5/10/2011 – All the deepest plans or endgame technique are useless if you fall victim to a shot that leaves you in a lost position. Likewise, sometimes that superior play will only offer a single window of opportunity to deliver that final blow, so it is vital to be ready for it when it does. All the positions are from the US Championship and the Russian Women's Team Championship. Come minister your mind's eye.

5/9/2011 – For Easter the Hungarian chess grandmaster, author and great problem composer Pál Benkö sent us five puzzles, which we presented to our readers. "Each puzzle was incredible wonderful!" wrote Gabor Szamosközi of Budapest, and a large number of readers participated in the competition for a Fritz program signed by World Champions. Are you the winner?

5/9/2011 – In this difficult position the second player Gata Kamsy went for 30...N8e7, whereupon he had to continue suffering and could save the game only by a miracle. How would be your assessment of the alternative 30...Nxd4 31.Bxd4 Bxa2 with a discovered attack on the the white bishop d4?
A) good enough for equality;
B) still worse for Black, but better than the game anyway;
C) a direct way to disaster, White wins immediately.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

5/9/2011 – The surprises took place almost at the same time. Aronian was tied Grischuk, but lost the fourth game. Kramnik tied Radjabov in all four rapids, and then lost the first blitz (of two). With a dead drawn position and 15 seconds left each, the clock died! When they resumed, thirteen minutes later, Radjabov quickly lost, after which Kramnik took the second blitz match. Report with GM commentary.

5/8/2011 – It could hardly have been more dramatic, with Topalov in a must-need situation. He played a novelty on move five, and built a small edge, but nothing more. Kamsky blundered in time-trouble, and suddenly was dead lost. Possibly fantasizing of the tiebreaks, Topalov returned the favor and is now eliminated. Tiebreaks tomorrow! Report with video plus annotations by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

5/7/2011 – Of the four games our GM annotator has selected the decisive (and most exciting one). "Topalov came prepared with a good novelty, but he didn't follow it up correctly," says Super-GM Fabiano Caruana. In fact, it only took one mistake for White's position to go downhill – that's how it works in these sharp lines." Once again Fabiano provides wonderfully insightful commentary. Learn and enjoy.

5/1/2011 – Remember Andriy Slyusarchuk? The chess amateur who read three thousand books about the game and then went on to beat Rybka blindfold? The Ukrainian professor performs other mental feats, like memorizing 80 chess boards in 4½ minutes and then identifying changes made to them. GM Georgy Timoshenko took part in the act and wrote a wonderfully entertaining expose.

4/30/2011 – Although the Russians still hold the greatest number of grandmasters and masters, the key is in the renovation. The 2011 Russian Youth Championships just took place, crowning not only the new champions, but also designating those who will represent Russia in the next World and European Youth Championships. Here is a beautiful panoply of pictures by Anna Burtasova.

4/29/2011 – ... White had to consider when in this position he went for 37.Nf6-h5 pinning the black rook g7. What is your evaluation? This...

A) ...decides immediately;
B) ...wins an exchange, but not the game; 
C) ...is a blunder, Black comes out on top.

The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

4/29/2011 – It was déjà vu all over again, as Gata Kamsky carved through the field at the 2011 US Chess Championship in St. Louis, Miss, with relative ease. Kamsky likes to build his games slowly, relying on his positional judgment. Once he gets a small advantage, he is willing to torture his opponent for hours. But GM Lubomir Kavalek shows us a different, more entertaining Kamsky in this key game.

4/29/2011 – In the men's section, Kamsky showed that he was in a category of his own as he secured the 2011 title of US Champion, 20 years after winning his first, never requiring a tiebreak. In contrast, Zatonskih and Abrahamyan went to the wire for a thrilling sprint to the title. Zatonskih showed incredible perseverance and stamina as she took 19 games to become champion. Final report and videos.

4/29/2011 – Chinese media and other sources tell us that Ukrainian chess amateur Andrew Slyusarchuk beat Rybka 4.0 in a two-game blindfold match after reading three thousand books on the subject. The reports also says the 39-year-old doctor can recite 20,000 books by heart and has memorized 30 million digits of Pi. There are lots of video demonstrations, but as Robert Ripley used to say...