Zukertort, the man who came second

4/23/2008 – He lost the inaugural world championship match in 1886 to Wilhelm Steinitz, and died in his mid-40s. Johannes Zukertort would be a forgotten man if he hadn't left so many valuable games behind. In tonight's Playchess.com lecture Dennis Monokroussos takes a look at one from the London 1883 tournament which Zukertort won with a 22/26 score. Can you figure out the brilliant combination?

Baku R1: Grischuk and Kamsky win with black

4/22/2008 – First blood in the first round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, was drawn by Alexander Grischuk and Gata Kamsky, who defeated Ivan Cheparinov and Ernesto Inarkiev respectively, with the black pieces. The other five games were drawn. But even the shortest game, a 25-mover between Mamedyarov and Svidler, was a tense encounter. Report on round one.

European Individual Championships 2008 in Plovdiv

4/22/2008 – Remember how impressed we all were with the 90 GMs at the Russian Team Championships in Sochi earlier this month. 16 of them were rated over 2600, we enthusiastically reported. Well, at the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, we count 96 grandmasters, with 70 in the "Super-GM" category of 2600 rating points or higher. And 105 IMs, as opposed to three in Sochi. First report.

Baku R2: Adams, Radjabov and Inarkiev win

4/22/2008 – Ernesto Inarkiev, the number twelve seed, came back strongly after his traumatic loss to Gata Kamsky in round one to score a fine victory over second seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Etienne Bacrot walked into a mate against local boy Teimour Radjabov, while British GM Michael Adams outplayed the luckless Ivan Cheparinov, who has zero points so far. Full report with pictures and videos.

Topalov wins Dos Hermanas Rapid

4/21/2008 – Former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov and top Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo played the final of the XIV International Chess Tournament in Dos Hermanas. In the first game on Sunday Vallejo blundered on move 18 and Topalov won the game. The next three games were drawn, so that the Bulgarian was the overall winner of the knockout rapid event. Illustrated report.

How to deal with lonely pawns

4/21/2008 – With his sixth Powerplay DVD, Daniel King has reached halftime in his unique Fritz Trainer series. On vol. 6 he attends to some familiar but lonely pawns, the Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP) and the Central Passed Pawn (CPP). 'Rather than guessing what you should be doing, after seeing this DVD you will know exactly what to do', Michael Jeffreys sums up. Buy it now or read his review.

Topalov. Vallejo in final of Dos Hermanas Rapid

4/20/2008 – The XIV International Chess Tournament in the Spanish city of Dos Hermanas sees four players in a knockout rapid tournament. In the first round Francisco Vallejo eliminated Alexei Shirov with two wins and two draws. Veselin Topalov won his first two games against Judit Polgar, drew the third to qualify for the final and lost the fourth to the strongest female player ever. Watch the final today.

'So' young and 'So' good

4/20/2008 – The youngest grandmaster in the world is Filipino Wesley So, who last December made his final norm at the tender age of 14 years and two months. That was no fluke, as Wesley went on to win the 10th Dubai Open this April, with a 2708 performance. In a match that is under way against Susanto Megaranto, Indonesia's highest rated player, Wesley leads 3:0. Report by IM Rodolfo Tan Cardoso.

First FIDE Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan

4/19/2008 – The first of a series of FIDE Grand Prix tournaments begins on Sunday, with 14 players, including Magnus Carlsen, Shak Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov, Peter Svidler, Sergey Karjakin, Michael Adams, Gata Kamsky and Alexander Grischuk. The winner of the series at the end of 2009 will play the winner of the World Cup for the right to challenge the world champion. Full details.

Eighth PAL/CSS Freestyle Qualifier

4/18/2008 – The first Freestyle tournament of this year has finished its qualifier open for the best of ten, who will be competing for the $16,000 dollar prize fund on April 25-27th. Once again many FIDE and correspondence chess title holders showed up for this online event, where "anything goes" –computer help and consultation. But only few of them made their way up to the final. Arno Nickel reports.

Fritz Q&A

4/18/2008 – Each time a new Fritz version is released, you can bet your bottom dollar that certain "standard" questions will invariably be asked of our support people. Steve Lopez answers these in the latest installment of ChessBase Workshop.

Wesley So wins Dubai Open, player disqualified for cheating

4/17/2008 – 14-year-old Wesley, the world's youngest grandmaster, has won this year's Dubai Open. Wesley scored 7/9 with a 2708 performance. The event was marred by a case of cheating: an untitled Iranian player was caught receiving moves by SMS on his cellphone. His brilliancies against grandmasters were annulled and the delinquent disqualified. Shocking.

