Wednesday night training on Playchess

11/11/2009 – Sammy Reshevsky (1911-1992) was at one time one of the strongest players in the world. He did have some weird weaknesses, though. Apart from time trouble and carelessness in opening preparation he had an apparent blind spot to stalemate. This is the subject of the Playchess lecture at 9 p.m. ET by FM Dennis Monokroussos. Before that IM Merijn van Delft discusses current games. Schedule.

Knight in the corner

11/11/2009 – "A knight on the rim is dim" - there is no aphorism which is known more widely to amateur players than this one. And although there are more than enough exceptions to this rule, the phrase naturally is also fully justified. All the more so when the case involves not just a knight on the edge of the board, but that rarely spotted example of the species: a knight in the corner. Recently, one such example caused Ivan Cheparinov all sorts of problems, when the sad-looking steed was corralled in the corner with the help of a bishop. GM Karsten Müller analyses the ending Cheparinov-Caruana for ChessBase Magazine Online.

Fischer's daughter Jinky files claim to his estate

11/11/2009 – Yesterday we published a report on an Icelandic court awarding Fischer's estate to his lawfully wedded wife Miyoko Watai. Today we received a message from Marilyn Young, Fischer's "Filipina live-in partner", who is seeking justice for her and Fischer's eight-year-old daughter Jinky. The two are on their way to Iceland to file their claim. Marilyn has sent us some fairly compelling photographic evidence.

Tal R06: Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand win

11/11/2009 – And Vladimir Kramnik has once again taken the sole lead, with plus three and a 2955 performance. In a remarkable game against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, Kramnik pressed for 81 moves until the Ukrainian's succumbed to zugzwang. Gelfand laid Aronian's Meran System to waste, Morozevich-Ivanchuk ended in a black victory by the masked chessplayer!

Iceland: Fischer's estate, his final resting place

11/10/2009 – The chess legend Bobby Fischer died in Iceland on January 17, 2008. He was buried in the compound of a church in Selfoss, 60 km from the capital Reykjavik. Since then there has been a battle over his estate, which is claimed by his nephews Alexander and Nicholas Targ. Now the Reykjavik District Court has ruled in favour of Fischer's lawfully wedded wife, Miyoko Watai. Pictorial report.

Gong interview with Silvio Danailov

11/9/2009 – "Veselin will rest on the Canary Islands, Anand rests on old laurels," is the title of the telephone interview by the Topalov manager in the Bulgarian sports newspaper Gong. Danailov expects that in the six months before the World Championship match in Sofia "the team of Anand will do everything possible to make us nervous." But they are ready, steeled by experience in Elista. Highlights.

The secrets of a top grandmaster

11/9/2009 – On the latest Elo rating list we find Pavel Eljanov at 2729 Elo points on place 17. In the live rankings, with his extraordinary European Team Championship results evaluated, he is number 11 in the world. The Ukrainian GM has been climbing steadly since April. His secret: enormous talent, hard work – and marriage! We bring you a photo report and an annotated brilliancy by Pavel Eljanov.

Tal R04: Kramnik beats Svidler, leads in Moscow

11/8/2009 – All games were drawn, except one: Vladimir Kramnik beat Peter Svidler in an Exchange Grünfeld that looked quite effortless on the part of the former World Champion. Magnus Carlsen, it was revealed, is suffering from a throat infection and has played his last three games with A fever. The Norwegian is now on antibiotics. Full report to follow, but here are the games and results.

Tal R03: Anand, Aronian, Kramnik draw first blood

11/7/2009 – At last: after ten drawn games in the first two rounds the public suddenly had three decisive games on the third day. Vishy Anand piled the pressure on Peter Svidler in an Exchange Grünfeld until the latter cracked; Levon Aronian outplayed Peter Leko in a Semi-Slav; and Vladimir Kramnik played another splendid game, defeating Alexander Morozevich with the black pieces. Round three report.

Five pieces lined up on the h-file...

11/6/2009 – ... we see in this position, where Black had just played ...Ng6-f4, attacking White's queen and rook. How would you assess the situation now?

A) The fork wins for Black; 
B) White can get away with perpetual check; 
C) He can actually give mate.

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

Tal R02: All games drawn – first win expected tomorrow

11/6/2009 – We are not complaining – yet. Two or three of today's games were quite exciting. But somehow we miss the rush of wins, and a table in which not everyone is in the lead. That will happen tomorrow. It must. Today it was Ponomariov and Ivanchuk who put some token pressure on Aronian and Svidler, but in the end the result was five draws. Round two report.

A rook ending worth its weight in gold

11/5/2009 – The European Team Championship in Novi Sad witnessed an exciting final round in which the decision as to who would win the gold medal came as the result of a rook ending. Vugar Gashimov, White, absolutely had to win in order to secure the title for the Azerbaijani team. Daniel Stellwagen, Black, was fighting for a draw. In the position shown in our diagram, which move would you have chosen as Black? Think carefully.
GM Karsten Müller has analysed the decisive phase of the endgame Gashimov-Stellwagen for ChessBase Magazine Online.

