Chess News

The 26-year-old Chinese GM has won all her games at the FIDE Grand Prix that is being staged in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. This translates to a nominal performance of 3289. In second place is another Chinese player, WGM Ju Wenjun. Before the free day on Thursday we bring you a big illustrated report from Nalchik on rounds three and four.

From December 8-16 a special Mind Games event is being staged in the capital of China, a first step towards establishing a third set of Olympic games. The disciplines are bridge, chess, draughts, go and xiangqi. In the chess section we see players like Karjakin, Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Grischuk and Kamsky. Would you like to attend? You can, by winning a special Playchess qualifier.

One could hardly ask for more drama than what transpired in the ninth round. It started with Anand completely losing focus in his game against Aronian, and losing in a mere 25 moves. Carlsen built a fantastic attack against Ivanchuk, beat him and is now tied for first, but the shocker was Nakamura's loss on time against Vallejo on the last move of the time-control.

The third stage of FIDE Women's Grand Prix cycle 2011-2012 is being staged in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. There are twelve titled players participating, including nine GMs, though niether Women's world champion Hou Yifan nor Koneru Humpy are playing as they prepare for their world title match in November. Zhao Xue and Ju Wenjun have taken the early lead.

Named after the Austrian master Ernst Grünfeld, the defense has been around for nearly 90 years. At first, it was looked upon with suspicion: giving White a strong pawn center that could only be tickled by Black's dark bishop and other pieces didn't seem to be a fair deal. In this week's column GM Lubomir Kavalek tells us how he taught a World Championship challenger how to play the Grünfeld.

The seven-round event, which took place in Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia, had 65 men's and 12 women's teams participating. It was won by St Petersburg, headed by World Cup winner Peter Svidler. Second was SOCAR, headed by Teimour Radjabov, who scored 4.5/5 points with a 3019 performance. Teimour, we hear, is to get married on October 7th.

One would have been justified in thinking that after his fifth round loss to Carlsen, and the terrible incident that marred his trip to Bilbao, Ivanchuk would be unable to continue his Grand Slam Masters ravage. However, the tire marks he left on Nakamura, after he ran over the American's Sicilian, dismissed this thought. The other games drew. Pictorial and video with analysis by GM Romain Edouard.

With 138 competitors from 28 schools across New Zealand, the 1st Chess Power National Finals event was a day to remember.

Hardly a month goes by without some report of cheating in international chess tournaments. The problem has become acute, but it is not new. In 2001 Frederic Friedel contributed a paper to the book "Advances in Computer Chess 9". It traces the many forms of illicit manipulations in chess and, a decade later, appears disconcertingly topical and up-to-date. We reproduce the paper in five parts.

For the eight year running the Malaysian Chess Festival was held at Mid Valley City, a one stop destination for living, business and leisure on the periphery of Kuala Lumpur City Centre. This year's edition saw patron Dato Tan, 85 years old, playing in the Senior section. In the Open we find the first six places taken by Chinese players, one of them in fact female. Big pictorial by Andrew Ooi.

In terms of statistical oddities, round three ranks right up there. Not only did Carlsen, the highest ranked player, lose to Vallejo, but Anand also lost to Ivanchuk. This not only meant the top rated players in the world lost in the same round in the same tournament, but both are now the tail-enders of the event. Report on round three and rest day by Albert Silver with analysis by GM Moradiabadi.

Male chess players choose riskier and more aggressive chess openings when playing against attractive women compared to when playing against less attractive women, although the Elo rating and style of play are the same. The scientists who have found this out are asking our readers to participate in a one-minute survey of their own behavior.

Ready for some more endgame lessons from GM Karsten Müller? He shows us how, in a queen ending, the activity of the queens and the safety of the kings is of paramount importance. In the second example a knight has to make an important decision on which path to take – White went astray and lost instead of winning. Find out why, learn and become a better player.

Very few tournaments can boast a tradition going back 90 years, yet the Montreal Open, is now in its 91st edition no less. Th reason is not an exceptionally deep-rooted chess history as seen in Russia, but a community whose passion for the game seems to know no bounds. The organizers share in this love and put on an exceptionally beautiful event. Here is the colorful pictorial by Alina L'Ami.

When passed pawns are far advanced you must always watch out for breakthrough motifs and promotion combinations, our resident endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller tells us. He also shows us, once again with a recent example, the two themes that are most important when a rook fights against a pawn. Here's your chance to learn from the GM and improve your chess.

Many forgotten interviews with Alekhine have been reproduced over the years by the Editor of Chess Notes. We witness the great champion discussing his chess rivals and predecessors, plans, training routines, blindfold exploits, family background, education, personal lifestyle, pastimes, travel, politics and writings, including the notorious anti-Semitic articles published in the Nazi press in 1941.

In his report on the competition, which was won by 19-year-old Kacper Piorun, the second-placed solver, GM Dr John Nunn, presented a selection of problems which the competitors had to face. Today he presents the solutions, in the unique explanatory style that has made his many chess books so popular. Studying his notes allows you to delve into the magical world of chess problems.

Last week, St. Petersburg hosted the traditional and historic match between Russia`s two greatest cities: Moscow and St. Petersburg. The first such chess match was held 100 years ago – in 1911, after which 21 more meetings have taken place. After a five-year break another was finally held, promising to be an annual event thanks to the sponsorship of “Gazprom”.

The Grand Slam officially started its first leg in São Paulo, with the world's elite playing, including all three 2800+ players. Anand-Carlsen was the foremost game on the card, but was sadly the least exciting, ending in a lackluster draw. Nakamura and Ivanchuk immediately shirked theory, but also drew, while Aronian struck first and beat Vallejo in an offbeat Slav.

The chess club in Ottawa has a special relationship with the former World Championship challenger. GM Nigel Short, who in recent months has been on fire with a string of sterling results, turned up a second time to give a simul and a lecture – his first on the 1993 match against Garry Kasparov in London. You will find annotated highlights from the simul and lecture in this report by John Upper.

This month in the Chess Cafe Steven B. Dowd looks at three recently released ChessBase DVDs, one each for the opening, middlegame, and ending. "Each one is very well-done, and contain a wealth of information for the learner," he writes. "It will probably be the only time you see me giving six stars – the maximum – to each DVD." Reviews and links.