Kazan GP Rd.5: two decisive games, Muzychuk joins lead

6/16/2012 – The fifth round was quite peaceful – four draws, only two decisive games. Anna Muzychuk beat Betul Yildiz to join Elina Danielian in the lead with 3.5/5. Top seeds Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru escaped defeat in precarious positions. On the free day before the round many participants went on a guided tour of the Kazan Kremlin, which includes the dramatically leaning Soyembika tower.

Clash of the Kings: Karpov vs Seirawan finishes 10:8

6/16/2012 – Let us count: two classical and two rapid games were all drawn and counted for two points each, makes 4-4. Then came ten blitz games at a point each, with a 6:4 result for Anatoly Karpov, bringing the final score to 10:8. Former world junior champion and four-time US champion Yasser Seirawan lost narrowly to the former World Champion in the Saint Louis Chess Club event. Final report.

Calm or concrete?

6/16/2012 – Which continuation would you recommend to maintain/increase Black's clear positional superiority?

A) 23...Rd6
B) 23...Rd8
C) 23...Ng4

ChessBase Magazine, larger diagram and solution.

Mikhalchishin: how to beat a World Champion

6/15/2012 – He has a daunting task: GM Adrian Mikhalchishin coaches WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz, bottom seed at the Women's Grand Prix in Kazan. In round two she faced the reigning women's world champion Hou Yifan, rated almost three hundred points above her, with the black pieces. But Betül managed to trick her Chinese opponent and pull off her first win against her. Mikhalchishin tells us how.

The third Danzhou tournament – Bu Xiangzhi takes gold

6/15/2012 – The 3rd Hainan Danzhou GM tournament finished in a race. The sole leader GM Ni Hua, opted for a quick draw against GM Zhao Jun in the last round. GM Bu Xiangzhi, who was half a point behind, beat top seed GM Wang Yue, and snatched first place on tiebreak. This also gave him the last spot on the Chinese team for the Olympiad. He comments his win in the pictorial by Gu Xiaobing.

Rogers and Ajith Kumar on Anand in Sportstar

6/15/2012 – Almost two weeks have passed since World Champion Anand narrowly defended his title in Moscow, although he was supposed to win it in a breeze. How that came about and what was involved in preparatory work on both sides is described by Australian GM Ian Rogers. Meanwhile columnist P.K. Ajith Kumar tells us about Anand's charisma in India. All this in Sportstar weekly.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (84)

6/14/2012 – The front covers of eight autobiographical works by chess writers are placed on display here, but with the authors' names and the titles all blocked out. In this latest quiz from the Editor of Chess Notes readers are asked to identify the eight authors. Some attractive prizes await the winners, including items which have been signed by Anand, Carlsen and Kramnik.

Tal Memorial Rd6 – Moro loses to Nakamura, Kramnik joins lead

6/14/2012 – It was perhaps not the highest level chess, but as far as drama and excitement go, spectators were on the edges of their seats. Morozevich set up a violent attack against Nakamura, but as time trouble came, Nakamura found inspired moves and turned the tables for his first win. Caruana beat McShane and Kramnik exchanged blunders with Tomashevsky to win. Report with GM commentary.

CBM training: Memorable endgames from the Tal Memorial

6/13/2012 – Our ChessBase Magazin endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller has been following the games from the Tal Memorial very keenly, and has picked up four examples of instructive manoeuvres – a fortress by McShane, a successful opposite colored bishop attack by Grischuk, counterplay by Morozevich and an active army mobilized by Aronian. Study these examples and improve your endgame skills.

Tal Memorial Rd5 – Morozevich takes sole lead with 4.0/5

6/13/2012 – The fifth round finally saw one player pull ahead for the clear lead: Alexander Morozevich. Aronian played a risky strategy when he sacrificed a piece for a number of pawns. With very little time, he could not find the best moves, and was lost by the time control. Radjabov allowed Carlsen to equalize, and in a slightly unpleasant endgame, overreacted and lost. Report, video, and GM commentary.

Kazan GP Rd.4: Hou Yifan loses again, Danielian in the sole lead

6/13/2012 – The women's world champion is definitely out of sorts. After losing in the second round to the bottom seed she lost today, again with the white pieces, against Lituanian GM Viktorija Cmilyte. Four games were decisive, and the win by Elina Danielian against Tatiana Kosintseva brought the Armenian GM 3.0/4 and sole first place, with a 2703 performance. Round four report.

Chess Problems: Solutions to the Obstruction problems

6/12/2012 – In his last column David Friedgood explained the concept of "obstruction" – which occurs when a piece moves to a square so that another piece is prevented from occupying it. He gave us examples that showed the basic idea and two three-movers to solve. Noam Elkies, a Harvard maths professor and himself a composer and solving GM, commented succinctly on the second example: 'Hilarious!'

