Ruslan Ponomariov showed great form by also winning his second game in the Dortmund Sparkasse Chess-Meeting. He beat Vladimir Kramnik in just 36 moves. Peter Leko was close to victory against Mamedyarov.Report by Daan ZultIt’s not Vladimir Kramnik...
In the first round of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 2010 in Dortmund, Germany, which started yesterday, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ruslan Ponomariov had a great start with wins over Arkadij Naiditsch and Peter Leko respectively. Elo-favourite Vladim...
From July 5th to July 11th, the 38th Greek Team Championship took place in Athens, Greece. This year's edition was clouded by the economic crisis which has been keeping the country busy for many months.Report and photos by IM Georgios SouleidisUnt...
After so much (Dutch) football subjectivity over the past weeks (yeah yeah, Spain won deservedly), it's a delight to read something objective again: Lars Schandorff has written an extremely solid and honest book on the Caro-Kann in the Grandmaster...
During my holidays I received a lot of chess books from various publishers. There's lot to look forward to! One of the most interesting books is the latest volume of John Watson's ambitious project to explain and analyse all chess openings. But th...
Sometimes, I get a little tired of reading about the big names in chess all the time. Another super tournament with seven players out of the top 10; another huge open featuring dozens of well-known GMs fighting hard for serious money prizes; anoth...
President of the German Chess Federation (DSB) Robert von Weizsäcker has been nominated by the DSB as candidate for the presidency of the European Chess Union. His nomination is endorsed by both Garry Kasparov and FIDE-presidential candidate Anato...
Two weeks ago I wrote about David Vigorito's new book on the Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez. In this review, I want to take a look at GM Ivan Sokolov's latest book The Ruy Lopez Revisited, published by New in Chess. I think both books have their...
Yesterday, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov responded with an open letter to the nomination of Anatoly Karpov by the Russian Chess Federation on Friday, at the Central Chess House in Moscow. As it turns out his letter contradicts the facts. Meanw...
Updates: Sosonko comments, open letter Ilyumzhinov, RCF press release Yesterday, in a bizarre series of events, the Russian Chess Federation nominated Anatoly Karpov as candidate for the FIDE presidential elections, contrary to the earlier endorse...
It's been a while since we reported on the FIDE presidential elections in a serious way. However, in the past weeks, the election race knew some important (and sometimes curious) developments both from current President Kirsan Ilumzhinov's side as...
We received a few complaints at ChessVibes headquarters for reporting in a biased way about the upcoming FIDE presidential elections. We were accused of favouring Anatoly Karpov and ridiculing Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. A news item that appeared yesterda...
Admit it: one of the reasons you're not playing the main line Ruy Lopez or even 1.e4, is that you're afraid of the Marshall Attack. I, for one, plead guilty to this charge. I've always avoided the Marshall Attack like the plague, not because I don...
According to Russian sources, the Russian Chess Federation has officially nominated Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as candidate for the upcoming FIDE presidential elections during the Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad in September. His rival candidate, Anatoly Karpov,...
According to conventional wisdow, there's no such thing as chance. So was it a coincidence that in the same week in which ChessVibes published two articles on Anatoly Karpov, I suddenly found a copy of Find the Right Plan with Anatoly Karpov, by K...
We haven't given much attention to the upcoming FIDE presidential elections in Khanty-Mansiysk yet, but the recent news that the United States Chess Federation and the German Chess Federation have given their support to Anatoly Karpov, there's no ...
Last week, in an important team match, my opponent played an innocent sideline against my pet-opening. I had prepared quite well for this encounter, but had not looked at this particular variation since it is so rarely played. Over the board, I kn...
A 14-year old writing a book on positional chess?! How can that be? This was my first reaction when I received Mastering Positional Chess by Daniel Naroditsky. Sure, he's a World Junior Champion and obviously is a talented youngster, but how could...
In this week's The New Yorker, James Surowiecki calls Apple's launch, next week, of the expensive iPad 'a fundamental gamble, namely that people will pay for quality'. In today's world, free (digital) stuff is indeed so easy to...
7th World Chess Champion Vasily Smyslov died on Saturday of heart failure, Russian television reported. Smyslov, who turned 89 on Wednesday, was taken to a Moscow hospital earlier in the week after complaining of heart problems. He died on Saturda...
While there are numerous competing theories on how to improve one's chess, one thing that is absolutely undisputed in chess training philosophy is how to stay sharp in chess: by regularly solving tactical chess puzzles. It doesn't much matter how ...
Perhaps it was because I'm currently reading The Age of Empathy - Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society, Frans de Waal's latest book on how and why humans (and other primates) are capable of showing empathy and solving moral problems - that I foun...
Having read mostly chess improvement books and opening manuals lately, I was delighted to see a new publication in the best tradition of chess writing: a serious tournament book. Strangely, it's a tradition that seems rather unpopular these days -...
Chess players love wooden chess sets for their massive, easy-playing pieces, their obvious superiority over cheap plastic stuff and their distinguished classical look. But what about their sustainability? I got interested in this question after se...
