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Nigel Davies: French Defence Strategy
The French Defence is one of the best choices a player can make for his opening repertoire, especially older players with limited study time. The solid construction of Black’s game puts the onus on positional understanding and makes it immune to sharp and tricky variations. The longer you play the French the better you’ll play it. On this DVD Nigel Davies explains the strategy behind the French Defence by examining typical pawn structures and explaining the plans and ideas for both sides. More information...

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Nigel Davies: French Defence Strategy
The French Defence is one of the best choices a player can make for his opening repertoire, especially older players with limited study time. The solid construction of Black’s game puts the onus on positional understanding and makes it immune to sharp and tricky variations. The longer you play the French the better you’ll play it. On this DVD Nigel Davies explains the strategy behind the French Defence by examining typical pawn structures and explaining the plans and ideas for both sides. More information...

Tactics, Openings, Endgames - Visit ChessBase Magazine Online

White turned to radical measures with 55.f5!? Karsten Müller demonstrates how the game was decided and what defensive resources Black could still have availed himself of.
Analysis McShane-Danin.

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Nigel Davies: French Defence Strategy
The French Defence is one of the best choices a player can make for his opening repertoire, especially older players with limited study time. The solid construction of Black’s game puts the onus on positional understanding and makes it immune to sharp and tricky variations. The longer you play the French the better you’ll play it. On this DVD Nigel Davies explains the strategy behind the French Defence by examining typical pawn structures and explaining the plans and ideas for both sides. More information...

8th International Chess Festival of "Meurthe et Moselle"
in Nancy (France) – 22nd - 28th February 2010

Report by IM Christophe Philippe

This chess event could not have been organised without the strong support of four main sponsors: The “Conseil General”, where the tournament takes place, the French Chess Federation, the bank “Populaire Lorraine Champagne” and the cultural product shop “FNAC”.

The A tournament contained four strong GMs: Postny (Elo 2648), Granda Zuniga (2635), Pelletier (2602) and Solodonivchenko (2578). And six International Masters: the Bulgarian Ninov (who qualified last year by winning group B), the French players Charnushevich, Wirig, Mullon, Brunner, and the special guest Sophie Milliet, reigning French Women's champion.

The strong Israeli GM Evgeny Postny won first place with 6.0/9, and Julio Granda Zuniga and Nikolai Ninov (who scored his first GM norm by winning his last round against Pelletier) finished equal second with 5.5/9.

In group B, Ukrainian IM Dmitry Stets won easily with 6.5/9, and Xavier Bedouin of France finished second with 6.0/9, scoring his third and final IM norm which bings him the precious title.

Picture gallery

The playing hall, with groups C and D on the outside, groups A and B inside the circle

Normally this is the assembly room for voting on laws and budgets

The chess week began with a traditionnal simul in the “FNAC” shop, this year by
Peruvian legend Julio Granda Zuniga, who scored 16 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.

Some days later, Granda Zuniga at work in the Group A tournament

A round eight clash in Group A: Yannick Pelletier vs Evgeny Postny (draw in 52)

Granda Zuniga against local IM Nicolas Brunner, who almost made a GM norm

Postny won the tournament, but also crushed his 20
opponents in a final simul before closing ceremony

Reigning French champion IM Sophie Milliet could not avoid last place, despite good fighting spirit

An IM norm for Xavier Bedouin with 6.0/9 in Group B

Ukrainian WIM Svetlana Fomichenko finished fourth in group C with 5.0/9

French number nine Laurie Delorme (from Marseille) finished 6th in Group C with 4.5/9

GM Pelletier from Switzerland finished 4th in the A Group with 5.0/9

Easy victory for Dmitry Stets in group B with 6.5/9

23 young players took part at the rapid tournament for children on Wednesday

The I Group playing in a different section of the complex

French IM Anthony Wirig (originally from this region Lorraine) failed to scored his
third and final GM norm, which would have brought him the title

View of analysis and resting area

Spectators watch the very last game of the 2010 festival, Granda Zuniga vs Solodonivchenko (draw in 61)

The organisation team: Stephane Dupré from “Conseil General”, arbiters Nadir Bounzou and Florence Schlotter, tournament director and creator IM Christophe Philippe, and specialist for Internet broadcast and also talented video interviewer IM Etienne Mensch.

