Twenty-five years of CHESS (the musical)

5/26/2010 – A quarter of a century ago, plus or minus a year (the LP was released in 1984, the music videos in 1985 and the London stage première took place in 1986), a brilliant musical came into being, authored by Tim Rice with music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, formerly of ABBA. It proved a world-wide success and was greatly loved by chess fans. Looking back...

'FIDE – An Inglorious Inventory'

5/26/2010 – Any idea which are the most active chess playing countries in the world? Did you know that 43,000 people in the world have a 2000+ rating, while around the same number are rated below that mark? The top seven countries have the same number of players as the remaining 136 members of FIDE? The French Chess Federation's Léo Battesti presents us with some eye-opening statistics.

Great Short stories

5/26/2010 – Nigel Short is an artist of more than one talent. His greatest of course is chess. On his first "Greatest Hits" DVD he shows you his wins e.g. against Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, and also the immortal king march against Timman. GM Hedinn Steingrimsson spent four joyful hours with the DVD and recommends it to "all who want to witness how lively and imaginative chess can be". Buy now or read more.

GP in Astrakhan: Eljanov wins by a full point

5/25/2010 – Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov sealed things up with a 15-move draw in the twelfth against Jakovenko and then a tough battle in the final round against Gelfand. He wins the Sixth FIDE Grand Prix with a 2809 performance. Teimour Radjabov, however, who was amongst the five runners-up, took the big prize: a place in the World Championship Candidates. Final report.

Sofia in the news – reports and interviews

5/25/2010 – The World Championship in Sofia is still churning out reports in the international press. But for obvious reasons the winner, who hails from a country with over a billion inhabitants, is getting the lion's share of the attention. "I would like to see the same coverage for Topalov as you have had with Anand," requests one reader. We have scanned the press and bring you links and excerpts.

US Championship – Shulman and Kamsky to play for title in rapid tiebreak

5/24/2010 – A shock defeat on the second day of the Quad final – four top players battling it out in a round robin – virtually extinguished the chances of last year's champion Hikaru Nakamura from taking the title for a second time in succession. In the open event IM Irina Krush narrowly missed scoring her second GM norm. The final round and decision are on Sunday. Illustrated report.

GP in Astrakhan: Eljanov leads, two rounds to go

5/23/2010 – After eleven of the thirteen rounds in the FIDE Grand Prix the Ukrainian GM Pavel Iljanov has a full point lead over his nearest rivals. It is, however, Teimour Radjabov, in equal second position, who has the best chances of qualifying for a place in the World Championship cycle. Tension is high, as is the "chicken factor" (68% draws). Big illustrated report.

Election news: Yazici on the attack

5/22/2010 – The battle for FIDE presidency is getting more vicious. Leading the battle on the side of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is the President of the Turkish Chess Federation, Ali Nihat Yazici, who has published a number of pieces on the TCF web site against challenger Anatoly Karpov. In his latest piece Yazici states his reasons for switching from opponent to friend and ally of the incumbent President. Excerpts and links.

US Championship – cream of the crop for quad final

5/22/2010 – Four players have advanced to the quad finals of the 2010 U.S. Championship, but the results of round seven do not tell the full story. Though a casual glance will show that the top three boards ended in draws, uncompromising play brought the tournament to within a whisker of a large tiebreaker for the four-player round robin. Round seven report.

Breaking news: Men in black seize Russian Chess Federation

5/21/2010 – Last week the RCF nominated Anatoly Karpov as their candidate for the Presidency of FIDE. This was verbally contested by the supporters of incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Today black suited men from the private security firm “Peper” arrived at the Federation’s offices, kicked out the regular security guards and sealed off some rooms in the building. Report in True/Slant + Karpov's reaction.

US Championship – four players in contention

5/21/2010 – With one round to play before the field splits for the three-round quad finale, four of the top five seeds have the best chance of qualifying. Round six landed Gata Kamsky, Alex Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura and Yury Shulman – 80 percent of the US Olympiad Team – atop the tables. All are undefeated with three wins and three draws each. Report by Mike Klein with beautiful portraits by Betsy Dynako.

Anand's helpers in Sofia – Part Two

5/20/2010 – In the second part of his interview on Playchess.com the old and new World Champion Vishy Anand talks about hardware – we now know that his opponent Veselin Topalov had access to an IBM super-computer with 8792 processors! – and how best to use computers for your preparation. He also compares them to human assistants, of whom Vishy had the very best.

