Chess Olympiad: Russia leads after two rounds

5/23/2006 – The 37th Chess Olympiad has started in Turin – after two rounds Russia leads with a perfect 2:0 match points and 8:0 board points, followed by four teams with 2:0/7.5. India suffered a shocking defeat against Morocco – but Anand is now in Turin to mend things for his team. We bring you results, games and a big pictorial report.

Vladimir Kramnik and the Spirit of the Régence

5/23/2006 – The «Café de la Régence» is a legend for any French chess player. This lieu de rendez-vous saw personalities like Philidor, Napoleon and Musset playing games of chess in a leisurely, intellectual atmosphere. Sadly this famous Café has now disappeared, but there are ambitions to make it live again.

Capa outplays Bogo to chase Lasker

5/21/2006 – Moscow 1925. The great José Capablanca faces the run-away tournament leader Efim Bogoljubow, whom he is desperately eager to beat, in order to catch Emanuel Lasker for second place. Capa plays sharply, sacrificing a piece on move nine for a terrific attack. The rest you can relive in the Monday night Playchess lecture by Dennis Monokroussos. Don't miss it.

Election 2006: This is what you think

5/21/2006 – In the last days and weeks we have published a number of articles pertaining to the upcoming elections for FIDE President. One especially, entitled "Who controls FIDE", generated a vigorous discussion. Direct replies by experienced FIDE delegate David Levy, Scotland, and Russian chess journalist Yurij Vasiliev led to a great number of sometimes very interesting letters. Here are some.

MTel R10: Topalov wins M-Tel Masters

5/21/2006 – In (another) remarkable comeback Veselin Topalov wiped out his dismal first half score with four consecutive wins in the last four rounds in Sofia, to take clean first place, half a point ahead of Gata Kamsky. The American came second, Vishy Anand third. Wrap-up and pictures.

MTel R8: Topalov beats Ponomariov

5/20/2006 – He's getting closer! Veselin Topalov is attempting another comeback in Sofia. He won his second consecutive game to move into second place with Anand. Both are a point behind Gata Kamsky, who drew with Vishy today. It was Spanish day at the MTel, and nothing to do with Linares. Full report with pictures and videos.

MTel R8 analysis by GM Mihail Marin

5/20/2006 – Topalov confirms his fighting character with another fine win against Ponomariov in a slow manoeuvring game which ended in a brilliant attack with many unexpected moves. The other two games (Kamsky-Anand and Svidler-Bacrot) ended in draws after a relatively uneventfull fight. Short annotations by Mihail Marin.

MTel R9: Topalov on top after victory over Kamsky

5/20/2006 – Veselin Topalov picked up his third win in succession, this time over Gata Kamsky, who got a move sequence mixed up and spoiled his incredible tournament performance with a blackout in this critical round. Now Topalov and Kamsky lead, after Anand drew Svidler. Big pictorial report from Sofia.

MTel R7 analysis by GM Mihail Marin

5/19/2006 – Topalov used his pet variation of the Najdorf to take revenge on Anand for the defeat in the first half of M-Tel. Ponomariov played a good positional game against Svidler and obtained a generally deserved victory. Kamsky used an original variation of the Slav against Bacrot but allowed his opponent survive an inferior ending. Commentary by Mihail Marin.

Magnus Carlsen: age 15, performance 2700

5/19/2006 – This week the Bosna 2006 tournament was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia, with six players averaging 2659 Elo points. It was won by three players who scored 5.5/10, amongst them a 15-year-old boy, whose performance was very close to the 2700 level. This could well be a record for anyone of his age. Report and games and a correction!

Elections 06: 'A low-level campaign'

5/18/2006 – Israel Gelfer is a very influential member of FIDE Executive Board from Israel, who has remarkably won the trust of most Arab delegates. As part of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's Chess Fidelity team he sent us an open letter with the request for "equal presentation" on the ChessBase news page. Kirsan has also replied to the Leong proposal from earlier this week. Here...

MTel R6 analysis by GM Mihail Marin

5/18/2006 – This was quite an eventful round. Gata Kamsky overcame Ruslan Ponomariov's stubborn defence; Peter Svidler won a model Gruenfeld against favourite Topalov; and Anand decided to allow the Marshall Attack against Bacrot, and drew. Short analytical comments by Mihail Marin.