At the prize giving ceremony, with Postny winning group A

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN (Groups A and B) To read, replay and analyse the PGN games we adivse you to download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light. This program also gives you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.

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Nigel Davies: French Defence Strategy
The French Defence is one of the best choices a player can make for his opening repertoire, especially older players with limited study time. The solid construction of Black’s game puts the onus on positional understanding and makes it immune to sharp and tricky variations. The longer you play the French the better you’ll play it. On this DVD Nigel Davies explains the strategy behind the French Defence by examining typical pawn structures and explaining the plans and ideas for both sides. More information...

Playchess training with FM Dennis Monokroussos

The late Tony Miles was not only a very strong player, but a very creative one too. Some of his opening ideas were really out there, and not just by the standards of the day but even by our own! This week and next, we'll take a look at how they fared against his greatest peer, the former world champion Anatoly Karpov.

Britain's first ever grandmaster: Tony Miles, 1955 – 2001

Karpov, as you'd expect from a world champion, got the better of their battles overall, but Miles did get his shots in. Even when Karpov won, it wasn't necessarily because he refuted Miles' experiments, either. Their styles made for an interesting clash: Miles as fire, Karpov as ice. This week, we'll see the Englishman trot out one of his provocative openings, only to have Karpov's "water on board" approach slowly carry the day. In the next show, it will go the other way around: Miles engages in the ultimate provocation and takes down his illustrious opponent.

To watch, whether this week or next (or both, naturally), tune in tonight - Wednesday night at 9 p.m. (that's Thursday morning at 3 a.m. CET) on the Playchess server. Go to the Broadcast room and find Karpov-Miles under the Games tab, double-click and watch. Hope to see you there!

Dennis Monokroussos' Radio ChessBase lectures begin on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST, which translates to 02:00h GMT, 03:00 Paris/Berlin, 13:00h Sydney (on Thursday). You can find the times for different locations in the world at World Time and Date, with exact times for most larger cities here. And you can watch older lectures by Dennis Monokroussos offline in the Chess Media System room of Playchess:

Enter the above archive room and click on "Games" to see the lectures.

Monokroussos in Mexico: World Championship 2007

Dennis Monokroussos is 43, lives in South Bend, IN, where he teaches chess and has worked as an adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University-South Bend.

At one time he was one of the strongest juniors in the U.S. and has reached a peak rating of 2434 USCF, but several long breaks from tournament play have made him rusty. He is now resuming tournament chess in earnest, hoping to reach new heights.

Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for ten years now, giving lessons to adults and kids both in person and on the internet, worked for a number of years for New York’s Chess In The Schools program, where he was one of the coaches of the 1997-8 US K-8 championship team from the Bronx, and was very active in working with many of CITS’s most talented juniors.

When Dennis Monokroussos presents a game, there are usually two main areas of focus: the opening-to-middlegame transition and the key moments of the middlegame (or endgame, when applicable). With respect to the latter, he attempts to present some serious analysis culled from his best sources (both text and database), which he has checked with his own efforts and then double-checked with his chess software.

Playchess Training with IM Merijn van Delft

Everyone is invited to join this weekly training hour on Wednesday evening. Together we will have a look at the most recent grandmaster games. Recurring themes during our analyses and discussions are the latest opening developments and how to work on your own chess.

A word about myself: I was born (March 13, 1979) and raised in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. In 1995 I won the Dutch U16 Championship and played the European Championship in Poland and the World Championship in Brasil. In 1998 I moved to Amsterdam to study psychology and had a great time there. In 2003 I met my wife Evi Zickelbein and ever since we've been living together in Hamburg, Germany. In 2004 I made both master titles: one at the university and one in chess. Since 2005 I've been working fulltime in the chess world: training, coaching, writing, organizing and still actively playing myself. By now I have about fifteen years of experience as a chess trainer. Together with my dad I wrote a book about chess training (Schaaktalent Ontwikkelen), of which the Dutch version is already available and the English version will follow April 2010.

