The Mating Patterns of Daniel King

11/21/2006 – Anyone can see a checkmate when it is on the board, and someone tells you it is there. But can you recognise the early outlines of mating patterns in a normal game? It is a vital skill that you can train systematically, when you have GM Daniel King's latest DVD: Order Powerplay I now or read about it first.

Andrew Martin – Down and Dirty on the Grid

11/21/2006 – In his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Andrew Martin shows us two games from the Sicilian Grand Prix Attack, one with the sleeping Petroff, and a virtuoso endgame performance from his old friend Bruno Carlier. The puzzle is one in which your chess engine cannot help. See you on the server.

A chess master's poker tour

11/20/2006 – What's a nice girl like Almira Skripchenko doing in a gambling den in Las Vegas? Taking part in the Ladies World Poker Championship, that's what. Like so many other chess players the former European women's champion is flirting with poker and taking part in national and international tournaments. Almira tells us how she got to go to the poker championship and Vegas.

The man who beat Mikhail Tal

11/19/2006 – On the 70th anniversary of the great Mikhail Tal’s birth our Playchess Monday night lecturer Dennis Monokroussos takes a look at... one of Tal’s regular conquerors. Viktor Korchnoi? No. Lev Polugaevsky? Wrong again! It is a mysterious figure who managed to accumulate a hefty 4-1 career score against the 8th World Champion. Meet Rashid Nezhmetdinov.

XiangQi – an alternate to Western Chess

11/19/2006 – Are you frustrated by chess? Disillusioned by realizing that you may never be good enough to make it to the top – no matter how hard you work? Well, here's a remedy: before you throw away board, books and pieces, why not try XiangQi – chess Chinese style. You can even take part in a world championship. Dr. René Gralla explains.

FIDE: Candidates Tournament 2007 in Elista

11/19/2006 – Originally 16 players were to play a series of matches to fill four places in the 2007 World Championship. But there were no sponsors, so President Ilyumzhinov proposed staging a round robin with a reduced prize fund. Sharp protests by GMs followed. Now FIDE confirms: the event will be held as originally planned in May 2007 in Kalmykia.

Tal-Mem Blitz: Anand wins with two point lead

11/19/2006 – Everyone knows that Indian superstar Vishy Anand is one of the world's strongest rapid chess players. This was driven home forcefully by a magnificent start-to-finish victory at the Tal Memorial blitz final, where 18 players, all rated 2650 or higher, played a double round robin on two days. Anand did not lose a single mini-match and won the event two points ahead of his nearest rival.

Tal-Mem Blitz: Jobava and Karjakin win qualifier

11/18/2006 – The Tal Memorial 2006 in Moscow ends with a spectacular blitz tournament. On Thursday and Friday 40 strong GMs played in a qualification tournament, with six players making it to the final. There they will be joined by the players of the main event and three invitees: Karpov, Anand and Judit Polgar. Big photo report.

Geurt Gijssen: Final response to Yasser Seirawan

11/17/2006 – "I was really surprised by the number of e-mails and phone calls I received after the publication of Mr. Seirawan’s article at ChessBase, my response and his subsequent response," writes the world championship arbiter. "As a matter of fact I was not surprised that the majority of the reactions I received supported my decision." Geurt Gijssen responds.

Activity and solid play: A Caro Kann recommendation

11/17/2006 – The Caro Kann sometimes has a rather dry image. On his Fritz Trainer DVD Andrew Martin strives to prove this a prejudice and offers an easy to grasp Caro Kann repertoire with lots of dynamic lines and good prospects for Black. Buy his "new thriller" (Bob Long) right away or read this review.

Tal-Mem R8: Peter Svidler beats Alexander Morozevich

11/16/2006 – Peter Svidler is number four in the world, Alexander Morozevich number five. They are the two top seeds in the Tal Memorial tournament. With his victory Svidler in round eight climbed to seventh place, and Morozevich is now alone in last place. Tomorrow will bring the final exciting clashes. We have simulations on who needs to do what to win.

Tal-Mem R9: All games drawn, three grandmasters win

11/16/2006 – We apologise to our readers for having spoken, in yesterday's report, of "final exciting clashes", and for doing the simulation of different combinations of results in the last round, while neglecting to include the one that actually occurred: all games were quick draws. Unenthusiastic final report.

