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The Semi-final games will be played as a set of mini-matches. The first two games will be played in Rapid mode. If the match is still tied, then blitz games will follow. If the tie is not decided even after that, an armageddon game will be played. Both the semi-final matches are exciting. It's unfortunate that Carlsen and Ivanchuk are pitted against each other in the semi-finals, since they are surely the strongest of the four. But in a way, the ties promise a lot of excitement (i) because the first semi-final is between the most solid and the most cunning player. (ii) and because of this, we must have a semi-final between Carlsen and Ivanchuk, which will have its own exciting moments. Update: The finals of the Cap D'Agde tournament will be held today between Nakamura and Ivanchuk. Here's the game that clinched it for Ivanchuk. He beat Carlsen in a blitz game after the rapid games were tied. Semi-final fixtures: Rapid Games Anatoly Karpov (2651) - Hikaru Nakamura (2704) :

Report of the 2008 Casino De Barcelona Round 1 will soon follow. We could manage to get the following results: Round 1 Dreev vs Georgiev 1/2-1/2 Hernandez vs Corrales 1/2-1/2 Gulko vs Stefanova 1/2-1/2 Lopez vs Kogan 1-0 Narciso vs Jobava 0-1 Watch this interesting game by Lopez, who demonstrates the power of the passed pawn. Kogan reacted a tad too late. [Event "Magistral Ciutat de Barcelona - Casino d"] [Site "Barcelona"] [Date "2008.10.30"] [Round "2"] [White "López"] [Black "Kogan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B46"] [WhiteElo "2547"] [BlackElo "2561"] [Annotator ",Milind"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2008.??.??"] [TimeControl "300"]

Karpov, Ivanchuk, Nakamura and Carlsen advanced to the semi final stage of the Cap D'Agde tournament. Carlsen was the only who advanced relatively easily winning at the rapid game stage. The rest of the matches went up to the blitz stage. Nakamura was very impressive in the blitz games, blanking his opponent Vachier Lagrave out. Quarter final Results: Rapid Games Fabiano Caruana (2640) - Anatoly Karpov (2651) : 0-1 Anatoly Karpov (2651) - Fabiano Caruana (2640) : 0-1 Blitz 3’+2" games Anatoly Karpov (2651) - Fabiano Caruana (2640) : ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (2640) - Anatoly Karpov (2651) : ½-½ Anatoly Karpov (2651) - Fabiano Caruana (2640) : ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (2640) - Anatoly Karpov (2651) : 0-1 Karpov beat Caruana 3.5-2.5 Rapid Games Teimour Radjabov (2751) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2786) : ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk (2786) - Teimour Radjabov (2751) : ½-½ Blitz Games 3’+2" Vassily Ivanchuk (2786) - Teimour Radjabov (2751) : 1-0 Teimour Radjabov (2751) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2786

The Indian Youth team, like their hero Vishy Anand, dominated the World Youth Chess Championships held at Wung Tau, Vietnam. They finished with four golds, two silver and two bronze medals. Croatia finised second in the medals tally with two golds but China finished second on the medal count. Indian players won the Open 12, Open 14, Girls 14, and Open 16 events. Full results are available here

This year's World Blitz Chess Championship will be held at Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event, which will be held on 7th and 8th November, will be a 16 player round robin. Participants list Amin Bassem (Egypt) Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) Krishnan Sasikiran (India) Gata Kamsky (USA) Alexander Morozevich (Russia) Lenier Dominguez Perez (Cuba) Rafael Vaganian (Armenia) Sergey Rublevsky (Russia) Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) Vlad Tkachiev (France) Peter Svidler (Russia) Alexander Grischuk (Russia) Boris Gelfand (Israel) Judit Polgar (Hungary) Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) Murtas Kazhgaleev (Kazakhstan) Chess legend Anatoly Karpov will give a simultaneous exhibition. The simul will be against local talent. Kirsan Illyumzhinov is also expected to grace the occasion. A stamp is being issued to celebrate the IV World Blitz Chess Championship.

Vishwanathan Anand of India retained the World Championship title. He beat Vladimir Kramnik of Russia 6.5-4.5. Kramnik employed the Sicilian Najdorf variation when Anand opened the game with 1.e4. This was a bit unexpected since Kramnik usually chooses solid openings. His choice can be only understood when you consider the fact that he faced a must win situation to stay alive in the match. In the end, Anand who is known by the popular name Vishy, played a solid game and forced the exchange of Queens. After this the position did not hold any promise for Kramnik. The World Chess Championship cycle is a very complex one. For now, Anand can hold on to the Champion tag. But he actually awaits the winner of the Topalov-Kamsky match, which is in the doldrums right now. In case that match does take place and Anand manages to beat the winner, he then meets the winner of the World Cup! Final Match Score V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ Total - 6.5 Kramnik ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ Total - 4.5

