Ilyumzhinov: 'The chess crown has returned home'

10/24/2006 – "The crown is now on a safe shelf of our safe, and we will never give it away." On a special charter flight from Elista to Moscow after the Elista World Championship match the FIDE President spoke to our correspondent Misha Savinov and gave him noteworthy insights into the next plans of the world chess organisation – which include a $100 million ten-year plan. Ilyuminating.

Essent 2006: both games drawn, Polgar, Mamedyarov lead

10/24/2006 – Mamedyarov vs Polgar and Topalov vs Sokolov were both fighting draws in round three of the Hoogeveen tournament in Holland. That leaves Judit Polgar and Shakhryar Mamedyarov in the lead with 2.5/3 at halftime, while Veselin Topalov and Ivan Sokolov languish at 0.5 points each. New with videos by Peter Doggers and pictures by Fred Lucas.

This week's ChessBase Show: Porper-Lock

10/23/2006 – It is not always old games and famous players from whom you can learn. This week on Playchess Dennis Monokroussos shows us a super-sharp game between two non-grandmasters, Eduard Porper and Gavin Lock – the kind that amateurs should study. Don't miss it.

Essent 2006: Judit Polgar beats Veselin Topalov

10/23/2006 – Round two of the Essent tournament in Hoogeven, Holland, brought more drama: Judit Polgar outplayed former world champion Veselin Topalov to take her second point in a row. Shakhryar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan also scored a second victory, this time over Ivan Sokolov and with the black pieces. Full report.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov: world champion and chess teacher

10/22/2006 – In 2004 Rustam Kasimdzhanov, grandmaster from Uzbekistan, shocked the chess world by winning the FIDE world championship title, beating a string of world-class players like Ivanchuk, Grischuk, Topalov and Adams in the process. "Kasim" is a very deep player, who is able to explain chess ideas in an eloquent, lucid style, with a fine touch of humour. We have two hot new DVDs.

Mamedyarov beats Topalov at Essent Tournament

10/22/2006 – Just eight days after the end of the World Championship in Elista Veselin Topalov in back at the board, at the 2006 Essent tournament in the Dutch city of Hoogeveen. The other players are Shakhryar Mamedyarov, Judit Polgar and Ivan Sokolov. Mamedyarov beat Topalov in round one, Polgar took a point from Dutch number one Sokolov. Report with pictures and video.

First ACP World Rapid in Odessa

10/21/2006 – The Association of Chess Professionals has announced the First ACP World Rapid Cup, to be held from January 4–8 2007 in Odessa, Ukraine. Participants are the players who finished among the best in the ACP Tour 2004/2005 – Kramnik, Anand, Morozevich, Aronian, Leko, Gelfand, Radjabov, Shirov and others. The sponsor is the Bank Pivdennyi. The prize is $136,000.

Yasser Seirawan: Elista 2006 – Another Perspective

10/21/2006 – A few days ago chief arbiter Geurt Gijssen described the crisis that evolved around the fifth game forfeit at the World Championship, justifying his decisions and criticizing Yasser Seirawan's article "The Layman's Guide to World Chess Match Officials. Now GM Seirawan plays the ball back into Gijssen's court with a powerful volley.

Krk is the Golden Island of Mediterranean

10/19/2006 – That, precisely translated, is the name of the tournament, which was held in the little town of Njivice on the Croatian island of Krk. The event is a women's ten-player round robin, which give budding young talents the opportunity to make WIM and WGM norms. Or spend some time playing chess on the Adriatic sea. Big pictorial report by Valery Golubenko.

Fall of the Favourites in PAL/CSS Freestyle

10/19/2006 – A "Freestyle tournament" is one in which computer assistance – or any other form of help – during the game is allowed and encouraged. The 4th PAL/CSS Freestyle tournament, which reaches its final this weekend on the the Playchess.com server, saw many of the favourites falter. Now the ten qualifiers will play a round robin for the US $16,000 prize money. Come and watch.

Simen Agdestein: playing with the nerds

10/19/2006 – Remember Simen Agdestein? Seven times Norwegian national chess champion? Trainer of Magnus Carlsen? Ballroom dancer? In a former life Simen was a national soccer player. Now the chess grandmaster is returning to the football pitch, as part of a team of super nerds. Here is some remarkable video footage.

Andrew Martin – Black is more than okay

10/18/2006 – Black is well on top in this week's Radio show, winning three games to one. Our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin shows us a Poisoned Pawn Najdorf and an Alekine, an attacking game and yet another new move. His message: see you on the server!

