FM Raja Panjwani takes Canadian Junior Championship

8/7/2009 – In Canadian youth and junior chess, a number of names are becoming difficult to forget, but note these two: FMs Raja Panjwani and Eric Hansen. They will not be going away anytime soon, as indicated by recent performances at the Victoria Summer Chess Festival. With the Bluvshtein-Nakamura encounter serving as a warm up to the main events, things just got better from there.

Tromsø 2009 – four lead in Arctic Chess Challenge

8/6/2009 – At the Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø 120 players are competing in the year’s most prestigious Norwegian event. After five of nine rounds there are four players in the lead. Three are GMs, one a female, but the fourth is of particular interest: 14-year-old US American IM Ray Robson, whom some people are calling the new Bobby Fischer. Pictorial report by IM Torstein Bae.

Putting all your eggs into one basket

8/5/2009 – The Grünfeld Defense is a very popular opening, and with good reason. It's fundamentally sound, yet dynamic, which means that Black gets fairly good winning chances without doing anything too insane. But not without risks, as Dennis Monokroussos shows us in his Wednesday night Playchess lecture. 9 p.m. ET.

Coming soon to a Divan close to you – London honours its chess greats

8/5/2009 – Yes, it's that time of year again! London's premier chess event in recent years returns to action on Saturday 8 August, at its traditional home of Simpsons-in-the-Strand. It is a double-round Scheveningen between England and Holland, with each side fielding five of their top players. The event is once again sponsored by Dutch chess maecenas Jan Mol, and will be broadcast on the Internet.

Sergey and Kateryna tie the knot

8/5/2009 – My, how time flies. Only last week (it seems) they were cute little kids, and now they are all grown up and have started to marry. Sergey Karjakin became internationally famous when he completed his GM norms at the record-breaking age of 12. That was in 2002. Today he is nineteen and a world-class GM. His bride is WIM Kateryna Dolzhikova, 20. Congratulations to the happy couple.

Chess Classic: Mamedyarov wins Ordix Open

8/4/2009 – As always, the ORDIX Open at the Chess Classic in Mainz was decided in the final rounds, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beating Hikaru Nakamura, USA, in a critical penultimate game. The Azeri grandmaster won the event with a record-breaking ten points from eleven games. Vugar Gashimov, Vladimir Akopian and Arkadij Naiditsch followed with 9.5 points. Illustrated report.

Solution to the CBM competition

8/4/2009 – Apparently there is no single Kramnik game which by its class is considered to stand out from all the others (as is, for example, the case for Kasparov's famous sacrificial attack against Topalov, Wijk 1999). However, the favourite games by the Russian player sent in to us by readers represent a great variety of important and beautiful victories. This is our lucky winner…

2009 Politiken Cup: Negi Nails Nordic Natives

8/4/2009 – The Politiken Cup has been an annual tradition, as a part of the Copenhagen Chess Festival. This year's edition, running from July 18-26, served also as the Nordic Chess Championship. GMs Parimarjan Negi and Boris Avruk ultimately emerged victorious in the overall championship, though the locals gave them a run for their money. Annotation by Negi.

Toshkent Xokimi kubogi: What we say in Uzbek for 'Tashkent Mayor's Cup'

8/3/2009 – Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, one of the world’s oldest cities, is celebrating its 2200-year anniversary this year. Among other events was an open chess tournament, seeing the top players from Uzbekistan and neighboring countries. Organized by the Mayor’s Office and Tashkent Chess Federation, it was the first edition of what, it is hoped, will turn into a traditional event.

Tiger Lilov’s Chess Show: Plan like a Grandmaster! – Part 2

8/3/2009 – Bulgarian chess trainer FM Valeri Lilov, rated 2411, has a weekly show on Playchess.com. On Mondays at 20:00h CEST (7 p.m. London, 2 p.m. New York) he presents practical chess problems and interesting themes based on games taken from recent super-tournaments. This time he will focus on the Planning in the games of grandmasters, with live audio commentary. Take a look, it’s free!

Ordix Open: eight players lead with 5-0

8/2/2009 – The ORDIX Open is a fixed date in the chess calendar for many rapid chess lovers and, this year no fewer than 694 participants made the pilgrimage to the Mainz Chess Classic. After the first five rounds, there are still eight players with a clean sheet: Grischuk, Sargissian, Meier, Mamedyarov, Naiditsch, Navara, Landa and Nielsen. Six more rounds are being played on Sunday. Illustrated report.

Chess Classic: Aronian wins final in smooth style

8/2/2009 – After World Champion Vishy Anand failed to qualify for the final of the GrenkeLeasing Rapid World Championship, Levon Aronian was clear favorite to win the title against Ian Nepomniachtchi. And indeed, the Armenian had no trouble beating his young opponent 3-1. The only surprise was how easily he seemed to do it. Anand drew his match for third place with Arkadij Naiditsch. Final report.

