Magnus Carlsen got off to a flying start in Nanjing to lead the Pearl Spring Masters after the first round. Carlsen quickly gained the upper hand against experienced Etienne Bacrot and the game finished quickly in the Frenchman's time trouble. W...
A match between Viktor Korchnoi and Vlasimil Hort held in Stara Vraz, Czech Republic last week ended in a 5.5-2.5 victory for Korchnoi. The two legends first drew all four classical games, but then Korchnoi got it going with three wins in a row in...
In case you had missed it: ChessVibes is in China again! The first round of the third Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing starts tomorrow at 14.30 local time (that's in the morning in Europe: 08.30 CET). The pairings of the first round were announc...
Hot on the heels of the recent super-tournament in Bilbao comes another clash of the titans. The venue this time is Nanjing for the third edition of the Pearl Spring Masters. This recent addition to the chess calendar has already established its...
Last week for the fourth time Garry Kasparov played a simul in Antwerp against top Belgium CEOs, politicians and children. Earlier that day he was interviewed by Jan Lagrain of De Schaakfabriek. The 13th World Champion spoke frankly about the FIDE...
Eleven teams won both their matches in the first two rounds at the European Club Cup in Plovdiv. The top players active in Bulgaria include Aronian, Eljanov, Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Shirov and Radjabov.The European Club Cup for Me...
Ah, they were good back then, weren't they? Reading Kasparov on Modern Chess: Kasparov vs. Karpov 1988-2009 during the final days of the FIDE Presidential campaign made me want to say to the two K's: cheer up guys, who cares about politics when yo...
The 2010 European Club Cup is underway in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The team competition runs from 17-23 October and features more than 20 players rated above 2700 Elo, with the top rated participant being current world #3, Lev Aronian. More than 50 me...
New volumes in the Grandmaster Repertoire Series.Mihail Marin has completed his opening repertoire for White with 1.c4. Grandmaster Repertoire 3 - The English Opening vol. 2 covers Black's replies to 1.c4 except 1...e5 and 1...c5. Grandmaster Repe...
Vladimir Kramnik won the Bilbao Masters Final after both games in the last round ended in a draw. Anand had some chances to beat Carlsen and force a play-off, but eventually the World Champion had to be satisfied with a draw. Round 6 video now up....
Vladimir Kramnik comfortably achieved a draw with the black pieces in the final round against Shirov which was enough to finish as the sole winner of the Bilbao Final Masters 2010. Only Anand could catch Kramnik, but he needed to beat Carlsen to ...
Magnus Carlsen on Thursday won his first game at the Bilbao Masters Final. The Norwegian beat Alexei Shirov in 65 moves in a Ruy Lopez. World Champion Viswanathan Anand easily drew with Black against tournament leader Vladimir Kramnik.Tournament i...
Round five in Bilbao, and Magnus Carlsen finally managed to win a game in this powerful double round-robin event. Carlsen's enterprising opening play against Shirov (17. Na7! is an amazing conceit) was rewarded with an endgame which the silicon m...
German GM Karsten Mueller is known to be an endgame expert, but every now and then he shows that it's possible to defeat strong grandmasters with off-beat stuff. This weekend he won against Nyback in a Bishop's Opening. This, and more (like the Qu...
The standings at the Bilbao Masters Final remained unchanged after two more draws on Wednesday. Viswanathan Anand came close to beating Alexei Shirov in a sharp McCutcheon French, while Vladimir Kramnik had a small advantage with Black in an endin...
The fourth round in Bilbao could easily have ended with two decisive games, but slight inaccuracies and perhaps fatigue crept in. Anand's game with Shirov was a wild encounter, with Anand (pictured) seemingly fated to win and revive his chances t...
"For us, humans with spades, such large-scale work and bottomless pits look crazy." This is not a quote from Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who is currently hugging rescued miners. No, it was Sergey Shipov who used it in his commentary of rou...
There are lots of new features in ChessBase 11.- Repertoire database completely revised - On playchess.com the last 40 games of a player can be downloaded as a database - 'Try out' moves - Improved functions 'Opening report' and 'Dossier' - Gener...
Vladimir Kramnik maintained the lead at the Bilbao Masters Final after drawing relatively quickly with Viswanathan Anand today. In a marathon game of 174 moves, Alexei Shirov and Magnus Carlsen drew as well. Tuesday is a rest day.After 174 moves S...
After Ilyumzhinov's victory in the FIDE Presidential elections in Khanty-Mansiysk twelve days ago, it's become awfully silent on both fronts. Those seeking change in the World Chess Federation have been struck dumb at the prospect of another four ...
Round three of the Bilbao Final Masters pitted Anand against Kramnik and Shirov against Carlsen. Anand tried the Catalan against Kramnik, but ran up against the Russian's deep preparation in this popular opening. Kramnik rattled off his moves qu...
In Bilbao the day of 10-10-10 was most special for World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who defeated Magnus Carlsen and thus overtook the Norwegian on the live rating list. Vladimir Kramnik scored another victory with the white pieces against Alexei ...
As we informed you last week, the Internet Chess Club (ICC) has launched a pay-per-view video store. This week they are showcasing a new series named The French Connection, by GM Varuzhan Akobian.(Advertisement)The French Defense (1. e4 e6) has lo...
He may only have qualified for Bilbao by beating Lev Aronian in a sudden-death game, but Vladimir Kramnik (pictured) has had a fantastic start to the competition with two wins from two white games. Kramnik's victim today's was Alexei Shirov, the ...
