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Play Chess At Your Own Pace
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Play Opponents Anywhere In The World
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Play Without Additional Software
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Chess games can last for hours, days or even weeks.
Time per move is set at the beginning of the game, for example 'Timeout: 3 days'.
Each player then has up to '3 days' to make their move during
the duration of that chess game.
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You are not chained to your own country anymore.
Anybody with an internet connection worldwide can login and play against you.
An opponent from some exotic countries could be attacking your King!
Both of you can have 12 hours time zone difference and you will still have a nice chess game.
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No chess software to download before playing chess.
The game interface has been designed to run in your normal browser window.
Play online chess for free - no obligations!
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A hands down winner
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The Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov turned from villain to hero at Corus overnight as his boss Veselin Topalov won the grudge match of 2008 against Vladimir Kramnik courtesy of an explosive opening novelty found by his trainer and kept tucked away on the laptop for three years.
Internet chess guru Mark Crowther’s prediction proved correct; Cheparinov’s antics against Nigel Short, when he refused to shake hands were indeed a dry run for the Topalov-Kramnik encounter. However neither player could refuse to shake hands this time as neither player offered.
Cheparinov’s idea was a knight sacrifice that appears to refute one of the lines of the Anti Moscow Gambit, the current theoretical battleground of some of the leading players. Kramnik plays it with both colours.
Topalov revealed that they had analysed some lines to move 40 and he bashed out his moves very quickly while Kramnik expended most of his thinking time unsuccessfully trying to find a defence
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Bad manners rewarded
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Justice was well and truly served at Wijk aan Zee as Nigel Short despatched Ivan Cheparinov in a game that had to be replayed on the rest day following the Bulgarian’s disgraceful behaviour in their first brief encounter.
On Sunday the game went 1.e4 c5 1-0, after the arbiter disqualified Cheparinov for refusing to shake hands before the game. Short quipped that 'the Sicilian Defence is not that bad if followed up correctly', but there is a more serious side to this.
Short commented: 'The facts are not in dispute and it’s high time this kind of nonsense was stamped out. I have been playing professionally for 25 years, playing chess for a lot longer and I have never had anyone refuse to shake hands with me. It was a calculated insult intended to disturb my equanimity at the start of the game and in fact it succeeded.
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Ivan the terrible
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Grandmaster Ivan Cheparinov became the first player to be disqualified for poor sportsmanship at the board after refusing to shake the hand of Nigel Short before play commenced. However, the Arbiter’s decision, made in the eighth round of the Corus Chess Festival at Wijk aan Zee was subsequently overturned on appeal.
The Appeals Committee condemned Cheparinov’s behaviour and demanded that he make a written apology to Short before the game was replayed. This was received and Short looked well on the way to victory after 5 hours play.
Cheparinov, a Bulgarian who was the fastest improving player in the world last year ignored Short’s offer to shake hands twice in the presence of the Chief Arbiter Thomas van Beekum. Short pointed out a new edict from the game’s governing body published last June, of which the arbiter was unaware and he was awarded the game. When his opponent realised what was stake he had a change of heart.
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Kramnik plays catch-up
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The Russian bear is stalking the Norwegian salmon fry at Wijk aan Zee. Sixteen year old Magnus Carlsen had the temerity to take the sole lead in the sixth round with victory over Judit Polgar but former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is just half a point behind.
Carlsen produced a strong opening novelty as did Kramnik but he found it much harder to prosecute his advantage in the face of inspired defence from Levon Aronian. With his pieces swarming all around the black king and well ahead on the clock, the 14th world champion looked well placed to win quickly but play reached a double rook endgame with Kramnik having an extra pawn.
Defending this kind of position against Kramnik is torture but Aronian clung on and reached the theoretically drawn endgame of rook vs rook and h pawn and f pawn. With his time running out Aronian erred on move 103 and a few moves later lost on time.