The rating favorites won through to the Quarterfinal stage of Cap D'Agde. It's amazing how ratings play a part even in rapid games, nay, even blitz games. Karpov beat 14 year old Hou Yifan to advance to the knock out stage. Update: Karpov beat Caruana to advance to the Semi-finals. The young teen put up stiff resistance and the regular rapid games ended at 1-1 with a win each. Karpov, who is playing a gruelling schedule (yesterday's tie-break games against Yifan and today's games) beat back Caruana challenge in the 3 minutes+2 seconds increment games. Radjabov suffered a tragic loss to Ivanchuk in the Quarterfinals. More details about it after this game. So, Radjabov had a won position with his Queen for Rook and Bishop. But Ivanchuk defended tenaciously to draw the game. Radjabov lost the next two blitz games probably out of the shock of the "silly" draw in a winning position. What a pity! 1/2-1/2 Quarter finals Carlsen vs Xianghzhi Caruana vs Karpov 3.5 - 2

The 2008 version of the Magistral Casino de Barcelona tournament boasts of an interesting line up. Upcoming players have been matched with legends of chess. The tournament starts on October 30th and lasts until November 7. Participants GM Alexey Dreev Russia 2670 GM Jobava Baadur Georiga 2664 GM Kiril Georgiev Bulgaria 2644 GM Holden Hernandez Cuba 2580 GM Artur Kogan Israel 2561 GM Boris Gulko USA 2552 IM Fidel Corrales Cuba 2551 GM Antoaneta Stefanova Bulgaria 2550 GM JM Lopez GM Marc Narciso Spain 2511

Anand will surely aim for a draw with white in the 11th game that will be played tomorrow. We will cover the game with live comments and analysis. What do you think he will open with? Will we finally see 1.e4 where Anand has drawn all his games or won against Kramnik? Is he only in d4 mood for this match? Consider the fact that Kramnik may have prepared extensively for 1. e4. This game is very eagerly awaited for all these and more reasons. For sure, nerves will be put to test. Remember Kramnik has never beaten anyone since 2006 with black. The stage is different and Kramnik is on the rebound and the pressure is on Anand to at least draw to claim the crown. Match Score V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 Total - 6 Kramnik ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 Total - 4 V Anand vs V Kramnik Round 11 World Chess Championship Bonn, Germany October 29, 2008 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nf3 a6 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Qc7 8 Bxf6 gxf6 Yes! It's 1. e4. Probably Anand's main method to achieve an easy draw.

The World Youth Chess Games at Vung Tau, Vietnam are proceeding towards the last rounds. India is poised to reap a record harvest of medals. Indian players are leading and are in the hunt for the Gold medal in the U-16 Open, U-14 Girls, U-14 Open, U-12 Girls, and U-12 Open categories. Leading Standings U 18 Girls Golubenko 7.5 Girya 6.0 Gosciniak 6.0 U 18 Open Nguyen Ngoc Truon Son Saric Tomczak

The playoffs for the Russian Champion's title is today. If you remember (we'll excuse you for being engrossed in the WC), Jakovenko, Svidler and Alekseev tied for the first place. Svidler was lucky to be alive at this stage. His last ditch effort, beating Alekseev, fetched him a place in today's matchups. The players will battle over 6 games, double round robin (both colors) at 15 minutes+10 seconds increment times. Information is hard to come by. Here's what I could salvage. Alekseev vs Jakovenko 0-1 Alekseev vs Svidler 0.5-0.5 Jakovenko vs Svidler 0.5-0.5 Jakovenko vs Alekseev 1-0 Svidler vs Alekseev 1-0 Svidler vs Jakovenko 1-0 This means that Svidler must be the Russian Superfinals Champion. Jakovenko finished second and Alekseev third.

Anand resigned the 10th game after committing a positional blunder. Kramnik has now moved up to 4 points, still a solid 2 points behind Anand. Although a draw is enough for a title, nerves will now start playing up. Match Score V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 Total - 6 Kramnik ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 Total - 4

Another draw, but what a draw! Kramnik pushed Anand to the wall after a mistake in a complicated position. But to his credit, Anand played quality defensive moves under intense time pressure on both sides. Kramnik couldn't deliver the knock out punch, Anand escaped by the skin of his teeth. Game 10 is on 27 October and we'll be bringing it live as usual with on the spot analysis. Remember Anand needs just a draw to retain his World Chess Champion title. For Kramnik it's win or bust. Remember, Kramnik is playing with the white pieces and looking at his comeback to form, (which unfortunately is only good enough to draw the mighty Anand in this match), he will try to push hard again. Kramnik usually chooses dull openings. Hope he has taken a leaf out of Anand's book like he showed yesterday with the black pieces. If he plays without fear like he did for most part of yesterday, we'll have another juicy game. Match Score after Game 9 V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ Total - 6

GM Ian Rogers was overheard discussing a rumor in the commentary box with GM Yasser Seirawan that GM Vladimir Kramnik may quit chess if he loses this match. We'll keep you updated on this and break the news when we hear more about this. Editor Here's the update - in the press conference after game 11, Kramnik said he has no plans to retire and that he enjoys chess even now. To his credit, he agreed that he was outprepared and he promised to learn and change the way he plays.

