I am very pleased to announce a new columnist for chess.com, Grandmaster Vinay Bhat. I have a very special personal relation to Vinay: he's one of the two individuals who are in the running for having beaten me the most times in USCF tournament ...
In a slightly worse position that was probably tenable, Gata Kamsky blundered horribly today dropping a healthy pawn. He then decided to try his luck in a queen endgame two pawns down, but the American had to resign at move 51. In the Challenger's...
The first big suprise of today's game was that Topalov played White despite the match schedule clearly stating (para 3.4.1) that Kamsky would be White again today. Why the change? (UPDATE: This change was agreed before the match started, but was ...
Three decisive games meant a great fourth round in Linares on Sunday. Anand beautifully outplayed Wang Yue in an ending while Grischuk survided early pressure built up by Radjabov and then won in the ending. Aronian became the last winner of the d...
...is always on the accuser, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's serious accusations against his young opponent Igor Kurnosov in the Aeroflot Open in Moscow do not - on current evidence - appear to stand up to closer scrutiny. Any suspicions of unfair pl...
Breaking news from Moscow, Russia. At the Aeroflot Open, top seeded player Shakhryiar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan Sunday accused his opponent Igor Kurnosov (Russia) of cheating, and after talking to the organizers, Mamedyarov has now withdrawn from...
Breaking news from the Aeroflot open in Moscow. ChessVibes is reporting that top seed and no.18 ranked player in the world, Shakhryiar Mamedyarov (pictured) has withdrawn from the tournament after accusing leader Igor Kurnosov of cheating. Mamed...
In round 3 in Linares, all games were hard-fought draws where Radjabov, Anand, Carlsen and Grischuk demonstrated how to hang on in an inferior endgame. A useful skill to acquire and some very instructive games once again! In today's round 4, Gri...
Levon Aronian kept the lead in the third round of Linares, after all four games ended in a draw. They were all hard-fought games, in which Ivanchuk (versus Grischuk) probably had most chances to win the game, although Aronian (against Radjabov) al...
Gata Kamsky defeated Veselin Topalov in the fourth game of the Challenger's Match to level the score: 2-2. In a Zaitsev Ruy Lopez, the American sacrificed a pawn for strong pressure, won two pawns back and then converted his material advantage in ...
Gata Kamsky broke his duck against Veselin Topalov today in the 4th game of their 8-game match to level the scores at 2-2. It was not only Kamsky's first victory of the match, but the first time he has ever beaten Topalov! In a closed Ruy Lopez,...
Today in round 4 of the 2009 World Chess Challenge Gata Kamsky won his first ever game against Veselin Topalov and evened the score of their match at 2 points each. With Kamsky playing white, the two combatants swiftly abandoned the Grunfeld open...
The reign of World Champion Viswanathan Anand in Linares was short-lived. In the second round he went for 1.d4 against Aronian and tested an early pawn sacrifice. The Armenian GM took the pawn, then gave a knight for three pawns to take over the a...
Lev Aronian (pictured) defeated world champion Vishy Anand in round 2 of Linares to leapfrog over him into a share of the the lead on 1.5/2.0. The Armenian GM is becoming something of a bogey player for Anand, who has a poor record against him af...
The third game in the Challenger's Match between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky has ended in a draw. Against Kamsky's Gr?ºnfeld, Topalov went for the Russian Variation (4.Qb3) this time, but again the American grandmaster had no trouble reaching ...
Gata Kamsky (pictured) had a much better time of it in game 3 of this 8-game match with the world's number 1 rated player, Veselin Topalov. Playing black, the American again used his favourite defence to 1.d4, the double-edged Grunfeld. Topalov ...
The 4th FIDE Grand Prix will take place April 14th to 30th in Nalchik, Russia - the same location where the 2008 Women World Championship was held. This was announced earlier this week in Sofia by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.After Baku, Soch...
In March 1924, just four weeks after George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premiered in New York, a chess super-tournament started in that same city.New York 1924, the book that Alexander Alekhine wrote about it, should never have gone out of print. ...
After three rounds of the extremely strong Aeroflot Open tournament, the sole leader on 3/3 is the Russian, Igor Kurnosov (pictured) . The 22 year-old Kurnosov recently won the 2008/9 Hastings Masters, and is currently rated at 2602 Elo. It's st...
World Champion Viswanathan Anand showed the way in the first round of Linares. Using his good old 1.e4, he beat Radjabov in a highly theoretical Sveshnikov, while all other games ended in a draw.From February 18 till March 8 the 26th Torneo Intern...
Whilst Topalov and Kamsky have a rest day, the annual super-tournament in Linares kicked off today with the world champion Vishy Anand (pictured) taking an early lead with a first round victory over Teimour Radjabov. The champ gave an superb demo...
ChessVibes Openings #7 is out! Our latest issue of ChessVibes Openings brings you the most important opening developments from last week, focusing on the German Championship and covering the Semi-Slav Meran Variation in our Game of the Week. Our I...
Veselin Topalov won the second game today in his Challenger's Match with Gata Kamsky. With Black he answered 1.e4 with 1...e5 and came under pressure after grabbing a dangerous pawn, but Kamsky used too much time in the opening phase and couldn't ...
In game 2 of the 'World Chess Challenge', the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov (pictured) defeated his American opponent Gata Kamsky with the black pieces. Topalov surprised Kamsky yet again in the opening and caused him to fall dangerously behind on th...