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Fischer vs. the World: A Chess Giant’s Endga
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There may be only three human activities in which miraculous accomplishment is possible before adulthood: mathematics, music and chess. These are abstract, almost invented realms, closed systems bounded by rules of custom or principle. Here, the child learns, is how elements combine and transform; here are the laws that govern their interactions; and here are the possibilities that emerge as you play with signs, symbols, sounds or pieces. Nothing else need be known or understood — at least at first. A child’s gifts in such realms can seem otherworldly, the achievements effortlessly magical. But as Bobby Fischer’s death on Thursday might remind us, even abstract gifts can exact a terrible price. In 1956 Mr. Fischer, at 13, displayed powers that were not only prodigious but also uncanny. A game he played against Donald Byrne, one of the top 10 players in the United States, became known as “the Game of the Century,” so packed was it with brilliance and daring (and Mr. Fischer’s sacrifice of a queen). “I just got good,” he explained — as indeed he did, winning 8 of the 10 United States Championship tournaments held after 1958 and then, of course, in 1972, breaking the long hold that Soviet chess had on the international championship.
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Bobby Fischer Has Died
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 REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Bobby Fischer, the reclusive American chess master who became a Cold War icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, has died. He was 64.
Fischer died Thursday in a Reykjavik hospital, his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said. There was no immediate word on the cause of death.
Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, Robert James Fischer was a U.S. chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15. He beat Spassky in a series of games in Reykjavik to claim America's first world chess championship in more than a century.
The event had tremendous symbolic importance, pitting the intensely individualistic young American against a product of the grim and soulless Soviet Union.
It also was marked by Fischer's odd behavior — possibly calculated psychological warfare against Spassky — that ranged from arriving two days late to complaining about the lighting, TV cameras, the spectators, even the shine on the table.
Spassky said in a brief phone call from France, where he lives, that he was "very sorry" to hear of Fischer's death.
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Elan from the less elite
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Groups B and C of the Corus Wijk aan Zee Chess Festival have seen some very entertaining chess, a world apart from the even battles between the elite in Group A. C started with seven decisive games in a frenetic first round and even after four days' play only seven of the 28 games have seen the point split.
The German GM Arik Braun and the Italian champion Fabio Caruana, whose exploits have been seen here before, were the early leaders.
This game starts as an English Opening but effectively becomes a Sicilian Accelerated Dragon as in 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Nc2 but with White having an extra move.
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Perpetual motion
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The two leaders; Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian clashed in the fourth round Group A of the Corus Wijk aan Zee Chess Festival with the former escaping with a draw after ponderous play allowed Aronian a strong exchange sacrifice playing black in the Ruy Lopez. Aronian got into time trouble, missed a win and the 16 year old Carlsen later returned the compliment before a draw by perpetual check resulted.
Michael Adams had a most encouraging draw against the world champion Vishy Anand. Adams played black in a line of the Queen's Indian the pair have contested a few times but took the initiative by turning the game into something like a Dutch Stonewall. Anand had to sacrifice a pawn and play accurately to hold the game with queens and opposite coloured bishops.
After a quiet start Vladimir Kramnik was back to his old tricks and made Pavel Eljanov's life miserable in a long game. Eljanov allowed his pawns to be weakened which is usually fatal against Kramnik but the winner of last year's B Group defended tenaciously to reach an endgame of rook, knight and two kingside pawns to Kramnik's rook, knight and three.
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A clash of bishops
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The curse of the opposite coloured bishops struck in the third round of Group A at the Corus Wijk aan Zee Chess Festival. All seven games were drawn and four ended in endgames with opposite coloured bishops and there was no point continuing.
Opposite bishops produce drawish endgames because the bishops can easily blockade enemy passed pawns as the opposing bishop cannot lend support. They can also defend their own pawns easily and be of little offensive use if the opponent’s pawns are on the opposite coloured square. Even if one side is a pawn or sometimes two pawns to the good the game cannot be won and there are even some positions with three extra pawns where a blockade can be set up.
There was only one very long game as Teimour Radjabov had to cling on for 85 moves against Vladimir Kramnik’s trainer Loek van Wely in a Semi Slav Defence. One of the reasons Van Wely has been hired by Kramnik is his detailed knowledge of the Semi Slav which both Kramnik and Anand play so to an extent this game was war by proxy. Radjabov upset Anand in this opening in round one but found Van Wely made of sterner stuff. The Dutchman whipped out twenty moves in five minutes but then missed a win and Radjabov staved off defeat in a position with rook and a pawn on a5 vs bishop and a pawn on a4.