An arbiter's tale: 'My blood pressure rose to 220'

10/18/2006 – On September 29, at 15:22h local time, chief arbiter Geurt Gijssen started the clocks for game five of the World Championship in Elista. Veselin Topalov was at the board, Vladimir Kramnik protesting in his room. At 16:22h Gijssen stopped the clocks and awarded the game to Topalov, which almost led to the collapse of the match. Gijssen decribes the course of events.

Shen Yang and Zaven Andriasian World Junior Champions

10/17/2006 – Both are seventeen and have won the girls' and the open section of the World Under 20 World Championship that was held in Yerevan, Armenia, from October 2nd to 17th 2006. Shen Yang was just a couple of tiebreak points ahead of one of the greatest talents in chess today, Hou Yifan, who is just twelve! Report and games.

Kramnik will not play Topalov in March

10/17/2006 – Topalov wants a rematch in March next year, but Vladimir Kramnik has issued a firm nyet to that idea. Will Topalov be able to play in Mexico, and will that event be degraded to a world championship qualifier? There are a lot of new press reports, but we concentrate our attention on yesterday's press conference by Kramnik.

The game that shook the world

10/17/2006 – Today, exactly fifty years ago, a 13-year-old boy played 17...Be6!!, sacrificing his queen and entering his name in the history books: Robert James Fischer, known to the world as "Bobby". The game was hailed as the "Game of the Century" and has been discussed in countless chess books and collections. We bring you a half-centennial commemoration.

Final impressions from Elista

10/16/2006 – Game eleven, game twelve, the tiebreak, with everything imaginable at stake. FIDE champion Veselin Topalov loses his title in the very last game to classical chess champ Vladimir Kramnik, who becomes the unified FIDE champion. Our Elista correspondent Misha Savinov has sent us final impressions in a giant pictorial report.

Chess Club – where primal male aggression is set free

10/16/2006 – Remember Fight Club, where Edward Norton and Brad Pitt become involved in an anarchic subculture of bare-knuckle fighting that ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion? Remember the dark, terrifying and bloody fight scenes? Here's a video that recreates the story into a chess environment. Funny, especially for FC fans.

Tomsk-400 wins the European Club Cup

10/15/2006 – The team from Tomsk, fielding five 2600+ GMs led by Alexander Morozevich (2747) took the European Club Cup 2006, which took place from 7 to 15 October 2006. A total of 406 players, with 124 GMs and 85 IMs, participated. The event was hosted by the city of Fügen, in Austria's Zillertal – famous for it Alpine scenery and recreational facilities. Report.

Topalov back in Bulgaria, seeks rematch

10/15/2006 – On Saturday Veselin Topalov and his manager Silvio Danailov arrived at Sofia Airport. Speaking to journalists they said that FIDE would change its regulations soon, implying there might be a rematch between Topalov and Kramnik in March 2007. Danialov also announced that there would be a book exposing Toiletgate. State of Danailov?

No more Slavs – give us 1.e4!

10/15/2006 – Had all the Slavs and Semi-Slavs you can stand? The game this Monday night on lecture Dennis Monokroussos' Playchess lecture is deeply rooted in the e-pawn tradition: Mikhail Tal vs Oscar Panno, from the 1958 Interzonal in Portoroz. Enjoy!

Elista Tiebreak: Vladimir Kramnik wins unified title!

10/14/2006 – The dramatic tiebreak finish of the World Chess Championship in Elista ended in a victory by Vladimir Kramnik, who won two games and drew one to take the unified World Chess Championship title. Thousands watched the events unfold on the Playchess server, where GM Yasser Seirawan provided live audio commentary. Full report with pictures and analysis.

Elista 2006: The world champion's first press conference

10/14/2006 – The fourth tiebreak game was over, Vladimir Kramnik raised both fists in the air as a sign of victory, shouts, applause, friendly slaps, handshakes. Then Kramnik left for his first press conference as the unified world champion of FIDE. There he spoke about the match, his feelings, his team, his plans. New: videos with the final seconds of the match!

Already Ready for Mexico City 2007!

10/13/2006 – Is it too early to think about the next world championship? It looks like the ChessMexico.com website already needs to be updated because as of minutes ago Veselin Topalov won't be there as the defending champ. You can still check out the beta launch of this new site that promises to push chess event planning and coverage to a whole new level.