I wouldn't have expected a book on a few World Championship matches of more than 50 years ago to reach the no. 1 spot in the New in Chess bestseller's list, but that's what happened last month. Then I discovered it contains a lot more than that. B...
It doesn't happen often that a chess author makes me laugh, but Ilya Odessky is one of them. But that's not all. Many reviews of his new book Play 1.b3!, published by New in Chess, are also extremely funny. The point is, most reviewers assume Odes...
In two recent reports on the Grand Prix in Nalchik, my colleague-editor Michael Schwerteck wrote about how he hates the Petroff Defence - especially the way it's played by all these super grandmasters. All these boring draws - blegh. And Michael...
In what was arguably the finest round of the Grand Prix tournament in Nalchik, Levon Aronian managed to beat his direct competitor Peter Leko for first place in convincing and ravishing style. The rest of the games were equally entertaining.After ...
We received a letter from Ali Nihat Yazici, the President of the Turkish Chess Federation, concerning a recent arbitration in the court of Lausanne about an organizing dispute between the European Chess Union and the Turkish Chess Federation. Yazi...
It usually takes a while before beginning chess players realize there are also great chess openings for Black. For me, this moment came when I discovered the Gr?ºnfeld Defence. Here, finally, was a chess opening in which it was possible to create ...
In another excellent round fight in Nalchik, Evgeny Alekseev climbed to shared first place after a fine win over Sergey Karjakin. Gata Kamsky finally won again, beating Grischuk with Black, and Etienne Bacrot scored his first win of the tournament...
Everybody has a favourite chess move. Many just love 23...Qg3. Tim Krabb?©'s favourite is 16...Nc6. According to British Chess Magazine, it's 47...Bh3. And a member of my local chess club is obsessed by the move 7.Ke3! in the Traxler Counter-Attac...
Chess is a difficult game. Not only because you have to make good moves, but also because you have to stay alert for many hours. However hard you've worked before, one tiny lapse of concentration can destroy hours of labour. This sadly happened to...
Since the year 2000, ChessCafe, famous for its book reviews, holds a voters competition for the award of 'ChessCafe.com Book of the Year'. In the past, big chess authors such as John Nunn and John Watson have won the award. Now, little-known FM Ch...
I've always found it difficult to take the concept of chess as a team sport very seriously. The U.S.A., arguably the country most obsessed with team sports, didn't have a national chess team competition until 2005. Makes you wonder, doesn't? The...
This is not a review of an actual chess book that was recently published. However, the article was inspired by a book, and I really wish someone would write this book with a view to chess. I'm talking about The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas...
Last week, ChessBase was apparently 'forced to cease Internet broadcasting of the Topalov-Kamsky match'. As we noted in our report on the first match game, live broadcasting of the chess moves in this match without permission was prohibited by the...
Every chess player grows up learning combinations that work. As a kid, you learn to 'spot the combo' quickly and you're told that you will profit from this knowledge ever after. There's hundreds of books that are written according to this method. ...
One of the strangest news items concerning the upcoming World Chess Challenge match Topalov-Kamsky was published not on some obscure chess blog, but on the main page of the FIDE.com site. Its headline runs 'The chances of Topalov and Kamsky are fi...
Sometimes the best books get the worst treatment. It took more than 25 years before an edition of Mikhail Bulgakov's great novel The Master and Margarita was first published. But this is nothing compared to the 52(!) years it took before Questions...
Why do we play chess at all? Why bother? Today is an exceptionally good day to ask yourself that question. You'll probably answer: ' Because I like it!' Well, yes, but that was not the kind of 'why' I meant. Why do people have sex? Because they li...
John Watson is one of the best chess authors around. Currently, he's writing a series of high-quality opening books, focussing (as always) on understanding and framing the opening in its proper context. I will take a look at the latest volume in h...
All successful chess players are alike; every unsuccesful chess player is unsuccessful in his own way. I was eight years old and I was excited as any eight-year-old can be. My excitement was caused not by chess, but by the arrival of a book I had ...
In yet another key round of Corus, Aronian grabbed sole lead with a fine win against Adams, while Karjakin had to be satisfied with a draw against Van Wely. The third leader, Dominguez, lost to Carlsen who finally scored his first win. After an in...
Today, last year's winners Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian will want to try and catch up with the leaders in the tournament so far. They've chosen a principled Slav Meran Defence where both players develop their pieces harmoniously before makin...
The third round of Corus 2009 promises to be full of razor sharp opening battles. Will Jan Smeets hold on to his leading position with the Botvinnik Variation? Just like yesterday, ChessVibes will provide regular updates and photos. Update added...
In the second round of the Corus Chess Tournament, we can look forward to some very interesting games. In Group A, opening preparation ranges from long-forgotten 19th century gambit lines to the most topical variations. ChessVibes will keep you up...
Contrary to what many people will tell you, the "chess match of the 20th century" was not Fischer-Spassky, Reykjavik 1972. It was Karpov-Kasparov, Moscow 1984. No wait, make that Karpov-Kasparov, Moscow 1984 and 1985. Of course, Fischer's brillian...