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Revenge is sweet
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Sixteen year old Magnus Carlsen shares the lead of the Corus Wijk aan Zee Chess Festival with Levon Aronian as both players won for the second time to maintain a perfect score. Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov have yet to win a game between them and Teimour Radjabov, another member of the younger generation is the only player on 1.5/2.
For the second time in a row Teimour Radjabov’s King’s Indian withstood the ultimate test as Kramnik tried for 79 moves, unsuccessfully, to exploit an extra pawn.
Michael Adams held on against Peter Leko after choosing to enter an endgame with queen and three kingside pawns against queen and four kingside pawns. Adams checked the white king all over the board and by move 99 Leko had had enough.
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Thin pickings at the top
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A mixture of caution and sheer abandon characterised an absorbing first round of the Corus Wijk aan Zee Chess Festival in which the world’s three highest rated players garnered just half a point between them.
The world champion Vishy Anand lost a long game to Teimour Radjabov who we saw in fine form last week at the ACP Rapid Chess Cup in Odessa. Radjabov came extremely well prepared for Anand’s Semi Slav and pressed remorselessly but great defence from Anand eventually produced an endgame of two rooks and two pawns against rook bishop and two pawns. This might have been drawn but patient defence is not Anand’s strongpoint and he allowed the white king to penetrate.
Vladimir Kramnik appeared to relinquish his advantage rather easily against Loek Van Wely who is on his analytical team. Veselin Topalov’s defeat at Levon Aronian’s hands was entirely of his own making. Aronian blundered rook for knight but emerged with reasonable compensation and Topalov, unwilling to simplify to a draw repeatedly spurned simplification and contrived to lose.
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Leonard Barden. January 12, 2008
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It's a now familiar tale. The annual Hastings Masters ended in a tie on 7.5/10 among three ex-Soviet grandmasters, with a rash of short draws in the final rounds. The leading English GMs Glenn Flear, Gawain Jones and Nick Pert were half a point behind.
The British championship and many international opens now insist on a sole winner, allocating part of the prize fund to a speed tie-break. Hastings should follow suit and, if that means blitz games at midnight or during the following day's prize ceremony, so be it. The damage to the event's reputation from unsplit, tacitly arranged multiple first-place ties is palpable.
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A field to dream about
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The Corus Wijk aan Zee Chess Festival starts today at the Dutch seaside town and runs until 27th January. Even in the second week of January Corus will rightly claim to be the most important chess event of year. The A Group boasts seven of the world’s top 10 and it may be some time before we see the world’s top three in the same tournament again, unless the organisers of Linares pull off another grand coup.
Relations between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov will probably never recover after the ‘Toiletgate’ world title match in 2006 and even a handshake when they play is unlikely. Anand and Kramnik will avoid each other before they play a world title match in October so this is the last chance to score a psychological blow.
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Radjabov romps home
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Long standing Telegraph Chess readers will not need to be told that Teimour Radjabov was the winner of the 2nd Bank Pivdenny ACP Rapid Chess Cup at Odessa after your correspondent tipped his opponent Alexander Grischuk yesterday. Twenty year old Radjabov who hails from Garry Kasparov’s birthplace of Baku defeated the former World Blitz champion in a Blitz playoff after the two Rapid Chess games had been drawn.
Radjabov took home the victor’s prize of $40,000 for his efforts. Undoubtedly Radjabov’s skilful and relatively swift demolition of his semi final opponent Dmitry Jakovenko gave him an edge as Grischuk must have used a lot of nervous energy in his epic semi final match against Sergey Karjakin which swung one way then the other.
The Rapid Games were fairly uneventful but in the Blitz Radjabov played some excellent chess, maintaining a solid position as he probed Grischuk’s weaknesses and pawns duly fell. The return was a tragedy for Grischuk who established a won position quite quickly only to gradually relinquish his advantage over the subsequent thirty moves until only kings remained.
