North Urals R7: Stefanova wins, followed by Ushenina, Sebag

8/3/2008 – It was the strongest women's tournament in history – category 11, Elo average 2522. The round robin North Urals Cup in Krasnoturinsk, Russia, was won by former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova, half a point ahead of Anna Ushenina and Marie Sebag. The event was a big disappointment for top seed Koneru Humpy, who played 114 points below her 2622 FIDE rating. Final report.

Mainz 2008: Anand on Carlsen, Morozevich and Polgar

8/1/2008 – The Grenkeleasing Rapid Chess World Championship begins on Friday. The record winner, Vishy Anand, is the favourite to win it again. Or is he? Magnus Carlsen, who is developing faster than anyone else; Alexander Morozevich, the most dangerously unorthodox player; and Judit Polgar, the most uncompromising – Anand weighs his chances against these opponents. Indepth interview.

FIDE Grand Prix in Sochi begins – Grischuk, Radjabov win

8/1/2008 – The Second FIDE Grand Prix Tournament is taking place in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, from July 30 to August 15, 2008, with 14 players from ten different countries. The field is dominated by Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who is 37 points ahead of the next highest ranked player in the field. In round one it was Alexander Grischuk and Teimour Radjabov who scored. Illustrated report.

Mainz 2008: Kosteniuk wins Chess960, Rybka and Shredder qualify

8/1/2008 – Alexandra Kosteniuk won the 2nd FiNet Chess960 Women's Rapid World Championship, beating Ukrainian GM Kateryna Lahno in the final of this shuffle chess variant. On the second day of the computer Chess960 world championship Rybka scored nine points out of twelve games, easily qualifying for the final against Shredder (6.5/12). Reports and games.

Biel R9: Alekseev beats Onischuk, Dominguez leads

7/31/2008 – Russian GM Evgeny Alekseev took a full point from Alexander Onischuk, USA, to join Magnus Carlsen in second place. Cuban grandmaster Leinier Dominguez, who in round nine had good chances against top seed Carlsen, is still a full point ahead and assured at least joint first in the tournament. The final round begins an hour earlier to accommodate possible tiebreaks. Round nine report.

Evonik and Gazprom are the World Championship sponsors

7/31/2008 – The main sponsors of the World Chess Championship from October 14 to November 2 in Bonn, Germany, are: Evonik Industries, which operates in chemicals, energy and real estate and turns over 14.4 billion Euros per year; and Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company, with a capitalization of over US $300 billion (it is one of the world's three largest energy companies). Full details.

Mainz 2008: Kosteniuk and Lahno in Women's Chess960 final

7/31/2008 – Chess960 is a form of Fischer Random Chess, where the pieces are shuffled (symmetrically) for the starting position of the game. At the Chess Classic in Mainz the Women's Rapid World Championship Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russia, and Kateryna Lahno, Ukraine have qualified for the final. In the computer championship Rybka and Naum lead. Full reports and games.

North Urals: An active day off for active players

7/31/2008 – Three arduous rounds of chess, one nice day of rest, but not by any means of inactivity. The eight participants of the strongest women's chess tournament of all time made a trip to the river, where you throw in coins to ensure your return. Then a festive dinner. Speeches. Then Karaoke. Then some dance moves. Free day report, richly illustrated with pictures by Vadim Smalkov.

Biel R10: Alekseev catches Dominguez, wins tiebreak

7/31/2008 – What a turn of events! Russian GM Evgeny Alekseev caught the leader, Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez, who had been coasting to sole victory. Alekseev beat Pelletier, while Dominguez succumbed to revitalised French GM Etienne Bacrot. Magnus Carlsen was unable to overcome Alexander Onischuk's defence. In the tiebreak Alekseev won the second blitz game to take overall victory. Express report.

Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (6)

7/30/2008 – The smothered mate is one of the most attractive themes in chess, and the Editor of Chess Notes recalls a range of cases from over-the-board play, starting with the basic, familiar pattern. One of the other specimens, which occurred in a 1926 game, has to be seen to be believed: the black king is choked by eight ‘friendly’ pieces and pawns. Discover these variations on a theme.

Mainz 2008: Anand breaks Mainz simultaneous record

7/29/2008 – Simultaneous events are chess spectacles. Only a few games make it to the textbooks, and the atmosphere is informal and noisy. But Vishy Anand seems undisturbed, concentrating only on breaking a record. He does, finishing with a single draw conceded. The record he broke (four draws in 40 games) was set in Mainz in 1994 – by Vishy Anand! Report on simul and press conference.

Biel R8: Dominguez wins, Pelletier draws

7/29/2008 – The news is that the Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez defeated Evgeny Alekseev from Russia with the black pieces, taking a full point lead in Biel. Magnus Carlsen made it possible by drawing with black against Etienne Bacrot. The other newsworthy item: Yannick Pelletier managed to chalk up a second draw, against Onischuk, to bring his total to one point. Round eight report.

