Wijk R2: Fighting chess – six decided games, one draw

1/14/2007 – Refreshed after their snooze in round one, all the top GMs in Wijk went for blood in round two: Topalov, Kramnik, Aronian and Svidler won their white games, Anand won with black. Poor Magnus Carlsen missed a one-move win and lost against Navara. Yasser Seirawan covered the action on Playchess. Full report with comments and videos.

Take a deep breath: Wijk aan Zee starts today

1/13/2007 – The annual Wijk aan Zee tournament is taking place from January 13 to 28, 2007. The top group includes Topalov, Anand, and Kramnik, and has an average rating of 2719 (category 19). Games start at 13:30h local time – you can watch them on Playchess.com with live commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan. Full overview with pictures and videos.

Wijk R1: Radjabov beats Loek van Wely

1/13/2007 – Yes, that's the big news. All other games in the top group were drawn in an average of 25 moves. But Azeri Teimour Radjabov beat local boy Loek van Wely with the black pieces in 40 moves. In Group C, both the little ones Praimarjan Negi (13) and Hou Yifan (12) won their games, the Chinese girl with black. Full illustrated report with videos.

Ice Chess – a view from Russia

1/12/2007 – Our coverage of the London-Moscow Ice Chess match was heavy on the local (London) end. Now the Russian side has sent us pictures of the activities in Moscow's Pushkinskaya Square. Young Konstantin Savenkov sent us the game moves that were being demanded by our readers and an important correction to his biography. Report from Moscow.

Can you afford to be without Mega 2007?

1/12/2007 – You can still operate your TV set manually or listen to your music on vinyl records. It will still work - up to a point. For chess players however it is essential to keep up with the time. For without an up-to-date database you will find it very hard to succeed or even to survive on a certain level. Review.

Reader comments on 'Chess on TV'

1/12/2007 – Our ChessBase Workshop column concerning Rapid Transit chess as the "ideal" form for televised events has generated an enormous amount of reader e-mails. Columnist Steve Lopez presents a selection of reader responses (and his own replies) in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Learning from Lasker: part II

1/11/2007 – Last week on Playchess Dennis Monokroussos looked at the first 34 moves of a game from the 30s, in which Lasker was defending a bad position against Aron Nimzowitsch with extraordinary tenacity. Today he shows us the rest of this extraordinary game.

Minutes of the Chess Cheating conference in New York

1/11/2007 – Early in December there was a “Chess Cheating Town Meeting” at the historic Marshall Chess Club in New York, bringing together some of America’s leading chess authorities in a panel discussion about ways to head off computer assisted cheating in organized chess competitions. Results and minutes.

Ice Chess in balmy London and Moscow

1/11/2007 – With global temperatures climbing, and both Moscow and London experiencing warm spells, the "Ice Chess" match between the two cities turned into a race against time. Would the pieces, beautifully carved out of blocks of ice, melt away before the game, captained by Nigel Short in London and Anatoly Karpov in Moscow, could be completed? Here's the answer (with video!)

European Championship 2005 – the film

1/10/2007 – Feel like watching a 20-minute chess movie? Krzymowski Chess TV Production produced one, with great care and devotion, on the 2005 European Individual Chess Championship in Warsaw, Poland. It is heavy on classical music and contains interviews with well-known players.

Andrew Martin – across the spectrum

1/9/2007 – This week our ChessBase Radio Show draws its games from a wide range of tournaments, taking place in exotic locations all over the world: Hastings, Stockholm and Tehran. There is also a book review and an easy puzzle to solve. The show starts on Wednesday at 21:00h CET.

Peter Leko wins First ACP World Rapid Chess Cup

1/9/2007 – Rapid chess has its own special fascination. Players are more carefree, socialize with journalists and the public, comment on the games as they are being played. The atmosphere at the World Rapid Chess Cup in Odessa was congenial, and the games a pleasure to watch. Read about it in Misha Savinov's giant closing report.

