Fifth International Chess Festival in Nancy

3/5/2007 – Nancy is a French town with 300,000 inhabitants, located between Paris and Strasbourg. The annual tournament there has been steadily growing, from 60 participants in 2003 to 130 this year. Play was in 13 groups of ten players each. Apart from regular chess there were some interesting experiments. Report by IM Christophe Philippe.

Linares R10: Anand beats Carlsen, leads field

3/5/2007 – India's superstar Vishy Anand scored a fine victory over young Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who was relegated to equal second with Vassily Ivanchuk, a point behind the leader. Peter Leko got into trouble with the white pieces against Veselin Topalov, but managed to salvage a draw. Monday is a rest day. Full report with pictures and analysis.

Garry Kasparov marches on

3/5/2007 – 2000 protesters were announced, over 5000 turned up. They were confronted by 3000 riot police, over 100 were beaten and detained. This biggest protest rally against the current regime in Russia was organized by former chess world champion Garry Kasparov and former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov. The movement is growing.

FIDE decides on World Championship format

3/3/2007 – In a nutshell: if Kramnik does not win the Mexico City, as ex world champion he gets to play the winner in 2008. If he does win he has to play former world champion Topalov. After that the champion will face a challenge from the winner of the World Cup in odd years. No more world championship tournaments, always matches. Ilyumzhinov has decided.

Complexity and Beauty in the Game of Chess

3/3/2007 – Artist Justin Michael Jenkins has a style that some have compared to Escher, Bosch and Dali, with his own unique flair that borders on the a psychedelic style of surrealism and pop art. Justin has completed a collection of chess drawings that attempt to dissect the elements of the game and portray them in connection with life itself. Take a look.

Linares R9: Morozevich beats Leko

3/3/2007 – Topalov managed to save a white game against the clearly superior Ivanchuk, who got into time trouble and had to concede a draw. Peter Leko lost badly to Alexander Morozevich to join him at the tail-end of the cross table, with Topalov half a point clear. The other games were drawn. Full report with pictures and analysis.

The Dlugy Files

3/2/2007 – Maxim (Max) Dlugy was born in 1966 in Moscow, immigrated with his family to the USA in 1979, won the world junior championship in 1985 and was awarded the grandmaster title a year later. Twenty years ago he dropped out of chess to marry and become a finance enterpreneur. He remains an awesome Internet blitz specialist. Interview.

Schaakkunst – the art of chess

3/2/2007 – The Dutch enterprise is a collection of currently 14 artists who have used the theme of chess in their works. Schaakkunst organized its first exhibition in April of 2006 and is now present at chess tournaments like the Dutch Championship and Wijk aan Zee. A full exhibition will be opened next week. Samples.

Linares R8: all games drawn

3/2/2007 – The Super-GM Morelia/Linares has entered its second half with the first round completed in the Andalusian town of Linares. All games were drawn: Aronian-Svidler was an unfought 16-mover, Anand-Topalov a light 25-move tussle, Leko-Ivanchuk a 38-move struggle, and Morozevich vs Carlsen a 42-move battle with black pressing. Report with commentary.

Morelia: the Great Mexican Chili Challenge

3/1/2007 – The first half of the Morelia-Linares Super-GM tournament ended with Anand and Carlsen in the joint lead. After the closing ceremony and some last-minute shopping, the participants all embarked on the trip back to Europe. But at the Mexico City Airport there was a red-hot incident that almost disrupted the course of the event. Big pictorial report.

Are you a Gerd Müller, a Gary Lineker or Alessandro del Piero?

3/1/2007 – In chess as in football it does not suffice to build a great attack, without the ability to finish off your opponent. In the first volume of his "Powerplay" series Daniel King shows you what a top scorer must know in order to succeed. Buy " Mating Patterns" now or read this review with sampler.

The fighting French Tarrasch

2/28/2007 – The French Defense is considered a fighting opening, but that general attitude doesn’t usually extend to the 4…exd5 line of the Tarrasch. However, that is a mistake, as our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us in this week's talk. Be there and learn.

Magnus Carlsen – Coming of Age

2/27/2007 – The first half of Morelia/Linares has marked a coming of age for Magnus Carlsen, who has clearly demonstrated his ability to slug it out at the highest level. This week's Radio ChessBase Show on Playchess.com starts with Magnus's notorious struggle against Topalov.

