ACP Survey: what the players think about draw offers

3/22/2007 – In February the Association of Chess Professionals asked its members what should be done to combat short, unfought draws, which are often perceived to be the bane of chess. The ACP published a questionnaire, 171 members replied.

Fifth Freestyle Tournament Final this weekend

3/22/2007 – The 5th PAL/CSS Freestyle Main Tournament, staged on the Playchess server, ended in a dead heat of 17 players. None of the 131 participants from 32 countries, including 20 titled players, managed to achieve six points in eight games, which is the magic barrier for qualification. The final, with ten players, will be held as a round robin tournament this weekend. Come and watch.

Kramnik, Aronian, Ivanchuk lead in Monaco

3/22/2007 – Tournament leader Vladimir Kramnik got an easy point in the blindfold game against Anand when the latter hung multiple pieces in round four. But after the rest and outing day Kramnik lost 1½:½ to Vasily Ivanchuk, allowing him and Levon Aronian to join him in the lead. Anand and Svidler are a point behind. Report.

Paying respect to the losers

3/21/2007 – What do you think of when you hear the names Kieseritzky, Dufresne or Donald Byrne? Chances are their famous losses to Anderssen and Bobby Fischer. But the trio were all fine players in their own right. This week our Playchess trainer Dennis Monokroussos shows us some of their triumphs to give them their due.

Washington Post: cut the chess guy?

3/21/2007 – What can newspapers do to gain space in their printed editions? "Cut the chess guy" was the humorous advice from a television serial. After the axing of Nigel Short's widely-read column in the Guardian, now the Washington Post has cut the highly-respected weekly section on chess by GM Lubomir Kavalek by a third. Want to do something about it?

Rikets Røst vs Magnus Carlsen on Norwegian TV 2

3/20/2007 – Fresh from his amazing second place in the Morelia/Linares Super-GM tournament grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was invited to a comedy talk show in his native Norway, where he faced a provocative host, Rikets Røst. The 16-year-old faced tough questions about his performance, expectations, colleagues, money, girls and raisins. Raisins? Watch the video.

Andrew Martin: Blind leading the blind

3/20/2007 – The Melody Amber tournament gives us great players humbled by the format, making all manners of mistakes, often reduced to the level of club amateurs, as our Playchess.com trainer will show in his Wednesday night lecture. Nevertheless it is all conducted in a spirit of friendship and entertainment, and the players themselves seem to be having lots of fun.

Kramnik leads 16th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament

3/20/2007 – After three rounds Vladimir Kramnik has won all of his blindfold games, while scoring 2/3 in the rapid section. He now leads the field, half a point ahead of Levon Aronian, who has scored 3/3 in his rapid games. Last year's winners Anand and Morozevich are still feeling their way around. Report, games and results.

Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament

3/18/2007 – It carries a prize fund of US $288,000 and is staged in the posh Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel in Monaco. Twelve top GMs play two rounds per day, one blindfold and one rapid. The participants include Anand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Leko, Aronian, Morozevich and Svidler. The first round was played on Saturday. We bring you results and games.

How Life Imitates Chess – Kasparov on tour

3/18/2007 – On Friday Hurricane Garry made landfall in Germany. The thirteenth world champion is here to promote his new book, "How Life Imitates Chess", but also to record at least one new ChessBase DVD (Najdorf 3!). There are book signings, lectures, interviews and TV appearances in different German cities. If you are in the vicinity you might want to catch one of them.

Bessel's Birthday – a Party in Prague

3/16/2007 – Last December Bessel Kok, Dutch businessman and chess organiser, turned 65, and also married his partner Martina. All of this happened in strict privacy. Now, three months later, Bessel, who will soon be running the commercial branch of FIDE, celebrated the milestones in a party spectacular held in Prague, with former president Václav Havel acting as patron. A chess treat was included.

2007 Asian Cities Chess Championship in Tehran

3/15/2007 – The brainchild of the Hong Kong Chess Federation, and dominated by the Chinese for over a decade, the Asian Cities Championship has migrated to the Middle East and is now dominated by Kazakhstan. This year's event, held from March 1–9 in Tehran, was won by Pavlodar, ahead of Tagaytay (Philippines) and Saipa (Iran). Arash Akbarinia reports.

