Chess News

Passive defence seemed hopeless to Black here in view of his exposed king, and he rather preferred to create counterthreats by playing 64...h3 (diagram). How would you assess the position after 65.Re7+ now? White...
A)... wins the black queen by force
B)... must eventually pin his hopes on a plus pawn in a rook ending
C)... achieves only perpetual check; if he allows the black king to escape via h5-g4, Black even wins

It was a euphoric Alina L'Ami who sent in a second photographic report on the international tournament in sunny Barbera del Valles. In spite of her 2312 rating, she scored a full-fledged GM norm with a 2612 performance against no fewer than five GMs. Despite this, she found the time to also visit Barcelona and share her pictures and impressions with Chessbase readers. A pictorial by Alina L'Ami.

"FIDE gave me a wildcard for the World Cup!" wrote GM Peter Heine Nielsen. "Thanks a lot for your help, Vladica, Jeff and Fred. Can't tell how much I appreciate that." It is, PH assumes, the result of a series of articles we published in April, and the support they generated. The World Cup will take place in Khanty-Mansiysk from August 26 to 21 September 2011

His exposed majesty had caused Black to go for the deflecting strike 48...Nc3xe4 before, in order after 49.Qf3xe4 Qa2-f2 (diagram) to get out of the affair by the mate threat on g1. Which move wins for White now?
A) 50.Bg2
B) 50.Qf5+
C) neither (draw)

Well, in a certain sense yes, but usually the defender must play actively, as our our endgame specialist Dr Karsten Müller meticulously demonstrates. In his second example GM Müller shows us how in a "wrong rook pawn" ending the defender can often hope to construct a fortress, and how this can be overcome by the attacker. Valuable lessons for your next tournament.

The two Serbian sisters Marija and Kosara Stojanovic are on a mission to help hearing impaired children, and young people with mental disabilities, to find pleasure and enjoyment in chess. In their pilot project they conduct classes once a week, and organise simultaneous exhibitions and outdoor events. Wonderful work that needs to be supported – or simply emulated by others.

There was a bid from Russia, but now the Tamil Nadu Government has placed a winning bid for the Chess World Championship match between reigning Champion Viswanathan Anand and Challenger Boris Gelfand. The match will take place in April or May of 2012, the total budget is Rs. 20 crores (= 3.2 million Euros or US $4.5 million)

Zhansaya Abdumalik already has three junior world championship titles under her belt. Recently she won an international tournament in Indonesia among girls under 20 years of age as well, which gave her the title of Women's International Master and a heavy boost in her rating. Now she has set her sights at the Women's Grandmaster title. Good luck, Zhansaya

This Category 17 GM tournament, the strongest ever staged in India, is being dominated by the world's top junior, Fabiano Caruana, who after seven rounds is 1.5 points ahead of his nearest rivals. Another piece of good news: women's world champion Hou Yifan, 17, seems to have overcome her crisis and started to score. Yifan was also the only player on the free day to take a grand tour of Delhi.

Gregory Young is the 2011 U.S. Junior Champion, taking the title before the final round of play even began. Ranked seventh of the ten players, Young (2327) explained he had never given his chances much thought, not having played in six months. "I was thinking about it as a tournament to get back into rhythm and play." Instead he trounced the field, winning with a two-point lead.

The Central American nation, south of Mexico, has a population of just 333,000. But in this country, with its spectacular abundance of terrestrial and marine species, chess has become a national passtime. Last May the best players from each district throughout Belize met for what they call a "Chess Olympiad". A special guest at the event, GM Maurice Ashley, sent us this beautiful pictorial report.

The top seed GMs have survived mostly unharmed in this South African event, fighting for maximum points in the early rounds, a task not made easy by ambitious youngsters (Nigel Short: "My opponent was rated a thousand points below me but made me work!"). After seven rounds English GM Gawain Jones leads with 6.5 points, followed by 15 players with 60./5 each

Working with a World Champion clearly has beneficial effects. Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek has been a permanent second for Vishy Anand for a few years now, and the 24-year-old is showing signs of real greatness. At the 9th Gyorgy Marx Memorial he declassed the opposition, scoring 8.0/10, a point and a half more than anyone else. Which confirms a new genetic theory.

In this double rook ending both sides have their trumps. The move 41...h5-h4 (diagram position) leads to ...

A) ... victory for Black;
B) ... a draw;
C) ... a won pawn endgame for White.

All the deepest plans or endgame technique are useless if you fall victim to a shot that leaves you in a lost position. Likewise, sometimes that superior play will only offer a single window of opportunity to deliver that final blow, so it is vital to be ready for it when it does. All the positions are from the 2011 Russian Championship - Higher League.

After watching the first half dominated by 18-year-old Sanan Sjugirov, the next two rounds saw the leadership change hands twice more. First it was Timofeev who beat Sjuigirov in round seven, and then Morozevich beat Timofeev, never relinquishing his lead. It was a combination of both skill and consistency, but the luckiest man was unquestionably Ernesto Inarkiev

Israeli GM Boris Gelfand won the recent Candidates Matches in Kazan, making him the challenger of Vishy Anand in next year's World Championship match. Boris was given a hero's welcome on his return, and was interviewed by our colleague Shay Bushinsky, author of the Junior chess program. Here is part two on Gelfand's matches against Mamedyarov and Kamsky

The Championships are being held from June 25th to July 4th in the spectacular Emperors Palace Hotel in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. The field of over 700 participants boasts more than 40 titled players and is headed by three times past champion GM Nigel Short from England. The chess promises to be exciting, but the surrounding wildlife even more so.

In the second round, the two winners from round one drew after it quickly became evident neither could force the issue. Radjabov obtained a significant space advantage over Karjakin but was unable to make anything of it, while Nakamura and Nisipeanu also seemed destined to draw until a late-game hallucination by the Romanian handed the win to the American.

One of the key persons at the Medias Kings' Tournament is GM Dorian Rogozenco, who not only advises the organisers, but also interviews the players after the games. Then, after a swim and a meal, this industrious grandmaster retires to his room and prepares full annotations to all the games, in his own well-loved style. We present his notes and analyses with Chessbases' new JavaScript player.

All the ingredients for a super tournament are there, with ultra-talented players known for their creativity and combativeness. Magnus Carlsen, always in the center of the international spotlight, beat Nakamura in a powerful game in the opening round, while Ivanchuk did much the same against Radjabov, in a highly original King's Indian Averbakh.