Elista 2006: Kramnik wins game one

9/23/2006 – The World Championship between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik started with a fighting 75-move game that lasted six and a half hours. Topalov played a novelty on move 12, and achieved a drawing position. But he refused to repeat moves, pressed for a win, blundered and lost. Full report and commentary.

Khurtsidze, Muzychuk, Gara win Hungarian Championship

9/22/2006 – The International Hungarian Womens’s Championship, with 36 participants from six countries, ended in Szeged with a tie for first between Nino Khurtsidze from Georgia and Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia. Third was 22-year-old WGM Ticia Gara from Hungary, who thus became the 2006 national women's champion. Illustrated report by WGM Zsuzsa Veroci.

The future of chess in Herceg Novi

9/22/2006 – The European Youth Championships 2006 in an idyllic Mediterranean town, where we see the grandmasters of tomorrow, the brightest young talents playing in groups under 18, 16, 14, 12 and 10, for boys and girls. But also having fun on a boatride on the free day, and celebrating their victory at the closing ceremony. Big picture report.

Magnus Carlsen, 15, Norwegian Chess Champion

9/21/2006 – Two months ago two players tied for first at the 2006 Norwegian Championship: Magnus Carlson, 15-year-old chess prodigy, and his former teacher Simen Agdestein, 39, seven times national champion. From September 19–21 there was a playoff. The two standard games ended in draws, then Carlsen won both rapid chess games to take the title.

Andrew Martin: uncompromising chess

9/20/2006 – Short surprises Hebden, Vachier Lagrave shows us how to win the symmetrical Fianchetto Grunfeld, Shirov goes down to Romero Holmes, Korchnoi plays a non-pensionable Modern Benoni. There are lots of chess fireworks on this week's Radio Show by our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin. Don't miss it.

Stars in Spain

9/20/2006 – Where will you find Aronian, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Morozevich, Adams, Shirov, Ponomariov, Karjakin and a galaxy of other top stars all playing together? In the Spanish Team Championship, that's where. The qualification rounds have been held, the favourites have duly qualified, the finals come in November. Results, games and pictures.

World Championship 2006: First day in Elista

9/19/2006 – Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik flew in on the same charter flight; they were greeted with khadaki and dzhomba; then they were taken in President Ilyumzhinov's white Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit for a three-hour tour of Elista; and finally they played a game of blitz, which ended in a draw. It's in the news, with more pictures from Elista.

Dao slices his way past Dimakilling

9/18/2006 – With a final round victory against IM Ronald Dableo of the Philippines, GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam snatched victory from the hands of Filipino IM Oliver Dimakilling to win the 3rd IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open Chess Championship, one of the richest chess tournaments in the Asia Pacific region. Big illustrated report by Edwin Lam.

Into the mailbag again

9/18/2006 – Once again our ChessBase Workshop columnist reaches into his virtual mailbag for reader questions and comments. The hot topics this time center around playing programs, their opening books, and endgame tablebases. Read the letters and our columnist's replies in this week's Workshop. Workshop...

Preparing for the Kramnik-Topalov showdown

9/17/2006 – In less than a week from now we will be treated to a World Championship reunification match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov. By way of preparation our Monday night Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos looks at the meteoric rise of the Bulgarian GM with a model Topalov game.

Salem and Sahaj – new chess prodigies from Asia

9/17/2006 – Sahaj Grover is an Indian 10-year-old who is going after the world record for the youngest grandmaster in history. And in the United Arab Emirates the leading jewellers Damas have agreed to sponsor the talented schoolboy chess player Salem Abdul Rahman Saleh to the tune of US $136,000. Kids to watch.

Happy Birthday, Playchess server!

9/17/2006 – Some of you, the older readers, will remember the time before online chess (BOC). Those were harsh times, when you could not play a game whenever you liked. Five years ago we launched our Playchess server. Since then 158 million games have been played by over 200,000 members. Here are some interesting statistics.

