Taizhou 06: Hou Yifan wins, leads by three points

9/18/2013 – It's all but over. Challenger Hou Yifan won her third black game in a row to take a commanding lead over reigning world women's champion Anna Ushenina, who must now contrive to win three of the remaining four games just to stay in the match. It looks very much as if the 19-year-old Chinese GM will regain the title she first won at sixteen. Report and analysis.

Women's Grand Prix in Tashkent begins

9/18/2013 – The third Women's Grand Prix has begun in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The tournament is part of the Women's World Championship cycle and features some of the strongest women chess players, including ex World Champions Kosteniuk and Stefanova as well as World number three Koneru. The players were greeted by a beautiful opening ceremony and we bring you a pictorial preview.

Taizhou 05: draw in 61, Ushenina under pressure

9/17/2013 – On Tuesday Challenger Hou Yifan had a second white, and she once again played the aggressive Keres Attack she had used in the previous game. A theoretical battle ensued, with many exchanges leading to an even endgame. On move 21 women's world champion Anna Ushenina missed a chance and the game was drawn in 61 moves. Round five report with analysis by Tania Sachdev.

Karsten Muller: Rook against Knight

9/17/2013 – The endgame rook vs knight turns up in less than one percent of all games – so what is the point of studying something you will see so rarely in your tournament career? Well, the new Fritz Trainer from Dr Karsten Müller has eight related themes surrounding the R v N theme, and the concepts you learn from them will generally enhance your late middlegame in a profound sense. Review.

ACP 03: Grischuk prevails

9/16/2013 – The strongest knockout rapid tournament of the year has come to a conclusion. In a tournament with many interesting games full of mistakes and emotions, it was at the end that Alexander Grischuk toppled Ian Nepomniatchi in an Armageddon playoff to take the title. We bring you a full summary of the semi-finals and finals including annotations of the decisive game.

World Junior under way in Kocaeli

9/16/2013 – The World Junior Chess Championship 2013 in Turkey was moved from the border of Syria to as far from the war-torn country as possible. 118 players turned up for the open group, and 77 for the section reserved for girls. Three rounds have been played, and former Junior World Champion (and daredevil ChessBase reporter) Alexander Ipatov leads the open section with 3.0/3. Big pictorial with videos.

Tiviakov's French 3.Nd2 - a peerless pedigree

9/16/2013 – The French Defense is an immensely popular opening at all levels and especially in club play. Sergey Tiviakov is a very successful player in opens and proposes to teach his pet 3.Nd2 line, with all the lines, ideas and thousand of commented games. More impressive than his high rating, is his pedigree with the opening, including a whopping win rate of over 80%.

Sinquefield 06: Magic Magnus wins again

9/15/2013 – It seemed for a moment that a repeat of the Candidate's tournament would occur. Nakamura was against the ropes against Kamsky but he was able to salvage an almost miraculous draw. Aronian with black outplayed Carlsen, played on in an equal endgame, and then saw his position deteriorate move by move until a blunder sealed his fate in an already bad position. Carlsen wins another tournament. Last round report.

Taizhou 04: draw in 31, Hou leads by two points

9/15/2013 – The second white by the challenger, who has won both her black games, was a Sicilian Scheveningen in which Hou Yifan executed the aggressive Keres Attack (7.g4 after 6...e6). She gained enough advantage to play for a win, but the women's world champion Anna Ushenina defended well and the game ended in a draw. Round four report with beautiful photos by Anastasiya Karlovich.

ACP 02: rapid World Champion out

9/15/2013 – Many interesting games happened today in Riga. The only match to go into tiebreaks was Nepomniatchi-Malakhov in which the younger player was able to beat his opponent in tiebreaks. In two important matches Svidler was able to take out Radjabov while Grischuk took care of Wojtaszek. Meanwhile the rapid World Champion Mamedyarov was taken out by Ponomariov. Report.

Sinquefield 05: Carlsen keeps lead

9/15/2013 – With two draws that were not as interesting as they could be, Magnus Carlsen goes into the last round with a half point lead and will face Levon Aronian with the white pieces. Gata Kamsky held an edge today but was unable to convert against Aronian. We bring you a analysis of the games, the standings but also a full view on how wonderfully the live spectators are treated in this magnum event.

Taizhou 03: Hou Yifan increases her lead

9/14/2013 – Hou Yifan played a classical Nimzo-Indian and had her opponent thinking for 40 minutes after move 15. World Champion Anna Ushenina did not find the right path and soon found herself in serious trouble. Her 19-year-old Chinese challenger took the initiative, played some precise moves and forced Ushenina's resignation after just 24 moves. Round three report with pictures and videos.

