 1992 in a 17 sq meter office, has become the world leader in chess clocks and chessboard sensor technology. On January 9th the company moved to new quarters measuring 1000 sq meters. At the opening ceremony they presented new products, including a folding chess clock. Special guest: Vladimir Kramnik.

Ni hao, GM Zhang Zhong and WGM Li Ruofan

1/10/2008 – Ni hao, pronounced second tone-third tone, is Chinese for Hello or Hi ("Ni hao ma?" means "how are you" and "Wo hun hao" means "I'm doing great"). After this short lesson in Chinese first encounters we bring you a portrait of the Chinese dream couple: GM Zhang Zhong, Elo 2634, and his wife WGM Li Ruofan, rated 2417. Bisik-Bisik (Malay for "whisperings") by Edwin Lam.

Viorel Bologan: one of the more-than-ten players

1/9/2008 – "There are many more than ten people who know how to play chess!" wrote the Moldovan grandmaster in his recent best games collection. He proved that he is one of them by winning Dortmund 2003 by a full point, ahead of Anand, Kramnik and Leko. On Playchess.com tonight Dennis Monokroussos will be looking at one of Bologan's spectacular victories. See you there.

Philip Hogarty, Irish chess talent, 1988-2008

1/9/2008 – Philip Hogarty, the chairman of the Irish Chess Union tragically passed away on New Year's day. He was struck by a police car at 2.30 a.m and died shortly after that in hospital. He was only 19. He represented Ireland at youth level and was a rapidly improving player. Also one of the best-loved people in the country. He will be dearly missed by everbody. Eulogy by his friends.

Radjabov wins ACP World Rapid Cup in Odessa

1/8/2008 – Without doubt the knockout rapid chess format in this ACP tournament brought some heart-stopping action. In the end it was GM Teimour Radjabov, 20 years old and from Baku, Azerbaijan, who took the cup, beating Alexander Grischuk in the final. Meanwhile the Chairman of the sponsoring Pivdenny Bank was elected new President of the ACP. Big illustrated report by Misha Savinov.

Hastings 2007/08: Traditions upheld – what a shame!

1/7/2008 – Hastings is a tournament where tradition has always been important. In the final rounds it was some of the less fortunate traditions of grandmaster chess than were on display. Like a nine-minute draw by an overly pragmatic tournament leader. Fortunately some of the other players fought it out, and so there are some nice games to play through, in this final report by Steve Giddins.

Almasi wins Reggio Emilia 2008

1/7/2008 – He led practically from the start, and never let go to the end. Hungary's third strongest GM took the 50th edition of the prestigious Italian tournament by half a point, ahead of Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, Ni Hua of China and Pentala Harikrishna of India. Almasi's performance was 2747. Veteran Viktor Korchnoi scored 4.0/9. Illustrated final report.

Mate in one

1/7/2008 – "Aw. c'mon. Don't be so hard on yourself. It happens to everybody sometime or another." – "Not to me, it doesn't." Well, our Workshop columnist appears to be suffering from a bad case of it. No, it's not that. It's something worse – chess blindness. Learn about his therapy regimen utilizing ChessBase 9 in the latest edition of ChessBase Workshop.

ACP World Rapid Cup in freezing Odessa

1/6/2008 – Sixteen players are gathered for this knockout event, which carries a US $136,000 prize fund. Not enough to attract Anand or Kramnik. But Ivanchuk, Shirov, Svidler, Gelfand, Radjabov, Karjakin, Karpov and Polgar make the show very worth- while. Generally the favourites went through in the first stage, except Alexei Shirov, who faltered against Inarkiev. Big illustrated report by Misha Savianov.

White King and Red Queen – chess during the cold war

1/6/2008 – This new book, by Daniel Johnson, focuses on the way chess became became a political weapon in the proletarian revolution of the Soviet Union. Naturally the 1972 match Spassky vs Fischer plays a central role. Three generally critical book reviews have appeared, by John Nunn in the Financial Times, by Steven Poole in the Guardian, and by Nigel Short in the Sunday Times. Excerpts.

Almasi and Gashimov lead in Reggio Emilia

1/5/2008 – This prestigious tournament in Italy is being held for the 50th time. Its strongest edition was in 1991/92, when for the first time in history a category 18 was achieved. The participants included World Champions Kasparov, Karpov and all the top players of the day. With four other ex World Champions watching it was the only non-Soviet player who won the tournament. Guess who it was.

