Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (64)

6/26/2011 – From around the world there came a very strong entry for the photograph quiz set about a week ago by the Editor of Chess Notes. Now it is time for the answers and the announcement of the five winners. Among the names often put forward by readers were Geller, Ivanchuk, Korchnoi, Smyslov, Stein and Tal, but were they there? What was the actual line-up of the mystery seven?

Commonwealth Chess Championships debut in Africa!

6/26/2011 – The Championships are being held from June 25th to July 4th in the spectacular Emperors Palace Hotel in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. The field of over 700 participants boasts more than 40 titled players and is headed by three times past champion GM Nigel Short from England. The chess promises to be exciting, but the surrounding wildlife even more so. See for yourself.

International Chess Tournament of Forni di Sopra

6/25/2011 – Chess in paradise – well, as close as it gets, in Europe, in a beautiful town located in the magnificent Dolomiti Alps near the Italian border with Austria. The tournament, which carried a prize fund of 10,000 Euros, was attended by 148 players from 21 countries, wqith 17 GMs and 18 IMs. Winner was Ecuadorian GM Franco Matamoros. Big pictorial report.

Navara beats Movsisian in CEZ Chess Trophy 2011

6/24/2011 – This event gives chess enthusiasts the opportunity to attend lectures, play in simuls – one of them, on thirty boards, by World Champion Vishy Anand – and watch the two strongest players of the Czech Republic and Slovakia play a six-game match, all in the Michna Palace at Prague's Kampa. Navara won the match (+1 =5). We bring you a big pictorial by Vladimír Jagr.

Problem chess: Bringing back checkmate

6/24/2011 – Ask even a non-chessplayer what the object of the game is. Clearly it is checkmate. But be honest, now: how often do we actually see a king checkmated in a game of chess? There is a branch of chess, however, where mate occurs all the time, in virtually every position. We are talking, of course, of problem chess. Steve Giddins starts a new column on the subject. Prepare to be amazed!

III Int.Chess Festival – Eforie Nord

6/24/2011 – With the summer just starting in the northern hemisphere, numerous tournaments and festivals are held in vacation spots hoping to attract chess players seeking a fun event without forgoing a genuine holiday. The quaint Romanian town of Eforie Nord, with beaches on the coast of the Black Sea, is holding its third chess festival, and we have a lovely photo report by Sergey Tiviakov.

CBM Blog: Knight storms the fortress + Do not rush

6/24/2011 – In the game Nakamura-Nisipeanu from the 5th Kings' Tournament White had a solid extra pawn, but it seemed that Black's castle could not be taken. Nakamura opened the gate first on the kingside to finally use the back door on the queenside. In Hector-Tikkanen White messes up a rook and pawn ending by being too impatient. GM Karsten Müller explains.

80th Ukrainian Championship – pictorial impressions

6/23/2011 – We had completed our report on this championship, the stongest ever in the country, when we received a special report by its tournament director Yaroslav Mazurenko. The details on the final rounds and the fantastic triumph of Ruslan Ponomariov had been told, but the pictures by Yaroslav and Nikolay Gavljuk are worth sharing with our readers. Enjoy.

Russian Championship: Sjugirov takes early lead

6/22/2011 – With three coveted spots qualfiying for the Russian Championship Super Final to be held later this year, the eleven-round Higher League is a swiss open with nearly 50 players rated over 2500, including a returning Morozevich. After six rounds, 18-year-old Sjugirov leads with 5.0/6 and a 2846 performance. Held in Taganrog, Russia, here is a panoply of pictures by Anna Burtasova.

Ponomariov wins 80th Ukrainian Championship with 2853 performance

6/22/2011 – The strongest championship ever was full of exciting chess. That can be especially said of the winner, 27-year-old Ruslan Ponomariov, who showed aggressive, fighting spirit to the very last game. Only needing a draw to clinch the championship he went on to beat his main rival with the black pieces. He has gained thirteen points and will appear in the top ten in the next rating list. Final report.

CBM Blog: Rook Endings + a Houdini-like escape

6/21/2011 – In rook endings in case of h- and f-pawn even two solid extra pawns are often not enough to win, as our resident GM and endgame specialist Karsten Müller demonstrates. He also shows us a miracle escape by GM Vlad Tkachiev against GM Arkadij Naiditsch on the top board of the German Team Cup Final. Replay Dr Müller's didactic analysis: there are interesting things to learn.

Bobby Fischer Against the World, premiering in July

6/21/2011 – More than three years have now passed since Bobby Fischer died, but it is quite clear that the final word has yet to be written on the former world chess champion’s life. Interest in him seems to be as strong as ever and there is no shortage of people keen to retell his story. July 5th is the premiere of a remarkable new movie which was discussed in the latest issue of CHESS Magazine.

