Chess News

  • Gaziantep: Muzychuk falters, Gunina wins EIWCC title
    It was a thrilling final round. The Slovenian GM Anna Muzychuk was in the lead by a full point, but suffered a defeat at the hands of the Russian IM Valentina Gunina. At the same time a super-aggressive game by Tatiana Kosentseva allowed her to join the top group with 8.5/11 points each. Gunina won the title on tiebreak.
    Posted: Wednesday 14 March 2012
  • Battle for “Migingo” in Nairobi
    Nairobi Chess Club continues to make waves in African chess. In 2009 it organized the first Internet match against the famous Wageningen Chess Club, which had Jan Timman on board one. This year the long awaited match against the Uganda National the match affectionately called “The Battle for Migingo”. Big and sometimes startling report by Kim Bhari.
    Posted: Wednesday 14 March 2012
  • Caruana wins Reykjavik 2012, Hou misses big chance
    We came this close to a major sensation. 18-year-old Hou Yifan, the reigning women's world champion, had a winning position against the tournament leader Fabiano Caruana, and would have finished the tournament in first place if she had steered the game to victory. But Fabiano has some special guardian angels and escaped with a draw and finished in sole first place himself.
    Posted: Tuesday 13 March 2012
  • Historical material on Euwe and Capablanca
    The Dutch channel Geschiedenis 24 specializes in historic archive footage, which is provided on cable and satellite – but also on the Internet. G24 has happily dug into its chess holdings and put some remarkable material online. We start with a portrait of the former World Champion Max Euwe, which includes a segment with José Raúl Capablanca talking. A treasure trove.
    Posted: Tuesday 13 March 2012
  • Paulson: 'World cities will glorify chess'
    FIDE recently transferred the rights to its World Championship cycle to a company called Agon, an action that sent shock waves through the chess world. The man behind Agon is Andrew Paulson, and American born media entrepreneur working in Russia, who is not well known in the chess world. That changes radically now, since GM Raymond Keene sent us this very outspoken interview.
    Posted: Monday 12 March 2012
  • 2011/12 Junior Four Nations Chess League (J4NCL)
    Just like the adult 4NCL, the junior edition brought teams of all ages competing over three weekends in two separate divisions. The J4NCL differentiates itself by offering free structured coaching between rounds for all the children, going through games on a one-to-one basis. This season’s coaches were GM Nick Pert, IM Andrew Martin and WFM Sabrina Chevannes.
    Posted: Sunday 11 March 2012
  • First women’s rapid and blindfold tournament in the world
    It was like Melody Amber, only a lot crazier! The first rapid and blindfold tournament in the country modelled on the famous Monte Carlo event successfully concluded in Pune, India last month, with the home team emerging exhausted winners. This historic women’s tournament held to raise awareness against the horrific social crime of female foeticide.
    Posted: Friday 9 March 2012
  • Double sortie
    After the invasion of his one knight on d7 White here had also sent out its colleague with 22.Ng5 (diagram), planning after 22...Nxg5 23.Qxg5 to take the diagonal b2-g7 under fire. This leads to what?

