It's a rip-roaring start for Vladimir Kramnik at Dortmund, his favorite tournament*: 2/2, a 3013 TPR (granted, it's very early) and with Karjakin's struggles in the World Team Championship he has moved comfortably back into 4th place on the Live Rating list at 2789.3. All pleasant news for him, but the play's the thing, and his win over Georg Meier was exciting - it seemed more like a Shirov win...

It was a funny day at Biel, and a successful one for Magnus Carlsen. With his win over Fabiano Caruana, he extended his lead to a full point (or rather, four points, as they're using 3-1-0 scoring) and unofficially broke his own personal rating record. With 3.5/4 and a 3015 TPR thus far, he has moved to 2828.4 in the Live Ratings, breaking his former high of 2826. (Only Mt. Kasparov, elevation...

The 39th Dortmund Chess Meeting second round took place on Friday 22nd July. Kramnik has started quickly in his attempt to win his 10th Dortmund title with a second win, this time against young Georg Meier. Aggressive and risky play with black paid off for Kramnik. Ponomariov took advantage of some passive play from Giri to get back to 50%. Nakamura drew quickly against Le Quang Liem.

Magnus Carlsen moved to 10 points out of a possible 12 after four rounds of the 44th International Chess Festival in Biel. He put the maximum pressure on Fabiano Caruana and his opponent didn't find a defensive idea. The other games were drawn. Whilst Carlsen was playing his country Norway was subject to extraordinary terrorist attacks out of the blue and one wonders if this may have an affect on...

The 98th British Championships take place in Ponds Forge in Shefflied 25th July to 6th August 2011. Michael Adams, Nigel Short, David Howell and Gawain Jones are the top seeds and make it one of the most attractive events in recent history. Play starts at 2:15 each day starting on Monday 25th July.

Vladimir Kramnik also won his second game at the Sparkassen Chess Festival in Dortmund, Germany. In the second round the Russian defeated Georg Meier of Germany. Ruslan Ponomariov recovered from his first round loss and defeated Anish Giri. Le Quang Liem and Hikaru Nakamura drew their game. More later. General info The 39th Sparkassen Chess [...]

Magnus Carlsen defeated Fabiano Caruana at the Biel Chess Festival on Friday. The Norwegian strengthened his lead to 4 points in the football scoring system. The games Alexei Shirov vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexander Morozevich vs Yannick Pelletier ended in draws. More later. General info The 44th Biel Chess Festival takes place July 16-29 in [...]

IM Malcolm Pein looks at the 4th round of the World Team Championship. Also he annotates the game Ivanchuk against Leko where black won using the Marshall Gambit to the Ruy Lopez.

The 13th Obert Internacional Sant Marti 2011 took place from 13th to 21st July at the Centre Civic Sant Marti c.Selva de Mar 213 in Barcelona. The 9-round Swiss tournament is part of the 8th Catalan International Circuit.

The 2011 Chess World Cup pairings are announced by FIDE. The Khanty Mansiysk World Cup will have 128 players which will face each other in a knock out battle for the biggest prizes in chess in 2011 and a right to participate at the next Candidates tournament.

You can now save 35% on the complete set (4 volumes) of Chess Opening Essentials! It presents, explains and illustrates the ideas and plans behind ALL chess openings. If your rating is < 1900, then you should get these manuals before you buy ANY other chess opening book! Understanding the basics, now cheaper than ever!

Lake Sevan 2011 is one of the strongest invitational events for this summer. Top seeded is the 2700 club member GM Jobava. He is joined by Sergey Zhigalko, Ildar Khairullin, Tigran Petrosian, Hrant Melkumyan, Arman Pashikian, Avetik Grigorian, Zaven Andriasian, Zhou Jianchao, and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan.

Δύο φωτογραφίες με τον δεκαπεντάχρονο Bobby Fischer να παίζει σκάκι με νεαρούς ασθενείς που έπασχαν από πολιομυελίτιδα. Ο "μεγάλος" δεκαπεντάχρονος Bobby Fischer σε κοινωνικό έργο που σίγουρα χαίρει εκτίμησης και σεβασμού! Ο...

World Team Chess Championship 2011 (aka WTCC 2011) starts July 17th in Ngibo, China. Today is the second round and games will be live with computer analysis. Join us for the WTCC starting 10:00 CET and also for Biel later at 14:00 CET.

Vladimir Kramnik has won Dortmund 9 times before and he got off to an ideal start this year in defeating last years champion Ruslan Ponomariov. The game was a complex King's Indian where Kramnik's play was more than enough for an exchange and when he had to return it Ponomariov didn't manage much resistance. Anish Giri and Hikaru Nakamura drew an interesting struggle and Georg Meier got on the...