2009 was a tough year, also for the chess world. Sponsors left, prize funds were lowered and in one (quite important) event the list of participants counted just four players. But it was also an interesting year, with successes for rising stars as...
Last month he turned 19, and today Magnus Carlsen officialy became the official world's number one player. On the January 1st FIDE rating list the Norwegian as a rating of 2810, 5 points more than Veselin Topalov, who had occupied the number 1 spo...
Chess.com has finally released it’s iPhone app! Featuring player vs. player games, play vs. computer, and chess training tools, this free app will allow more than 1 million Chess.com members access to free online play, and will allow all use...
Finishing with a victory and a draw, Alexander Grischuk won the the Superfinal of the Russian Championship with 6.5/9. He ended half a point ahead of Peter Svidler. In the women's section, Alisa Galliamova finished with two draws and this was enou...
Everyman Chess has published: The Rules of Winning Chess.In this new book Nigel Davies gives form to his many beliefs, built up through 40 years of playing and studying chess, about how a chess game should be conducted and he states them in a clea...
Except for snow, Christmas trees and fireworks, the period just before and after New Year is also known for the many big open chess tournaments. Some of them have a very rich tradition, like Reggio Emilia, the Rilton Cup and, of course, the Hastin...
Alexander Grischuk leads the Superfinal of the Russian Championship with 5 points out of 7 games. He's half a point ahead of Peter Svidler, who lost to Sanan Sjugirov in round 5. In the women's section, Alisa Galliamova is on a superb 6.5/7. Repor...
He hadn't played a classical game of chess since 2002, so Boris Spassky needed a few games to get warm. In the second half of his match against Viktor Korchnoi he played much better, beating his opponent in games 5 and 7. In game 6 he was also bet...
Yesterday TIME featured a short interview with the new world's new number 1 Magnus Carlsen. Despite the fact that there were only ten questions with relatively short answers, I liked it so much that it got me thinking about chess journalism in gen...
Today we give you the third and last set of ten questions of our Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz. Soon we'll bring you all the answers. Good luck!Today questions 21-30. Send your answers before Sunday, December 27th, 23:59 CET to christmas09@...
Today we give you the second set of ten questions of our Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz! Good luck!Today questions 11-20; tomorrow the last ten will follow. Send your answers before Sunday, December 27th, 23:59 CET to christmas09@chessvibes....
Enjoying a small Christmas holiday on December 24, 25 and 26, these days instead of news, reviews or columns the ChessVibes team offers a quiz: the Big ChessVibes Christmas '09 Quiz! And yes, you can win prizes!Recently, the editor of the New in C...
Two interviews with World Champion Viswanathan Anand have appeared in Indian newspapers this week, and in one of them he makes a remarkable statement. To the question whether GM Ganguly will again be in his team of seconds for the match against To...
Because of clashes with other events the Russian Superfinal was postponed till the end of December this year and so it's the last classical event of 2009 in which a top 10 player is active. That's Peter Svidler, who defends his title and is leadin...
Games 3 and 4 both ended in a draw and so Viktor Korchnoi still has a small lead in his match against Boris Spassky. The match in Elista will consist of eight games in total, and after four games the score is 2.5-1.5 for the oldest of the two lege...
Welcome to the 2009 Chess.com Holiday Puzzler! To keep you entertained over the holiday season, why not try our fun chess quiz? How many of the 20 chess related questions can you answer correctly? There should be something for everyone, and you...
We have just received from Zürich: Open Files.The first edition of this book, published in East Germany in 1981, was a huge best seller. Despite its excellent qualities, which were acclaimed in chess circles, it was never reprinted and it became a...
On Dec 21, 2009, Chesspark.com became part of Chess.com. Chesspark members have access to Chess.com using their same login info, but must first login here: http://www.chess.com/chesspark.html to transfer their account to Chess.com. Chess.com did...
No matter how much criticism Vladimir Nabokov's posthumously published The Orginal of Laura recently received, I instantly bought the book - and liked it all the same. Some writers are just always worth reading. In contemporary chess literature, a...
The second half of 2009 in the elite chess world began at Dortmund in July where Vladimir Kramnik won the event for a staggering ninth time. A stunning tactical victory against Magnus Carlsen in round eight proved crucial. Since losing his world...
After a very successful World Cup tournament, Vladimir Malakhov managed to keep his top form this weekend. The 29-year-old physicist from Russia won the European Rapid Championship with 11.5/13, beating big favourites such as Gashimov, Ivanchuk an...
Two of the most legendary chess players still alive are currently playing an 8-game match in Elista, Kalmykia: 78-year-old Viktor Korchnoi and 72-year-old Boris Spassky. Korchnoi won the first game; the second ended in a draw today.Photo © Officia...
The year, and indeed the decade, are almost over (Year In Review, Part 1), but chess players don't let the holidays stop them from enjoying their favourite game. Far from it. Here are just some of the events from around the world taking place no...
So 2009 is drawing to a close, and it has certainly been an eventful year in the chess world, with Veselin Topalov earning the right to challenge Vishy Anand for the world championship next year, but also losing his #1 ranking to Magnus Carlsen. ...