ACP 01: No surprises

9/14/2013 – The strongest knockout rapid tournament of the year has begun in Latvia and few surprises were seen. The rating favorites took their matches, although since rapid ratings are used it is hard to say that this means much. Wojtaszek, Nepomniatchi, Ponomariov, Grischuk, and the reigning World Champion Mamedyarov have advanced. Pictures and analysis.

Mamma Mia in the Romanian Miami: Mamaia!

9/14/2013 – In Romanian, a Latin language, it means grandmother, and in an article covering the country's top chess leagues there, the beachside resort had been described as desolate. This year, the country's top guns once again gathered for war in the same locale, but somehow a transformation took place and what was torture has now become fun. Find out how in this lovely article by Alina L'Ami.

Sinquefield 04: American Disaster

9/14/2013 – Both Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky lost crucial games against their opponents today. Nakamura was soundly outplayed after a questionable opening that allowed Aronian an initiative on the kingside. Kamsky's game was a series of inaccuracies, but ultimately the American was unable to hold an endgame that seemed drawable. Report and analysis.

ACP Cup starts today

9/13/2013 – An amazingly strong rapid knock-out tournament is about to start in Riga, Latvia. The event is hosted by the Association of Chess Professionals and it features rapid ratings for pairings rather than the standard FIDE list. With Grischuk, Morozevich, Ivanchuk, and many other strong players this will certainly be an exciting event. Report on the opening ceremony, pairings and an interesting puzzle.

Joys of Chess – the most over-rated move

9/13/2013 – Christian Hesse, PhD from Harvard and Professor of Mathematics, is an avid chess fan and has written many an article for our news page. As a book author he has been successful with entertaining works on chess. Here's an interesting chapter he wrote on one of the most famous moves of chess history: Marshall's 23...Qg3!!! in 1912. Does it really deserve three exclams? Prof. Hesse thinks not.

Taizhou 02: Draw after 33 moves

9/12/2013 – The second game of the Women's World Championship that is being currently played in China was a Sicilian Pelikan/Sveshnikov that followed theory for 17 moves. Challenger Hou Yifan seemed unfamiliar with the position and decided to simplify the position quickly to obtain a draw rather than allow complications that could turn against her. Commentary and pictures.

Touring Canada

9/12/2013 – For the players seeking a visit of Canada and some good chess, there were ample opportunities with strong tournaments in Edmonton, Ottawa, and Quebec. One of the summer's most successful players was Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista, but one didn't need to win to have a great time in the beautiful Canuck cities. A pictorial by Elshan Moradiabadi

Sinquefield 03: Exciting draws

9/12/2013 – Hikaru Nakamura came out for blood using the King's Indian and playing incredibly active moves to obtain a strong initiative against Magnus Carlsen. Despite using the black pieces he was able to obtain an advantage, and when the Norwegian felt threatened he went for a safe option and drew. Kamsky-Aronian was also an exciting draw with plenty of opportunities. Analysis and report.

Taizhou 01: Hou Yifan strikes first

9/11/2013 – Despite the strong opening that Anna Ushenina used in this game she was unable to convert it into victory. After some inaccuracies the Ukrainian found herself giving away the advantage, but more importantly soon afterwards she underestimated Black's threats on the kingside and was in the receiving end of a swift mating attack. Pictorial report with analysis by WGM Abrahamyan.

Breaking the record – a 50-board blindfold attempt

9/11/2013 – Uzbek grandmaster Timur Gareev, who now resides in San Diego, has, as our readers know, been touring California in the past months. He brings us pictures of the Burning Man festival and the biggest living entity on the planet. He also tells us about his experiences with blindfold simultaneous exhibitions, and a plan to break the world record. Anyone like to host it?

Women's World Chess Championship under way

9/11/2013 – The first game in the ten-game match between reigning champion Anna Ushenina and challenger Hou Yifan started on Tuesday at 3 p.m. local time (Hou Yifan has played a classical Nimzo-Indian). It was preceeded by the opening ceremony in the lavish five-star Chunlan Hotel, the venue, in Taizhou, China. The match is being broadcast live on Playchess. Latest: Hou Yifan won the first game with black.

Sinquefield 02: Nakamura at the top

9/11/2013 – Aronian had a very questionable opening against Carlsen who kept putting pressure on White's position from the very beginning. However, through inaccuracies and indecision of his opponent, the Armenian was able to defend and draw. Nakamura used his ability in blitz to outplay Kamsky in a sharp time pressure in which Black committed too many errors. Analysis of both games and pictorial report.