Wang Yue from China wins Cappelle la Grande

3/15/2007 – The Cappelle la Grande tournament was held from March 3rd-10th, 2007, with the participation of more than 600 players, including 87 GMs, 81 IMs and 465 FIDE rated players, coming from 56 different countries. It was won by Chinese GM Wang Yue on tiebreak, ahead of five other players with 7/9 points. Report, games.

Playing chess by the 'Corsica Rules'

3/14/2007 – In Calvi, a small town on the northwest coast of the island of Corsica, the Fourth International Chess Tournament was staged, with a special rule in force: players cannot offer a draw unless it is a dead drawn ending. The result: a sensationally low draw rate of just 12%! This year the event turned into a battle between Ukrainian and Chinese players. Illustrated report with videos.

Faik Gasanov – the Father of Chess in Azerbaijan

3/14/2007 – He is the man who in the last 40 years built up chess in Azerbaijan, almost single-handedly. For 37 years he has been hosting a national TV show dedicated to chess. After negotiating with two presidents of the country he has finally procured worthy premises for the Chess Federation. In an interview Faik Gasamov speaks about the past and present of Azeri chess.

Come for Alekhine's masterpiece – or for a virtual pizza

3/14/2007 – The game is just 17 moves long, nine of which are theory. Still the fourth world champion Alexander Alekhine managed to conjure up enough tactical complications to occupy a generation. Our Playchess trainer Dennis Monokroussos gives us five good reasons to attend his lecture.

Andrew Martin: a well-contested endgame

3/13/2007 – With the fast, scrappy pace of modern chess we seldom get to see grand, well-played endgames as in the games of yesteryear. What a delight, then, that arch rivals Alexander Morozevich and Veselin Topalov showed us a monumental struggle in Linares. Hear all about it and more from our Playchess.com trainer in his Wednesday night lecture.

Leaving Linares: Closing ceremony, simul and Grand Slam

3/13/2007 – Wrapping up our reports on this year's exciting Morelia/Linares Super-GM event we bring you pictures of the closing ceremony in Linares, which included a whirlwind visit by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a simultaneous exhibition with giant chess pieces and a meeting of the Grand Slam Association. Report with pictures and videos.

Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (2)

3/12/2007 – We bring you a further selection of intriguing chess mysteries from Chess Notes, including the origins of the Marshall Gambit, a game ascribed to both Steinitz and Pillsbury and the bizarre affair of an alleged blunder by Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals. Once again our readers are invited to join the hunt for clues.

Chess playing boxer Klitschko retains heavyweight title

3/12/2007 – Vladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian IBF heavyweight world boxing champion with a PhD in sports science and an avid interest in chess. On Saturday he fought American challenger Ray Austin and dropped him with a flurry of left hooks 87 seconds into the second round. Next people hope to see a unification fight against WBC champion Nikolai Valuev. Watch Saturday's fight.

Linares R14: Annotation by GM Mihail Marin

3/11/2007 – In our express weekend reports we brought you a general summary of the overall results – now it is time to look at the last-round games through the eyes of our GM trainer. Alexander Morozevich won yet another game, his third in a row, and Peter Leko scored his maiden victory in this event to climb up to Topalov at the end of the table. Commentary and pictures.

FIDE to ACP on cheating: problem recognized

3/11/2007 – "During the last Presidential Board in Antalya FIDE officers were tasked with identifying measures and reviewing ideas for the improvements sought to reduce opportunities to cheat," FIDE says in reaction to the ACP letter we published a few days ago. Further suggestions are welcome.

D.P. Singh has survived his 'Agni Pariksha’

3/11/2007 – In his article two months ago Praful Zaveri gave a first-hand account of the IM Diwakar Prasad Singh saga, leading to the question: “Is Diwakar a supreme chess talent or a flawed genius?” The answer could only be given by time, in what the Indians call an “Agni Pariksha”, a trial (pariksha) by fire (agni). It appears that Singh has received a clean chit. Report and reader feedback.

Linares R14: Anand wins Morelia/Linares by a full point

3/10/2007 – With a final-round draw over Vassily Ivanchuk Indian superstar Vishy Anand clinched victory in the Morelia/Linares Super-GM tournament. Carlsen lost to Leko and Morozevich beat Svidler, so that in the end (would anyone have expected this after his disastrous start?) Alexander Morozevich shared second with Magnus Carlsen. Final results and statistics.