10/9/2009 – ... on enemy territory. That was the theme in this game where White, a piece down, after 49....Be8 (diagram) was facing a difficult choice. Which evaluation of the position is correct?
A) the first player must give perpetual check;
B) he decides the game with 50.Qe4;
C) he wins, but with another move.

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

10/9/2009 – Magnus Carlsen drew the black side of a Grünfeld against Teimour Radjabov in the penultimate round to secure sole victory in this Super-GM event. Carlsen has 7.0/9 (= +5), two more than his nearest rival, and his performance so far is 2981. The other two games were also drawn, with all three showing good fighting spirit. Full illustrated report.

10/8/2009 – At two in the morning she summoned the hotel doctor, who diagnosed chicken pox. Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong decided that WGM Batkhuyag Mungutuul of Mongolia could continue playing, in an isolated room, with a face mask and sergical gloves. In the meantime Marie Sebag lost to Baira Kovanova and handed the lead over back to Nana Dzagnidze and Xu Yuhua. Pictorial report.

10/8/2009 – The wait is over, the English language version of Fritz 12 is now available and shipping to our customers all over the world. It represents a complete rewrite of the famous Fritz interface. The program has been modernized to comply with Microsoft’s “Fluent UI” standard – anyone who knows Office 2007 will feel immediately at home in Fritz 12. Take a look.

10/8/2009 – It was a splendid idea – why aren't more people doing it? – a match between a Nairobi chess club and a very strong Dutch team. The latter won 6-0, but the former had the pleasure of playing Jan Timman and other great player. All of this was conducted via the Internet on Playchess.com, and cost a fraction of what a face-to-face would have entailed. Big pictorial report by Mehul Gohil.

10/8/2009 – After the comet-like start of Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze a new star has risen in the Nanjing Women's Grand Prix. With a win over former Women's World Champion Zhu Chen it is now French GM Marie Sebag who is in the sole lead. She is followed by Dzagnidze and Chinese GM Xu Yuhua. Pictorial report with commentary by FM Geoffrey Borg.

10/7/2009 – When he is not watching his charge, chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen, on Playchess, Garry Kasparov is talking to the media giants. CNN's Becky Anderson discussed chess, computers and Russian politics with him. "I started from a totally lost position," says Kasparov on the last subject, "but the Russian opposition still exists." Four and a half minute interview.

10/6/2009 – Whenever an opposing passed pawn reaches the seventh rank, the highest level of alarm is appropriate. But if it is possible to neutralise all possible dangers, such a passed pawn can even turn out to be a decisive weakness. In the fourth round of the Pearl Spring Tournament in Nanjing precisely this subject was up for discussion in the game between Jakovenko and Carlsen. (Diagram, White to move). Thanks to some inaccuracies on the part of his opponent, Magnus Carlsen was able to gather in both the opposing passed pawn and the full point. GM Karsten Müller has analysed the endgame Jakovenko-Carlsen for CBM Online.

10/6/2009 – GM Nana Dzagnidze was dragged back down to earth, by local player WGM Shen Yang, who beat her with the black pieces. That brought the Georgian's performance down to 2576. Meanwhile French GM Marie Sebag beat Betul Yildiz, also with the black pieces, to catch Dzagnidze at the top of the table. Two Chinese GMs follow half a point behind. Big illustrated report and commentary.

10/6/2009 – Both had dodgy positions out of the opening, both showed great fighting spirit and worked their way back into the game, ultimately to take the full point. Veselin Topalov beat Peter Leko with the black pieces, and Magnus Carlsen won his fifth game in this event, against Wang Yue. Jakovenko beat Radjabov in 72 moves. Round eight report with commentary by IM Oliver Reeh.

10/5/2009 – She won the first four games, then lost game five. After a splendid rest day, consisting of a visit to the visited the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace and a ride along the river canals of Nanjing, GM Nana Dzagnidze took up her winning ways with a victory over former Women's World Champion Xu Yuhua. She leads by a full point, ahead of Marie Sebag. Pictorial report with commentary.

10/5/2009 – The most anticipated game of the day was Veselin Topalov vs Magnus Carlsen. The ensuing Sveshnikov saw a well-prepared Carlsen hold the world's number one ranked player to a relatively effortless draw in just over an hour. Wang Yue-Jakovenko was an interesting Gruenfeld that was drawn in 42 moves. Radjabov-Leko was a less interesting 34-move draw. Illustrated report.