GM Friso Nijboer, Stewart Haslinger, and unfancied Alexandr Fier tied for the top spot at Essent, Hoogeveen. Sipke Ernst finished next on 6.5 points. World Junior champion Abhijeet Gupta and runner up Parimarjan Negi, both of India, finished with 6 and 5.5 points respectively. Final Standings Nijboer, Fier, Haslinger 7.0 Ernst 6.5 Spoelman, Gupta, Naumkin, Safarli, Romanishin, L'Ami, Slingerland, and others 6.0

Here are some of the Results of the two events. (Please see the Corsica - Kasparov Simul results at the end of this post) Cap d'Agde Initial Results Caruana is turning out to be the star of this tournament (considering the others are already stars!) Cheparinov, Caruana and Vachier Lagrave are favorites to advance. Ivanchuk has to fight to stay in the race for the Quarterfinal race. In group B, favorites Carlsen and Radjabov are coasting along with dominating performances. The critical game between Carlsen and Radjabov has started (28th Oct evening) Karpov is playing against Koneru Humpy, who had beaten him some time back, so he has a chance to take revenge. Karpov lost to Nakamura 0-1 A game from this tournament. Carlsen beat Skripchenko pretty handily 1-0 In the first round, Caruana caused a minor upset beating Xiangzhi. Karpov was held to a draw by teenage sensation Hou Yifan, Vachier Lagrave drew with Ivanchuk. Earlier, Vachier Lagrave easily beat the fresh World Women's cha

Cyril Marcelin (2494) of Bayern München beat Alexei Shirov (2726) OSG Baden-Baden in the Bundesliga of Chess (Schach-Bundesliga). Even though OSG Baden-Baden managed to overwhelm Bayern München 6.5-1.5, Shirov's loss was a huge shock, especially since Marcelin is almost 230 points behind Shirov on FIDE's rating list. Marcelin played an unorthodox looking opening, probably to confuse Shirov. Shirov managed to find his way out of the initial challenge but made a series of errors in the end game to succumb to his weak rival. Watch the game here Key Moments of the Game Until move 25, the position can be held by someone of Shirov's stature. Shirov is famous for his endgame prowess. Watch the King march from e8 to f4 eventually! Shirov's 33 Re1 is a clear mistake when he was already struggling just to survive.

GM Ivan Sokolov of Netherlands won the 2008 Essent Chess Tournament, Hoogeveen. He beat everyone Black and White to win by a mile. The final tally was 5 points out of a total 6 in the Crown group, which is a 2847 rating performance. Adly and Smeets were placed second in this group. Marie Sebag finished fourth and last, but did put up a fight after a bad start. Crown Group Final Standings Sokolov 5 Adly, Smeets 2.5 Sebag 2 In the Open section, Alexandr Fier continues to lead, but now with Stewart Haslinger. Open Group Leading Standings Fier, Haslinger 6.5 Nijboer, Naumkin 6 Here's one of the games where Sokolov torments Smeets. Notice the 10 ... g5 and the relentless torture after that.

Chess Calendar 2008-2009 If you are conducting an International Tournament, write to us. If you spot any differences, please inform. Thanks IBCA Olympiad, Heraklion, Crete 18-29 Oct World Youth Chess Championships 19-31Oct Casino De Barcelona Oct 30-Nov7 Cap d'Agde 26 Oct - 1 Nov World Blitz Chess Championship Almaty Nov 7-8 Dresden Olympiad 12-25 Nov 9th Liberec Open 15-22Nov British Rapidplay 29-30 Nov Bali Benidorm 29 Nov-8 Dec Mediterranean 2017 Rijeka 29 Nov - 6 Dec Torino Chess 30 Nov - 8 Dec 68th Italian Championship 3-14 Dec Società Scacchistica Milanese, Milan 6-13Dec FIDE Grand Prix - Doha, Qatar 13-29 Dec 2nd Berkeley Masters 14-23 Dec Leon Open 26-28 Dec Hastings Chess Congress 28 Dec - 5 Jan Czech Litomysl Chess Christmas 26 Dec - 2Jan African Junior Chess Championships, South Africa 28 Dec - 6 Jan Gjøvik chess festival, Norway 2-5 Jan 2nd Queenstown Chess Classic 15-24 Jan 2009 Corus Wijk aan Zee Jan 16-1 Feb 25th Bermuda Open 30Jan-1Feb Wesley So Eugene Torre Match F

This weekend, the 3rd and 4th rounds of Schachbundesliga 2008 (Chess Bundesliga) will be held. Live games will be covered live on the Internet. Information is available here PGNs are available here

The 2008 edition of the World Youth Chess Championships is being held at Vung Tau, Vietnam. After 6 rounds, Valentina Golubenko and Nguyen Ngoc Truon Son lead in the U 18 section in the Girls and Boys events respectively. Official Site Results are available on ChessResults.com

Anand leads the match 5.5 - 2.5 and has the white pieces. If he has any novelties left up his sleeve, he can seal the match on Sunday with a win. A slower route is via two draws. An interesting point to note here is that Anand has now moved ahead in the head to head scores against Kramnik in the Classical games section. Please note that the German time has now moved to Winter time and so the games start one hour later for most of you not in Europe. Classical Games 59 Games, 46 draws Anand +1 (7 wins, 6 losses) For all the scores in all formats, see the earlier head to head post . Match Score V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ Total - 5.5 Kramnik ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ Total - 2.5 V Anand vs V Kramnik Round 9 World Chess Championship Bonn, Germany 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 It's the Slav Defence 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 Anand prefers the sharp line in the anti-Moscow gambit. Slower is 6. Bxf6 6 ...dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.Qc2 Not seen in regular play. Kramnik can get an edge wit