Chess Classic: Rybka wins Chess960 Computer World Championship

8/2/2009 – Remember Bobby Fischer winning US Championships – and Candidates matches – with incredible "to zero" scores? The American computer program Rybka reminded everyone of her (Rybka is female) famous human compatriot by winning the Chess960 World Championship qualifier 11.5/12. In the final Rybka beat her main rival Shredder 3:1. Congratulations to author Vasik Rajlich.

Tromsø 2009 – the Arctic Chess Challenge

8/2/2009 – The Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø is this year’s most prestigious event in Norway. More than 35 titled players are taking part, including 13 GMs. Top seed is Polish GM Bartosz Socko, rated 2656, with three more super-GMs just below him. The tournament is truly an international open: the 118 participants hail from 26 countries, and from all parts of the world. Pictorial report.

Chess Classic: 'That’s life: if you play badly you get punished'

8/2/2009 – These words come from the eleven-time Chess Classic winner Vishy Anand, who failed to qualify this time for the final on Sunday. Anand had a good position in his must-win game against Ian Nepomniachtchi – Q+2P vs Q – but only managed a draw. Levon Aronian, on the other hand, beat Naiditsch to secure his place one round before the end. Aronian plays Nepomniachtchi in the final.

Chess Classic: Grischuk wins FiNet Chess 960 Open

8/1/2009 – In Chess960 the pieces are shuffled before the start of each game – to eliminate all opening preparation. But does that render top GMs helpless? It does not. For a long stretch Gata Kamsky, was leading. He lost to former world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov in the final round, so that the winner in the end was top seed Alexander Grischuk. Report with lovely pictures by Christian Bossert.

Chess Classic: Bad start for the World Champion

8/1/2009 – The first day of the Rapid Chess World Championship in Mainz brought a nasty shock for the eleven-fold Chess Classic winner Vishy Anand, who lost his first two games, both with white, to Levon Aronian and newcomer Ian Nepomniachtchi. Anand retained chances to enter the final on Sunday by beating Arkadij Naiditsch in the third game. Aronian and Nepomniachtchi lead with 2.5/3. Illustrated report.

2009 Victoria Summer Chess Festival: National Champions clash

7/31/2009 – From July 20-28, Victoria, British Columbia played host to a number of events, including the Canadian Youth and Junior Chess Championships, and the British Columbia Open. Well attended and well received, the festival was highlighted by an encounter between GMs Mark Bluvshtein and Hikaru Nakamura during the opening ceremonies. Pictorial report.

A mating attack against the long castle...

7/31/2009 – ... is almost half done with a bishop placed on d3 (d6), keeping the enemy king in the c-file. Here Black sent out a clear signal with 23. ... Qxa2 - the white king is to be hunted down with 24...Nb3+. How do you judge the situation now?
A) Checkmate can only be prevented by giving up the queen, leaving Black on the victory path;
B) Thanks to Black's back rank weakness, White just so manages to escape into a roughly equal endgame;
C) White actually wins.
The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

Chess Classic: Nakamura wins 960 World Championship

7/31/2009 – On the first day of the Chess960 World Rapid Chess Championship in Mainz Levon Aronian had dominated, winning all three of his games. On the second day US GM Hikaru Nakamura had won all of his to get into the finals. And there he beat Aronian in the first three of four games to take the 2009 title of 960 World Championship. Illustrated report. with video.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wins Biel 2009

7/31/2009 – At 14 years and four months he was the ninth youngest GM in history. Today, at eighteen, he is rated 2703 and number 29 in the world. The French GM was leading after nine rounds, and with all three games from round ten being drawn he retained his half-point lead to take sole victory in the tournament. Alexander Morozevich and Vassily Ivanchuk took Silver and Bronze. Final report.

2009 Villarrobledo Rapid Tournament: Naiditsch edges the field

7/31/2009 – The annual rapid tournament of Villarrobledo, Spain, concluded a few days ago, with good news for German fans. GM Arkadi Naiditsch finished clear first, with a solid 7.5/9, leaving the likes of GMs Alexei Shirov and Alexander Grischuk in his wake. Though an impressive showing, the victory was not without some serious adversity. Illustrated report.

Biel 2009: Morozevich beats Ivanchuk, Vachier leads

7/30/2009 – Alexander Morozevich continues his roller coaster play with a win over tournament leader Vassily Ivanchuk (who essentially dropped a rook). The Russian GM has single-handedly contributed to the low 63% draw ratio in this event, having drawn only two games in nine rounds. French GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave drew his game against Boris Gelfand and is now alone in the lead. One round left.

Chess Classic: Nakamura's comeback

7/30/2009 – On the first day of the Chess960 World Championship in Mainz a somewhat jet-lagged Hikaru Nakamura had scored a disappointing 1.0/3 points. On the second day the American GM fought back, winning all three games and bringing Levon Aronian into the danger zone of not qualifying for the final. But the Armenian did and Thursday will bring a clash between the two.