Hastings 2007/08 – a Grandmaster is Born

1/5/2008 – Eight rounds of the annual Hastings tournament have been completed, and England already has yet another grandmaster. Instead of going all out for a win, as is custom with him, Simon Williams played a safety shot and got a draw in twelve moves. This brought Simon the precious couple of rating points that he needed to take his rating over 2500, and thus earn him his Grandmaster title.

The problem of draws – feedback from our readers

1/4/2008 – The perceived problem of too many unfought draws in chess has led to a number of imaginative cures being proposed, involving the modification of the rules of the games, the scoring system and the prize distribution. Over Christmas we presented a particularly clever one: let the draw offer stand for the rest of the game. Here are reactions to this proposal and new ideas. Long interesting read.

The Aussies are coming – in chess

1/3/2008 – Australia, a country with a giant sports obsession, has just 471 rated chess players (two GMs, 13 IMs). But it is an emerging chess nation that, by sending large contingents to major international events, is moving in the right direction. Australia sent seven players to the Commonwealth chess Championship. Here are photo profiles of each of them.

Chess engines' playing styles

1/2/2008 – What's a "chessplaying style"? How do the styles of different chess engines differ? These are the questions tackled in thie latest ChessBase Workshop, in which our columnist defines the playing styles of our various chess engines in basic layman's terms. Workshop...

Player repertoire opening books

1/2/2008 – After our recent ChessBase Workshop series on developing an opening repertoire, you would think we've heard the last word on using opening books. Not so -- our columnist has turned his attention toward creating opening books based on the repertoires of famous players. Find out more in the latest ChessBase Workshop column. Workshop...

Almasi leads in Reggio Emilia

1/2/2008 – The 50th edition of the Torneo di Capodanno in the Italian town takes place from December 29th, 2007, to January 6th, 2008. After five rounds Hungarian GM Zoltan Almasi is in the lead, with 3.5/5. He is followed by four players: Ni Hua, Gashimov, Landa and Harikrishna. The ever active Viktor Korchnoi shares 6-9 with Tiviakov, Navara and Marin. Pictorial report.

Hikaru Nakamura: my best game ever

1/2/2008 – When one of the most successful players at the end of 2007 calls it the best game he has ever played we take notice. It was a brilliancy against Polish GM Michal Krasenkow, produced by the American GM Hikaru Nakamura, at the Barcelona tournament. This game is dissected on Playchess.com by Dennis Monokroussos in tonight's New Year's lecture.

Ramesh is the Commonwealth Chess Champion

1/2/2008 – He hails from Chennai, India, just like Vishy Anand, Krishnan Sasikiran, and thousands of other strong chess players. In the tradition of the "Chennai Chess Factory" R.B. Ramesh won the Commonwealth Championship 2007, which had 282 entries, with 13 GMs, 35 IMs and 12 titled women players, from eleven Commonwealth countries. Big pictorial report by Praful Zaveri.

Tournaments to watch and look forward to

1/1/2008 – The new year starts with two strong events – Reggio Emilia and Hastings – already under way, and three big ones coming up. The first is the ACP World Rapid in Odessa, Ukraine, then the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee and the Morelia-Linares Super-GM, with Anand, Kramnik, Topalov, Ivanchuk and others. Full information and links.

Alexander the First wins Russian Championship Superfinal

12/31/2007 – There were two Alexanders in the field: Morozevich and Grischuk. One round before the end the second was breathing down the neck of the first: after finishing a 100-move endgame successfully Grischuk lay just half a point behind the leader. In the final round, however, Morozevich beat Ernesto Inarkiev, while Grischuk drew against Peter Svidler. Illustrated report with endgame lesson.

Hastings 2007 – get ready for some nuckie

12/31/2007 – The annual Hastings tournament goes into its 112th edition, with a ten-round Swiss over the New Year, with 16 grandmasters and 16 IMs. One is Glenn Flear, an English GM who has lived for many years in France. Glenn recently wrote a superb book in which he develops the concept of "nuckie", i.e. NQEs, or "Not Quite Endgames". In Hastings he gave a practical demonstration.

Kramnik and Anand lead the January 1st 2008 FIDE ratings

12/30/2007 – In the October 2007 list World Champion Viswanathan Anand was clear first, with Ivanchuk and Kramnik following in second and third place. In the coming January 1st list Anand has lost two points and Kramnik gained 14 points, so that the two tie for first with a rating of 2799. Topalov is third, Ivanchuk has dropped to ninth place. View all the ratings.