MTel R7: Topalov beats Anand, Ponomariov wins

5/18/2006 – After losing to Peter Svidler with white Veselin Topalov faced Anand with the black pieces – and won. A beaming Ruslan Ponomariov scored his first victory in this tournament, while Kamsky had to accept a draw in face of a doggedly defending Etienne Bacrot. Big photo report.

Stupid pawn tricks

5/18/2006 – ChessBase 9 isn't just a tool for serious chess research -- it's also a tool for finding oddities, anomalies, and abnormalities (in a chess sense, not a psychological one). Check out the latest ChessBase Workshop in which we present an array of "stupid pawn tricks" for your amusement. Workshop...

Young and old alike

5/17/2006 – This week our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin picks up games that were played in the past week, which is about as current as you can get. We have Anand beating Topalov with black, and a 23-move dubbing with the Trompowski in the Young Masters. The lecture begins at 22:30 GMT / 23:30 CEST, so we can watch the Champions League final. Come on Arsenal!

MTel R5 analysis by GM Mihail Marin

5/17/2006 – The Sofia anti-draw rule is working. In all the games from this round, White had the opportunity to force a draw by repetition and bravely rejected it! Topalov interrupted Kamsky's ride into the stars, when the American GM decided to use a double-edged a6-Slav against the FIDE world champion. That is part of Topalov's own repertoire. Commentary by Mihail Marin.

MTel R6: Kamsky wins, Topalov loses to Svidler

5/17/2006 – Gata Kamsky bounced back from his loss to Topalov in round five with a convincing victory against Ruslan Ponomariov. Veselin Topalov tumbled down from that victory with a white pieces loss to Peter Svidler. Anand drew Bacrot in a difficult Marshall Gambit with chances for both sides. We bring you a big report with pictures and videos

MTel Round 4 analysis by GM Mihail Marin

5/16/2006 – In this round Kamsky maintained his lead with an unexpectedly easy win against Svidler. Anand-Ponomariov lasted much longer, but the game did not pose too many technical problems for the Indian player either. Bacrot surprisingly forced a draw against Topalov in what looked like a better ending for him. Look and learn.

MTel R5 Express: Topalov beats Kamsky

5/16/2006 – Finally someone was able to stop Gata Kamsky. It was Veselin Topalov, with his trademark exchange sacrifice. The other games were drawn. At half time, Kamsky and Anand lead, a point ahead of Topalov and Svidler. Results and wrap-up.

Topalov to play Radjabov for the world title

5/16/2006 – Surprised? Well, you shouldn't be. Last December we reported that the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had proposed that any grandmaster with an Elo rating of over 2700 could challenge the FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov – if he could put up at least $1 million in prize money. Azerbaijani talent Teimour Radjabov can, the match is on.

Boris Spassky visits 'Boris Spassky'

5/16/2006 – Fifty years ago he won the Junior World Championship in Antwerp, Belgium. The organiser Hendrik Baelen was so impressed that he named a local chess club after him. This weekend, half a century later, Boris Spassky visited the club, held a lecture and gave a simultaneous display that left his opponents gasping for air.

Chess Olympiad: Chess and Culture

5/16/2006 – The 37th Chess Olympiad will be an event full of chess, and full of cultural activities related to the game. Chess and Music, Chess and Theatre, Chess and Cinema – these are some of the themes of the Olympiad. The games themselves will be broadcast on the Internet, with GM Yasser Seirawan doing highlight commentary and interviews.

Election 06: Leong's call for unity and compromise

5/16/2006 – Ignatius Leong of is the long-serving General Secretary of FIDE and part of the Kirsan Ilyumzhinov reelection campaign. Now the Singapore-based Leong has published a "call for unity", in which he proposes merging the two presidential tickets into one, with Ilyumzhinov as Chairman and Bessel Kok as President. The latter has replied to Leong's proposal and has respectfully declined.

MTel R4 Express: Anand wins, Kamsky on the rampage

5/15/2006 – After his shock defeat at the hands of Gata Kamsky, Indian star Vishy Anand came back strongly today with a win against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. Meanwhile US GM Kamsky chalked up a 24-move win against Peter Svidler to stay in the lead. Games and wrap-up.