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Fritz 12 - Premium for everyone
15.12.2009
– Live commentary on top events, online training with titled players,
simuls with IMs or GMs – all of this is free in the new full
year premium membership that comes with Fritz 12. Premium members can watch Magnus Carlsen's
postgame analysis of his first round win in London against
Vladimir Kramnik at full length. Here's a three-minute
taster or read more about the Premium membership
here.
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London R6: Kramnik and Ni Hua win, Carlsen escapes
15.12.2009
– For a while it looked as though Magnus Carlsen was going to lose with the white pieces against Michael Adams, but the latter did not play the best continuation and let the Norwegian off the hook. Vladimir Kramnik won a scrappy game against Nigel Short to move within a point of Carlsen. Ni Hua won his first game, against Luke McShane.
Illustrated report with analysis.
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Hurry up
15.12.2009
– If you want to improve your understanding of a complex opening with a
huge history the best that can happen is to have a really strong player
with many years of experience teach it to you. That's exactly what GM Lubomir
Ftacnik offers you on his
Sicilian
Scheveningen and
Gruenfeld DVDs.
Carsten Hansen from chesscafe.com tested the former thoroughly. Read his
review with sampler.
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World Cup final: Gelfand beats Ponomariov to win the Cup
14.12.2009
– After drawing the regular games Ruslan Ponomariov and Boris Gelfand and into the tiebreaks. They won a rapid chess game each and drew two to proceed to the blitz, where again each won a game. Game three and four went to the Israeli, who thus won the World Cup. Gelfand is now part of the eight-player tournament to find a challenger for the World Champion.
Final report and interview.
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London R5: Carlsen and McShane win
14.12.2009
– Round four of the London Chess Classic saw two decisive games today: Luke McShane defeated Hikaru Nakamura, and Magnus Carlsen stretched his lead to three points after beating Ni Hua with black. In the post-game press conference Magnus charmed everyone to the degree that John Saunders wishes that Britain’s over-zealous passport authorities
will not let him out of the country.
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World Cup final: Ponomariov-Gelfand go to tiebreaks
13.12.2009
– The fourth and final long game of the FIDE World Cup final ended, like the first three, in a (35-move) draw. That left the players, Boris Gelfand of Israel and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, tied 2:2 and going into the tiebreaks. The winner earns a place in the FIDE world championship match and pockets $96,000. The runner up gets $64,000.
Musically illustrated report.
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London R4: All games drawn, but fighting chess
13.12.2009
– Draws like those in round four of the London Chess Classic are exciting and
instructive. We know this from following the games live with GM commentary at
the venue and on the Playchess server.
And after the games chess fans all over the world could listen to all eight
players annotating their games. At least two had people holding their breath.
Full illustrated report with analysis.
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People and personalities at the London Chess Classic
12.12.2009
– Tournaments like the current one in London give us great chess and allow us to see some of the world's finest players up close. But they are also social occasions that bring together a multitude of interesting personalities. Too many to present all in one report. So here is a selection, ranging from players to authors, editors and successful traders.
Photo impressions by Frederic Friedel.
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World Cup final: Ponomariov-Gelfand 1.5-1.5
12.12.2009
– Yesterday the second game of the FIDE World Cup final ended in a 20-move Catalan draw – nothing to write home about. So we decided to skip a report of our daily coverage. The third game was more interesting, a Grünfeld by Boris Gelfand which ended after 37 moves in another draw. Sunday is the last regular game, after that it is rapid, blitz and armageddon tiebreaks.
Illustrated report.
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World Champion Vishy Anand turns forty
11.12.2009
– It seems like just last week that he came visiting for the first time, a highly likeable, immensely talented 18-year-old chessplayer. Today Viswanathan Anand turns forty. He has won all worthwhile titles in chess: world championships, chess Oscars, you name it. In our congratulatory report we look back at dozens of memorable articles on the champ. Join us in wishing him a
happy birthday!
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A coffin nail...
11.12.2009
– ... in chess is a pawn which has advanced to the sixth rank in the enemy king position, creating all kinds of mate motifs. Here Black had to decide whether he could allow White's pawn to go to h6 or not.
37...Ra4xe4 in your opinion leads to which result?
A) win for Black;
B) positional draw;
C) win for White.
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a
larger version of the diagram.
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London R3: Kramnik wins again, Carlsen leads
11.12.2009
– After his first-round loss Vladimir Kramnik is on a winning streak: today he beat Luke McShane with the black pieces. With two wins and one loss he has six points according the "football" scoring system used in London. Magnus Carlsen, who missed a clear win with black against David Howell, has seven points and is in the lead. Giant illustrated report with
analysis by John Saunders.
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