Kramnik gets to play with the white pieces after a two round gap. From what we saw, he was struggling just to draw yesterday. If Kramnik wants to go down blazing, his only chance is to start his fight now. Expect a fight from him today. If he does not choose an aggressive opening plan, it means that he has already given up. As for Anand, there is only suggestion - please don't feed the nay sayers. Match Score V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ Total - 5.0 Kramnik ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ Total - 2.0 V Kramnik vs V Anand Round 8 World Chess Championship Bonn, Germany 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qa5 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10 Bxf6 Bxb5 11 Ndxb5 Anand does not play the Slav this time. It's a Queen's Gambit for a change, with the Vienna variation. It looks like Anand will open up his g file again. 11 ... gxf6 12.O-O Nc6 There it is. The position is proceeding on known lines right now and is well balanced. Expect another exciting game! 13 a3 Bxc3 14 Nx

V Anand vs V Kramnik Round 7 World Chess Championship Bonn, Germany 1.d4 d5 2 c4 c6 Kramnik goes for the Slav. 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5 a4 Bf5 This line was played in the Kramnik Topalov match. Hopefully, Kramnik is comfortable with this theory and can hope to stem the rot. 6 e3 e6 7 Bxc4 Bb4 8 O-O Nbd7 9 Qe2 It's the main line with Qe2. Bg6 10 e4 O-O 11 Bd3 Bh5 12 e5 Nd5 13 Nxd5 cxd5 14 Qe3 Re8 15 Ne1 Bg6 16 Bxg6 hxg6 17 Nd3 Qb6 Surely, Anand has prepared something for the Slav. But at the moment, though Anand is slightly plus, the position looks to be OK for Kramnik. 18 Nxb4 Qxb4 19 b3 Rac8 20 Ba3 Qc3 21.Rac1 Qxe3 22.fxe3 f6 23.Bd6 g5 24.h3 Kf7 25.Kf2 Kg6 26.Ke2 fxe5 27.dxe5 b6 28.b4 Rc4 29.Rxc4 dxc4 30.Rc1 Rc8 31.g4 a5 32.b5 c3 33.Rc2 Kf7 34.Kd3 Nc5+ 35.Bxc5 Rxc5 36.Rxc3 Rxc3+ Kramnik creates an impregnable fortress. Draw 1/2-1/2

The prestigious Cap d'Agde chess tournament starts on October 26. This year, the organizers have assembled an assortment of riches in terms of players gathered. Apart from the usual stars, the organizers have invited Nakamura, who is a blitz expert and also Karpov, who is no pushover in the rapid format. Add a dash of the female brigade and you have an interesting tourney. Participants Group A GM Vasily Ivanchuk Ukraine 2786 GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave France 2716 GM Bu Xiangzhi China 2714 GM Ivan Cheparinov Bulgaria 2696 GM Fabiano Caruana Italy 2640 GM Marie Sebag France 2533 GM Alexandra Kosteniuk Russia 2525 GM Katerina Lahno Ukraine 2488 Group B GM Magnus Carlsen Norway 2786 GM Teimour Radjabov Azerbaijan 2751 GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2704 GM Anatoly Karpov Russia 2651 GM Humpy Koneru India 2618 WGM Hou Yifan China 2578 GM Sebastien Feller France 2526 WGM Almira Skripchenko France 2455 The initial rounds will be rapid games of 25 minutes +10 seconds each. The top four in each grou

Anand again has the white pieces against Kramnik in the 7th round of the lopsided World Chess Championship. Is it all over? Even a draw as the match progresses towards its end, is bad for Kramnik. Yet, Kramnik is not even able to draw comfortably, forget winning! Nigel Short called the consecutive whites "another of FIDE's quirks" on one of the Chess servers. Some facts before this game: -- Kramnik has never beaten Anand with black -- Kramnik lost the match against Shirov in 1998 with -3, but never lost two games in a row. -- Kramnik has come back in matches, but never from such a huge deficit

Ivan Sokolov leads with a perfect 3/3 score at the 2008 edition of Essent Hoogeveen. Marie Sebag finally got herself on the points scoreboard by drawing Adly of Egypt. She faces the leader Sokolov in the fourth round. In the Open section, the surprise leader is Alexandr Fier with 5.5 points, 1 point clear of many others at 4.5. Reigning world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta lost to Fier in the 6th round, and is also among the pack with 4.5 points. Veteran Vlastimil Hort is also shining with a creditable show of 4.5 points. Leaders after the 7th round Alexandr Fier 5.5 Erwin L'Ami, Gupta, Nijboer, Pavlovic, Haslinger, Naumkin, Agamaliev, Hort, Spoelman 4.5