A young grandmaster in a game for his life

4/17/2008 – Dušan Popovic, 25, was supposed to play for the Serbian team at the European Championship. Instead he is engaged in a battle for his life, after both his kidneys failed and, due to his rare blood group, family members could not donate an organ. Now only an operation in Russia can save his life. For this funds of 70,000 Euros need to be found. The Serbian Chess Federation has asked for help.

Russian Team Championships: Ural and Finec win

4/17/2008 – What a team: Alexander Grischuk won the men's section with Ural Yekaterinburg, and his wife Natalia Zhukova won the women's section with Finec St Petersburg. Ural fielded a team with an average rating of over 2700, with Teimour Radjabov, Alexei Shirov, Gata Kamsky, Grischuk and others. We bring you results, games, and a big picture gallery by Irina Sudakova et al.

A great moment in chess (Part 3)

4/17/2008 – July 13, 1972. Reykjavik, Iceland. Challenger Bobby Fischer attributes the loss, two days earlier, of the first game of his match against World Champion Boris Spassky to disturbances by the TV cameras in the playing hall. He wants them removed. But there is a deal with an American producer that cannot be broken. Will Fischer appear for the game or default? Prof. Christian Hesse narrates.

Greg Kaidanov wins Gausdal Classic

4/17/2008 – The event took place, as it does every year, in the Norwegian town of Gausdal, with seven GMs in the A Group (average Elo 2518), one lady (IM Irina Krush) and one untitled player. The winner with a 2727 performance was US grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov. The GM B Open was won by Lithuanian GM Aloyzas Kveinys. Report, games and links.

Efim Bogoljubow – master of the attack

4/16/2008 – The Ukranian-German great Efim Bogoljubow, one of the world's best player in the 1920s and 1930s, is the subject of tonight's Playchess.com lecture by Dennis Monokroussos. "Bogo" possessed a terrific feel for combinations and the attack, as the two game – against Jacques Mieses and Rudolf Spielmann clearly indicate. The latter is a Bogoljubow's 'Immortal'.

How to install the ChessBase Players Encyclopaedia

4/14/2008 – You are the proud owner of the latest Mega Database 2008, and have installed 3.8 million games on your hard disk. The Mega Database DVD also contains the latest Players Encyclopedia, which contains new pictures and Elo data of hundreds of thousands of players. This is not automatically installed. But you can get it on your hard disk with a few simple mouse clicks. Here's how.

Russian Team Championships: Ural leads, Tomsk slumps

4/13/2008 – The big news is that the team of Tomsk-400 a top favourite (having won the team championship last year, and a number of other events to boot) are in 12th place, in spite of being. But according to the Russian web site ChessPro the players have been spending too much time imbibing – and in fact received a stiff penalty for their transgressions. Oh, yes, and Alexander Grischuk has changed his hairstyle.

Michael Adams wins Second Ruy López International in Mérida

4/13/2008 – He led all the way, and top English GM Michael Adams never let it slip. He won the eight player round robin event with 5.5/7 and a 2822 performance. Second was Chinese GM Zhang Pengxiang, third and fourth were shared by GM Gabriel Sargissian, Armenia, and Indian GM Koneru Humpy. A special guest at the tournament was Spanish playwright and chess aficionado Fernando Arrabal.

Jan Smeets wins the Dutch Championship 2008

4/13/2008 – One round before the end Daniël Stellwagen led the Championship, half a point ahead of three GMs. Would all last round games be drawn? Not in these Dutch Championships, where they all ended in decisions, with Jan Smeets dramatically edging out Stellwagen. The women's section was won yet again by Peng Zhaoquin, the Open by 13-year-old Anish Giri. Report with a photo essay by Fred Lucas.

Breaking news: Kamsky-Topalov in Lviv, Ukraine?

4/11/2008 – We reported yesterday on FIDE's decision to extend the deadline for bids for the Kamsky-Topalov match. The Bulgarian Chess Federation protested vigorously, but today the reason for FIDE's decision is becoming clear: there is a US $750,000 bid to stage the match in Lviv, western Ukraine. This stop press story comes from Yury Vasiliev of Sport Express. First details – and doubts.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (27)

4/11/2008 – What are the origins of the term ‘Pride and Sorrow of Chess’ to describe Morphy? What did Tartakower mean by the ‘Brake triangle’? What is known about Bogoljubow’s wartime record? Can the truth be established regarding two of Koltanowski's games? These and other mysteries from Chess Notes are discussed in the latest selection. Readers are invited to join in the hunt for clues.

Second Ruy López International Chess Festival in Mérida

4/10/2008 – After five rounds of this annual tournament Spain the eight players are lined up almost exactly according to their Elo ratings. A coincidence? Well take a look at the drawing of colours, where things were strangely synchronous as well. In Mérida, with two top female players, Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan, present, Michael Adams is in the lead. Big photo report.