13.01.2010– When you are the world's number one player, and when your coach is the legendary Garry Kasparov, then you don't go into training camp just anywhere. Magnus Carlsen travelled to Morocco, took residence in a five-star garden hotel, and conducted intense preparation for the Wijk aan Zee super-GM. The two also played a double simul for their hosts. We have games.
13.01.2010– In chess it is the side with the best information that often comes out on top.
One means of accessing high quality information is Mega Database 2010, a database
containing more than 4.5 million games, 65,000 of which are annotated by top
players. Mega Database is automatically updated for one full year on
a weekly basis, with approximately 200,000 games. Chess Cafe review in PDF
or online.
13.01.2010– On February 18, 2010, during the Aeroflot tournament, a double nine-round Swiss blitz tournament will be held in Moscow a qualifier for the World Blitz Championship to be held in November 2010 after the Tal Memorial. Would you like to take part in the Feb. 18 tournament? Three places, including flight expenses and hotel in Moscow, are available to the winners of this FIDE Playchess qualifier.
13.01.2010– All good things come to an end, and Hikaru Nakamura's 3061 was dampened by a loss to Levon Aronian (Hikaru is now playing at a modest 2894 level). Armenia beat USA 2½-½, while Russia crushed Egypt 3½-½ to take the lead with 13 match points to 12 for the US. Two teams are in striking distance before the last round, which starts three hours earlier. Report and games.
12.01.2010– We continue this week with our second look at the chess of the great Akiba
Rubinstein, one of the greatest players never to become world champion. Rubinstein
was a supreme master in all phases of the game, of course, but his endgame skill
was legendary. A lofty claim, but we'll see clear evidence for this in this
week's Playchess lecture by Dennis Monokroussos.
9 p.m. EST.