Update Cercle d’Echecs Monte Carlo in the Women's section and URAL Sverdlovskaya in the Open section won the European Club Cup tournaments. An astounding fact - Vladimir Malakhov and Artashes Minasian won every single round and ended up with rating performances of 3187 and 3002 respectively. Note that Minasian played in 6 rounds of the possible 7 rounds. ____________________________________________________ After the 6th round of the European Club Cup being held at Kallithea, OSG Baden-Baden e.V and Cercle d’Echecs Monte Carlo lead the standings in the Open and the Women's sections respectively. Carlsen, who is a member of OSG Baden-Baden, lost to Ivanchuk yesterday. Here's the game. Note the mistakes by Carlsen at move 26 and 27. 26 ... Qc7? (27 g5 Nh7 28 f4 gives long term advantage. Ivanchuk chose another, equally sound line with 27 c5) 27 ... Rcd8 ?. Its the beginning of the end. Ivanchuk - Carlsen 1-0

Here's an interesting game from the European Club Cup. Sasikiran, who is relatively new to the 2700+ club, is up against Radjabov. Even though Teimour Radjabov is much younger, he has tremendous experience playing at the highest levels and it shows. Sasi (as he is affectionately called), is nervous at accepting pawn sacrifices twice (heard - when in doubt, accept sacrifices?), and eventually blunders. Radjabov finishes off Sasi in style in the end. Note that Radjabov offers a pawn on moves 13 and 32. Although the offer at move 13 can prove dangerous, Sasi could have taken the pawn offered on move 32. Sasikiran - Radjabov 0-1

For those who joined in late. Vishy Anand again beat Kramnik, this time with the white pieces today. He leads the World Chess Championship match by a commanding 4.5-1.5 score. Barring any cataclysmic occurence, Anand has the title in his hands. Tomorrow is a rest day. Here's a wish - Kramnik rests and comes out fighting to make this like a match. Match Scores V Anand 4.5 - V Kramnik 1.5 Kramnik 0.5, 0.5, 0, 0.5,0,0 V.Anand 0.5, 0.5, 1, 0.5,1,1

The Game 6 of the World Chess Championship, which will indicate half time for the Championship, will be played today. Anand has a comfortable 2 point lead at this stage (3.5-1.5). In addition to this, the defending champion Anand has the advantage of the white pieces. Will he crush Kramnik while he's down or go for a safe draw? Watch the live analysis and annotations that we'll be providing yet again. An interesting aside here. Anand is now back to the World's No. 1 position, just ahead of Veselin Topalov on the Live Chess Ratings list. Vishwanathan Anand(2783) vs Vladimir Kramnik(2772) Game 6 (Game starts at 3 PM Bonn Time) World Chess Championship Match October 21, 2008 Bonn, Germany 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Anand has again started with the Queen pawn. He varies on the third move instead of the Nf3 that he played earlier, but a repeat of the first initial moves of the 2nd game is on the cards. 3 .... Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 A Nimzo Indian Classical with d5. Anand chooses the so

Guys, please give some respect to the 2700+ heavy weights at the Euro Club Cup 2008. The Anand-Kramnik match has completely overshadowed this event! Just consider the pairings today. Adams - Wang Yue Alekseev - Ponomariov Aronian - Kamsky Radjabov - Carlsen (A possible match between future World Championship contenders) Shirov - Gelfand Svidler - Ivanchuk Apart from this, there were a few juicy pairings in the Women's section Hou Yifan - Koneru Humpy Cramling - Stefanova If these players were assembled at a tournament it would be around a Category XX. Even today's star Aronian, who beat Kamsky today, seems to be going ga-ga over the World Chess Championship match and the quality of play. Watch this game between two big stars, Aronian and Kamsky. Aronian outplayed a lacklustre Kamsky, who made a string of mistakes from move 21. Aronian-Kamsky 1-0 OSG Baden Baden is leading even without its top star, Vishy Anand! Leading Open Standings OSG Baden Baden e.V 18 pts Economist SGSEU-1

Vladimir Kramnik(2772) vs Vishwanathan Anand(2783) Game 5 World Chess Championship Match, October 2008 Bonn, Germany 0-1 Anand Wins Again 1. d4. d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 axb5 12.exf6 gxf6 13.O-O Qb6 14.Qe2 Bb7 15.Bxb5 Rg8 It's the Slav Defense Meran variation again. Anand is confident since he equalized easily and won the third game. Kramnik seems to have done something at home in this opening. Both players are proceeding at a very fast pace. On move 15, Anand deviates from Game 3. It is not yet drastically different. 16.Bf4 Bd6 17.Bg3 Kramnik seals the g file. 17... f5 At the moment I'd prefer Kramnik's position, but Anand seems to be confident even in this game. Engines running on normal processors are not getting the depth of the games, so sometimes its hard to understand if there is any advantage at all. Kramnik is giving this position a long think now. Is he out of home preparation already? Acco

Vladimir Kramnik(2772) vs Vishwanathan Anand(2783) Game 5 today World Chess Championship Match, October 2008 Bonn, Germany Match Score V Anand 2.5 - V Kramnik 1.5 Kramnik 0.5, 0.5, 0, 0.5 V.Anand 0.5, 0.5, 1, 0.5 Kramnik opens with white in the 5th game of the World Chess Championship match. Both the players have displayed high quality of play so far. Anand has shown something more than just preparation, and that is a lot of heart and of course, good old preparation. Expect Kramnik to go all out from here on. How about 1. e4 from Kramnik? ;-) A 12 game match is unfortunately very short for these two players and there is no choice but to play aggressively throughout. Anand cannot relax and try to draw the rest of the games. This approach usually boomerangs. In addition to this, Anand has lost matches where he lead, for example, against Kamsky and Karpov. And Kramnik has won after falling behind initially against Leko and Topalov. We will post analysis on game 5 live with annotations on

The Euro Club Cup has started seeing the stars in action. The news of the day of course, was Carlsen's loss to Movsesian in a drawn position. He probably pushed too hard in an equal ending and helped Movsesian to get a winning position. 75. Kf8+ is a blunder and 75 ... Kh8 is forced and also is winning for Black!(Play the game in the diagram by using the buttons provided) Watch the game here: In other important games, Ivanchuk was held to a draw by the newest member of the 2700+ club (he's been to 2700 earlier), Krishnan Sasikiran of India.

