Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (26)

8/30/2009 – The Editor of Chess Notes reverts to the curious subject of missed mates, focusing on instances where chess authors have overlooked a mate in one move. There is, for example, the case of the hapless writer who blundered immediately after mentioning an identical oversight by someone else. And what about the suggestion that even Alekhine missed a mate in one?

Iranian GM smashes Guinness simultaneous chess world record

8/30/2009 – 29-year-old Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob spent months preparing for the record attempt, which until then stood at 360 simultaneous games, set earlier this year by Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiev. Mahjoob broke it by taking on 500 opponents and scoring 397 wins, 90 draws, 13 loses (= 88.4%). The effort lasted over 18 hours and was closely followed by the Iranian TV. Big illustrated report with videos.

The world's biggest chess game – possibly by far

8/29/2009 – The chess board is 1200 x 1200 feet in size, with squares measuring 150 feet and pieces 30 to 60 feet in size. The best place to view the action is from the Kyffhäuser Monument in Thuringia, Germany, from an elevation of 1500 feet. The opponents are IM Elisabeth Pähtz, Germany's top female player, and an Internet community that votes every morning at 10 a.m. on their move. You can join in.

18th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival

8/28/2009 – This event is not just about the hundred or so players who compete for the $30,000 prize money. It gives the participants an opportunity to get a feel for the Arabian culture, to meet the people and see their way of life. Fortunately we have a diligent reporter with a good camera and a great eye for visuals, who sent us this massive pictorial report. Impressions by Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh.

New – ChessBase Light 2009: know everything!

8/28/2009 – The recently improved "Reference" function of ChessBase Light 2009 is useful for more than just work on the opening. It is a powerful tool to use to prepare for a specific opponent. You can access and evaluate the relevant games quickly and simply, e.g. with a click of the mouse in the player index. This is vitally important for tournament and correspondence players. Take a look...

Arakhamia-Grant wins Baltic Queens

8/27/2009 – Originally from Georgia, GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant has lived in Scotland for the past thirteen years. The second seed took sole first place in the Baltic Queen Tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia, with 6.0/9 points and a 2558 performance. Second was another migrant player: IM Ekaterina Atalik, originally from Russia, now living in and playing for Turkey. Pictorial report with interview.

Breakthrough performance by Pocket Fritz 4 in Buenos Aires

8/27/2009 – The Mercosur Cup in Argentina is unusual since it is one of the few remaining chess tournaments where a computer is allowed to compete. Not a full quad or oct monster, but the handheld Pocket PC. Last year Pocket Fritz 3 won comfortably, and this year it was Pocket Fritz 4 based on the new Hiarcs 13.0 engine. You don't want to know what the program did in Buenos Aires. Or do you?

The 'Spy' in Fritz

8/27/2009 – Fritz 11's "Spy" function is sometimes misunderstood and often underutilized by amateur players for whom the feature is intended. Learn more about "Spy" – a sort of "mega Threat" function, which is always switched on, in the newest ChessBase Workshop.

FIDE Grand Prix 2008/2009 standings – Aronian wins

8/26/2009 – With one tournament still left Levon Aronian is already the winner of the 2008/2009 FIDE Grand Prix. The Armenian GM has collected a total of 500 points from two GP victories and his second place in Jermuk. Since nobody else can catch him – the best three of four tournaments are used – the final Grand Prix, still to be announced, will not change the status of the winner. Rules, points and tables.

Six million dollar World Chess Championship in Las Vegas?

8/25/2009 – Remember Ripley? A recent announcement tells us that there will be an official World Chess Championship match, starting on December 1st in Las Vegas. No, Anand is not part of it, nor is Topalov, Kamsky, Kasparov, Kramnik or any of the usual crowd. You are going to have to click through to our news page to find out who is playing who. We bring you the official press release.

NH: Ashes to ashes – Experience leads 13.5:11.5

8/25/2009 – One was hit by a bug – the biological kind –, the other by an as yet unexplained passion for cricket. But Hikaru Nakamura managed to win a brilliancy in spite of two emergency trips to the bathroom during the game. And Peter Svidler has regained all his normal determination after England had won the Ashes and he could concentrate on chess. Report by Steve Giddins, pictures by John Nunn.

Serge 'n Kath: interviews with the youngest Super-GM couple

8/25/2009 – Recently Sergey Karjakin, once the youngest GM in chess history, and WIM Kateryana Dolzhikova, student of English linguistics, were married. After a brief honeymoon in the Crimea the two rushed to Jermuk, where Sergey played in the Fifth FIDE Grand Prix. Press officer Lilit Mkrtchian spoke to the pair about marriage, plans, chess and general interests. Interviews.

