New: Mega Database 2008 is out!

12/17/2007 – It once started as a disk. Now the new ChessBase Databases Big and Mega 2008 come on DVDs, with 3.8 million games. Mega Database 2008 with 61,000 commented games is the starting point for any serious study of chess. All games are classified by ECO key, names, tournaments, etc. and include the Playerbase 2008 with 30,000 pictures. Buy Mega 2008 now or read more.

Arpad Elo and the Elo Rating System

12/16/2007 – Ask chess players about their rating you will get an immediate response, ask them where the term "Elo" comes from and you get a puzzled look. Most think it is some kind of abbreviation or acronym. In Reality it comes from a Hungarian-born chess player and physicist, Árpád Imre Élö, who gained immortailty with his rating system. It is comprehensively described in this article by Daniel Ross.

Khanty-Mansiysk Final: Kamsky wins, to challenge Topalov

12/16/2007 – American GM Gata Kamsky has won the FIDE World Cup. In the fourth game he was able to force a perpetual check and hold Alexei Shirov to a draw, which meant that he had won the Final with a score of 2.5:1.5 (three draws, one win). Kamsky won, did not lose a single game and performed 102 points higher than his nominal 2714 rating. Congratulations Gata!

Khanty-Mansiysk Final: Shirov fails to equalise

12/15/2007 – In his second must-win game with the white pieces Alexei Shirov had a promising position, but once again his American opponent, Gata Kamsky, defended solidly and held the Latvian-Spanish GM to a draw. This means that Kamsky leads by 2.0:1.0 points and Shirov has to win the final game with the black pieces. The adage for tomorrow must be: fire on the board! Pictorial report.

Bisik-Bisik with Viktor Moskalenko

12/15/2007 – Bisik-Bisik is a word from the Malay Archipelago, and means the act of “whispering” from one person to another. Starting with this inaugural article Edwin Lam will seek to “whisper” to all our readers out there the previously unknown other side of his interview partners. He kicks off with a conversation between Edwin and Ukrainian Viktor Moskalenko, grandmaster, teacher and chess author.

Valeriy Aveskulov is the 2007 Ukrainian Champion

12/14/2007 – He is 21 years old, has played since he was five, won multiple youth medals and received his GM title a year ago. Now Valeriy Aveskulov has won the 76th Ukrainian Chess Championship. Top players Ivanchuk, Karjakin, Ponomariov and Moiseenko, were absent, but still Valeriy had to compete with 19 other GMs. He finished sole winner with 6.5/9 points. Illustrated report by Olena Boytsun.

Khanty-Mansiysk Final: Kamsky draws first blood

12/14/2007 – Gata Kamsky has scored a first victory in game two of this four-game match. Avoiding a theoretical fight in the Sveshnikov the American GM produced a novelty on move nine and then went on to outplay his opponent Alexei Shirov, a world-famous firebrand, in a very volatile position. Kamsky now leads 1.5:0.5. Full report with analysis by GM Dorian Rogozenko.

Kasparov ends bid for Russian Presidency

12/13/2007 – On Monday Russian President Vladimir Putin hand-picked a successor, who on Tuesday said he would ask Putin to become his prime minister. Meanwhile Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, was forced to abandon his own bid for the Presidency after his organisation was unable to rent a convention hall anywhere in Moscow before the Wednesday deadline. News reports.

Fabiano Caruana, Italian Champion 2007

12/13/2007 – Our recent article which called 15-year-old Fabiano Caruana "Italy's top grandmaster" drew some criticism. While the youngster was definitely very talented, we were told, he was not the Italian champion or even clearly the strongest player in the country. Last week Fabiano put an end to the debate with a resounding three-point victory in the 2007 Italian Championship. Interview.

Khanty-Mansiysk Final: First game drawn

12/13/2007 – As expected by many the first encounter in the FIDE World Cup final ended in a draw, but it was a high-quality game from both players. Kamsky showed once again that he came to Khanty-Mansiysk very well prepared. Meanwhile, promped by readers, our annotator GM Dorian Rogozenko discovered that in the semi-finals Shirov had overlooked a clear win – in 208 moves!

Super-Grandmaster Koneru Humpy speaking

12/12/2007 – She turned twenty in March this year, and is, after Judit Polgar, the second strongest female player in chess history. She became a grandmaster at 15, three months earlier than Judit, and in recent months crossed the Elo 2600 mark, the second women to ever achieve this feat. The Indian portal LatestChess.com spoke with the national superstar. Here is the interview.

More questions

12/11/2007 – Dipping back into the reader mailbag, our ChessBase Workshop columnist holds forth on such diverse topics as engine locking, RAM footprints, and permanent database sorting. You'll find this and more in the latest ChessBase Workshop. Just remember -- you asked for it... Workshop...

