English Defense: be the victor, not the victim!

11/12/2006 – In his Playchess lecture this Monday Dennis Monokroussos takes a look at the English Defense (not the English Opening). If you don’t know what that is, so much the better – your opponents probably won’t, either! Come watch and learn.

Tal-Mem R5: All games drawn

11/11/2006 – Sound boring, but there were a number of interesting moments in round five of the Tal Memorial in Moscow. We did some statistics: of the 25 games played so far 68% were drawn, the shortest in 23 moves. Only about four were unfought. Mamedyarov-Ponomariov was the longest game and had the longest header so far. Illustrated report including golden sponsors of the event.

Shredderbases

11/11/2006 – The whole chess world is abuzz with a strange new word on everyone's lips: Shredderbases. What are they? What do they do? Is mankind doomed? And, if not, what's for dinner? We tackle at least half of these questions in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Tal-Mem R4: Leko, Morozevich, Aronian win

11/10/2006 – Peter Leko ground down Boris Gelfand in 79 moves, Alexander Morozevich profited from a mysterious exchange sacrifice by Alexander Grischuk, and Levon Aronian calmly refuted an ambitious winning attempt by Alexei Shirov to take the full point. Now all three are just half a point behind the leading Ponomariov, who has a 2900+ performance. Big illustrated report.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov wins Corsica Masters

11/9/2006 – That is a great victory all by itself, but when it was achieved by beating Vishy Anand, the greatest rapid chess player in the world, then it takes on a special quality. Sixteen top GMs took part in this rapid chess festival on the French island of Corsica, but little information leaked out to the chess world. We have games and pictures.

The Immortality of Mikhail Tal

11/9/2006 – Had he lived, had he not succumbed to chronic ill health and an excessive life style, today Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal, the "Magician from Riga", would have celebrated his 70th birthday – today, on the first free day of the Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow. The greatest attacking player in history is sadly missed but never forgotten. In memoriam.

Top GMs face amateurs at International Open in Corsica

11/8/2006 – Okay, the event was won by Vladimir P. Malaniuk, 49, from Ukraine. But more interesting, for us at least, was the sight of world-class GMs facing children, in part a third their Elo rating and a third their weight, in the first round of the Corsica Circuit Open Festival that ended today. Check out our report for some truly unique images.

Tal-Mem R2: All games drawn, but not uninteresting

11/8/2006 – The one to replay in round two is Leko-Grischuk, where Black played an enterprising exchange sacrifice and had winning chances in the exciting finishing phase. In Morozevich-Carlsen the young Norwegian claimed a threefold repetition, as it turned out incorrectly, but the game was drawn anyway. Illustrated report.

The Spanish seconds of Kramnik and Topalov

11/8/2006 – From the outset of their match in Elista Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov had very little in common. One had a psychologist, the other a parapsychologist as part of the team. But in one matter they were in unusual harmony: both had a Spanish second. Now Miguel Illescas and Francisco Vallejo have been talking to a Spanish newspaper about their experience in Elsita.

Tal-Mem R3: Ponomariov, Svidler win

11/8/2006 – The former FIDE world champion, 23-year-old Ukrainian grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov defeated the world's number five ranked player with a very deep closing manoeuvre to take the lead in the Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow. World number four Peter Svidler defeated Levon Aronian with black. Just one slightly boring game in round three. Report.

The Freestyle Champion is Xakru, dammit!

11/7/2006 – That's what happens when you choose a flippant name on the chess server: you win a major event and wish you hadn't called yourself "Damn it" (in Czech). Jiri Dufek and Roman Chytilek won the first prize, $8,000, in the fourth computer assisted tournament on Playchess.com. Find out what transpired in the final of this Freestyle event in this report by Arno Nickel.

Andrew Martin – Cut and Thrust

11/7/2006 – Gambits are alive and well in the modern version of chess. Andrew Martin shows us on Playchess that Nigel Short has no inhibitions in launching the Evans Gambit on Sokolov. Two other exciting games follow, including the fascinating Aronian-Morozevich from Monday at the Tal Memorial. Starting time is 18:15 GMT/19:15 CET on Wednesday

Teimour Radjabov and the return of 10.e5

11/6/2006 – Once upon a time, when the world was young, the foes of the Najdorf Sicilian would play 6.Bg5, and when their opponents had the audacity to reply with the Poisoned Pawn, would go for the jugular with 10.e5. But over the years Black figured it all out and the line fell into desuetude. Now it is celebrating a comeback, as our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows. Don't miss it!