Opening surveys in ChessBase Magazine 131

8/25/2009 – We are once more publishing one of the 11 classical opening articles from ChessBase Magazine as a freebie. The subject is a line of the Najdorf Variation with 6.Bg5; namely the black move 7…Nbd7 and the extremely venomous reply 8.Bc4. What is special about it is that if Black plays "normal" Sicilian moves, he regularly collapses. 8.Bc4 could even be described as a trap, because the player with Black must know what to do; the correct move order will hardly be found over the board. The Israeli grandmaster Evgeny Postny explains to you exactly how White can be successful against almost all moves by Black... and of course what the single correct move is.
Complete overview of ChessBase Magazine 131
Postny: Najdorf with 7…Nbd7 8.Bc4

New and blindingly fast: ChessBase Light 2009

8/25/2009 – Imagine getting all the most recent games for any position, or all of a specific player, in less than a second. From a four-million-game database that is kept up-to-date without you having to do a stroke of work. And imagine you can get that all for free, with one single download, today. If you are satisfied you can upgrade to the full Premium version. ChessBase Light 2009 yours for the taking.

Vladimir Kramnik wins Champions Rapid in Zurich

8/24/2009 – It was a weekend of the world champions. After playing simuls against 200 opponents, marking the 200th jubilee of the world's oldest chess club, eight champions took part in an all-play-all rapid chess tournament in Zurich, Switzerland. It was won by the 14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, with the current World Champion in second place. Report with pictures and videos.

Jermuk R13: Ivanchuk wins fifth FIDE Grand Prix

8/23/2009 – Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk won his final game in Jermuk with the black pieces against Vladimir Akopian to take overall victory with 8.5/13 points and a performance of 2830. Lev Aronian and Boris Gelfand won their games to take equal 2nd-3rd. Gelfand beat Peter Leko, who had been leading for most of the tournament, and was relegated to 4-6th place. Final report.

Fritz11's 'Threat feature'

8/23/2009 – Steve Lopez, our ChessBase Workshop columnist, contends in his latest article that the ability to recognize threats is one of the most important chess skills for a beginner to cultivate, and describes how Fritz11's "Threat" function will help in that endeavor. Find out more about it in the latest Workshop.

The coach in Fritz11

8/22/2009 – In our continuing ChessBase Workshop series discussing Fritz11 features for beginners we look at Fritz' electronic chess coach. Need a hint? Want a takeback? The Fritz Coach not only lets you take back moves but also alerts you to your errors in the first place. Learn more about the Coach feature in the newest ChessBase Workshop.

Jermuk R11: Eljanov, Inarkiev win, lead unchanged

8/22/2009 – The Fifth FIDE Grand Prix continues to produce fighting chess. A relatively low 61% of the games so far were drawn, but only two of 47 draws were in less than 25 moves. In round eleven there was one 31-mover, the rest 40 moves or more. And two decisive games, which however left the top of the table unchanged. Full report with more beautiful pictures by Arman Karakhanyan.

NH Tournament: Experience Grandmasters lead 6.0-4.0

8/22/2009 – This Dutch event pits five talented young players against five older and experienced colleagues. In the past the latter kept getting whupped, so the organisers decided that the Experience team needed a little less experience and a little more youthful energy. The strategy seems to be succeeding, as the younger older players are in the lead after two rounds. Steve Giddins on GMs and GOMs.

Russia vs. China: China leads 25.5-24.5

8/22/2009 – For a number of years now, the annual Russia versus China match has served as an opportunity for the perennial powerhouse to match wits with the rising star. Russia took the inaugural match, but China took the next three. Last year, dissatisfied with recent results, Russia turned the tables once more. This year marks the sixth such much and China currently looms large.

Jermuk R12: Gelfand beats Kasimdzhanov, six players in contention

8/22/2009 – Another exciting round: Israeli GM Boris Gelfand beat former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov with the black pieces, knocking the Uzbek from the lead trio and into the chasing pack. Gelfand joined him, Alekseev and Aronian, a half-point behind the leaders. The thrilling conclusion comes on Sunday, with the games starting at 13:30 (instead of 15:00) local time = GMT+4. R12 report.

Swedish Astronaut to play Chess from Space

8/21/2009 – Remember American astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who a year ago played chess against the NASA ground stations. Well, now European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang, Sweden, is going to do the same, playing a game against the Swedish public. Right now Fuglesang is in quarantine awaiting an August 24th launch. But the game has already started, and you can take part.

Balkan Grand Prix: Pleasure in Cetinje

8/21/2009 – Instituted this year, the Balkan Grand Prix serves as an effort to promote increased cooperation and interaction between the Balkan countries: Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Romania. In the recently completed second stage of this Grand Prix, Bulgarian grandmaster, Dejan Bojkov, finished on top. His report and pictorial impressions follow.