The Essent Hoogeveen tournament has started. The main focus is on the Crown group and the Open tournament. On Sunday, Sokolov beat Sebag. Junior star Ray Robson beat the experienced Oleg Romanishin in the third round of the open section. The Crown group has Ivan Sokolov, Marie Sebag, Jan Smeets, and Ahmed Adly. Prominent players in the open section are: L'Ami 2610 Negi P 2597 Kempinski R 2595 Alexandr Fier 2581 Gupta A 2580 Romanishin 2532 Hort V 2478 Ray Robson 2466

The European Club Cup (ECC) which had amazing success last year, has started now. The 2008 edition of the championship boasts who's who of the chess world except of course, Anand and Kramnik. 64 teams participate in the Open even and 18 in the Women's section. We'll bring the games as they happen. Expect some beautiful games. Round 2 is on October 18, 2008. The cash rich European clubs have heavyweights in their teams. Sample this list in the Open team event. Morozevich, Ivanchuk, Carlsen, Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Shirov, Svidler, Aronian, Yue, Adams, Grischuk, Karjakin, Kamsky, Gelfand, Ponomariov, and many other stars. In the women's section, the top five are rated so high that they can form a strong team together even if they competed in the Open section! Humpy, Xie Jun(!), Hou Yifan, Stefanova, Cramling, Xue, Cmilyte, Lahno, Muzychuk, Chiburdanidze, Zhukova, and others.

V Anand (2783) vs V Kramnik (2772) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Anand again opens with d4. He is showing immense confidence. Anand deviates from the Game 2 continuation. It's a bit surprising. We all thought that he should have been happy with that position. Looks like he has something else in store. 3 .... d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 Kramnik wisely avoids complications that ensue with 6 ... c5 where Anand will be more comfortable. 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bf5 11 ... Bf6 is more popular. 12.Be2 Bf6 Offers to exchange the strong bishop. White still maintains an edge though. 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Nd4 Ne6 15.Nxf5 Qxf5 16.O-O Rfd8 Kramnik is playing fast. He seems to be well prepared today after yesterday's fiasco. 17.Bg4 Qe5 18.Qb3 Nc5 19.Qb5 Anand is trying hard to squeeze some advantage out of the position, but it seems to be dead equal and not the kind of position that Anand would like to be in. The more unbalanced, the better he usually feels. 19 ... b6

Here are some juicy tit bits that are emergening out of the Kramnik Anand World Chess Championship match. By beating Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Vishwanathan Anand of India has hit three birds with one stone. - Narrowed the head to head gap to just one - Climbed to World No. 2 on the Dynamic (Live) Chess Ratings - Of course, took the lead in the match

Anand and Kramnik go deeper into battle. Today, the fourth game of the 12 game match will be played. Anand has the white pieces and the confidence of winning the 3rd game. Both the players have tremendous respect for each other and it is said that Anand did not display emotions in the press conference even after crushing Kramnik yesterday with the black pieces. Even he knows that there is still time before he can relax or celebrate. Expect Anand to go for the kill again with a super sharp opening. Will we see Anand opening with d4 again and Kramnik going for the Nimzo Indian?

Amazing Position from an Amazing Game Let us analyze an interesting position from yesterday's game 3 of the World Chess Championship. This occured at the closing stages of the game. Note that both players were under intense time pressure after playing an amazing game of cat and mouse. Anand's daring opening ploy and Kramnik's innovative defence already made sure that this is a game to remember. Kramnik struggled hard and emerged out of a dangerous position where he can now try to hold on somehow to a draw. Both the Kings are exposed and anything is possible in terrible time trouble. 32. ... Bf5+ Kasparov is said to have found the most accurate continuation and that is 33 Kb3, after which the line should be 33 ... Rc1 34 a5 Bc2+ 35 Qxc2 Rxc2 36 Kxc2 Qc5+ 37 Kb1 Qxb5+ 38. a6 Qd5 39 a7 Qa8 40 b4 and it is a easy draw at this level. But Kramnik blunders under time pressure. 33. Bd3?? Kramnik doesn't realize what is possible. Anand can win outright here with 33 ... Bxd3+! 34