Leko, Gelfand, Radjabov, Ivanchuk in semis of World Cup

1/8/2007 – If it wasn't for an incredible one-move blunder by Morozevich against Radjabov the top four seeds would have made it to the semifinals of the ACP World Cup. This way number five in the seeding list gets a chance. The rapid chess event is taking place in the splendid Londonskaya Hotel, and ends on Monday. Pictorial report.

Ice Chess match London-Moscow

1/8/2007 – This Thursday will see a special chess event on Trafalgar Square, London and Pushkin Square, Moscow. Two teams, headed by GMs Nigel Short and Anatoly Karpov, will play an Ice Chess match using a 64 square metre chess boards and pieces carved out of ice. Go watch – it is part of the Russian Winter Festival.

D.P. Singh – a supreme talent or a flawed genius?

1/8/2007 – Recently an Indian chess player was banned for ten years after he was caught receiving computer assistance during a game. A second player is under suspicion of having done similarly, after suddenly gaining 260 rating points in a short period of time. Top Indian grandmasters complained and the case is under investigation. Eyewitness report by Praful Zaveri.

A library on your computer - part five

1/8/2007 – When replaying games from a printed source on ChessBase's/Fritz' electronic chessboards, it's sometimes useful to add brief excerpts from an author's commentary to the games. We show you some useful (and time saving) shortcuts for achieving this in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

David Howell becomes a grandmaster at 16

1/6/2007 – Chess prodigy David Howell has broken Luke McShane's record to become the UK's youngest ever grandmaster. David made his final norm in Stockholm yesterday where he tied for second prize with 7/9 in the traditional Rilton Cup. His age: 16 years and one month. That puts him among the 20 all-time youngest GMs in the world. Picture report.

Merab Gagunashvili wins 82nd Hastings Congress

1/6/2007 – Has it really been that long? Indeed. The first Congress was held in 1895, it became a regular annual tradition in the 1920s, and the 2006/07 edition was the 82nd time it was staged. The winner was the top seed, 21-year-old Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia. An IM norms was scored by 12-year-old Srinath Narayanan of India. Report by Steve Giddens.

Iran emerges as a chess nation

1/5/2007 – Chess was invented in India, but transported to the rest of the world by the Persians. Before the 1979 revolution, Iran just had three International Masters who had the potential to achieve the grandmaster title. A ten-year ban of chess prevented them from reaching their goal. Now there are three GMs, and one in waiting. Big report on the Iranian Championships.

ACP World Cup: Kirsan speaks his mind

1/5/2007 – The opening of the First ACP World Rapid Chess Cup in Odessa, Ukarine, was a festive affair, highlighted by a frank press conference in which FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov answered questions of journalists. These were mainly about computer cables, cheating and a Kramnik-Topalov rematch. Read all about it in Misha Savinov's report.

Indian National Championship won by Surya Ganguly

1/5/2007 – Normally the championship of this chess superpower is a massive 22-player round robin event. This time it was staged as a 13-player Swiss with 45 participants. The venue was idyllic – the picturesque Atul Club in the State of Gujarat, 180 km north of Mumbai. The winner, who took his fourth Indian title, was Surya Sekhar Ganguly. Picture report.

Chess in the news

1/4/2007 – Is chess a sport, should it be included in the 2012 London Olympics? Is there a basis for thinking that cheating with computers is going on at the very highest level? What is the potential of the strongest Indian players according to Commonwealth champion Nigel Short? And why hasn't Tania Sachdev's face launched a thousand products yet? We've been reading the papers.

Learning from Lasker: the art of defence

1/4/2007 – Recently our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos stumbled across a game in which White committed an egregious error, but then hung on to the position with extraordinary tenacity, somehow thwarting Black's attacking efforts. The players: Emanuel Lasker vs Aron Nimzowitsch. The year: 1934. Come watch, with an attentive mind.

A New Year with chess trainer Andrew Martin

1/3/2007 – We start 2007 with an Andrew Martin Radio show directly from the ChessBase studio in Hamburg. Our chess trainer interviews Frederic Friedel for a second time – the first was sixteen years ago. After that there are games and a puzzle to discuss. The show starts at 15:30 GMT/16:30 CET on Wednesday, January 3rd. See you on the server.