Yearbook 93 has just arrived! In this issue of The Chess Player's Guide to Opening News you will find answers to urgent questions like: -- Will the Nimzowitsch Sicilian rise from its ashes? -- How could Michael Adams lose to the venerable Max L...
The first two videos are up. Yesterday I asked David Howell about his game against Nigel Short, and about his opinion of the infamous Petroff Defence. I also got Vladimir Kramnik before the camera, and asked him about how he looked back at the Tal...
Vladimir Kramnik (pictured) won his second consecutive game in the London Chess Classic to keep the pressure on leader Magnus Carlsen. Kramnik beat Luke McShane, who has now lost twice - to Carlsen and Kramnik - after his marathon win against Sho...
The 2009 World Cup Final between Boris Gelfand and Ruslan Ponomariov has started in Khanty-Mansiysk. The final is decided by a four-game match, with rapid tiebreaks if necessary - let's hope not. Ponomariov had the white pieces in the first game...
Magnus Carlsen also won his second white game at the London Chess Classic. The Norwegian defeated Luke McShane in round 2 and took sole lead in the standings, with 6 points. Vladimir Kramnik recovered fron yesterday's loss and won a good game agai...
Are chess books getting better? Take the first volume of The Complete Hedgehog by Sergey Shipov: although I've read many books on the Hedgehog system, I think this is the best one by far. It's more accessible, better explained, better written, it'...
Magnus Carlsen took full advantage of his favourable draw in the London Chess Classic to take his second win with the white pieces to hold the sole lead. In an entertaining game, Carlsen overcame Luke McShane, but not without a terrific fight. V...
Magnus Carlsen defeated Vladimir Kramnik in the first round of the London Chess Classic. The tournament, which will last for seven rounds, started on Tuesday with the two top seeds immediately paired against each other. Luke McShane beat Nigel Sho...
After Boris Gelfand, today Ruslan Ponomariov also qualified for the final of the 2009 FIDE World Cup. The Ukrainian defeated Vladimir Malakhov in a very exciting rapid tiebreak final: 3-1. Ponomariov lost the first game, but then won three in a ro...
So at last London gets a grandmaster chess tournament worthy of a great city. The London Chess Classic got underway today and the drawing of lots brought together the two tournament favourites, Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik in the first rou...
And then there were two... Ruslan Ponomariov finally ended the dreams of Vladimir Malakhov to advance to the final of the 2009 World Cup. It was a dramatic tie-break encounter that could so easily have gone the other way. Malakhov won the first ...
Boris Gelfand has reached the final of the 2009 FIDE World Cup. Today he again defeated Sergey Karjakin, who had to take many risks in a must-win situation. Malakhov and Ponomariov drew again and so tomorrow's tiebreaks will decide who will be Gel...
ChessVibes is in London, where tomorrow the strongest chess tournament in the UK for twenty-five years gets underway at Olympia, Kensington. We'll be providing on-the-spot coverage with photos, videos and more, next to our live commentary. In the ...
Top seed Boris Gelfand (pictured) made qualifying for the final of the 2009 World Cup look easy by beating Sergey Karjakin again to win their match 2-0. Needing a win with the black pieces, Karjakin tried desperately to complicate matters, but in...
We have just received from Moscow: Play 2...Nf6! in the SicilianThe Nimzowitsch-Rubinstein variation of the Sicilian Defense can be seen as a blank spot in the map of modern chess theory. Everyone has heard of it but no one really knows anything a...
On the first day of the World Cup's semi-finals Boris Gelfand delivered a big blow to his 22 years younger opponent Sergey Karjakin. The Israeli grandmaster continued his fantastic World Cup tournament with a win with the black pieces today, and o...
After rounds 4, 5 and 6 the ladies were leading by a 3-point margin in Marianske Lazne. But, thanks to two strong last two rounds, the "Old Hands" managed to limit their loss against the "Snow Drops" to a minimum: 16.5-15.5. Final report.The Czech...
London is gearing-up for it's biggest chess tournament in 25 years, as the inaugural London Chess Classic gets underway on Tuesday 8 December at the Olympia Conference Centre. Heading the impressive line-up is current world #2 Magnus Carlsen from...
Boris Gelfand took a crucial lead against Sergey Karjakin in the 2009 World Cup by winning the first of their semi-final games with the black pieces. Karjakin played the Bishop's opening to avoid the Petroff, but Gelfand soon equalised with an un...
In today's tiebreaks of the World Cup Boris Gelfand eliminated Dmitry Jakovenko while Ruslan Ponomariov knocked out Vugar Gashimov; both winners scored 2.5-0.5 in three rapid games. Tomorrow's semi-finals will see Ponomariov-Malakhov and Karjakin-...
The quarter final tie-breaks of the 2009 World Cup are over, and Boris Gelfand and Ruslan Ponomariov (pictured) are through to the semi-finals, joining Sergey Karjakin and Vladimir Malakhov. Both Gelfand and Ponomariov both made the tiebreaks loo...
The second games of the quarter-finals were all drawn, so Vladimir Malakhov and Sergey Karjakin (pictured) are safely through to the 2009 World Cup semi-finals at the expense of Peter Svidler and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov respectively. Svidler tried ...
All four games ended in draws on the second day of round 5, and so Sergei Karjakin and Vladimir Malakhov are through to the semi-finals of the World Cup, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Peter Svidler are out. Gelfand, Jakovenko, Ponomariov and Gashi...
At 29 years old and rated 2706 Elo (world rank #31) Vladimir Malakhov (pictured) is the nearest thing to an 'outsider' we have left in the 2009 World Cup. He belied that status in the first round of quarter-final games by surviving a Peter Svidler...