Vishwanthan Anand won the 3rd game of the World Chess Championship match against Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik made a huge blunder in time trouble. Anand played aggressively and blitzed his moves in an obviously well prepared line in a Semi-slav Meran System game. As it always happens, aggressive players such as Anand like their games unbalanced and Kramnik played into his hands. For a while Kramnik enjoyed a good advantage, but made a few mistakes including blunders in time trouble. Anand now enjoys a 2-1 lead in the match and will go confidently into the 4th game where he has the white pieces. If the form he demonstrated in the 2nd game is any indication, he is a firm favorite in the 4th game too. Match Score Kramnik 0.5, 0.5, 0 -- Total 1 Anand 0.5, 0.5, 1 --- Total 2 Enjoy the game! Vladimir Kramnik - Vishwanathan Anand 0-1 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 It's a Slav game again, but the Moscow variation is avoided since it has been researched a lot recently. 5... Nbd7 6.Bd

Kramnik and Anand resume their battle after the rest day. Game 3 will be interesting and chess fans will be curious to see what improvement Kramnik brings into the game. Expect some explosive games from here on. In the world championships, both competitors are usually well-matched and the players are usually happy to emerge with an edge out of the opening. Anand will definitely be happy to draw this game and then go for an all out attack in the fourth. A loss will be very bad since it usually means that one need to take it easy and first draw and get back into the groove and stabilize emotionally and mentally.

Russian Superfinals Round 11 Svidler beat the Leader Alekseev in a Caro Kann advanced variation game in the 11th round with black pieces. In the bargain, he caught up with the leader and together with Jakovenko, forced a three way tie for the first place. Morozevich managed a decent finish by beating Maslak. According to the rules of the tournament, there will be a tie-breaker that will be played among the 3 players. It will be a 6 round robin twice over. The time for the games will be 15 minutes with 10 seconds increment for every move. Alekseev vs Svidler 0-1 Round 11 Results Jakovenko vs Vitiugov 1-0 Alekseev vs Svidler 0-1 Morozevich vs Maslak 1-0 Timofeev vs Tomashevsky 0-1 Inarkiev vs Sakaev 0.5-0.5 Riazantsev vs Lastin 0.5-0.5 Final Standings Jakovenko, Svidler, Alekseev 7 Tomashevsky, Vitiugov, Morozevich 6.5 Timofeev 6 Lastin 5 Sakaev, Inarkiev 4 Riazantsev 3.5 Maslak 3

Game 2 has Anand with the white pieces. The fact that he easily stood his ground with black in the first game is quite a psychological advantage. Anand usually goes all out when he is prepared, as we saw in Mexico. Let's see what he has up his sleeve today. Live Annotated Game Key Moments (Please see Diagram) 1. d4 (Already a surprise. Anand usually plays e4 in almost all of his games. Kramnik will surely be surprised but this is the World Championships and I'm sure he is prepared for d4 but probably not for what follows) 1.... Nf6 2. c4 e6. 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 f3 ?! Probably it's a good weapon in Anand's hands. Surely, Kramnik may not have prepared for this line. It's a Nimzo Indian Sämisch variation. Kramnik will be tested today and has to demonstrate all his technical skills to equalize. Go Anand! 4...d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 This is a popular continuation in this variation. White has scattered pawns, but he still has an extra pawn. Note that white r

Evgeny Alekseev is in the sole lead with 7 points after 10 rounds at the Russian Superfinals. He beat Konstantin Sakaev in the 10th round. Favorites Svidler and Morozevich trail behind in 4th and 6th positions. Round 10 results Sakaev - Alekseev 0-1 Vitiugov - Timofeev 1-0 Tomashevsky - Riazantsev 1-0 Svidler - Jakovenko 0.5-0.5 Lastin - Morozevich 0.5-0.5 Maslak - Inarkiev 0.5-0.5 Standings after Round 10 Alekseev 7 Vitiugov 6.5 Jakovenko, Svidler, Timofeev 6 Morozevich, Tomashevsky 5.5 Lastin 4.5 Sakaev,Inarkiev 3.5 Maslak, Riazantsev 3

Alright! It's Anand's staple, the Slav with black, the Exchange variation. Key Moments (See Diagram) Nothing spectacular right now, especially since Anand seems to have equalized easily. One small note though, Kramnik's 14 move, Qb4 is interesting and not really drawing mood type move. Anand's 17 ... a5 seems to be provacative and loses a bit of momentum. Anand again chose 22 ... Rd8 instead of the more solid Rc2, which occupies the crucial 2nd rank. But that line is a drawing variation. Here's an interesting continuation, but even this should be a draw with precise play. (Possibility - 23 Rad1 Rc2 24 a4 Rd7 25 d5 e5 26 Bd2 Bh5 27 Bxa5 Bxd1 28 Rxd1. It's still drawish, but an interesting tussle between the Rook and Bishop) 24. e5 almost looks like a mini-mistake. The Engines actually indicate a negligible plus for Anand, but it requires more analyzing for sure. But with just Rooks and Bishop on the board, its almost endgame time. 24 ... fxe5 again, looks like a

"Battle Royale Beckons" says Rakesh Rao of the Hindu. Excuse the slight bent towards Anand, we'd like to call it emotional ;-) Read the Full Article Here

Anand Kramnik Live Coverage The lots have been drawn and Kramnik will play with the white pieces on the first day. It is usually good to have the white pieces since the player can choose to start aggressively and get the psychological edge. Also, since opening preparations are of the highest quality during such matches, Kramnik has a chance to strike with deadly effect. Anand would have prefered the white pieces definitely since he likes to attack. From our observations of most matches, we see that the first game is usually drawn since the players are more than happy to play a solid game and calm the dangling nerves. As both Anand and Kramnik mentioned in yesterday's press conference, they are very keen to start playing. Prepartion for World Class matches is brutal and this keeness is understandable.