Match of the Century chessboard up for sale on Thursday

6/12/2012 – We reported on some very special items that were up for sale by the auction house Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen: the board, chess pieces, table and clock used in parts of the 1972 Reyjkavik match between Spassky and Fischer. Even the Shah of Iran was originally interested. Bidding starts on Thursday, June 14th, at 5:00 p.m. Einar Einarsson fills us in on the background of the auction.

Tal Memorial Rd4 – Radjabov and Morozevich lead

6/12/2012 – It was a highly entertaining round once again, but this time Magnus Carlsen was at the center of it. The number one took incredible risks throughout his game to try and beat Grischuk, but eventually they drew as the time control arrived. Morozevich and Radjabov played a lukewarm game and drew. Caruana was the only win, beating Tomashevsky. Full report with notes by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Kazan GP Rd.3: four decisive games, Muzychuk and Danielian lead

6/12/2012 – Nadezhda Kosintseva and Viktorija Cmilyte won their white games, the former in a 78-move grind against Alexandra Kosteniuk, the latter in a super-sharp middlegame attack. Hou Yifan recovered after the previous round loss and outplayed Tatiana Kosintseva with black, Elina Danielian defeated Betul Yildiz from Turkey. Anna Muzychuk drew with Humpy Koneru but still leads. Round three report.

Vallejo win the jubilee Ciudad de Leon Masters 3½-2½

6/11/2012 – In spite of Nadal-Djokovic in Paris and Spain-Italy in Gdansk more than 200 people showed up to watch the third day of Topalov-Vallejo Leon. Actually, in the lobby of the theatre fans could watch all three encounters, including some exciting rapid chess. On day two Vallejo scored 1.5/2 and on the final day each player chalked up a win. Once again the games were marked by multiple inaccuracies.

Nigel Davies: The Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack

6/11/2012 – Openings are king again this month's Chess Cafe reviews, with two trainers on openings, and one middlegame strategy trainer on diagonals and files. The first is Nigel Davies' Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack which, according to reviewer Steven Dowd is "for any player who wants to try an opening where plans and ideas trump memorized lines." He calls it 'a phenomenal trainer'.

Clash of the Kings: Karpov vs Seirawan

6/11/2012 – Anatoly Karpov is of course the legendary World Champion – 1975-1985, and FIDE Champion 1993-1999. Yasser Seirawan, a former world junior champion and four-time US champion, is today a respected author and commentator. Both are theoretically in retirement, but have come out for a match against each other from June 9 to 13 in the Saint Louis Chess Club. You can watch it live.

Kazan GP: Turkey's Yildiz shocks world champion Hou Yifan

6/11/2012 – It was the top against the bottom seed, the highest rated against the lowest rated player in the event. But Turkish law student WGM Betul Cemre Yildiz, playing with the black pieces, profited from a time trouble blunder by her opponent, Chinese GM Hou Yifan and finished the reigning women's world champion off in 34 moves. We bring you an illustrated report after round two.

The Personal Island of Anastasia Golubenko (Part one)

6/10/2012 – Like a bright comet in the cool Estonian sky she appeared, a quarter-century ago, from her far-off Volgograd island, to mass-produce a youthful army of chess champions of Estonia, Russia, Europe and the world. Then she made her final journey back to her home and her parents, full of vitality, which slowly ebbed from her. After a long illness Anastasia Golubenko, 46, died. She will not be forgotten.

FIDE Women's Grand Prix starts in Kazan

6/10/2012 – This twelve-player round robin has a 40,000 Euro prize fund, is part of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix circuit, and has most of the world's elite female players – Hou Yifan, Muzychuk, Humpy, Lahno, the Kosintseva sisters, Stefanova – at the start. Sunday is the first round, and the organisers have promised HD video broadcasts. The opening ceremony was yesterday – here's an illustrated report.

Tal Memorial Rd3 – A round of sacrifices to win, draw, and lose

6/10/2012 – It was a round of sacrifices all round with all the results possible. The first was McShane's brilliant exchange sacrifice that stranded Aronian's king with deadly effect. Then came Kramnik's exchange sacrifice to neutralize Radjabov, and hold the balance. Finally, it was Grischuk who went for broke against Morozevich in a crazy game, but lost. Round three report with GM commentary and video.

Vallejo leads in jubilee Ciudad de León Masters

6/9/2012 – This year it is being staged for the 25th consecutive time, from June 8–10. It pits Bulgarian GM and former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov against his former second Francisco Vallejo, top Spanish GM. In both games of the first day it was Black who had a clear advantage, with White able to defend – until the very last move of the second game, when Topalov was felled by a terrible blunder.

Chess Olympiad in Istanbul – officials from seven countries banned

6/9/2012 – At a recent FIDE meeting the Turkish Chess Federation, which is host to the 40th Chess Olympiad, was given a list of arbiters for the event. TCF President Ali Nihat Yazici rejected any officials from seven countries – England, France, Georgia, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA – for supporting court cases against FIDE and causing financial damage. The affected federations have protested.