25.01.2010– At the end of last year Garry Kasparov sat down for an indepth interview with our Malaysian correspondent Edwin Lam Choong Wai. In part one he spoke about his early years and his collaboration with Magnus Carlsen. In the current session he talks about the first Karpov-Kasparov match, the anniversary exhibition in 2009, and his strength in simultaneous play. With a very nice example.
25.01.2010– This could be an all-time world record: eight chess players from Brunei are planning to scale Mount Everest, as part of a project to help poor families in the Southeast Asian country. At the South Base Camp, 5,360 metres above sea level, the team will play a chess tournament. It is the highest in the federation's history could it be the highest level ever in the world? Brunei FM report.
24.01.2010– Four white wins, one a fateful victory by Vladimir Kramnik over Hikaru Nakamura, left the former in equal 2nd/3rd place and demoted the latter to fourth. Alexei Shirov drew Magnus Carlsen to remain in the lead, by just half a point. Sergey Karjakin, Peter Leko and Fabiano Caruana won. In Group B Anish Giri scored again to lead the field by 1½ points. Big illustrated report from snow-covered Wijk.
24.01.2010– ...in the Marshall Attack was unleashed by Peter Leko in the 4th round in Wijk aan Zee versus Lenier Dominguez. Playing black, here he was facing the question of whether it would be advisable to immediately occupy the long diagonal with
23...Bc6 despite the riposte 24.d5, blocking it with tempo. What do you think?
A) this wins for White;
B) Black prevails;
C) the position eventually remains balanced.
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.Читать дальше »
23.01.2010– Detractors had pointed out that Alexei Shirov's blistering 5.0/5 start was achieved without playing any of the tournament favourites. Today the Latvian GM encountered one, Hikaru Nakamura and dropped the full point. Magnus Carlsen scored his third win, against Vassily Ivanchuk, who self-destructed on move eight. Nigel Short came tantalizing close to beating Vladimir Kramnik. Full report.