Kramnik leads 16th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament

3/20/2007 – After three rounds Vladimir Kramnik has won all of his blindfold games, while scoring 2/3 in the rapid section. He now leads the field, half a point ahead of Levon Aronian, who has scored 3/3 in his rapid games. Last year's winners Anand and Morozevich are still feeling their way around. Report, games and results.

Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament

3/18/2007 – It carries a prize fund of US $288,000 and is staged in the posh Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel in Monaco. Twelve top GMs play two rounds per day, one blindfold and one rapid. The participants include Anand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Leko, Aronian, Morozevich and Svidler. The first round was played on Saturday. We bring you results and games.

How Life Imitates Chess – Kasparov on tour

3/18/2007 – On Friday Hurricane Garry made landfall in Germany. The thirteenth world champion is here to promote his new book, "How Life Imitates Chess", but also to record at least one new ChessBase DVD (Najdorf 3!). There are book signings, lectures, interviews and TV appearances in different German cities. If you are in the vicinity you might want to catch one of them.

Bessel's Birthday – a Party in Prague

3/16/2007 – Last December Bessel Kok, Dutch businessman and chess organiser, turned 65, and also married his partner Martina. All of this happened in strict privacy. Now, three months later, Bessel, who will soon be running the commercial branch of FIDE, celebrated the milestones in a party spectacular held in Prague, with former president Václav Havel acting as patron. A chess treat was included.

2007 Asian Cities Chess Championship in Tehran

3/15/2007 – The brainchild of the Hong Kong Chess Federation, and dominated by the Chinese for over a decade, the Asian Cities Championship has migrated to the Middle East and is now dominated by Kazakhstan. This year's event, held from March 1–9 in Tehran, was won by Pavlodar, ahead of Tagaytay (Philippines) and Saipa (Iran). Arash Akbarinia reports.

Wang Yue from China wins Cappelle la Grande

3/15/2007 – The Cappelle la Grande tournament was held from March 3rd-10th, 2007, with the participation of more than 600 players, including 87 GMs, 81 IMs and 465 FIDE rated players, coming from 56 different countries. It was won by Chinese GM Wang Yue on tiebreak, ahead of five other players with 7/9 points. Report, games.

Playing chess by the 'Corsica Rules'

3/14/2007 – In Calvi, a small town on the northwest coast of the island of Corsica, the Fourth International Chess Tournament was staged, with a special rule in force: players cannot offer a draw unless it is a dead drawn ending. The result: a sensationally low draw rate of just 12%! This year the event turned into a battle between Ukrainian and Chinese players. Illustrated report with videos.

Faik Gasanov – the Father of Chess in Azerbaijan

3/14/2007 – He is the man who in the last 40 years built up chess in Azerbaijan, almost single-handedly. For 37 years he has been hosting a national TV show dedicated to chess. After negotiating with two presidents of the country he has finally procured worthy premises for the Chess Federation. In an interview Faik Gasamov speaks about the past and present of Azeri chess.

Come for Alekhine's masterpiece – or for a virtual pizza

3/14/2007 – The game is just 17 moves long, nine of which are theory. Still the fourth world champion Alexander Alekhine managed to conjure up enough tactical complications to occupy a generation. Our Playchess trainer Dennis Monokroussos gives us five good reasons to attend his lecture.

Andrew Martin: a well-contested endgame

3/13/2007 – With the fast, scrappy pace of modern chess we seldom get to see grand, well-played endgames as in the games of yesteryear. What a delight, then, that arch rivals Alexander Morozevich and Veselin Topalov showed us a monumental struggle in Linares. Hear all about it and more from our Playchess.com trainer in his Wednesday night lecture.

Leaving Linares: Closing ceremony, simul and Grand Slam

3/13/2007 – Wrapping up our reports on this year's exciting Morelia/Linares Super-GM event we bring you pictures of the closing ceremony in Linares, which included a whirlwind visit by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a simultaneous exhibition with giant chess pieces and a meeting of the Grand Slam Association. Report with pictures and videos.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (2)

3/12/2007 – We bring you a further selection of intriguing chess mysteries from Chess Notes, including the origins of the Marshall Gambit, a game ascribed to both Steinitz and Pillsbury and the bizarre affair of an alleged blunder by Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals. Once again our readers are invited to join the hunt for clues.

