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The knight is a lousy defensive piece

22.01.2010 – When left on its own, a knight frequently has difficulties holding together one flank in problems. If the pawns are not occupying one of the few formations which suit it, it generally cannot manage the task. This motif underlies the piece sacrifice 35.Rxc4!? Rxc4 36.Nxc4 Kxc4 37.Ke4! - played in the game Lock-Webb from the Masters in Hastings - with which White set his opponent serious practical problems. How would you evaluate the resulting position? Can Black still hold the draw or will the white pawns triumph? GM Karsten Müller has analysed the position for Chess Base Magazine Online.

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21.01.2010 – Can anything stop this man? A fifth consecutive win, with the black pieces against Loek van Wely, put Alexei Shirov a point and a half ahead of the field. Vladimir Kramnik scored his first victory in this tournament, while World Champion Vishy Anand is stuck at 50%. In Group B 15-year-old GM Anish Giri leads, as does 15-year-old GM Ray Robson in Group C. Big report with pictures by Fred Lucas. Читать дальше »

Bobby Fischer – The Career and Complete Games

21.01.2010 – Many books have been written about the American chess genius and world champion Bobby Fischer. But now there is a remarkable new one, by German GM Karsten Müller, whom you will know from his articles and multimedia lectures in ChessBase Magazine. This book contains almost 1000 Fischer games, all of them annotated by GM Müller – a monumental task. Interview with the author.

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Opening trap or not?

21.01.2010 – When Magnus Carlsen lost a pawn against Loek van Wely on his 10th move in well-known way, many might wondered whether he had not fallen into a familiar opening trap. After all, on the CD-ROM "1000 Opening Traps" the pawn loss was branded a mistake, and so far statistics clearly seemed to confirm this. Yet reportedly the Norwegian had followed a recommendation of Garry Kasparov, and it soon turned out that Black gets quite a lot for the pawn.
Buy "1000 Opening Traps" in shop anyway
Replay Van Wely - Carlsen with annotations

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2010: The Year of the Haitian Tragedy

20.01.2010 – Daaim Shabazz met the Haitian chess team at the 2006 Olympiad – a genuine and enthusiastic group. They missed the Olympiad in 2008 because of a series of hurricanes. The country had a small, but thriving chess community before the earthquake struck. Since then Daaim has been unable to make contact with anyone in the Haitian chess community. An appeal for assistance.

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