Three games were virtually decided in the opening in the first game of the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk. Vugar Gashimov's preparation against Sergei Azarov's Jaenisch variation of the Ruy Lopez was spot on. Gashimov played the whole game very nicely. Nikita Vitiugov thumped Anton Korobov in a Moscow Variation when he played a known bad move. Alexei Shirov was in...

On a rainy day in Khanty Mansiysk there were one or two minor surprises. Etienne Bacrot went astray in the ending against Anton Filippov where with more accuracy he probably could have held. Mircea-Emilian Parligras beat Zoltan Almasi in a messy struggle. Francisco Vallejo Pons lost a winning position Lazaro Bruzon Batista in a different kind of shock. Alexander Morozevich outclassed Alexandr...

On a rainy day in Khanty Mansiysk there were one or two minor surprises. Etienne Bacrot went astray in the ending against Anton Filippov where with more accuracy he probably could have held. Mircea-Emilian Parligras beat Zoltan Almasi in a messy struggle. Francisco Vallejo Pons lost a winning position Lazaro Bruzon Batista in a different kind of shock. Alexander Morozevich outclassed Alexandr...

Three games were virtually decided in the opening in the first game of the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk. Vugar Gashimov's preparation against Sergei Azarov's Jaenisch variation of the Ruy Lopez was spot on. Gashimov played the whole game very nicely. Nikita Vitiugov thumped Anton Korobov in a Moscow Variation when he played a known bad move. Alexei Shirov was in...

The FIDE World Cup takes place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia 28th August - 20th September 2011. Play starts at 10am UK time each day. 32 players over 2700 compete in the field of 128. Sergey Karjakin, Vassily Ivanchuk and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov are the top seeds but Candidates such as Grischuk, Radjabov and Kamsky, former finalist Michael Adams, Russian Champion Peter Svidler, or 2nd placed Alexander...

With most of the favorites through, the matches are going to be more closely contested from here on out. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of draws today, and some were quite short - apparently some players have decided to save energy and make their big push in the rapid playoffs in a couple of days. That's not at all to say that no one tried; far from it, and the ultimate fighter today was...

The first day of the World Cup’s second round in Khanty-Mansiysk saw fifteen decisive games, and seventeen draws. Zoltan Almasi, Etienne Bacrot, Alexei Shirov and Paco Vallejo are in the danger zone after losing to lower-rated opponents. Games & results, more later. General info The 2011 FIDE World Cup is a 128-player knock-out taking place [...]

There are dozens of chess improvement books on the market – impossible to read them all. But even if you’re tired of keeping track of the good ones, or if your most recent one is Dvoretsky and Yusupov’s classic Training for the Tournament Player (1993), you should consider purchasing Grandmaster Battle Manual by Greek GM [...]

The FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk has lightened its field to 64. 62 unlucky losers went all the way to Siberia for a few hours of chess and are now headed home. Except for a few of the local wildcards, who are already home. (Not 64, since Akopian and Wang Hao never made the trip.) The top favorites went through without much drama. The biggest upset on the Elo chart was young American Sam...

Malcolm Pein annotates Matthew Sadler's win against Jan Smeets in the final round of the Sants Open which gave him clear first place.

Malcolm Pein annotates Matthew Sadler's win against Jan Smeets in the final round of the Sants Open which gave him clear first place.

There were a lot of them, and although the biggest stars (Gata Kamsky, Alexander Morozevich and Nikita Vitiugov) advanced, there were some fairly big upsets as well with Alexander Motylev, Vladimir Malakhov and Pavel Eljanov all get eliminated. It was a rough day for the Americans as well, though Ray Robson and Yuri Shulman both accounted themselves well against higher-rated opponents (Etienne...

The second round of the World Cup which starts Wednesday 31st August contains some very interesting looking pairings. Examples Movsesian vs Polgar, Kamsky vs Kasimdzhanov, Adams vs Peter Heine Nielsen, Ivanchuk vs Alekseev, Sutovsky vs Fressinet, Navara vs Onischuk, Grischuk vs Feller. Full list below.

The second round of the World Cup which starts Wednesday 31st August contains some very interesting looking pairings. Examples Movsesian vs Polgar, Kamsky vs Kasimdzhanov, Adams vs Peter Heine Nielsen, Ivanchuk vs Alekseev, Sutovsky vs Fressinet, Navara vs Onischuk, Grischuk vs Feller. Full list below.

Alexander Morozevich and Gata Kamsky went through in the rapid phase of the play-offs. Ruben Felgaer eliminated Vladimir Malakhov in one of the surprises of the round, although it has long been known that at his best he is very good, he also has his weak moments, both qualities were seen in the match. Alexander Motylev played so slowly in the Armaggedon game against Drozdovskij it was physically...