Tal Memorial begins today – live on Playchess

11/5/2009 – The annual Tal Memorial starts on Thursday, November 5th and ends on November 14th. At category 21 (average Elo 2764) it is one of the strongest of all time and includes Anand, Carlsen, Kramnik and Aronian. After this the World Blitz Championship will be held. We will be broadcasting the moves from Moscow live on Playchess, which soon celebrates a remarkable anniversary. Tournament details.

World Junior Championship – Impressions from Patagonia

11/5/2009 – This event, which ended on Tuesday, brought us lively games and a dramatic finish. But being staged in a remote place at the other end of the world there was a dearth of pictorial material. Which was a shame, since the venue, the southern end of South America, is scenically beautiful. Well, thank heavens for Åse Østebø, captain of the Norwegian squad. She has sent us this spectacular report.

Israeli double agent shot dead in Moscow

11/5/2009 – Shabtai Kalmanovich, a former Israeli double agent who penetrated Golda Meir's government on behalf of the KGB, has been shot dead in Moscow. An unidentified gunman fired at least 20 shots into his chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz. Why do we report this? Because Kalmanovich was a patron of women's basketball – and chess. News reports.

Tal R01: All games drawn – with plenty of excitement

11/5/2009 – Organisers don't like the 'all games drawn' headline. But in round one of the very strong Tal Memorial all were more or less hard fought. Carlsen, Anand and Leko had at some stage shaky positions against Kramnik, Ivanchuk and Morozevich respectively, but all three pulled it together and held draws. On Playchess the spectators spotted some fairly prominent kibitzers. Round one report.

Wednesday night training on Playchess

11/4/2009 – At 20:00h CET, IM Merijn van Delft holds his lecture on recent grandmaster games on the Playchess server. At 9 p.m. ET (03:00 a.m. CET) FM Dennis Monokroussos talks about the start of the Tal Memorial in Moscow on Thursday, about chess prodigies in general and Bobby Fischer in particular, with an instructive 1960 game. Free for Premium members.

Vachier-Lagrave, Soumya win World Junior

11/4/2009 – It was a very fateful final day at the World Junior in Argentina. French GM and top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave worked hard to win his final game and catch the leading Sergei Zhigalko from Belarus to take Gold and the title on tiebreak. In the women's section there was even greater drama. One player missed a special $33,000 prize by a few tiebreak points. Final round report.

Chess Players Association urges compromise

11/3/2009 – The recent controversy between GM Koneru Humpy, the second strongest female chess player in history, and D.V. Sundar, the Hon. Secretary of the All Indian Chess Federation, has brought us a spate of letters by our readers – and a press release of the CPAI, which represents the interests of the players, urging both parties to reach a settlement on all issues. Facts and opinions.

November 2009 FIDE ratings

11/2/2009 – Everyone knows the big news: Magnus Carlsen has crossed the 2800 barrier, the fifth player in history to do so, and is now in second place in the world rankings, just nine points behind the leader Veselin Topalov. World Champion Vishwanathan Anand remains in third place, with Levon Aronian in fourth and Vladimir Kramnik in fifth. Top rankings and statistics.

Zhigalko leads World Junior in Patagonia

11/2/2009 – Top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, rated 2718, is josting for top place with third seed Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus, rated 2646. In round nine both won their games and were equal first, in round ten Vachier played a quick draw, while Zhigalko won again to take the sole lead. No pictures of the chess action in Puerto Madryn, but we have received some very nice shots of whales.

Video report: Garry Kasparov at Your Next Move

11/2/2009 – "Think fast. Think under pressure. Think strategically. That’s how you win in business – and in chess." That's the motto of Your Next Move, an organisation that for the third time staged a chess event near Antwerp centered around Garry Kasparov. It was captured by the Belgian Sports TV company EXQI and is now available in extraordinary high definition. Must watch.

Anand defeats Karpov 3.5:0.5 in Corsica

11/2/2009 – Karpov is definitely not the player he once was. In the second half of his rapid chess match against Viswanathan Anand the former World Champion took a 0:2 beating. Surely this is due to lack of practice and modern training methods – a deficiency that can be remedied. We bring you the games and pictures from a chess event held in the birthplace of Napoléon Bonaparte.

Anand vs Karpov rapid chess match in Corsica

11/1/2009 – First there were 32-board simuls, against participants from the Corsica Masters. Reigning World Champion Anand won all his games, 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov conceded one draw, against a 15-year-old. Then they faced each other in the first of four rapid chess games. Anand won one, the second was drawn. The next two are scheduled for November 2nd. Illustrated report.