The Immortal Suffocation Game

7/29/2008 – An exaggeration? Maybe, but if it is, it's not much of one. In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos looks at an unusual game by the great Cuban world champion José Raúl Capablanca, played in Karlsbad against Czech master Karel Treybal, in which locking up the board was the key to success. Come watch this impressive game unfold.

North Urals R3: Humpy beats Cramling, Stefanova leads

7/29/2008 – Two games ended in short draws, one (Ushenina vs Stefanova) in 14 moves, one (Xu-Muzychuk) in 18. Apparently this was the calm after the storm. Koneru Humpy recovered from her two shock defeats with a victory over Pia Cramling, while Marie Sebag battered away, in vain, at Natalija Pogonina for 117 moves. Round three report with more beautiful pictures by Vadim Smalkov.

Rybka 3.0 – All you need to know about the new program

7/29/2008 – Does it run on 64-bit machines? Is it optimised for the 64-bit environment? Do we get two engines, one for 32 and one for 64 bit systems? These were the most common questions we received after announcing our new Rybka 3 chess engine. And what are the most important new functions? How do they help with training and analysis? Here are the answers.

North Urals R2: Stefanova leads 2-0, Humpy slumps with 0-2

7/28/2008 – Shocking: top seed and second strongest female player in the world, GM Koneru Humpy of India, lost her first two games in the North Urals Cup. On the other hand former World Women's Champion Antoaneta Stefanova won both her games to take the lead in in this strongest women's event in history. We bring you games, results, interviews, and a spectacular pictorial by Vadim Smalkov.

ChessBase photo reporter Tiviakov wins Politiken Cup

7/28/2008 – He spends an inordinate amount of time taking pictures, selecting and sorting them, giving them proper file names, so that the editors can make proper reports. Somewhere in the middle of it all Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov finds time to actually participate, play his games – and even to win. He took the Politiken Cup 2008 in Helsingør, Denmark on tiebreak points. Illustrated (of course) report.

Biel R7: Dominguez, Alekseev, Bacrot win, Dominguez leads

7/28/2008 – We had almost forgotten that it was possible: Magnus Carlsen can lose a game. The Norwegian pressed for a win against Evgeny Alekseev for over 70 moves and then lost a pawn race. Leinier Dominguez defeated the luckless Yannick Pelletier to take over the lead from Carlsen, and Etienne Bacrot continued his comeback with a black win over Alexander Onischuk. Round seven report.

Biel R6: Carlsen, Dominguez and Bacrot win

7/27/2008 – All three games reached decisions in round six of the Biel GM tournament. Magnus Carlsen defeated Yannick Pelletier with the black pieces, while co-leader Evgeny Alekseev imploded against Etienne Bacrot. Alexander Onischuk got into trouble against Leinier Dominguez, then turned the game into a theoretical draw, only to lose it when his Cuban opponent played on. Exciting games.

It has started – the North Urals Cup 2008

7/27/2008 – A low drawing ratio, fighting chess, grandmasters, girls with curls – this is what makes women's chess so attractive. The North Urals Cup 2008 begins today, with GM Koneru Humpy, GM Antoaneta Stefanova, GM Pia Cramling, IM Marie Sebag, IM Anna Muzychuk, GM Xu Yuhua (world champions), IM Anna Ushenina and WGM Natalija Pogonina. Pictorial, interview with Xu Yuhua.

Asian Youth Championship – a story told in pictures

7/26/2008 – "When you see the beautiful eyes of an eight-year-old girl filled with tears, you think to yourself, is chess really worth it? But when she has forgotten her stupid blunder and starts to play against her next opponent, you realize that she may have lost her game, but she has won something that without chess she could never have experienced." Pictorial impressions from by FM Arash Akbarinia.

'Topalov has not signed' – Challenger Match in doubt?

7/25/2008 – Just when we thought everything was settled for a World Championship Challengers' Match between Gata Kamsky and Veselin Topalov in Lvov, Ukraine – November 26 to December 14 – Topalov's manager Silvio Danialov says his his client has not yet signed anything. Turns out neither has Kamsky, since according to FIDE "the contract has not been finalized with the organisers". Details.

Biel R5: Bacrot beats Pelletier, Carlsen and Aleksev lead

7/25/2008 – It was like in the 19th stage of the Tour de France: nothing changed at in the top part of the table, as the games Carlsen-Dominguez and Alekseev-Onischuk were drawn. But at the bottom end Etienne Bacrot scored his first victory in this tournament, against Swiss GM Yannick Pelletier, who suffered his fourth defeat. Round five halftime report.

Asian Youth Championship in Teheran

7/24/2008 – Chess is a primordial sport, but children can also play it fairly well. Last week, ancient Persian hosted the 2008 Asian Youth Chess Championship. A large number of extremely talented girls and boys, from the largest and most populated continent, competed in twelve different sections, widely varied, from lively playful eight-year-olds to romantic fall-in-love eighteen-year-olds. Illustrated report.