Topalov and Kramnik arrive in Elista

9/17/2006 – In less than a week, on Saturday, September 23 at 3:00 p.m. local time, the first game of the reunification match between FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov and classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik will begin in the Republic of Kalmykia. The event lasts until October 12. We bring you first pictures of the players' arrival in Elista.

Alarming day at the European Chess Championship

9/15/2006 – Round eight started normally, but after three hours of play suddenly the fire alarm went off. It turned out to be a mistake by dim-witted workman brandishing a soldering iron. After nine rounds of play, with one more to go, seven players share the lead with 6.5/9. The final day will decide everything. Steve Giddins reports.

Hungarian Women's Championship in Szeged

9/15/2006 – The city of Szeged, which lies on Hungary's border with Serbia and Romania, is an economic, scientific and cultural centre. It is famous for its architecture, and for its great chess sons Geza Maroczy and Peter Leko. Currently it is hosting the Third Szeged Cup with an international women's championship. Big illustrated report.

ChessBase Magazine 113 – A great step forward for all chess enthusiasts

9/15/2006 – early 20 years ago ChessBase Magazine started on a floppy disk. The new vol. 113 is the first to come on DVD, packed with three and a half hours audio and video training with top players like Anand, Kasimdzhanov and others. ChessBase Magazine now also comes in a fully new design and conception. Order it now, or read this review.

Nigel Short wins European Union Chess Championship

9/15/2006 – The last day decided everything. With seven players tied for first it was anybody's guess who would clinch the Championship. But of the seven only Nigel Short could chalk up a victory in the final round to take first place alone, with 7.5/10 points. Full illustrated closing report by Steve Giddins.

Chess stars in PlusCity

9/14/2006 – The scene: a mega mall in Linz, Austria. The actors: Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Elisabeth Pähtz and Kateryna Lahno. The event: two days of total chess, with grandmasters, simuls and scantily clad airbrushed models. And the head of the Austrian government, Wolfgang Schüssel. We bring part one of a big pictorial report.

Short, Williams, Sulskis lead in Liverpool

9/12/2006 – After six rounds of the European Union Individual Chess Championship (Sept. 6–15) three players are in the lead with 5.0 points, followed by four with 4.5 points. After neglecting this exciting event for a few rounds we catch up with a giant illustrated report on rounds 2–6, provided by Steve Giddins, live from Liverpool.

The knights or the bishops?

9/12/2006 – Which is more important: the centralized knight or the long-term potential of the two bishops? Nigel Short argues for the knights while Granda Zuniga likes the bishops. On this week's Radio Show Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin also shows us how to play the white side of the Pirc. Enjoy a feast of good chess.

Benjamin Franklin and the Morals of Chess

9/12/2006 – Did you know that Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, was the author of the first piece of writing on chess published in that country? Today, three hundred years after his birth, the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission is hosting a lecture by John McCrary on this book. If you cannot attend you can read the text.

Grischuk wins FIDE World Blitz Championship

9/12/2006 – The World Blitz Championship, a 16-player round robin, took place on September 7th 2006 in Rishon Le Zion, Israel. Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk tied for first, with 10.5 points each. The playoff was an "armageddon" game in which Grischuk had white and an extra minute on the clock, but had to win. Which he duly did. Full report

Into the mailbag

9/12/2006 – Our resident military historian and ChessBase Workshop columnist is about to take some sorely needed time off to go hike around a famous battlefield. But before he strapped on the backpack, gathered up his maps, and headed out the door, Steve Lopez left us with a collection of interesting e-mails that have recently hit his box. Dip into the mailbag in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Max Euwe and 'the pearl of Zandvoort'

9/11/2006 – Max Euwe is sometimes considered an "accidental" world champion by casual fans, but unfairly. In his Monday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us why his games and career are very much worthy of attention, using a bold sacrificial game against Alekhine to make his point.