1/26/2010 – He has two victories over Bobby Fischer, two against Tigran Petrosian and two against Mikhail Tal. Friðrik Ólafsson of Iceland earned his GM title 52 years ago. In 1978 he succeeded Max Euwe as President of FIDE, where he served until he was replaced by Florencio Campomanes in 1982. Ten days ago he played a brilliancy in a rapid chess event. Today Fridrik celebrates his 75th birthday.

1/26/2010 – We have been following the first Super-GM event of the new decade very closely, but our attention and photographic efforts have been mainly concentrated on the A-Group. We should remember: Group B is a category 16 event with a rating average of 2629 – a top tournament anywhere else. To make amends Dutch photographer Frits Agterdenbos has sent us splendid close-up gallery.

1/25/2010 – This could be an all-time world record: eight chess players from Brunei are planning to scale Mount Everest, as part of a project to help poor families in the Southeast Asian country. At the South Base Camp, 5,360 metres above sea level, the team will play a chess tournament. It is the highest in the federation's history – could it be the highest level ever in the world? Brunei FM report.

1/25/2010 – At the end of last year Garry Kasparov sat down for an indepth interview with our Malaysian correspondent Edwin Lam Choong Wai. In part one he spoke about his early years and his collaboration with Magnus Carlsen. In the current session he talks about the first Karpov-Kasparov match, the anniversary exhibition in 2009, and his strength in simultaneous play. With a very nice example.

1/25/2010 – We have heard many excuses before: illness, missed flight, or Oscar Wilde's classy "I have to decline due to a subsequent engagement". But this one is new: I cannot attend the Gibtel Masters because I am taking part in the opera Tannhäuser (by Richard Wagner). Still, even without the singing, dancing, soccer-playing GM the event has a great field. Preview.

1/24/2010 – Four white wins, one a fateful victory by Vladimir Kramnik over Hikaru Nakamura, left the former in equal 2nd/3rd place and demoted the latter to fourth. Alexei Shirov drew Magnus Carlsen to remain in the lead, by just half a point. Sergey Karjakin, Peter Leko and Fabiano Caruana won. In Group B Anish Giri scored again to lead the field by 1½ points. Big illustrated report from snow-covered Wijk.

1/19/2010 – A complicated position arose during time trouble in Tomashevsky (2708) vs Fier (2653). The pawn structure leaves us in no doubt: it was a King's Indian. The sacrifice 35...Bxg4 is on the cards, but calculating through all the consequences accurately is hardly possible. What does your intuition tell you?
A) The sacrifice is unsound. Black does not get sufficient compensation.
B) The sacrifice is playable. The position remains balanced.
C) 35...Bxg4 decides the game in Black's favour.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

1/19/2010 – Vassily Ivanchuk needed 26 moves to finish off Loek van Wely. Magnus Carlsen had Nigel Short on the ropes, but let the British GM escape with a draw. Kramnik was in trouble against Tiviakov but survived. Alexei Shirov scored his fourth win in succession, to lead with a 4.0/4 score and a 3483 performance. You'd think that was a record, but he will have to win the next five games to do that. Curious?

1/19/2010 – Edgar Colle (1897–1932) was a Belgian chess who scored excellent results in world-class tournaments. He died tragically at the age of 34, and is mainly remembered for the Colle Opening System 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3. This, as Dennis Monokroussos relates in this week's Playchess lecture, was not what he was able to play in a beautiful game against Ernst Grünfeld. Be there at 9 p.m. EST.

1/18/2010 – Shirov won two in a row, Carlsen and Nakamura drew first blood – those are the stories from the Super-GM in Wijk aan Zee. But there is something extraordinary in the B-Group: a 15-year-old has won his first two games, both in dashing style, to take the lead. According to a Dutch newspaper Anish Giri holds the "promise of greatness in Dutch chess". Special report.

1/18/2010 – What a round: White lost no fewer than four games in the top group, without winning any. Alexei Shirov continued his storm in the Dutch resort with a third victory in succession, beating Tiviakov. Nakamura, Ivanchuk and Carlsen also won their black games (Garry Kasparov was pleased as Punch about his protégé's victory). Round three report with beautiful photos by Fred Lucas.

1/17/2010 – With the world's strongest kibitzer watching anxiously Magnus Carlsen pulled off his first win in the Super-GM in Wijk aan Zee, beating Dutch GM Jan Smeets in a tense 41-move game. Nakamura played an aggressive, exciting win over Loek van Wely, and Alexei Shirov scored a second full point against Fabiano Caruana. In Group B Anish Giri won a second game and leads. Full report.