Most of us - and that would include many elite players with a vested psychological interest in a negative answer - are inclined to say yes. In fact, it's not just "yes" but "yes, obviously; everyone knows this". It turns out that "everyone" may be wrong. IM Ken Regan, GM Bartlomiej Macieja and Guy Haworth have co-authored an academic paper (Regan and Haworth are computer scientists, Macieja a...

With the Tal Memorial behind us, destined to be remembered as a tournament to be forgotten (yes, I know what I just wrote!), it's time to look to the next super-event or two. First up is the 3rd London Chess Classic, which starts in about a week (December 3-12, officially, which probably means that play begins on the 4th). Five players from Moscow will show here as well: Magnus Carlsen, Levon...

Magnus Carlsen beat Hikaru Nakamura to take first place in the 6th Tal Memorial in Moscow. Carlsen quickly obtained a decisive advantage with black which he realised in a lengthy technical ending. He edged out Levon Aronian who finished level with him on 5.5/9 due to the fact he had played more games with black, most other tie-breaks favoured the Armenian. Aronian had to hold off sustained...

Ο Magnus Carlsen έχοντας την τύχη να έχει απέναντι του στον τελευταίο γύρο τον αδύναμο κρίκο του τουρνουά, τον Hikaru Nakamura, κατάφερε με τη νίκη του να "κλέψει" την πρωτιά στο τουρνουά από τον Levon Aronian, ο οποίος παρά το χθεσινό...

In this week's ChessVideos show, I take a look at a fascinating battle between Zoltan Almasi and Gadir Guseinov played earlier this year. The game began as a normal (hyper-) Accelerated Dragon: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4, but took a twist when Black played 7...Bg7 rather than the usual and obvious 7...d6. Guseinov's move invites - practically begs for - the...

And so the latest edition of the traveling show comes to a close, to resume in a week or so in London. After a fair number of rounds with few to no wins, the players - except for Anand and his opponent (Gelfand on this occasion), of course - not only played some good fighting chess, they managed to draw some blood. The biggest game turned out to be Magnus Carlsen's win over Hikaru Nakamura, who...

«Ποιος μπορεί να ξέρει πώς ήταν ο Καζανόβα; Κρίνουμε τον ήρωα από ένα βιβλίο, το δικό του βιβλίο, και μετά τον βλέπουμε να απομακρύνεται και να γίνεται ένα σημείο αναφοράς στο οποίο ο κόσμος προβάλλει τον εαυτό του...

Malcolm Pein looks in detail at Vassily Ivanchuk's defeat of Hikaru Nakamura in Round 7 after three rounds of draws.

Gawain has headed over the Irish Sea via plane this time to play the Kilkenny Masters held in Kilkenny, Ireland. This year’s event included more or less the same players from the 2010 Kilkenny Masters with players such as Ivan Cheparinov, Sebastian Maze and Mark Hebden. Hopefully we’ll be able to check out the live games if [...]

An interesting phenomina that has appeared in the last couple of decades is the rise of young tacticians. Looking at the games of the World’s top rated players my overwhelming impression is that of brilliant tactical vision. And as this was not particularly the case a quarter of a century ago I wonder about what [...]

The title sounds like a question, but it's also an answer. Hou Yifan drew comfortably with Humpy Koneru in game eight of their women's world championship match, and that was good enough to end the contest two games ahead of schedule. With three wins and five draws, Hou scored a very convincing 5.5-2.5 victory, and retains her title. Congratulations! Meanwhile, over at the Tal Memorial the "dream"...

Levon Aronian takes a half point lead over Carlsen, Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi (whom he plays) and Ivanchuk going into the final round of the 6th Tal Memorial 2011. Aronian beat Peter Svidler in a game where he continued to pose problems until a win emerged. Kramnik 1/2 Karjakin (Catalan small edge for white), Ivanchuk 1/2 Gelfand (interesting middle-game finishing in perpetual), Carlsen 1/2...

Αυτός ο γύρος ήταν "σημαδεμένος" από την αρχή καθώς το top-5 βάση αξιολόγησης αντιμετώπιζε με τα λευκά το bottom-5. Βέβαια στην πορεία του τουρνουά οι Anand και Kramnik δεν έδειξαν να βρίσκονται σε καλή κατάσταση και έτσι τελικά το...

IM Malcolm Pein reports on the 6th round of the Tal Memorial and looks at the final combination of Hou Yifan's win in game 6 of her Women's World Chess Championship defence against Humpy Koneru.

Σε λίγα λεπτά ξεκινάει ο προτελευταίος γύρος στο Tal Memorial. Μπορείτε να δείτε ζωντανά τα παιχνίδια και τις αντιδράσεις των κορυφαίων παιχτών, πατώντας εδώ.Έπειτα από 2-3 γύρους συνεχόμενων ισοπαλιών ο κορυφαίος Ουκρανός...