Tata Steel 2014: two groups with twelve players

10/10/2013 – The recession has hit chess: the prestigious Tata Steel (formerly Corus) tournament in Wijk aan Zee is being staged with a reduced budget and will have two GM groups instead of three and twelve players instead of fourteen in each group. But: two rounds will be held outside the wind-swept seaside resort: in a technology centre and in a national museum. Press release.

Bilbao 03: Adams leads at halfway

10/10/2013 – Adams held Aronian to a draw today and retains his lead in the 6th Bilbao Masters. He has 5 points according to the Bilbao Scoring rules. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave rebounded from his second round loss by beating Mamedyarov. Aronian continues on his drawing streak and has three points, one less than MVL because of the 3-1-0 scoring, in which winning one and losing is more valuable than drawing two. Report at halfway.

Chigorin Memorial: A gaggle of grandmasters

10/10/2013 – With so many elite events currently running, such as Bilbao, the King’s Tournament in Bucharest, and of course the Russian Super Final, it would be easy to gloss over the Chigorin Memorial, an open held in St. Petersburg. Don’t, because if anything is certain, it is that you don’t need to have a long list of A-players to have a recipe for great chess.

Bucharest 03: Nisipeanu strikes back

10/10/2013 – Nisipeanu played a powerful game and was able to run over China's number one, Wang Hao. With good opening preparation and an even better follow up the Romanian player found himself up an exchange, and although he gave his opponent some chances Wang Hao was in such deep time trouble that it did not matter. Caruana keeps his lead. Analysis and post-mortems of round 3.

Russian SuperFinal 05: Three wins

10/9/2013 – Svidler is still in the lead with 4.0/5, but his opponent's are trying to quickly catch up. Kramnik won a nice game against Motylev which puts him only half a point away from Svidler. Nepomniachtchi and Andreikin also won and are a point away. In the girl's section a crazy draw in Gunina-Kosintseva keeps Gunina and Kovanova in the lead.

ChessBase Puzzles: a dangerous game

10/9/2013 – Samuel Loyd (1841 – 1911), was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. At his peak he was one of the best players in the country – and number 15 in the world. His chess problems were numerous and famous for their original and interesting themes. In our puzzle collection we have a set that demonstrate this. Now with a prequel by Pal Benkö.
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Bucharest 02: Two Draws

10/9/2013 – I Wang Hao's first game of the tournament, he was unable to overcome Radjabov's defenses and the game slowly but surely petered out to a draw. In the other game Ponomariov was surprised by Nisipeanu's choice of opening. The Ukrainian launched an attack on the kingside and play turned very sharp, but Nisipeanu had enough resources to force the game into a drawn endgame. GM Dorian Rogozenco informs.

Russian Super Final 04: Svidler wins and leads

10/8/2013 – With a crushing victory over yesterday's hero, Andreikin, Svidler moves to an amazing +3 and leads the Super Final with 3.5/4. In the lady's section Kovanova and Gunina keep gaining ground as they both won today with black. The tragedy of that tournament so far is Kosintseva with a dismal 1.0/4 after losing to Kosteniuk. GM analysis of both events.

Kasparov for President – 2014 FIDE Campaign

10/8/2013 – Yesterday evening former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov held an event in Tallinn, Estonia, to announce his candidacy for the presidency of the International Chess Federation and to introduce the other members of his ticket. They include FIDE General Secretary Ignatius Leong and US investor and chess sponsor Rex Sinquefield. Kasparov's program for FIDE is called Six Winning Moves.

Chess in South Africa – filling the gaps

10/8/2013 – In part one of her report on a trip to South Africa IM Elisabeth Pähtz showed the German delegation introducing chess to schools and training teachers. As part of their tour they also visited Soweto, historically the richest, but nowadays one of the poorest suburbs of Johannesburg. There on an open field they set up a giant chessboard to attract children, for whom this was a first encounter with the game. Part two of Elli's big pictorial report.

Bucharest 01: Caruana strikes first

10/8/2013 – Fabiano Caruana got the first win of the tournament in an interesting game. Nisipeanu, was willing to go for a fight but his position became bad as Black's strangely solid formation on the kingside repelled the attack he had heavily invested on. A saving resource still was available for White, but time trouble did not permit him to see it. Radjabov-Ponomariov was a solid draw while Wang Hao had the day off. Brief analysis of round 1.

Bilbao 01: both games drawn

10/7/2013 – The Bilbao Master's has started in its 2013 edition. Despite the obvious conflicts the organizers had to deal, including an upcoming World Championship and a hectic grand prix series, they managed to organize an amazingly strong tournament. Aronian, Mamedyarov, Adams and Vachier-Lagrave will play a double round robin tournament to determine the winner of the Master's series. Round one report.