Khanty-Mansiysk World Cup: Shirov through in the tiebreaks

12/11/2007 – The 17-year-olds are both out: after Magnus Carlsen lost to Gata Kamsky in their regular games, today it was Sergey Karjakin who drew the shorter straw against Alexei Shirov, former FIDE world championship finalist and one of the most interesting currently active GMs. Shirov will play Gata Kamsky in the four game finals. Pictorial report with full commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenko.

World Championship final Kamsky vs Karpov – in 1996

12/11/2007 – Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos doesn't want to jinx Gata Kamsky – he actually doesn't believe in such things. But he has chosen a world championship game Gata played, and lost, against Anatoly Karpov back in 1996. In his Wednesday night show Dennis will take this game apart, move by move, piece by piece, until we understand every bit of it. Be there, watch, learn.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (20)

12/11/2007 – After Pillsbury died, did a chessplayer examine his brain? Was Edward Young a pseudonym used by Fred Reinfeld? Did Blackburne overlook a standard queen sacrifice? Who discovered Capablanca’s missed win against Fine at AVRO, 1938? Did Fischer play a training match in the 1970s against Collins? On these and other matters from Chess Notes readers are invited to join in the hunt for clues.

Khanty-Mansiysk: Gata Kamsky in the Final

12/10/2007 – Comeback Kid, Brooklyn Boy – whatever you call him: Gata Kamsky defeated Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the second semifinal game of the FIDE World Cup to move into the final stage. There he will meet the winner of the match Alexei Shirov vs Sergey Karjakin, which produced a second draw today and thus goes into the tiebreaks. Full report with a portrait of Gata Kamsky.

World's Youngest GM – GM Wesley So, age 14

12/10/2007 – No, he is not from China, Russia or India. The latest grandmaster, who has earned his final norm at the tender age of 14 years, one month and 28 days, is Wesley So from the Philippines (where two months earlier another GM, Darwin Laylo, emerged). Wesley is currently the youngest GM in the world, and the seventh youngest in the history of the game. Portrait by IM Rodolfo Tan Cardoso.

Khanty-Mansiysk: Sergey Karjakin advances to semifinals

12/9/2007 – The 17-year-olds have both made it through to the semifinals! After Magnus Carlsen's convincing performance in the regular games it was Sergey Karjakin, former child prodigy and youngest grandmaster (at twelve!) in the history of the game, displayed excellent nerves and tactical skills in the rapid chess tiebreak games of round five. Illustrated report with Fritz analysis.

Zugzwang – Ronan Bennett's chess thriller

12/9/2007 – "Zugzwang" is a story fraught with political treachery, murder, intrigue and passion. It is set against a background of the great St Petersburg tournament in 1914. Chessplayers will recognise the similarity between one of the main characters in the book, Avrom Rozental, and a certain participant in the real tournament. Here's an interview with the author Ronan Bennett and a must-watch video on the book.

Khanty-Mansiysk: both semifinal games drawn

12/9/2007 – Magnus Carlsen, playing the white side of a Scotch Game, conceeded a somewhat timid 21-move draw to his opponent Gata Kamsky. Alexei Shirov and Sergey Karjakin battled it out for 41 moves before coming to the same conclusion: neither of them could win. Outside the local kids enjoyed the ice sculptures – a frozen chess chess set. Illustrated report with comments.

Chess in Iran – Nigel Short's illuminating report

12/9/2007 – "I am still slightly baffled as to how I, an oenophile, atheist Englishman, became Iran’s national chess coach," writes Nigel in this eminently readable Times article. Multiple sojourns in this country, currently in the international media focus, have led to insights that the wine-loving (oenophile) English grandmaster freely shares with the Times readers. We bring you excerpts.

Khanty-Mansiysk: Carlsen, Kamsky and Shirov through

12/7/2007 – Alexei Shirov, always the firebrand, won his second game, with black, against Dmitry Jakovenko to move 2-0 to the semifinals. Gata Kamsky outplayed Ruslan Ponomariov to advance with 1.5:0.5 points. And the youngest player, Magnus Carlsen, easily drew against Cheparinov to make it through. Full report with games, pictures and commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenko.

Learning about learning from – a martial arts fighter?!

12/6/2007 – Josh Waitzkin, the chess prodigy who was the main character of the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, did not stick with the game that made him famous. After high school he read Kerouac, studied oriental philosophy and took up the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan. His book, The Art of Learning, tells us how this helped him develop his personality. Part two of Carol Jarecki's review.

New super women's tournament – in Turkey!

12/6/2007 – Women's chess has always been sadly neglected. Now a bank in Turkey, together with the Turkish Chess Federation, has taken the initiative and announced a super women's event in Istanbul in March 2008. Eligible are all female players over 2460 Elo, or over 2400 and having a GM title. The prize fund is US $16,000 (plus appearance fees). Great conditions: ladies, apply quickly.