Commonwealth Chess Championship in Mumbai

11/6/2006 – "Bombay" was the original name, and for anyone expecting the 2006 Commonwealth Championship to be held in an over-crowded, noisy mega-city we have a nice surprise. The venue is in the northern suburbs of Borivali, next to a 103 sq. km national park. And the games themselves will be played in a giant glass pyramid. The event starts on November 19. Illustrated report by Praful Zaveri.

14th Chigorin Memorial in St. Petersburg

11/6/2006 – The traditional Chigorin Memorial was, officially, the 14th Memorial, mainly to avoid the ‘unlucky’ 13. This duality in numbering probably affected the whole event, which was both typical and unusual, depending on how you looked at it. It was also unjustly ignored by the chess press. Big pictorial report by Misha Savinov.

Tal Memorial category 20 starts in Moscow

11/6/2006 – Ten superstars are present at The Tal Memorial, which is being held from November 5th to 19th in Moscow. The rating average of is 2727 – only 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen misses the 2700 mark by two points. Round one saw wins by Aronian, Gelfand and Ponomariov. Bozhe moi – this is exciting chess!

Chess history: Capablanca played the game!

11/4/2006 – That's the power of the Internet for you. Just days after we had speculatively published a 1909 game in which the great Capablanca had lost to an unknown player with the white pieces, our readers had dug up all the relevant information, proving that the game had actually occurred. And, reacting to an earlier article, one reader sent us a better picture of young Fischer before the move of the century.

Speaking about Fischer...

11/4/2006 – A few weeks ago, in the early morning hours, the listeners of Utvarp Saga, a privat talk radio station in Iceland, suddenly heard the voice of Bobby Fischer. The 11th world chess champion discussed his public dispute with the Swiss bank UBS, international affairs and everyday life in his Icelandic refuge. It becomes particularly interesting when Bobby talks about chess, past and present.

Teimour Radjabov wins Cap d'Agde

11/3/2006 – It was undoubtedly a very exciting, fighting event. The 7th Cap d’Agde rapid chess tournament saw eight players go into the knockout phase, and two young prodigies come out in the final. There Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, 19, defeated 16-year-old Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine to take the €16,000 first prize. Final report with video links.

Danailov: it was like war in Elista

11/2/2006 – Police, military, army, secret service, ostensibly there for protection, but actually for one obvious reason: to return the chess crown to Russia at any price. And Kramnik? He was using Fritz 10, which has a 3200 rating, 80% of the time, which brought the combined strength to 2900-3000. The largest Ukraine newspaper Fakty has this astonishing interview by Silvio Danailov.

Computer analysis of world champions

11/2/2006 – The recent article on computers picking strong players brought on some strong reactions. Does the method used by the computer scientists make sense, is it methodologically sound? No, says an expert from Oxford, resoundingly. We bring you his evaluation, an addendum by the original authors and feedback from our readers. A worthwhile read.

Fernando Arrabal: Musings on Chess Today

11/1/2006 – He is one of the most famous and prolific of Spanish playwrights, poet, novelist and director. According to a Dictionary of Literature his theatre is "a wild, brutal, cacophonous, and joyously provocative world." Fernando Arrabal is also passionately interested in chess, and has sent us an essay on the game today. We publish it with reverence, as submitted.

Andrew Martin – Judit on Top

10/31/2006 – The tenth Essent tournament came to a climax last Saturday with a dramatic last round. The first game on this week's radio show by Andrew Martin on Playchess features the fluctuating Topalov-Polgar game, which in itself is an object lesson about how to handle hanging pawns. Starting time is 18:15 GMT/19:15 CET this Wednesday.

Cap d'Agde Rapid under way

10/31/2006 – Considerable surprises at the 7th Cap d’Agde tournament, which is taking place from October 26th to November 2nd. Anatoly Karpov lost four games to two female players (Humpy and Zhao Xue), and dropped out of the final knock-out stage. A number of bright young players are dominating. Big picture report by Vishal Sareen.