GP in Astrakhan: Eljanov back in the lead

5/19/2010 – It's been a bit of a roller coaster, but after nine rounds and a fighting black piece victory over Teimour Radjabov, Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov is back in the sole lead at the FIDE Grand Prix. Four GMs – Jakovenko, Mamedyarov, Gashimov and Leko – follow half a point behind, notably with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who had a bad start, amongst them. Friday is a free day. Round nine report.

FIDE Grand Prix in Astrakhan: Inarkiev loses the lead

5/19/2010 – Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov was alone at the top of the table since round six, but in round eight he lost to his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov in round eight. In that round Vladimir Akopian sweetened this three losses so far with a first victory, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also won his first game in this tournament when he beat Evgeny Alekseev. Four GMs share the lead. Round eight report.

Fundraiser in New York – echo in the press

5/19/2010 – A one-night binge in the Trump SoHo Hotel brought chess into the highlights of the international press. Karpov, Kasparov and Carlsen [memo: he must change that to Karlsen!] generated a large number of international reports, almost outshining the World Chess Championship in Sofia. Not unexpectedly the stories reflect the challenger's side of the ticket. Press links.

Anand in Playchess – the helpers in Sofia

5/19/2010 – The team of World Championship challenger Veselin Topalov reportedly spent a large sum of money to secure a 112 core computer cluster running at mind boggling speed. "How did the reigning champion counter this awesome hardware advantage," we asked. Anand answered this question in a candid and very detailed interview broadcast on Monday Playchess. He used a human cluster!

US Championship – Kamsky and Onischuk in the lead

5/19/2010 – After four rounds there were seven players jumbled at the top of the tables. Only two were left after round five had finished: GM Gata Kamsky and GM Alexander Onischuk. The second and third seeds, both won as White and are all alone at 4/5. A pack of four GMs is half a point shy of the leaders. IM Irina Krush, the only female participant, has a 2657 GM performance. Round five report.

US Championship – seven players with 3.0/4

5/18/2010 – Exciting games and close competition in Saint Louis: after two rounds there were two players in the lead, after three four players, and after four rounds seven players. Favourites Nakamura, Kamsky and Onischuk are at the top. The only female participant, IM Irina Krush, played 12 hours and 206 chess moves in the last two rounds. Round four report with a giant pictorial by Betsy Dynako.

Big Karpov fund-raiser in New York

5/18/2010 – Karpov, Kasparov and Carlsen – two former and one very likely future world champion – took part in a launch party and fundraiser in the spectacular Trump SoHo Hotel in New York. It is for Karpov's bid to become President of FIDE. There were chess games as well as entertainment and champagne, which introduced a slight complication in the festivities. Pictures and video.

Reactions to the Ilyumzhinov letter

5/17/2010 – The publication of the open letter yesterday by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, on the endorsement of Anatoly Karpov for the FIDE Presidency, has led to an unprecedented number of critical emails, especially from readers in Russia. Were we not fact-checking our reports, or were we in fact actively supporting the current administration? The letters contain a number of interesting links.

Inarkiev leads FIDE Grand Prix in Astrakhan

5/17/2010 – In round four Ernesto Inarkiev beat the great Vassily Ivanchuk with the black pieces, then in round six beat the equally formidable Boris Gelfand, also with black. Now the Russian GM is in pole position, with 4.0/6 points and a sterling 2856 performance. Half a point behind him there are four players, with many top seeds in the bottom half of the table. Round six report.

Anand in Playchess – on chess clusters and prep wars

5/17/2010 – There are rumours that the team of World Championship Challenger Veselin Topalov spent 100,000 Euros to secure a 112 core computer cluster, with the latest Rybka 4 program exclusively reserved for their use until the end of the match. How did the reigning champion Viswanathan Anand counter this awesome hardware advantage of the opponent. Answers today at 17:00h CEST on Playchess.

Max Euwe Matches – Giri beats Short, draws match

5/17/2010 – The Max Euwe Veteran-Youth match challenge finished , and can be considered an unequivocal success. Five young Dutch talents had the opportunity to butt heads with experienced grandmasters in serious four-game matches, a rare opportunity to learn and gain experience. Four were beaten by the GMs, 15-year-old Dutch Champion Anish Giri, scored a remarkable 2-2 draw. Final report.

Max Euwe Matches – Danger for Seirawan, brilliancy by Schut

5/16/2010 – In the second round of the Max Euwe event, the action started to heat up as the Youth struck back at the older guard with the weapons young players are usually so well-equipped with: tactics. The one exception was in fact board one, where GM Nigel Short came within a whisper of beating his opponent, 15-year-old rising star, GM Anish Giri. Report after round three.