IM Merijn van Delft's lecture starts at 20:00h Central European Time (Berlin, Paris, Rome), which translates to 19:00h London. You can find the times for different locations in the world at World Time and Date. Exact times for most larger cities are here. The lecture is in the "Broadcast" room of Playchess. It is free for Premium Playchess members (50 Ducats for others).

Links The lectures are broadcast live on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

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Nigel Davies: French Defence Strategy
The French Defence is one of the best choices a player can make for his opening repertoire, especially older players with limited study time. The solid construction of Black’s game puts the onus on positional understanding and makes it immune to sharp and tricky variations. The longer you play the French the better you’ll play it. On this DVD Nigel Davies explains the strategy behind the French Defence by examining typical pawn structures and explaining the plans and ideas for both sides. More information...

This event is taking place from March 6th to 18th 2010 in Rijeka, Croatia. Top players include Almasi, Bacrot, Movsesian, Navara, Vallejo, Motylev, Adams, Tomashevsky, Alekseev, Baadur, Naiditsch, Akopian, Volokitin, Bologan and Caruana.

Zero tolerance protest in Rijeka

At the Dresden Olympiad in 2008 some players forfeited their games when they appeared too late – sometimes by a few seconds – at their boards. Last June the Chinese Championship was effectively decided by a player not being present on his seat at the board when the start gong was sounded. All this is the result of a new "zero tolerance" rule introduced by FIDE to force players to be seated at their boards when the games are scheduled to start. The traditional one hour grace period (with the clock running) that was granted to players was reduced to zero seconds – be there or forfeit the game.

The participants of the 11th European Individual Championships in Rijeka have submitted a petition to the organisation committee and to the European Chess Union president requesting a change: instead of the zero seconds the players should be allowed a grace period of up to thirty minutes. A total of 110 participants have signed this petition. The decision of FIDE, the ECU and the organisation committee is pending.

• Here are the details and a full discussion of the zero tolerance rule

Round four leaders

Thirteen players went into round four with a perfect 3.0/3 score, and two came out with an additional point: Baadur Jobava, who beat Michal Karsenkow with the black pieces, and Zahar Efimenko, who beat Arkadij Naiditsch, also with the black pieces.

The leader after four rounds: Georgian GM Baadur Jobava

Krasenkow,M (2652) - Jobava,Ba (2695) [B38]
11th EICC Men Rijeka CRO (4), 09.03.2010
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Be2 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.f3 Qb8 11.Qd2 Rd8 12.Rad1 e6 13.f4 Ne7 14.Bf3 Ne8 15.Qf2 Qc8 16.Qh4 Bf6 17.Qh3 Bg7 18.Rc1 f5 19.g4 Nd6 20.gxf5 Nxc4 21.Ncb5 exf5 22.Be2 d5 23.exd5 Bxd5 24.b3 a6 25.Bxc4 Qb7 26.Nc7 Bxc4 27.Rxc4 b5 28.Rcc1 Rxd4 29.Nxa8 Qxa8 30.Rc7 Re4 31.Rd1 Nd5 32.Rd7 Rxe3

White is doing well enough, and after Qh4 and Rxd5 he might be playing for a win. But not after 33.Qg2?? Bd4! 34.Rxd4 Re1+ 35.Qf1 Ne3 and White is going to be mated. 0-1.

Sharing first with Jobava: Ukrainian GM Zahar Efimenko

In the women's section four players had perfect scores after three rounds, but only one of them was able to win the fourth game in a row:

GM Monika Socko of Poland with 4.0/4 in sole first place

Links Official tournament site All games in zipped PGN: Men – Women A selection of the games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!