2/27/2010 – The Sicilian is like an alligator – one of the natives of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where the theme match took place. Judit Polgar and Gregory Kaidanov played four games, a Sveshnikov, Dragon, Najdorf and a Scheveningen at classical time controls. All were sharp and all won by White. The sponsor, Sicilian fan Jeff Smith, provided the $16,000 prize fund. Pictorial report.

2/27/2010 – Top of the bill is a thrilling heavyweight encounter between Sergio “The Phoenix” Leveque from Italy and Dutchman, Hubert Van Melick. Chessboxing entails alternating sessions of four minutes at the chessboard and two in the boxing ring. You can win by checkmate or knockout. In two weeks the new season begins, with the first fights in London. Press release and videos.

2/26/2010 – ... was literally the central theme in this position. White has a threat - which knight move secures the draw for Black?

A) 29...Nc5
B) 29...Nxb2
C) 29...Nf4

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

2/25/2010 – Francisco Vallejo held Alexander Grischuk to a draw in the final round, and for a while it looked as though Topalov had spoilt a very good position against Boris Gelfand to a draw. But the Israeli played the endgame inaccurately, allowing Topalov to take the full point and tournament victory. In the world live rankings he is now one point behind Magnus Carlsen. Illustrated report with commentary.

2/25/2010 – Located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains, the Kingdom of Bhutan used to be one of the most isolated nations in the world. Today the country has embraced modernization while retaining its ancient culture and traditions. The President of the Asian Chess Federation sent a delegate to promote the game in schools and support the Olympiad team. Pictorial report by IM Ravi Kumar.

2/24/2010 – With Alexander Grischuk sharing first in Linares (as of this writing), poised to win Linares for the second straight year and at an all-time career high rating (2770), it seems an auspicious time to feature him in this week's Playchess presentation by Dennis Monokroussos. Watch him deal with the likes of Gata Kamsky in Khanty-Mansiysk back in 2005. 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night.

2/24/2010 – The position in the diagram is from the game Bu Xiangzhi-McShane. Black will soon have to give up the rook for the a-pawn and when that happens the decisive question is whether the duo of black king and f-pawn are favourably enough placed to draw against the rook and the king. Amongst the weapons in Black's arsenal, there is above all the bodycheck in order to keep the white king at a distance. White, on the other hand, can get to work with a barrier. Sharpen up your analytical abilities by trying to work out the solution and comparing what you find with GM Karsten Müller's analysis. It's well worth the effort! CBM Online.

2/23/2010 – When did the chess brain develop? Turns out that Caissa made it some 50 km south of Nairobi, Kenya, in the pre-historic wastelands of Olegersaille. She called the bipedal primate Homo Sapiens. Today, 200,000 years later, the Kenyans are picking a national team to join their cousins from all over the world at the Siberian Olympiad. Spectacular pictorial by Mahul Gohil.

2/23/2010 – One way to measure the relative strengths of chess engines is to play them against each other – see who wins and by how much. But often newer engines can be "booked" to beat older rivals straight out of the opening. To get objective results without killer books John Nunn introduced opening test suites. That was a decade ago. Now Albert Silver presents an update and explains how to use it.

2/23/2010 – Alexander Grischuk won his second game in a row, the third in this tournament. He beat the leader Veselin Topalov, avenging a loss to him in the first half. Topalov and Grischuk go into the final round tied for first. Topalov has white against Gelfand, Grischuk black against Vallejo. It's going to be an exciting finish – watch it on Playchess with GM Danny King at the mike. Round nine report.

2/22/2010 – 19-year-old Le Quang Liem has won a string of very strong events, jumping from practically nowhere into the top 50 in the world (expect to see him in the top 20 soon). His achievements are in the news all over the world. And he is joined by Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son. High time for us to learn these names and understand how they work. Nguyen Hong Son helps us.

2/21/2010 – Once again: the result sounds boring, the games on the other hand were electrifying. Not, we hasten to add, due to their flawless perfection – on the contrary, they demonstrate that these are humans playing at the boards. Humans with nerves and frailties. The result left Veselin Topalov still in the lead by a point and a half, and the tail ender Vallejo the tragic hero of the event.