Linares R8: Aronian beats Carlsen with black

3/1/2009 – All four games were very hard-fought, but three ended in a draw, with black pressing on all three boards. In the fourth game is was black again, with Levon Aronian gaining an advantage against Magnus Carlsen in a well-prepared Semi-Slav. It took the Armenian GM 6½ hours and 93 moves to overcome the resistance of his young Norwegian opponent. Grischuk still leads by a full point. Round eight report.

Solutions to our studies and problems

3/1/2009 – In the last week we brought you two spectacular puzzles taken from the Corus Studies Day in Wijk aan Zee, and we also reported on the 2009 British Problem Solving Championship, presenting three problems from that event. Naturally all of this without revealing the solutions, which we do today. Prepare for some unbelievable lines and unique positional ideas in these celestial solutions.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (17)

2/28/2009 – The Editor of Chess Notes presents a compilation of photographs, engravings and sketches of Howard Staunton (1810-1874). They include art-work by Sam Loyd and a group photograph taken at Redcar, 1866 which has come to light only recently. Much of Staunton’s life is shrouded in mystery, and the origin of some of the pictures is unknown. Enjoy a rich compendium of historic illustrations.

Harikrishna wins category 13 in Nancy, France

2/28/2009 – 200 players in 19 different tournaments took part in the 7th International Chess Festival in Nancy from 16 to 22 of February 2009. This town is located in the east of France, between Paris and Strasbourg. The tournament system is unusual: the players are divided into groups of ten and play round robins. You will get to know a lot of new players in this giant pictorial report by IM Christophe Philippe.

The save/replace game dialogue - part 2

2/28/2009 – Our examination of game headers continues in the latest ChessBase Workshop. When you load a game and then save or replace it there are certain important things to consider. You'll discover quite a number of "hidden" fields that are used to correctly maintain tournament information as we unlock the mysteries in our latest Workshop installment.

Linares R7: Ivanchuk beats Aronian with black

2/27/2009 – The King's Indian has been doing well in Linares. Black hasn't lost a single game, and today Vassily Ivanchuk scored a victory with it, against Levon Aronian. Vishy Anand used his white game against Alexander Grischuk to experiment with his new 1.d4 repertoire, Grischuk was happy to draw. The other two games were also drawn. Report with annotations by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

The Bjerring Variation – something new in the Dragon

2/27/2009 – Players of the Dragon are traditionally interested in a certain number of “bottlenecks” – i.e. variations which are very critical and which cause them a lot of concern in their games. The lines after 9.0-0-0 have been pretty unpromising. In ChessBase Magazine 114 André Schulz took a long and hard look at the move 12...Nxc3!, which he baptised the Bjerring Variation. Add it to your repertoire.

Sergey Karjakin wins Aeroflot Blitz Qualifier

2/27/2009 – As part of the Aeroflot Open Chess Festival one more big event was held in Moscow. 165 players took part in the Qualification Tournament for the World Blitz Championship, among them over a hundred grandmasters. For the majority the blitz tournament was part of playing in the Aeroflot Open, but some arrived in Moscow only to qualify for the World Blitz. Photo report by WGM Yana Melnikova.

Linares R6: Carlsen defeats Anand, Grischuk leads

2/26/2009 – Two big sensations in round six: Magnus Carlsen beat World Champion Vishy Anand, and did so convincingly, with remarkable techincal skill. Alexander Grischuk defeated Levon Aronian to increase his lead in this event to a full point. Sorry, three sensations: the incalculable Vassily Ivanchuk agreed to a draw in a winning position. Report with GM commentary and pictorial impressions.

Sofia R7: Topalov beats Kamsky, wins candidates match

2/26/2009 – Veselin Topalov sacrificed a pawn in a Tarrasch, which Gata Kamsky took. By move 25 it looked like the American GM had winning chances. But in time trouble he blew a number of opportunities and went down to the counterplay of his opponent. That means Topalov has 4.5:2.5 points and is the winner of the eight-game match. Final report with commentary by GM Mihail Marin.

Etienne Bacrot wins Aeroflot Open 2009

2/26/2009 – Things didn't look that good for France's top GM, until victories in the last two rounds put him at the top of the table and gave him first place on tiebreak points. Second, with the same number of points (6.5/9) was Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine. We bring you all results and games from the top group, plus, from wintry Moscow, a big photo report by WGM Yana Melnikova.

Linares R5: All games drawn, miracle save by Anand

2/25/2009 – "Who said beating a World Champion is easy?" asks our annotator. And indeed, after running into an opening problem against Vassily Ivanchuk, Vishy Anand used some miraculous stalemate motifs to save the game. All the other games were also drawn, Dominguez-Radjabov being the most volatile. Pictures, annotations by GM Dorian Rogozenco, video interviews and another truly atrocious pun.

