04.01.2010– A Ukrainian, Czech, Romanian, and thank heavens three Brits lead at the traditional Hastings International Chess Congress. David Howell lost a winning position after a blunder in round five, but picked up two points in the next two rounds to join the leaders. Our correspondent in situ, Steve Giddins, continues to taunt us with Latin phrases, but has at least the kindness to provide translations. Of sorts.
03.01.2010– The 52nd Reggio Emilia tournament 2009-10 is taking place from December 28th 2009 to January 6th 2010. After five rounds Zoltan Almasi and Gata Kamsky are in the lead, with 3.5/5 points each. But the hero is Viktor Bologan, who lost his first two games and won the next three. That is fighting spirit and contributes to the low drawing average of 44%. Pictorial report.
02.01.2010– After missing a number of Championships Alexander Grischuk returned to the Superfinal in style, winning the event with a 2851 performance. GM Alisa Galliamova won the women's section with a TPR of 2715. At the closing ceremony the organiser Alexander Bakh was awarded the Order of Friendship for his work by the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Final photo report.
02.01.2010– Lucidity is the hallmark of good chess instruction, but what happens if the
teacher has no conception of intelligibility? The Editor of Chess
Notes dips into the wordy world of the grand left oblique aligned en appui
with major crochet, where designations for posting disparity are
u lead and (u) lag. Recommended for code-breaking practice...
02.01.2010– With serious corporate sponsors coming in to support the most exciting sporting
hero Norway has had in decades (or ever?) Magnus Carlsen has closed his previous blog, run mainly by father
Henrik, and started posting, mainly himself, on the web site of Arctic
Securities, one of his sponsors. The old blog informs visitors of the switch
and thanks all associates who have helped Magnus in his career.