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.

The problem of draws – a Christmas solution

12/29/2007 – It is perhaps not appropriate to take up the subject while a tournament in Moscow is registering the lowest drawing rate in recent memory. But the question of quick, unfought draws still occupies the attention of our readers, and many have sent in new and imaginative proposals. One is so clever that we advocate trying it out immediately. The first organiser to do so gets to name it after his city.

Russian Superfinal and the even more remarkable Mr Morozevich

12/28/2007 – The draw average in the Russian Championship Superfinal is a pleasing low 46%. The statistics are heavily influenced by Alexander Morozevich, who has thus far, after eight rounds, one draw and one loss to his account. Morozevich has won the last six games of the tournament, four of them with the black pieces, beating both Svidler and Grischuk. He is playing like a 2900+ rated player.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (21)

12/26/2007 – An alleged prediction by Lasker. An obscure nineteenth-century chess treatise. Steinitz’s daughter. Famous quotes attributed to Breyer, Jaffe and Mendelssohn. The curious phrase ‘blind swine’. These and other matters are discussed in this latest selection from Chess Notes. Readers are invited to join in the hunt for clues.

Russian Superfinal and the Remarkable Mr Morozevich

12/25/2007 – Do you remember? Alexander Morozevich, top seed in the Russian Championship, started off by spoiling a winning position and then lost with the white pieces against a GM named Vitiugov. The end of his championship hopes? No way. Morozevich won the next four games to take the lead. In the women's section four players are in the joint lead. Report with new diagram format.

A personal portrait of World Champion Anand

12/23/2007 – The Indian network CNN-IBN has published an extraordinary TV portrait of Viswanathan Anand. In it Anand himself, his wife Aruna, his and her parents, friends, trainers, colleagues, all talk about the nation's favourite son. This includes music, food, clothing, travel, hobbies, ambitions, salsa and kickboxing. Yes, kickboxing. Take some time to watch this broadcast. It is a Christmas treat.

Russian Superfinal with lots of fighting chess

12/22/2007 – This is what people want to see: 2700+ players in a crisis, bouncing back dramatically, as Svidler and Morozevich did. Just 50% of the games in the Russian Championship so far were drawn, White won 28% and Black 22%. In the women's section it was even more dramatic: just 23% drawn games, with 44% white and 33% black wins. One lady, Natalija Pogonina, has a perfect 3.0/3.0 score.

Women's Super-tournament – participants and venue

12/22/2007 – In March 2008 the Turkish Chess Federation, together with the country's largest bank, is staging a spectacular international women's event on the 41st storey of the tallest building in the center of Istanbul. Two weeks after the tournament was announced the ten participants have been fixed. You may want to plan a trip to Turkey next March to watch this tournament in rarified heights.

Chess Festival in Benidorm – where a new genre is born

12/21/2007 – The Sixth International Chess Festival in Benidorm, Spain, attracted hundreds of players from all over the world. Aleksander Delchev of Bulgaria won the Open Master, World Champion Vishy Anand gave a very strong simul on 35 boards. But the show was stolen by the smallest event, an Advanced Chess Tournament, where the participants were allowed to use computer assistance.

Kasparov in New York – and on Al Jazeera

12/20/2007 – What does the former World Champion do when he is not taking part in political rallies against Russian leader Vladimir Putin, or serving a prison sentence in Moscow for political activities? Garry Kasparov spends quality time in New York, doing book signings in the mega bookshops of the US metropolis. We have pictures from recent signings and a remarkable must-watch TV report on Al Jazeera.

Get into the mood for Bonn 2008

12/20/2007 – Yesterday's announcement of the next World Championship match Anand vs. Kramnik in October 2008 in Germany was great news. Another top event in chess history, and a fascinating perspective for the coming year. For everyone who is still missing something for Christmas, Bob Long strongly recommends Kramnik's DVD 'My Path to the Top'. Simply superb. Buy it now or read more.

Russian Superfinal under way in Moscow

12/19/2007 – The Russian Championship Superfinal runs from 17-30 December (rest days 21st and 25th), at Moscow's Central House of Chessplayers (the former Moscow Central Chess Club). Round one saw a terrible loss for Svidler with the white pieces, a spoiled brilliancy for Morozevich, and a beautiful queen sacrifice from one of the outsiders. Report with pictures.

Take care – it's the Caro-Kann

12/19/2007 – Caro-Kann players have to be a hardy lot. There are quite a few aggressive schemes against it, and a moment's carelessness can get even a player slaughtered. Tonight our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos looks at a example by the great Caro-Kann expert Alexey Dreev. Be there and learn.