David Janowski vs Edward Lasker, New York 1924

2/25/2009 – Many of the games from this legendary tournament, which included three world champions and three challengers, are well-known – they are included in anthologies and textbooks. But here's one that you probably do not know. In his Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us the fantasy adventure that occurred in Janowski-Ed. Lasker. See you at 9 p.m. ET.

Georgiev breaks Guinness Simul Record

2/25/2009 – After a month of training – mainly walking and saunas – Kiril Georgiev was ready to take the challenge and play a simultaneous exhibition against 360 opponents. For every move the Bulgarian GM had to walk half a kilometer, and after six hours of play had made only eight moves. After 14 hours it was over, he had scored 88% with 284 wins, 70 draws and 6 losses. The record was broken!

British Chess Problem Solving Championship

2/25/2009 – It is hard to assess whether chess is becoming more popular, but one chess activity is rapidly expanding: problem solving. Most European countries now have a national solving championship, and every year there is a world championship for individuals and countries. The 2009 British Championship was held at Oakham School and won by guess who. Report by John Nunn (with problems).

Sofia R6: Game drawn, Topalov leads 3.5:2.5

2/24/2009 – In the sixth game of their eight-game match Topalov played the Caro-Kann as black (no Sicilian yet in this match) and once again produced the novelty – on move eleven. Kamsky was not able to gain or hold a tangible advantage, and so the game became drawish. In the end he gave Topalov a pawn and drew by perpetual. GM commentary by Mihail Marin.

Aeroflot Open 2009 – photographic impressions

2/24/2009 – What was missing from our reports on the Aeroflot Open? Why pictures, visual impressions of the action. Not a single one was on the official site, and so it was a pleasant surprise when a colleague sent us a very nice bunch from Moscow. The include some critical shots of the contentious game Mamedyarov-Kurnosov from round six. From Moscow here is Misha Savinov's big pictorial report.

Linares R4: Aronian, Grischuk, Anand win

2/23/2009 – Vishy Anand outplayed Wang Yue with 1.d4, Alexander Grischuk punished the creative but over-optimistic play by Teimour Radjabov, while Levon Aronian laboured for 92 moves to overcome Leinier Dominguez' resistance an hour before midnight. After four rounds and before the free day Aronian and Grischuk lead with 3.0 points. Server statistics and annotations by GM Dorian Rogozenco.

Top seed Mamedyarov withdraws from Aeroflot Open

2/23/2009 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is the top seed in the 2009 edition of the Aeroflot Open in Moscow (February 17–26). After five rounds he was leading, together with Alexander Moiseenko and Igor Kurnosov. In round six he was crushed by Kurnosov in 21 moves. Mamedyarov filed an official complaint, essentially accusing his opponent of cheating, and withdrew from the event. Breaking news.

Solodovnichenko wins 69th Daniël Noteboom Tournament

2/23/2009 – Daniël Noteboom was a very promising Dutch player who had an Semi-Slav Variation named after him. Unfortunately he died of pneumonia in 1932 (before the age of medicine) at the age of just 21. This year the 69th memorial tournament was held, a 48-hour six-round Swiss, won by Ukrainian GM Yuri Solodovnichenko. Illustrated report by Frits Agterdenbos.

Anand on chess as a profession and on computers

2/23/2009 – World Champion Viswanathan Anand was one of the pioneers in the use of computers for chess. He started using chess database just months after Kasparov, and stuck with information technology ever since. In part two of his indepth interview Anand also speaks about books, professional chess and sporting heros. We have dug up some unique historical pictures.

Sofia R5: Topalov wins game five, leads 3:2

2/23/2009 – Gata Kamsky played the French with an isolated d-pawn, but was holding out well until move 35, when disaster struck in form of a blunder with a pawn loss. Veselin Topalov did not let the opportunity pass and netted a full point. The Bulgarian is now in the lead at 3.0:2:0, with three rounds to go. Our report today has tidbits from Sofia and GM commentary by Mihail Marin.

Corus Study Day – solution and new puzzles

2/22/2009 – Last week we had a report on the Corus Studies Day, where some of the world's best problem and study solvers were gathered and given nine tough studies to crack. The winner was 18-year-old Twan Burg ahead of double world champion John Nunn. In our report we gave you a sample of the studies they had to tackle. Today we bring you the solution and two incredible new studies to solve.

Sofia R4: Kamsky strikes back – wins in 73 moves

2/21/2009 – Gata Kamsky used the white pieces in game four to grind down his opponent Veselin Topalov and equalise the score in the FIDE Candidates match in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was an impressive performance by the American GM, who thwarted Topalov's attempts to complicate the position and punished them when the Bulgarian went too far. GM commentary in English and Romanian.