Khanty-Mansiysk: Ponomariov and Radjabov lose first game

11/28/2007 – Ruslan Ponomariov seems to be making a habit out of it. In round two of the FIDE World Cup the former FIDE world champion once again shockingly lost, to China's Wang Hao, with the white pieces. Third seed Teimour Radjabov dropped his first game against Polish GM Bartlomiej Maciej. We bring you an illustrated report with results, games, and commentary by GM Efstratios Grivas.

Dennis Monokroussos on the frisky Schliemann

11/28/2007 – The Schliemann Defense to the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5!?) is a club favorite, but even super-grandmasters like Korchnoi, Topalov, Aronian and – as recently as yesterday – Radjabov have trotted it out. Tonight our Playchess lecturer tells us what to do about it. You can start licking your chops.

Khanty-Mansiysk: Ponomariov equalises, Radjabov knocked out

11/28/2007 – As in the first round Ruslan Ponomariov lost game one of the second round, but equalised (with the black pieces) to remain in contention. Teimour Radjabov lost for a second time to Bartlomiej Macieja to drop out of the FIDE World Cup. Peter Svidler is the only player who has won all his games so far, ten others have conceded only a single draw. Report with results, games and analysis.

World Youth Championship – and the winners are...

11/28/2007 – Tonight this giant chess festival in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey, ended, and the organisers have already posted the final results in the twelve different sections. While the chess volunteers are still busy entering the games of the final round (we have collected those of rounds 1-10) and the closing ceremony with prize-giving is still to be held, we bring you top results and a pictorial portrait of the US team.

World Youth Championship – top scorers after nine rounds

11/27/2007 – This chess festival that is taking place in Kemer-Antalya, Turkey, has over 1500 players from all over the world. After nine of a total of 11 rounds the candidates for the medals are at the top of the tables. One has scored an incredible 9/9 points. We bring you top standings and a special photo report of the very strong Indian contingent. These are the stars of tomorrow.

A great moment in chess (Part 1)

11/27/2007 – It’s 7 minutes past 5 o’clock in the afternoon on July 17th, 1972. The place is a small backstage room of Laugardalsholl in Reykjavik, Iceland, the venue for the Fischer versus Spassky World Championship Match. It’s Game 3 of their titanic struggle which has been called the Match of the Century. Fischer, playing black, had just made his first move. Prof. Christian Hesse narrates.

In the news: Kasparov's arrest and detention in Moscow

11/26/2007 – All news channels are carrying reports, in Europe, the US and all over the rest of the world. Former world chess champion and Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov's arrest and five-day sentence for taking part in an anti-government rally is also covered in 1400+ newspaper articles. AOL/AP has new video footage and a slideshow of disturbing images.

Khanty-Mansiysk: when giants stumble

11/26/2007 – The second day in Khanty Mansiysk saw the favourites better prepared than on the first day. 44 players went through, which meant that 44 had to say goodbye. The major surprises were the elimination of Landa, Sutovsky and Pavel Eljanov (2691), who made a draw in the first game and lost the second one to IM Hossain Enamulu (2514) from Bangladesh. GM Efstratios Grivas analyses.

Khanty-Mansiysk: Favourites make it through, Nigel Short falters

11/26/2007 – The players with the bigger Elos generally went through in the tiebreak day of the FIDE World Cup, most notably Alekseev, Ponomariov, Akopian and Kasimdzhanov. Loek van Wely struggled longest against his Vietnamese opponent Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son. The shock was that Nigel Short's elimination by 19-year-old German GM David Baramidze. Illustrated report.

Khanty-Mansiysk: Gurevich knocks out Kaidanov

11/26/2007 – Mikhail Gurevich, 48 years old, a Ukrainian chess player who moved to Belgium in 1991 and to Turkey in 2005, where he lives today. At his peak Gurevich was consistently ranked in the top ten players in the world. After holding the well respected US GM Gregory Kaidanov to a draw in the regular games Gurevich knocked him out in the tiebreak rapids. GM Efstratios Grivas analyses.

Bob Durrett on specialized databases

11/26/2007 – Our columnist for ChessBase Workshop isn't opposed to stepping down from the soapbox to give someone else a turn. In the latest column, he enlists the support of a friend and e-mail correspondent to clear up an old mystery left hanging from a prior column. Learn more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Kasparov arrested in Moscow, jailed for five days

11/25/2007 – Russian police detained opposition leader and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, and a judge sentenced him to five days in jail in Moscow. About 3,000 protesters attended the rally, including for the first time the leader of one of the mainstream liberal parties – a sign that the movement is growing. News reports, video interview in Fox and a dramatic BBC report of the arrest.

Khanty-Mansiysk: The best-laid plans of men and mice...

