Aerosvit 2008: Carlsen wins with a round to spare

6/18/2008 – Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Loek van Wely with the black pieces to join Pavel Eljanov (who drew against Karjakin) in second place. Alexei Shirov defeated Peter Svidler in a Slav, and Magnus Carlsen drew a marathon 79-move game against birthday boy Andrei Volokitin. With a round to go Carlsen is a point and a half ahead and therefore already the winner of Aerosvit 2008. Round ten report.

Chess in Iran – the Premier League

6/17/2008 – Ten teams are part of this league, which is played on weekends (Fridays in Iran) in different cities all over Iran. The first rounds started this year, 1387 according to the Iranian calendar. Sixty players, including five GMs, four IMs and nine FMs were present – one was very sadly missed: GM Karen Asrian, who passed away tragically last week. Pictorial report by Arash Akbarinia.

Sergey Karjakin at eighteen – simply frightening

6/17/2008 – He began as the ultimate chess prodigy, an assistant to a world championship candidate at eleven, the youngest grandmaster in history at twelve and a half. On Wednesday night our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us how today, at 18, Sergey Karjakin is able to combine positional and tactical motifs to match the best players in the world. The show is free.

Aerosvit 2008: Eljanov and Nisipeanu win, Carlsen leads

6/17/2008 – Romania's Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu defeated Alexei Shirov after a fatal king move by the latter. Magnus Carlsen played a 16-move draw today, while one of his nearest rivals, Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov, defeated compatriot Andrei Volokitin to come within theoretical striking distance. With two rounds to go Carlsen leads by a point and a half. And before we forget: Happy Birthday, Pyotr!

'Global Chess' Art Exhibition in Druten

6/16/2008 – The city of Druten in The Netherlands is paying host to an exposition of chess paintings and artifacts – "Schaakkunst" in Dutch. They include new works and new artists, fifteen in all, who have produced a wide variety of realistic and surrealistic objects, most of which you can buy in the online chess shop. We bring you some sample paintings that make for a visual treat.

Aerosvit 2008: Ivanchuk, van Wely, Alekseev win

6/16/2008 – Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Alexei Shirov on the black side of an Exchange Gruenfeld, in 36 moves. With this he advanced into the group of three "chasing" Magnus Carlsen, who is two full points ahead. Evgeny Alekseev beat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Loek van Wely beat Andrei Volokitin. Carlsen drew against tail-ender Alexander Onischuk. Round eight report.

US Women's Armageddon – reactions from our readers

6/15/2008 – The final tiebreak game that decided the 2008 US Women's Chess Championship in favour of Anna Zatonskih led to a protest by Irina Krush, who lost in a controversial manner. The critical phase was caught on video, which our readers could view in slow motion. "This film has been dissected as much as the Zapruder JFK assassination film," writes Julian Wan of Ann Arbor, USA. Selected letters.

Asrian Memorial: Aronian catches Leko in the final rounds

6/15/2008 – The Karen Asrian Memorial rapid chess tournament in Yerevan ended today with a clear victory for Armenia's top GM Levon Aronian, who defeated Michael Adams 1½:½ in the last two games; while Peter Leko, who had been leading most of the time, lost ½:1½ to Alexander Morozevich. The draw average in this event was 65%. Final report.

Aerosvit 2008: Carlsen continues to win

6/15/2008 – "Where were we? Ah, yes, the winning streak..." Magnus Carlsen came out of the free day refreshed and ready to rumble. His opponent, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, playing white, went down to the typical relentless pressure exerted by the 17-year-old Norwegian. Magnus once again has a performance of over 3000. Report with pictures of a new weapon against the Petroff.

Peter Leko leads Karen Asrian Memorial in Yerevan

6/14/2008 – It started as the "Chess Giants Yerevan 2008", but after the sudden and tragic death of top Armenian GM Karen Asrian at the age of 28, the Armenian Chess Federation decided to interrupt the event for a few days, and then rename it to the "Karen Asrian Memorial". This will be the name it will bear in the future. The tournament ends tomorrow. Round twelve report.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (3)

6/14/2008 – Masters are occasionally invited to nominate their single best game, and here the Editor of Chess Notes chronicles the sometimes surprising choices made by the old-timers (particularly in the first half of the last century), as well as nominations for the greatest masterpiece of all time and, even, a proposal for the 'perfect game'.

Aerosvit 2008: All games drawn, Carlsen leads at halftime

6/13/2008 – Naturally it couldn't go on forever. Magnus Carlsen, the ultimate fighter, took a break in round six and drew in eighteen moves against Evgeny Alexeev. All other games were drawn. At halftime Carlsen leads by a point and a half, ahead of two young Ukrainian grandmasters. Saturday is a free day. Round six report with beautiful pictorial impressions by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich.

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.