"Just a Friendly Game, for the World Title" says Dylan Loeb Mc Clain of the New York Times. He notes the off board tussles during the Topalov - Kramnik Match with Danailov thrown in for good measure. The author expects an almost friendly match for the title, with all the antics sure to be demonstrated on the board and not off it. You can read the full article here

There is an initiative that has been started to name a Belgrade Street after Chess Legend Bobby Fischer. The Balkan Insight says "Look for non-Serb names, too, like Theodore Dreiser, Archibald Rice, Anton Chekov, Anne Frank, Samuel Beckett, Georges Clemenceau, Patrice Lumumba, and President Kennedy. Often these people had some direct connection with Serbia, like Jacob Grimm, of the Brothers Grimm, who learned Serbian so he could read the country’s folklore in the original. In 2007, a decision was made to name a street after the late Japanese Ambassador Keisuke Oba, who had been associated with the former Yugoslavia for 30 years, and who is buried in Belgrade. An initiative is now underway for a street to be named after the legendary chess champion, Bobby Fischer." We also noticed a certain Prof. Leko. Can anyone tell us if he is related to someone we know well? The full article is available here

The press conference for the Anand vs Kramnik World Chess Championship match was held. Both the players were reported to be in a good mood and the answers were laced with humour. The most interesting part was the announcement of the teams. Anand has Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan. Rustam is a very respected analyst and has many training DVDs on his name. Also in the team are Radoslav Wojtaszek (Poland), Surya Shekhar Ganguly (India) and of course, the now stable Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark. Kramnik has Peter Leko (Yes!), Sergey Rublevsky (Russia) and Laurent Fressinet (France) Both the players felt that there will be no controversies as in the Toilet gate match.

Timofeev upset Svidler at the Russian Superfinals. Svidler dug his own grave and now descends to the earth from the stratospheric heights that he used to reside at in the early rounds. He is now playing at his current rating strength. Svidler has now lost the lead to Alekseev and Timofeev. Somehow, Svidler manages to do this all the time. He did it at one of the last important tournaments and went on to finish badly. Hope he does something different after this round. We don't know if he can be excused for overlooking the Rook sacrifice. For us mere mortals, its OK to miss that move, but for Svidler it should have been fairly simple. Bad day at the office! Key Moments of the Game (See Diagram) 15 ... Kh8 (The simple h6 was enough.) 17 ... Rxd7 ?? With the white pieces all set to attack the King, Svidler completely missed the Rook sacrifice that Timofeev discovered. Svidler was right in all variations except the Rook sac. The best for white except the Rook sacrifice was Qd3 and Svidl

Kramnik again bested Anand at Dortmund. Same place, different opening. This time it was a Queen's Gamit accepted opening. Key Moments 17 ... h5 Careful with your King side pawns, Anand. h6 was far better. With 22 ... Ng4 23 hxg7 Rd8 24 Bxe7 Nxe7 black should be OK. 29 .... Ng6 Blunder. Anand is a pawn down and he will soon lose one more. He could have tried Rc6. Anand resigns two pawns down in rook ending but with no hope.

Enjoy the Anand vs Kramnik Games. We have several in store this weekend. Remember, we will be covering the most important chess event of the year live. You can have as much of Anand vs Kramnik as you want. Kramnik is almost unbeatable at Dortmund. But please excuse him for his 2008 Dortmund performance and give some allowance for "match preparation". To be fair to him, even Anand performed poorly at Bilbao. Key Moments 24 ... f5 (probably bringing the Knight on the 'h' rank back into play with Nf6 and defending was more prudent. But Vishy is known to fight for counterplay chances. 25 ... Rc8. Loses a pawn in the next few moves. Ng5 was much better. 31 ... e4!! Anand is right back into the game. Notice how it affects Kramnik. He is clearly shaken and lets Anand rule the next stage and by move 34, Anand is slightly better and wins the pawn back in due course. 38. Qg4 Kramnik lays a trap as they approach the first time control. 38 ... Nf5? Blunder :-( Misses the bishop f

We will cover the 2008 World Chess Championship match between Kramnik and Anand live. Please stay tuned for on the spot breaking news and analysis, including possible variations at key points in the games. If you remember, it is a 12 game match and so every move is critical. And since we expect cutting edge opening preparation, the war begins from move 1 on day 1.

The legend, Bent Larsen lost all his 9 games at the Magistral Internacional of the Argentine chess club Ruibal in Buenos Aires. It was the first tournament in four years that Larsen was participating. Some reports criticize Larsen for his "exotic" openings and want him to be invited to the Chess 960 events where he can play those kind of openings. Others suspect that he is losing it. Our hope is that he played those openings to get the young guns out of the opening books right from move one and hence the 1. g4? and and 1 e4 a5 The only chink in this variation of thinking is that he even refused a draw offer from old rival, Argentine player Carlos Garcia Palermo in the 7th round even though he had not scored at all from the first six rounds. Sad indeed! Check out the round by round scores here