Chess News

No recollection of anything like this in world championship history comes to mind. Sac by sac, and move by move, Gelfand was down more and more material for pawns against Mamedyarov until his grand total was a full SIX pawns for a rook. Astonishing. Here is the report on game three, with video of the Daily Wrap-up show, as well as the lucid and highly instructive annotations by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Before every major chess event there is an ceremony for the players, their seconds, for dignitaries, organisers, sponsors and the chess public. It involves music and dance performances, and the drawing of lots. At the FIDE Candidates Matches in Kazan, Russia, we have photographic impressions by Vladimir Barsky, and use the opportunity to present the seconds of the players.

According to the ChessVibes readers, Levon Aronian is the clear favorite to win the FIDE Candidates matches which start tomorrow in Kazan, Russia. Based on 1,000+ votes, Armenia’s number one grandmaster gained an astonishing 65.19%, followed by ex-World Champion Vladimir Kramnik with 16.57%.

Perhaps the most interesting quarter-final match. Although the odds of Levon Aronian's overall victory in this tournament are high enough, this match it will be very difficult. Grischuk's zeitnots will be testing for both players. Given the most powerful coaching team, Aronian's chief advantage will be in the openings. If Grischuk can surprise him in this initial stage, then his chances are not worse.

This is not a route on the Moscow Metro but a technique to solve a rare and difficult ending: two knights vs a pawn, which, you may or may not know, is winning if the defending pawn can be blockaded on or behind a certain line on the board. This was proven by the great endgame specialist A.A. Troitzky and is explained to us by GM Karsten Müller in a recent game.

The game of chess, with its air of intellectual sophistication, has been used to brand almost any activity, product or business. Now it will be used to promote an entire country – Ukraine, which has two heavy-weight boxing world champions (who play chess) and the Chess Olympiad gold medalists. So don't be surprised to see chess and sports promoting Ukraine in the world media.

Anton Korobov won the strong Nakhchivan Open in Azerbaijan. The Ukrainian grandmaster was the only player to finish on 7/9, half a point ahead of Zoltan Almasi (Hungary), Paco Vallejo (Spain), Ivan Sokolov (The Netherlands) and Alexander Ipatov (Spain), who scored his third GM norm.

Nothing much has changed at the top of the May rating list released by FIDE today. This is understandable since eight high-ranking players have been preparing for the Candidates matches which begin on Thursday. The World Champion, Vishy Anand, who is now a proud father, remains on top, two points ahead of the Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen

Even in the final standings of the Russian Team Championship, 64 and Tomsk-400 were still sharing the lead with 20 match points out of 11 rounds. However, the team from Moscow (with Gelfand, Wang Hao, Caruana and Giri as the top stars) finished with exactly half a board point more: 47.0 vs 46.5.

Every week we present you an endgame study selected by IM Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. Good luck

Translation: top seed GM Hou Yifan defeated WGM Gu Xiaobing in a spectacular round six game, but then lost to WGM Ding Yixin after an unfortunate blunder in round seven. Still the 17-year-old women's world champion remains in the lead at the Women's Masters. On the free day the players visited a school campus and played against chess enthusiastic children.

Pál Benkö, 82 and still going strong, is a world class grandmaster, author and problem composer. He is also a faithful friend who periodically sends us puzzles for our newspage. This time, for Easter, he has selected four problems which stumped a World Champion. It is a challenge for you to do better, and win a special prize in the process.

The last round of the preliminaries was dramatic, especially in the women's section where Foisor was forced into the tiebreaks precisely against Zatonskih who had just beaten her. As if signaling a change in the leadership, Zatonskih used her momentum by then trouncing Foisor in the tiebreaks. In the men's Shankland beat Onischuk to also make the semis.

There is something wonderfully charming about young children playing chess – devoting themselves to a single task with all their concentration and energy. The Turkish Chess Federation claims that today 2.25 million children play the game. Of these 288 took part in the Turkish Children's Team Championship for players under eleven. WGM Anastasiya Karlovich sent us this giant pictorial report.

It was one of the biggest matches of the event, with leader Tomsk-400, headed by Ponomariov and Motylev, facing Elo-favorites CHF-St. Petersburg, with Ivanchuk and Svidler as their top boards. On board one, Ponomariov as Black achieved a very active position, and won in under 30 moves. Though they saved the match, HSM-64 was able to draw level. Report on rounds eight and nine.

The top seeds collided in round four, and in that game it was reigning women's world champion who took the full point. This put 17-year-old Hou Yifan a full point ahead of the field. In round five that narrowed to half a point. Hou is now followed by fourth seed WGM Shen Yang and – surprise – ninth seed WGM Gu Xiaobing, who defeated GM Zhao Xue in round four.

The rook is usually far superior to the bishop in an endgame. In 1993 the remarkable Noam Elkies proved that a certain position that was thought to be drawn was in fact a win for White. The knight really is a tricky piece, as shown by our GM endgame expert Karsten Müller in a second Bundesliga game. His CBM blog provides valuable instructions for novice and advanced players.

Four and five were the number of straight wins that Hess and Krush respectively posted to secure their spots in the finals. Despite nervy play play from all, Hess showed his nerves were steadier than most, much as Krush who won five straight games after her initial loss. Foisor lost the lead after a slip though should make it. The final two rounds will be intense! Illustrated report with videos.

Despite being only fifth on the starting line, Tomsk-400 has been tearing the opposition apart with seven wins in seven, featuring Ponomariov and Motylev with 2800+ performances. HSM-64 has also dropped only one draw, spearheaded by teenage stars Caruana and Giri, with Evjeny Najer covering the rear with a 2959 performance! The women's event has also started.

Everyone thought it would be Indian GM Parimarjan Negi, who had led the field for most of the tournament. But in the final round he had to play his compatriat Abhijeet Gupta, with just a draw required to win solo first. However Parimarjan blundered and Abhijeet took the point and the title, while his opponent had to settle for second in a group of four GMs.

The event is taking place in Wuxi, China, and features top national female players. Top seed – by 83 points – and clear favourite is reigning women's world champion GM Hou Yifan, who together with second seed WGM Ju Wenjun has scored 2.5/3 points. To start our reporting on this very attractive event we present the participants in a big picture parade.