Russian Super Final 03: Andreikin Topples Kramnik

10/7/2013 – Andreikin took vengeance for his World Cup match against Kramnik and won a nice game. Now Svidler and Vitiugov share first place with 2.5/3. In the girl's section Kovanova and Gunina also have 2.5/3. Gunina barely survived against today's birthday girl, Daria Charochkina. The organization of the tournament gave her a nice surprise on this occasion. Round 3 report.

7th Kings Tournament starts Tomorrow

10/7/2013 – The 7th Kings tournament will take place from October 7th to October 17th in the Bucharest University of Economic Studies in Romania. The double round robin will pit Nisipeanu, Wang Hao, Ponomariov, Radjabov and Caruana against each other. The opening ceremony was held yesterday and it had one of the most original and fun drawing of lots we have seen in some time.

Russian Superfinal 02: Gunina and Vitiugov lead

10/6/2013 – Gunina and Vitiugov take an early lead in their respective tournaments as they are the only players to have won both of their games. Kramnik-Svidler was not too exciting as Svidler perfectly neutralized Kramnik's ideas in a Gruenfeld endgame. However, Nepo absolutely demolished Andreikin and we give you the annotations of that game provided by GM Josh Friedel.

Once upon a time in South Africa

10/6/2013 – Last month a delegation of German chess teachers and sponsors travelled to South Africa, as part of the FIDE Chess in Schools program and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, which is engaged in introducing chess to schools all over the world. It is truly inspiring to see how young children take to the game, and how their teachers are motivated to work with them. Part one of a big pictorial report by IM Elisabeth Pähtz.

Russian Superfinal 01: Games start with a Bang!

10/5/2013 – As if to attone for last year's performance, where the tournament saw an incredibly high percentage of draws and the winners were decided on a big tiebreak from those that scored 5.0/9, the Russian Super Final has started with five decisive games! In the women's section, three of the games were decisive with one interesting upset. First round and opening ceremony report.

Ivanov ends his chess career

10/5/2013 – On Thursday we reported that FM Borislav Ivanov had forfeited his round seven game after he refused to take off his shoes and allow the arbiter to check for hidden devices. His opponent in that round, GM Maxim Dlugy, provided all the details. Ivanov was permitted to continue in rounds eight and nine, but now has announced that he will retire from chess, as the Bulgarian new outlet Blitz reports.

Paris Final: Disappointing Finish

10/4/2013 – The stage was set for epic duels: Caruana had to win with the black pieces to win the tournament solo and qualify for the Candidate's tournament in case that Gelfand drew Ponomariov, which he ended up doing. Instead Caruana repeated moves early in the opening, and he wasn't the only one. Bacrot-Grischuk and Gelfand-Ponomariov didn't make it past the opening. Report.

Kasparov at the Aquaprofit-Polgar Chess Festival

10/4/2013 – Thousands of people gathered to see a legendary World Champion together with the three famous Polgar sisters who, as Garry Kasparov recalled, became Olympic champions at the Thessaloniki Olympiad in 1988, putting an end to the long hegemony of the Soviet female team. It was a festival of fun, especially for kids, who could play together with a parent and a grandparent in a simul given by the Polgars. Big pictorial report.

Paris 10: Gelfand and Caruana win, lead

10/3/2013 – With powerful preparation and a strong follow-up Gelfand was able to take down Nakamura and steal the leading position from him. Caruana took advantage of this and beat Tomashevsky, putting him at 6.5/10 tied with the Israeli. In the duel of the French players Bacrot easily demolished Fressinet and he is now tied with Nakamura. We bring you in-depth analysis by grandmaster Romain Edouard.

The shoe assistant – Ivanov forfeits at Blagoevgrad

10/3/2013 – Everyone has heard about Borislav Ivanov, a lowly FM from Bulgaria, who since late 2012 has wowed the chess world with super-GM performances. Ivanov was suspected of computer cheating, and forty GMs are boycotting tournaments in which he plays. GM Max Dlugy is not one of them, but he insisted on a thorough check of his opponent before their game. You'll never believe what happened next.

Poland vs. Ukraine University Match

10/3/2013 – The Ukraine vs. Poland student match took place in Lviv, the chess capital of Ukraine. Five Ukrainian teams faced against five Polish ones in a Scheveningen style tournament. Additionally, the event featured a strong blitz tournament at the end. Anna Gasik from the University of Warsaw brings us a lovely pictorial recount of the tournament as well as the result of a colorful match.

Paris 09: Liberté, égalité, fraternité

10/2/2013 – The players exemplified France's motto, liberty, equality and brotherhood. Giri-Caruana and Tomashevsky-Grischuk were hard fought, and although the other players tried their best the drawish nature of the positions they arrived to lead to today's round featuring six draws. This leaves Nakamura still half a point ahead of Caruana and Gelfand with two rounds to go. Report of round 9.