ChessBase Magazine Online

Nalchik R11: Ivanchuk, Bacrot, Gelfand win
27.04.2009 – At the top Levon Aronian and Peter Leko drew their games, to remain in first and second place respectively. Vassily Ivanchuk beat Alexander Grischuk, winning his first game in this tournament – he has lost three and is at the end of the table. Boris Gelfand ground down Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and a clean-shaven Etienne Bacrot beat Sergey Karjakin. Commentary by GM Sergey Shipov.
 

FIDE: Anand-Topalov bidding, K-Factor
27.04.2009 – The World Chess Federation has opened the bidding for the next World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov, scheduled for April 2010. At the same time FIDE has reacted to concerns of players and decided not to simply change the K-Factor in its rating calculation, but to in fact publish two parallel lists for a year and then review the results. Press releases.
 

27th Metz International Open Chess Tournament
27.04.2009 – Reputed to be France's third most prestigeous open tournament of the calender year, the organizing Metz Alekhine Chess Club succeeded in surpassing expectations with the participation of 26 GMs and ten IMs in a field of 101 players from more than a dozen countries. The prize fund was 10,000 Euros, with four players tying for first, amongst them our reporter GM Kevin Spraggett.
 

Nalchik R10: the bloodiest round of the tournament
26.04.2009 – High drama in Nalchik: five decisive games, with Aronian, Leko, Akopian, Mamedyarov and Grischuk scoring. After the dust has settled we see Levon Aronian once again in the sole lead, with Peter Leko half a point behind. Three players share 3rd-5th places, a full point behind Aronian. We bring you commentary by GM Sergey Shipov and pictures from the Grand Prix in our round ten report.
 

Refined Chess – a new proposal to combat draws
26.04.2009 – Last December Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh proposed a solution to the perceived problem of too many unforced draws in chess (force everyone to play to mate). There ensued a lively discussion. Now we have another proposal on the table, submitted by Ali Ferhat Tamur, a computer engineer and 2200 player, who differentiates between complete and slight wins. What do you think?
 

Nalchik R9: Kamsky, Alekseev and Bacrot win
24.04.2009 – Another dramatic round, with Gata Kamsky coming back strongly from his two previous losses to grind down Alexander Grischuk in 101 moves – with the black pieces. Etienne Bacrot scored a full point against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Evgeny Alekseev defeated his young colleague Sergey Karjakin. Alekseev has now joined Aronian in the lead. Full report with GM commentary.
 

How is basketball like a game of chess?
24.04.2009 – Our beloved game has been used to promote a variety of human activities: financial institutions use it – ad nauseam –, car sales people too. Even in Victorian times it was a popular image. Now the National Basketball Association (NBA), North America's a professional men's basketball league, has picked chess to convey a message. Check out the newest chess promo for the NBA on TNT.
 

Opening Surveys in ChessBase Magazine 129
23.04.2009 – The Sicilian Najdorf Variation is hard to tackle, so hard, in fact, that many players simply want to evade it. The anti-Najdorf-system presented by Alexey Kuzmin in CBM 129 starts with 2.Ne2, and only after 2...d6 – i.e. the attempt to enter the Najdorf – dispenses with the direct advance of the d-pawn. Take a look at the article in our ChessBase Magazine blog.
 

Nalchik R8: Gelfand, Eljanov win with black
23.04.2009 – For Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov it was the second win in succession – in two rounds he has disposed of Gelfand and Kamsky with the black pieces. On the other hand US grandmaster Gata Kamsky lost for the second time in a row, to take up residence at the bottom of the table (half a point ahead of Ivanchuk). Lev Aronian continues to lead, with 5.0/8 and a 2814 performance. Full illustrated report.
 

Nalchik R7: Karjakin and Eljanov score
23.04.2009 – Sergey Karjakin played an explosive game against Gata Kamsky, and at one stage (move 27) was basically lost. He fought back to win after his opponent had let the opportunity slip. Boris Gelfand got hammered by a heavy pieces attack on his exposed king, with Pavel Eljanov doing the attacking with the black pieces. Levon Aronian continues to lead. Full report with GM commentary.
 

Make big progress with little ado
22.04.2009 – "Major pieces vs. Minor pieces" is the subject of Daniel King's latest Powerplay-DVD. These positions are not only difficult to play but hard to evaluate because a wide range of criteria must be considered. Amateurs can learn more from the masters here than in any other middlegame theme. Mark Donlan reviews the DVD at chesscafe.com. Buy "Powerplay 9" or read this review.
 

Akopian and the Revenge of the Tourists
22.04.2009 – In Nalchik there is a player coming up from behind. Vladimir Akopian started badly, but won his last two games to move up the table. People forget that the Armenian was runner-up in the FIDE knockout world championship in 1999, and has a plus score against Garry Kasparov. Dennis Monokroussos, our Playchess lecturer, shows us a stunning Akopian win against the greatest player ever.