Queens, New York: Chess without ethnic bounds

11/15/2006 – Queens, the largest borough of New York City, also the most ethnically diverse in the United States, with immigrants making up 46% of its residents. In the MacDonald Memorial Park people from all nations gather to – play blitz chess. Name a country, someone from there is hammering on the clock. David Pambianchi on blitz in the park.

Tal-Mem R7: Grischuk and Gelfand win

11/14/2006 – Round seven of the Tal Memorial was exciting and memorable. The games were pretty good, but more relevantly Garry Kasparov had remembered that the event was taking place just around the corner from where he lives. So he dropped by, much to the delight of the players, chess fans and commentators. Big pictorial report.

Andrew Martin – Life on the Edge

11/14/2006 – Want something new against the Sicilian? On his Wednesday night Playchess lecture Andrew Martin recommends 2.Na3, "if you have a sense of humour and you are willing to embrace eccenticity." He also looks at the offbeat miniature Aronian-Svidler from the Tal Memorial and some other unusual examples. See you on the server.

Fritz 10: watching your engine think

11/14/2006 – Our latest chess program is due for release tomorrow, November 15. It is stronger than its predecessor by a margin big enough to make Vladimir Kramnik nervous (he faces it in a match next week). But Fritz 10 also has many new features which we will describe in installments on our news page. You can order the program now or read about the unique 'Show analysis' function.

Tal-Mem R6: Leko, Grischuk, Aronian win

11/13/2006 – Back on track, three decided games, one in which tail-ender Grischuk defeated the world's number four Peter Svidler with black, and one in which young Magnus Carlsen made a single false move in a rook and pawn ending against Aronian. Now Peter Leko, Ruslan Ponomariov and Lev Aronian share the lead, and the draw statistics down to 64%. Report.

English Defense: be the victor, not the victim!

11/12/2006 – In his Playchess lecture this Monday Dennis Monokroussos takes a look at the English Defense (not the English Opening). If you don’t know what that is, so much the better – your opponents probably won’t, either! Come watch and learn.

Tal-Mem R5: All games drawn

11/11/2006 – Sound boring, but there were a number of interesting moments in round five of the Tal Memorial in Moscow. We did some statistics: of the 25 games played so far 68% were drawn, the shortest in 23 moves. Only about four were unfought. Mamedyarov-Ponomariov was the longest game and had the longest header so far. Illustrated report including golden sponsors of the event.

Shredderbases

11/11/2006 – The whole chess world is abuzz with a strange new word on everyone's lips: Shredderbases. What are they? What do they do? Is mankind doomed? And, if not, what's for dinner? We tackle at least half of these questions in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Tal-Mem R4: Leko, Morozevich, Aronian win

11/10/2006 – Peter Leko ground down Boris Gelfand in 79 moves, Alexander Morozevich profited from a mysterious exchange sacrifice by Alexander Grischuk, and Levon Aronian calmly refuted an ambitious winning attempt by Alexei Shirov to take the full point. Now all three are just half a point behind the leading Ponomariov, who has a 2900+ performance. Big illustrated report.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov wins Corsica Masters

11/9/2006 – That is a great victory all by itself, but when it was achieved by beating Vishy Anand, the greatest rapid chess player in the world, then it takes on a special quality. Sixteen top GMs took part in this rapid chess festival on the French island of Corsica, but little information leaked out to the chess world. We have games and pictures.

The Immortality of Mikhail Tal

11/9/2006 – Had he lived, had he not succumbed to chronic ill health and an excessive life style, today Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal, the "Magician from Riga", would have celebrated his 70th birthday – today, on the first free day of the Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow. The greatest attacking player in history is sadly missed but never forgotten. In memoriam.

Top GMs face amateurs at International Open in Corsica

11/8/2006 – Okay, the event was won by Vladimir P. Malaniuk, 49, from Ukraine. But more interesting, for us at least, was the sight of world-class GMs facing children, in part a third their Elo rating and a third their weight, in the first round of the Corsica Circuit Open Festival that ended today. Check out our report for some truly unique images.