Malakhatko, Short, Hector win Politiken Cup

8/1/2006 – The Politiken Cup in Copenhagen was won by three of the highest rated players in the field. Top seed Nigel Short just made it, beating his 13-year-old trainee Parimarjan Negi in the last round – an important victory that proves that it is right for the Negis to pay Nigel for the training sessions and not the other way round. Report.

Pentala Harikrishna leading at Paks

7/31/2006 – The IV. György Marx Memorial, 28 July to 7 August 2006, is being held in Paks, Hungary. The tournament is intended to give the most talented young grandmasters of the country an opportunity to gain experience. This they are doing, at the hands of an Indian, Chinese and Ukrainian GM. Annotated games.

Dortmund R2: All games drawn

7/30/2006 – The two Peters, Svidler and Leko, stayed at the top of the table with a 23-move draw at the Dotrmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. Naiditsch and Jobava, who had lost in round one, drew against Boris Gelfand and Michael Adams. Aronian and Kramnik drew in 43 moves. There is also a women's match to watch.

Dortmund R1: Svidler and Leko win

7/30/2006 – Peter Leko, playing his first serious tournament game in over four months, scored a convincing victory over the winner of last year's Dotrmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Arkadij Naiditsch. Newcomer Baadur Jobava pressed too hard against the world's number five player Peter Svidler, who won with the black pieces. Report and pictures.

Wojo's well-calculated play

7/30/2006 – Aleksander Wojtkiewicz' games games haven't received as much exposure as one might expect from a grandmaster of his strength. In his Monday night Playchess Dennis Monokroussos takes a small step towards rectifying with a beautiful attacking win.

Even more letters...

7/30/2006 – The letters to ChessBase Workshop keep pouring in. In the latest edition, columnist Steve Lopez fields queries and offers observations on games which end in time trouble, Fritz training modes, deleting games from databases, Linux software, database caching, and how Chaturanga fits nicely into his fairly dissolute lifestyle. Workshop...

Morozevich leads in Biel

7/29/2006 – The Biel/Bienne Chess Festival, which included two high-category GM double round robins, has reached its half-way mark. 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen was doing very well until round four, after beating top Seed Morozevich, but the latter won all his other games to take the lead. In the women's section it is Pia Cramling who is leading the pride. Report, games and pictures.

Katya and Zhu lead in Women's Supertournament

7/27/2006 – The North Urals Cup 2006 is under way, and after five rounds Ukraine's 16-year-old Katerina Lahno is leading with 4.5 points and a thumping 2865 performance! She is followed by former world champion Zhu Chen with 4.0 points and a 2770 performance. After neglecting this event we bring you up-to-date with a big pictorial report.

Chess talent Jessie Gilbert dies at 19

7/27/2006 – Another shock for the chess world: Jessie Gilbert of Croydon, England, who won the Women’s World Amateur Championship in 1999 at the age of 11, fell from the eighth floor window of a hotel in Pardubice, Czech Republic, where she was taking part in a tournament. The circumstances of her death are still not clear.

I am-sterdam: Sergey Tiviakov wins

7/26/2006 – The hard-fought 3rd Amsterdam Chess Tournament ended in a three-way tie for first. The winner on tiebreak points (and performance) was Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov, followed by Sergey Erenburg, Israel, and Friso Nijboer, Netherlands. Splendid foto report by Frits Agterdenbos.

"Aleks" – GM Shabalov on Aleksander Wojtkiewicz' death

7/26/2006 – On July 14th Grandmaster Aleksander (Aleks) Wojtkiewitz, Polish citizen born in Latvia and resident in the USA, died at the age of just 43. He was well known, but also a sometimes controversial figure in the chess world. A colleague who knew him especially well is GM Alexander Shabalov. He and others have sent in their thoughts on Aleks' passing.

China narrowly wins Taiyuan Scheveningen

7/25/2006 – After ten rounds the young Chinese team (average age 21) was in a commanding lead in the double round Scheveningen. In round eleven came the collapse, when they lost 1:5 to the "rest of the world" team. The final round ended in a tense tie, so that China took an overall one-point victory. Report and games. Report and games.

