Magnus Carlsen has decisively reclaimed the world No1 spot on the daily live ratings. Last week the Norwegian, 19, scored an unbeaten 7/10 at Pearl Spring, China, a point ahead of India’s world champion Vishy Anand, who is ranked top on the official bi-monthly Fide rankings published a few days ago.Carlsen has recovered swiftly from his [...]
A rare chance to attack a king that hasn’t had the sense to get castledIvanchuk-Beliavsky, Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. White to play.Vasily Ivanchuk was the star of the gold-winning Ukrainian team at the chess olympiad. Playing on board one and taking on the strongest opposition, he scored eight out of 10. What did he play here?RB Dan [...]
Russia finished behind Ukraine at the chess Olympiad – scuppered by a draw with SpainSvidler-Salgado, Khanty-Mansiysk 2010. Black to play.At the recent chess Olympiad, Ukraine took the gold, Russia the silver, but it could have been the other way round if Russia had done better than a draw with Spain in the final round. The [...]
The Four Nations league launched its new season this month with a weekend of team and individual speed chess which had a novel feature. There is often a debate over whether experts prefer rapid chess, around half an hour per player per game, or blitz, five to 10 minutes per player per game.The event at [...]
This discussion of the Dutch Defence is one of many instructive examples in John Watson’s quietly authoritative study of chess openingsWhite to move. RB Some years ago I decamped to an isolated village in Italy to write a novel. The single chess book I took with me was Alekhine’s My Best Games 1908-1923. It [...]
Magnus Carlsen’s aura of invincibility has cracked. The Norwegian became, at 19, the youngest ever world No1 with an all-time rating second only to Garry Kasparov. But a run of five defeats in nine games at the Olympiad and now in Bilbao has cost him the top ranking and made him look vulnerable.Carlsen’s three losses [...]
Kasparov’s third book on his chess battles with Karpov reveals much about this clash of titansKarpov-Kasparov, Linares 1991. How does Black to play save himself?DK: A cartoon once depicted the arch-rivals Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov as wizened elderly men sitting on a park bench, still animatedly discussing chess variations, and it is this image [...]