Morelia R7: Anand, Topalov, Ivanchuk win

2/26/2007 – Halftime at the Morelia-Linares Super-GM tournament. Anand scored a fine black-piece victory over Leko to join Magnus Carlsen in the lead. Ivanchuk put a damper on Aronian's aspiration with a white-piece win, and Topalov defeated Morozevich to improve his position at the end of the table. Full report with commentary by GM Mihail Marin.

Morelia R6: All games drawn, Carlsen still leads

2/25/2007 – Vishy Anand fought it out with Vassily Ivanchuk for 32 moves, with the Ukrainian using up almost all his time to abandon a promising position. The others essentially took a break: Aronian Topalov drawn in 22 moves, Carlson-Leko drawn in 20, Morozevich-Svidler drawn in 16. Pictorial report with analysis by GM Mihail Marin.

Aeroflot Open 2007: Evgeny Alekseev wins in style

2/25/2007 – The winner of the Russian championship superfinal also took clear first the Aeroflot Open 2007. Actually he completed a hattrick by winning the St. Petersburg Blitz Championship in between. Well done! Evgeny Tomashevsky finished second, outmatching Dmitry Jakovenko by the narrowest of margins. Big illustrated report by Misha Savinov.

Morelia Round five pictures and analysis

2/24/2007 – Friday was a free day, with activities for players and journalists. In our round five express report we brought you and express report with the games and the (sensational) results: Anand lost to Aronian and 16 year old Magnus Carlsen shocked the world by beating Topalov and retaking the lead in this Super-GM tournament. Pictures, commentary and videos.

Morelia 2007: Pigging out in Quiroga

2/23/2007 – In Morelia it is currently all about chess. Our host are extremely gratious and treat us like kings. But not everyone is satisfied with the luxurious restaurants and fine South American wine. Some of us will insist on going out into the countryside, to see the "real Mexico." And to smell, tast and hear it. We invite you to an extraordinary culinary adventure.

$16,000 Freestyle tournament starts on March 2nd

2/23/2007 – The Fifth PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament begins on March 2nd on the Playchess server. The main tournament is an eight-round Swiss, with time controls of 60 min + 15 sec per game. You probably know that in Freestyle any kind of assistance is allowed: computers, friends, books, anything. The starting fee is 10 Euro. GMs and IMs are free. You can still join the fun!

Morelia: GM Mihail Marin annotates round four

2/23/2007 – The express commentary of the Morelia Super-GM is provided by Romanian grandmaster Mihail Marin, who is the author of a number of very popular ChessBase training CDs and articles for ChessBase Magazine. His commentary here is simple and instructive, the next ChessBase Magazine will carry comprehensive analysis. Look and learn.

Morelia R5: Aronian beats Anand, Carlsen beats Topalov

2/23/2007 – A day of shocks. Both the top seeds lost, Anand in a tense struggle against Aronian, and Topalov with a sensational resignation in a position that must be a draw. In fact Carlsen shows the horrified former world champion the defence immediately after he had resigned. Now the 16-year-old Norwegian once again leads the field. Express report.

ChessBase Mgazine 116: Stars comment on top events

2/23/2007 – The new issue covers the historic match Kramnik vs. Deep Fritz 10 and the Tal Memorial from the end of last year. World class players like Shirov, Radjabov, Leko, Gelfand, Van Wely comment their masterpieces and focus on the latest trends in opening theory. More than two hours training on the DVD. Order it now or read this overview with sampler.

Aeroflot: Jakovenko, Alekseev, Tomashevsky lead

2/22/2007 – Actually the sensation is 21-year-old GM Stanislav Novikov, who has come out of nowhere – and from a very modest background – to show opening originality, excellent endgame knowledge, pragmatism, stubbornness in defense and incredible determination. Take a look at his tenacious draw against Jakovenko. Misha Savinov reports.

Morelia R4: Anand, Carlsen win, Anand leads in Morelia

2/22/2007 – Alexander Morozevich played an excellent game, holding out against Vishy Anand's aggressive intentions until just before the first time control. There the Russian GM lost track, an important pawn and eventually the game. Meanwhile Magnus Carlsen scored a fighting 60-move black win against Vassily Ivanchuk. Pictures and videos.