Chess playing boxer Klitschko retains heavyweight title

3/12/2007 – Vladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian IBF heavyweight world boxing champion with a PhD in sports science and an avid interest in chess. On Saturday he fought American challenger Ray Austin and dropped him with a flurry of left hooks 87 seconds into the second round. Next people hope to see a unification fight against WBC champion Nikolai Valuev. Watch Saturday's fight.

Linares R14: Annotation by GM Mihail Marin

3/11/2007 – In our express weekend reports we brought you a general summary of the overall results – now it is time to look at the last-round games through the eyes of our GM trainer. Alexander Morozevich won yet another game, his third in a row, and Peter Leko scored his maiden victory in this event to climb up to Topalov at the end of the table. Commentary and pictures.

FIDE to ACP on cheating: problem recognized

3/11/2007 – "During the last Presidential Board in Antalya FIDE officers were tasked with identifying measures and reviewing ideas for the improvements sought to reduce opportunities to cheat," FIDE says in reaction to the ACP letter we published a few days ago. Further suggestions are welcome.

D.P. Singh has survived his 'Agni Pariksha’

3/11/2007 – In his article two months ago Praful Zaveri gave a first-hand account of the IM Diwakar Prasad Singh saga, leading to the question: “Is Diwakar a supreme chess talent or a flawed genius?” The answer could only be given by time, in what the Indians call an “Agni Pariksha”, a trial (pariksha) by fire (agni). It appears that Singh has received a clean chit. Report and reader feedback.

Linares R14: Anand wins Morelia/Linares by a full point

3/10/2007 – With a final-round draw over Vassily Ivanchuk Indian superstar Vishy Anand clinched victory in the Morelia/Linares Super-GM tournament. Carlsen lost to Leko and Morozevich beat Svidler, so that in the end (would anyone have expected this after his disastrous start?) Alexander Morozevich shared second with Magnus Carlsen. Final results and statistics.

Linares R13: Morozevich beats Topalov

3/9/2007 – Another unpleasant surprise for the former FIDE world champion: Veselin Topalov suffered his third defeat in this event, while Alexander Morozevich, who started very badly, has now caught Aronian at 50%. With the other three games drawn Anand remains in the lead ahead of Carlsen. On Saturday the final standings will be decided. Report with analysis.

Linares R12: Morozevich and Svidler win with black

3/8/2007 – Peter Svidler defeated the luckless Peter Leko for his first win in this tournament. Since he hadn't lost any games either it moved him to third place. Alexander Morozevich beat Vassily Ivanchuk to join him at places 6-7. Magnus Carlsen held Veselin Topalov and his second place. Anand still leads with half a point. Full report with analysis and video.

Uncompromising Chess in Bretagne

3/8/2007 – The ladies section saw the bloodiest chess ever – just six draws in eight rounds. And the draws all came after long, tough play. Similarly exciting the men's section. Perhaps because of a special rule that forbade draw offers until move 31. And how about Condi Chess, where the clock is ten meters away from the board. Illustrated report.

Man vs Machine, Zap!Chess vs Erwin L'Ami 1:1

3/8/2007 – Dutch GM Erwin L'Ami's opponent in the two-game match was was the American computer program Zap!Chess, the 2005 computer world champion that has recently been upgraded and now tops the computer lists. The games were played with time odds: the computer got 30 minutes (and no thinking on the opponent's time), vs 4½ hours for the human. Report and annotated games.

ACP to FIDE: do something about cheating in chess!

3/8/2007 – The subject simply won't go away. Realizing the gravity of the situation the Association of Chess Professionals has demanded that FIDE take immediate action to find a solution to the problem of cheating in general. Meanwhile new accusations have been raised against an Indian IM. Press release.

ACP's position on the FIDE World Championship format

3/7/2007 – Recently the world chess federation (FIDE) announced its decision on a new world championship format. Now the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) has published its position on the FIDE decision. Press release.

Andras Adorjan and the Hedgehog formation

3/7/2007 – The Hungarian grandmaster, a former world championship candidate and outstanding theoretician and polemicist, is famous for his “Black is OK!” slogan. In his Thursday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us how in 1979 Adorjan used the Hedgehog to rout Tony Miles in 32 moves.