More letters...

7/25/2006 – Our Workshop columnist Steve Lopez again reaches into the mailbag. This time the topics include the fundamental difference between chess playing and chess database software, adding moves to opening books, Internet ethics, and some useful Spanish phrases -- all in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Congratulations and happy birthday, Judit!

7/24/2006 – Goodness, how time flies! Seems like yesterday we were playing table-tennis with the pre-teen Judit Polgar, and now she has turned thirty and given birth to her second child Hanna, who entered the world at 3.5 kilos two weeks ago. Judit remains by far the strongest female player in the history of the game. Portrait and pictures.

Judit's attacking style

7/24/2006 – As we know Judit Polgar, the strongest female player in history, has just turned 30. To commemorate the occasion Dennis Monokroussos, in his Monday night Playchess lecture, looks at one of her characteristically tactical games against a top-10 colleague.

Need a few extra points, mate?

7/24/2006 – Endgame theory is often neglected by tournament players, perhaps because studying endgames with textbook can be dry and tedious. Fortunately there is a vastly superior method: Carsten Müller's endgame DVDs. Order it now or read more and watch some sample videos.

Meet Garry Kasparov – live or on Playchess

7/23/2006 – He is no longer active in competitive chess – in fact these days he spends much of his time making life difficult for Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Garry is still working on a book series entitled "My Great Predecessors", and occasionally participates in a book signing. You can attend in person at the London Chess Centre or virtually on Playchess.

Karjakin wins Tomsk with 2834 performance

7/22/2006 – At twelve Sergey Karjakin was the youngest GM of all time. At 16 he has just finished a category 18 double round robin tournament with Morozevich, Ponomariov, Kasimdzhanov, Rublevsky and Bologan a point and a half ahead of the field. The event was the 10th Petr Izmailov Memorial in Tomsk, Russia. We bring you games, impressions and new pictures.

China leads in the Taiyuan Scheveningen

7/21/2006 – There is a very strong tournament under way in Taiyuan, China. Two teams of six players each are facing each other in a double round Scheveningen. After ten rounds the Chinese team (average Elo 2628) is leading the "rest of the world" (2638) by 32.5 points to 27.5. In spite of our thumbnail: the game they're playing is chess. Big pictorial report.

1.1 million Euro Chess Center in Turkey

7/20/2006 – Which is the fastest growing chess federation in the world? FIDE officers debated this for years, but now all discussion has ended. It is the Turkish Chess Federation, which increased its membership from 3000 to 150,000 in six years, and installed 12,000 chess teachers in schools. Now the TCF has moved into spanking new quarters in downtown Ankara.

Where the weather is mild and the chess is great

7/20/2006 – With Europe suffering under one of the most severe heat waves in recent memory, our thoughts turn naturally to balmier places, where, we are told, "cooling trade winds blow constantly from the east," and it rains mostly at night. If you are quick you just have enough time to catch the Curaçao Chess Festival 2006, which begins on Saturday.

Fighting games at the Third Amsterdam Chess Tournament

7/19/2006 – This annual is being stage taking place from July 15–23, with 446 players in four groups. The A group (Elo > 2225, first prize 3500 euro) has attracted 86 participants including 14 GMs and 22 IMs – favourites are Tiviakov, Nijboer, Timman, L’Ami, and others. Lots of fight and surprises in the games. Report and photos by Frits Agterdenbos.

A-Z Guide at Mid Valley Megamall

7/18/2006 – Have you registered for the Arthur Tan Open, which takes place from August 21–27,2006, in Kuala Lumpur? You have? Then you need to know a few things about the tournament venue. Edwin Lam Choong Wai helps us with a Lonely Planet style survival guide.

A world tour shows: White is most definitely okay!

7/18/2006 – On this week's Radio Show we travel all over the world with our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin: to Norway for Carlsen-Agdestein, Andorra for Spraggett-Sethuraman, Montreal, for Khassanov-Moissenko, and Paris for Fressinet-Drasko. This eclectic mix is accompanied by the usual puzzle. Join the trip!