Medias Kings Rd10: Carlsen-Karjakin draw, Carlsen wins Medias 2011

6/21/2011 – Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin took joint first after a last round matchup was unable to break the tie. The superb results also had an impact on the world rankings as Carlsen will retake first, and Karjakin will pass Kramnik as clear fourth. A last round win by Ivanchuk relegated Nakamura to under 50%, tied third-fourth with Radjabov. Photos, videos, GM commentary.

Medias Kings Rd9: Karjakin catches Carlsen – again

6/20/2011 – Carlsen manuevered to a promising middlegame, but an exchange sac by Nisipeanu stopped him cold, while a disastrous opening by Ivanchuk gave Karjakin a blitzkrieg attack that ended it in just 22 moves. Nakamura pressed but was not able to take Radjabov's fortress. Tomorrow will be the big showdown to decide gold and silver. Full report with videos and GM analysis.

The homecoming: Boris Gelfand is back (Part I)

6/19/2011 – Winning the World Cup and now the Candidates Matches has made Gelfand a household name in Israel, and on his return from Kazan he was greeted at Ben-Gurion Airport by his family, fans and old friends – amongst them our colleague Shay Bushinsky, who later visited Boris at his home in Rishon Le-Zion. The two had a long discussion, which resulted in this must-read interview for ChessBase.

Medias Kings Rd8: three draws, Carlsen leads with two games to go

6/19/2011 – After breathtaking battles day in and day out, and at least one knockout for the audience, today's games all ended in a draw. To be fair they were hard fought, but nobody fell to the mat. With only two rounds left, Carlsen maintains his lead and it is now that much harder to overtake him. Our GM commentator Dorian Rogozenco provides commentary in his entertaining and instructive style.

Classical line opening ...

6/18/2011 – ... the first player had in mind here when after 21.f5 exf5 he went for the sacrifice on f7. Accepting it  - 22.Nxf7 Kxf7 leads to ...

A)... victory for White;
B)... draw by move repetition;
C)... advantage for Black.

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

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (63)

6/18/2011 – The latest picture quiz from the Editor of Chess Notes presents for identification seven chessplayers. Since all of them are leading masters, the whole exercise ought to be simplicity itself. As will be seen, however, there is one slight complication with the photographs. Can readers rise to the challenge? Personally inscribed book prizes are on offer to those who can identify the mystery seven.

Medias Kings Round six: Commentary by GM Rogozenco

6/18/2011 – Three interesting and exciting games, one decisive: the 66-mover between Sergey Karjakin and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, a Schliemann Gambit in which the Romanian sacrificed two pawns for activity but got into time trouble and went down to the ruthless pressure of former boy wonder and youngest GM in history Sergey Karjakin. Our resident GM Dorian Rogozenco presents video and analysis.

Medias Kings Rd7: Carlsen supreme with 2913 performance

6/18/2011 – The impulse is to use words like impressive and powerful, but with three rounds to go, the thesaurus might soon run out of synonyms. Magnus Carlsen outwitted Vassily Ivanchuk in an endgame, doing what he does best, by finding every possible way to give his opponent ways to go wrong, however slightly. He now leads alone with 5.0/7. Videos and commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

Ponomariov leads 80th Ukrainian Chess Championship

6/17/2011 – After a long break the Ukrainian Chess Federation has organized the Ukrainian Chess Championship 2011 in Kiev, from June, 9th until June 21st. It is the strongest event in the history of the independent Ukraine. After seven rounds former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov leads with 5.0/7 and a 2814 performance. We have received a big pictorial report by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich.

Medias Kings Rd6: Karjakin wins to share lead with Carlsen

6/17/2011 – With Magnus Carlsen making moves to run away with the tournament, one question was whether anyone would (or could) challenge him for it. Round six saw fellow boy wonder Sergey Karjakin outlast Romanian Nisipeanu in an epic endgame battle and draw level with Magnus. We bring you an express report with sensational pictures of the strongest football player rated over 2558.

Ilyumzhinov-Gaddafi encounter: international media reactions

6/16/2011 – News and TV channels picked it up with glee: while NATO aircraft were (probably) targeting Muammar Gaddafi directly, the Libyan dictator sat down with the "eccentric" President of the World Chess Federation for a friendly game. Not really a positive picture, and harsh criticism has rained on Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. He sees his visit as a mission of peace and has appealed to people not to politicize the issue.

CBM Blog: The Umbrella and a Domination Duel

6/16/2011 – In rook endings you often have to hide from a rain of checks, and it is expedient to bring along an "umbrella". Same colored bishop endings have a relatively large drawish tendency, and one major winning strategy is to restrict the enemy bishop and exchange it. You can learn a lot by replaying the lessons provided by our resident GM and endgame specialist Karsten Müller.