    A) victory for White
    B) equality
    C) advantage for Black
    Posted: Friday 9 March 2012
  • Do Women Have a Chance against Men in Chess?
    As we know all too well: most of the strongest players in the world are male. In the past we have speculated on the reasons for this gender discrepancy, with vigorous reader participation. On International Women's Day Peter Zhdanov, who is married to a very strong female player, provides us with some valuable statistics, comparing men and women on a country-by-country basis. Eye-opening.
    Posted: Thursday 8 March 2012
  • Reykjavik Chess Festival 2012 under way
    This popular tournament, which has drawn 200 players (including 25 GMs and 20 IMs), is taking place from March 6 to 13 in the capital of Iceland. The venue is the spectacular, newly-finished Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, and the players have a direct view of the harbour and ocean. WGM Alina L'Ami, who is playing in the tournament, has send us this report after round three.
    Posted: Thursday 8 March 2012
  • European Women's Championship: Hoang in the sole lead
    The leader after four rounds, GM Marie Sebag, drew her next two games, while GM Thanh Trang Hoang won both of hers to tally up 5.5/6 points with a 2727 performance. Sebag, Gunina, Foisor and Cmilyte are half a point behind the Hungarian player (Hoang), and five more players with 4½ points behind them before the free day on Thursday. Round six report.
    Posted: Thursday 8 March 2012
  • Shirov: with black and white in Ottawa simul
    Two simultaneous exhibitions on 39 boards – that is nothing unusual for a top grandmaster. But Alexei Shirov is willing (a) to take the black side of as many boards as the participants want; and (b) to do a four-hour lecture with his opponents on their games after the event is over. "That’s why we keep inviting him," writes John Upper in this must-read report filled with games and analysis.
    Posted: Wednesday 7 March 2012
  • European Women's Championships start in Gaziantep, Turkey
    For the first time in history a women's event will have a higher prize fund than the corresponding men's event. The European Women's Championships boast a total prize fund of 150,000 Euros, with a 20,500 Euro first prize in the classical section – that's 500 Euros more than the top male will receive in Plovdiv later this month. Round one in Gaziantep brought a number of surprises.
    Posted: Saturday 3 March 2012
  • 76,132 studies – It's the thought that counts
    If you looked at a study for five minutes, eight hours a day, it would take you over three years to go through all the endgame studies that Harold van der Heijden has collected in his database: 85% of all studies ever composed. He worked for fifteen years on the project, but also managed to have a family, do a doctorate, and work as a research scientist. Steve Giddins tells us his remarkable story.
    Posted: Friday 2 March 2012
  • Capture or corner?
    Black threatens 48...Qf3 followed by mate on g2. Which defence is the right one for White and gives him a clear advantage?

    A) 48.Kxh3
    B) 48.Qa8 (Rd5)
    C) 48.Rxe4
    Posted: Friday 2 March 2012
  • Bartel, Rajlich win the Polish championship 2012
    For GM Mateusz Bartel it was a hat-trick: the third title in a row, won in a very close contest in play-off games, and IM Iweta Rajlich won her title after drawing both play-off games on a better tiebreak score. So there was plenty of action and excitement right to the end. We bring you a big report with annotations by Iweta Rajlich and a beautiful pictorial by Sylwia Rudolf.
    Posted: Friday 2 March 2012
  • Chess history: Nineteen Hours with Bobby Fischer – Part 2
    In 1981 the Film Board of Canada approached Bobby Fischer, hoping for his participation in a feature-length documentary on the game of chess. Last week we published part one of research writer Camille Coudari's harrowing encounter with the reclusive former world champion. In part two Camille describes the religious background that caused Fischer to think and behave the way he did.
    Posted: Wednesday 29 February 2012
  • Getting chess into schools Europe-wide
    For six months now the Kasparov Chess Foundation has been lobbying to get chess introduced into the curriculum of schools in Europe. With the help of the British charity Chess in Schools Garry Kasparov worked the members of the European Parliament, so far garnering 377 of the 380 signatures required.
    Posted: Monday 27 February 2012
  • Second rank, seventh rank
    In this position Black invited the white queen into his camp with 45...Rxd7 46.Dxd7. After that, he ...

    A)... stands with his back to the wall in view of the threats 47.Be5/Re7;
    B)... is better since a clever trick allows the exchange of queens;
    C)... wins on the spot.
    Posted: Monday 27 February 2012
  • Romanian Championships in Arctic conditions
    The championships were won by WGM Cristina Foisor and GM Vladislav Nevednichy. The big final report of WGM Alina L'Ami is again under the shock of the most severe winter since 1954. The players got to the playing hall much the same way Robert Scott reached the South Pole – on sleds pulled by horses. But for some all that snow was pure delight.
    Posted: Sunday 26 February 2012
  • CBM training: Sasikiran's Surprise and Melkumyan's Miracle
    In this week's alliterative column our ChessBase Magazin expert Dr Karsten Müller explains four final instructive endgames from the recently ended Aeroflot Open. You will want to especially study the second example, which tells you everything you ever wanted to know about opposition but were afraid to ask. Take a break, learn and enjoy. It's free!
    Posted: Saturday 25 February 2012

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