11/25/2007 – ... gang aft agley, Robert Burns taught us. Or, in plain English: they often go horribly wrong. As in the FIDE World Cup, where Vassily Ivanchuk duly dispatched his 435-point weaker opponent, but where fellow Ukraine Ruslan Ponomariov, in a fit of overconfidence, faltered against Egypt's Essam El Gindy. Greek grandmaster Efstratios Grivas gives us his take on the drama of round one.

Khanty-Mansiysk: Alekseev and Ponomariov equalise

11/25/2007 – Most of the favourites are through – Ivanchuk, Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Aronian, Shirov, Svidler, Adams, Grischuk, Carlsen and Kamsky. Alekseev struck back against Anuar Ismagambetov, who had taken a full point off him yesterday, to equalise. Ruslan Ponomariov did the same against Essam El Gindy, to go into tiebreak games tomorrow. Illustrated report.

Upsets galore in Round one of the World Cup

11/24/2007 – 126 players are now in Khanty-Mansiysk (two did not turn up) for the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. This knockout tournament determines who will be the challenger for the next World Championship. In the first game of round one there were a number of surprises, with famous GMs struggling against much lower-ranked players. Illustrated report with games and results.

Become a stronger player with the best Fritz ever

11/23/2007 – Fritz 11 is out and it has it all. The program that beat world champion Kramnik a year ago has been vastly improved in many respects: Fritz 11 comes with more Elo and groundbreaking new training features for improving your rating. It has something for the eye and something for your tactical vision. Buy Fritz 11 now or find out from Matthias Wuellenweber's article what makes Fritz 11 so strong.

World Youth Championship – the joys and pains of chess

11/22/2007 – With beautiful sunny weather outside the 1500 participants from all corners of the globe gather at three p.m. for their daily chess battles. You can watch young players go through the emotional highs of victory and the disappointment of defeat. And after it is all over a team of the Turkish Chess Federation springs into action to tabulate the scores and input the games. Illustrated report.

Ivanchuk wins World Blitz Championship, Anand second

11/22/2007 – It was drama of the highest degree: on the second day of the event World Champion Vishy Anand fought his way to the top to join the leader of the Blitz Championship, Vassily Ivanchuk, in round 29. After 37 of 38 grueling rounds the two were still neck-on-neck and clear of the field. In the last round they played each other – and Anand was two pawns up. Then fate struck.

Ivanchuk leads in World Blitz Championship, Grischuk second

11/22/2007 – The amazing Vassily Ivanchuk is doing it again: on the first day of the World Blitz in Moscow the Ukrainian veteran scored 13.5 points out of the 19 games, beating the likes of Kamsky, Kramnik, Karpov, Gelfand, Adams, Carlsen, Shirov and Grischuk. Half a point behind is Alexander Grischuk, who scored wins over Anand, Kasimdzhanov, Kramnik, Gelfand and Carlsen. Report with pictures and videos.

The Nimzowitsch precepts of positional chess

11/21/2007 – Aaron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935) was one of the great teachers of chess. In tonight's Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos uses a 1922 win by Nimzowitsch to introduce us to hypermodern ideas like overprotection and the blockade. Or as Reuben Fine put it: restrict, blockade, destroy.

World Youth Championship: players and personalities

11/21/2007 – This gigantic event is under way in the Mediterranean town of Kemer-Antalya, Turkey. There are two grandmasters in the top (under 18) group, and many talented young players with and without titles in all sections. The top Turkish players are being trained by Slovenian grandmaster Adrian Mikhalchishin, who celebrated his birthday with his students during round one. Big pictorial report.

Vladimir Kramnik: 'Beating Anand is more important...'

11/21/2007 – ...than topping the FIDE rating list, which is what he will most likely do in January, after his spectacular result at the Tal Memorial is counted. After this victory the former World Champion spoke to chess reporter Yuriy Vasiliev about the event, his rating, his black repertoire, the world blitz championship and the enthusiastic support he receives from his wife Marie-Laure. Sport Express interview.

Kasimdzhanov wins World Blitz Championship Qualifier

11/20/2007 – Former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov won the 64-player Preliminaries to the World Blitz Championship in Moscow. He and five other players qualified for the Finals that will be held on November 21 and 22. They are joined by the ten paticipants of the Tal Memorial, by previous finalists Grischuk and Svidler, as well as Anand and Karpov. Pictures and videos.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (19)

11/20/2007 – A further selection from Chess Notes focuses on games and positions. Why is it claimed that Rubinstein played an ending that repeated a nineteenth century composition? Did Chigorin remove one of his own pieces from the board in an endgame against Tarrasch? And what about the game which Fahrni purportedly won by moving his remaining pawn backwards? Join in the hunt for clues.