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Alexander Grischuk has the edge
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The 2006 World Blitz champion Alexander Grischuk faces the prodigy Teimour Radjabov in the final of the 2nd Bank Pivdenny ACP Rapid Chess Cup at Odessa. Grischuk overcame another prodigy, Sergey Karjakin in the semi final as Radjabov defeated former Russian champion Dmitry Jakovenko.
The contest promises a $40,000 prize to the winner and Grischuk, who says he does not even enjoy Classical Chess, the slower form of the game, is probably a slight favourite even if Radjabov has eliminated the great Vassily Ivanchuk.
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Top names tumble
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The 2nd Bank Pivdenny Association of Chess Professionals Rapid Chess Cup at Odessa has $136,000 in prize money with $40,000 to go to the winner. The organisers have surpassed last year’s efforts with a quality field that includes many of the world’s leading players. Amongst those eliminated in the first round of the knockout competition were Anatoly Karpov and Judit Polgar who fell to Alexander Grischuk and Sergey Karjakin respectively.
Each match comprises two games of Rapid Chess and in the first round only the Karpov-Grischuk match went to a tie breaker. The quarter final draw was comprised exclusively of players from the world’s top 20. The Ukrainian home favourite Vassily Ivanchuk was eliminated in a tie breaker by Teimour Radjabov and Ernesto Inarkiev, the conqueror of Alexey Shirov was eliminated by his Russian compatriot Dmitry Jakovenko.
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Trio share the spoils
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The 83rd Celebration Hastings International Chess Congress Masters section ended in a three way tie for first on 7.5/10 between Vadim Malakhatko of Belgium, Nidjat Mamedov of Azerbaijan and Ukrainian Valery Neverov.
Although once again the main spoils went abroad a strong home challenge ended saw three English GMs end with 7/10 and six more on 6.5 plus Bob Eames of Hackney Chess Club who had another fine result.
For the second year in a row the tournament had a somewhat flat finale as the leaders chose to halve out rapidly on top board and preserve their positions and of course a share of the prize fund.
This provides poor fare for the spectators and it should be noted that nowadays there are not just a few dozen at the venue but many thousands watching live on the internet. Much is made of the Sofia Rules which preclude early draws and while the organisers may consider something similar, my suggestion is simpler. Simply do not invite back the worst transgressors.
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A new Grandmaster
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Simon Williams has qualified as England’s latest Grandmaster after a short draw with the top seed Vadim Malakhatko in round eight of the Hastings Masters. The result ensured that Williams’ rating exceeded 2500 and as he has secured three qualifying results in tournaments there is no impediment to the award of the GM title although it is subject to ratification by the Fide Qualification Committee.
It was fitting that Williams should achieve this milestone at Hastings, a tournament in which he has often played brilliantly. Two years ago he achieved his third GM qualifying result at Hastings and never ceased to play entertaining chess. His presence enlivens every event he plays in on and off the board and he thoroughly deserves the title.
This year, one aberration against Mark Hebden aside, Williams has tamed some of his attacking instincts and taken fewer chances. So it was also fitting that once the holy grail had been secured he immediately reverted to type, essayed a highly dubious line of the Benoni and was unceremoniously smashed in 22 moves by England international Nick Pert.
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Leonard Barden. January 5, 2008
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Newly issued Fide rankings show India's world champion Vishy Anand and his Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik tied at the top on 2,799 rating points. Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov is third, with Russia's Alex Morozevich and Peter Svidler next. Michael Adams, 16th, and Nigel Short, 72nd, are the only British players in the top 100.
Since the ratings were calculated, Morozevich and Svidler have gone head-to-head in the recent Russian Championship. Moro, 30, is a moody, creative artist, whose manic-depressive approach can produce both brilliantly inventive streaks and severe reverses. He was at his best in Moscow, winning six in a row at one point and taking the title with 8/11, whereas Svidler could only manage 5/11.
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Baffling the computer
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Vadim Malakhto, the top seed at the Hastings Masters is starting assert himself and is powering up the field after a poor start. The Russian GM who plays under the Belgian flag win a game of such extraordinary complexity that the tournament commentator Chris Ward took the extraordinary step of seeking assistance from the computer program Fritz 11 as he attempted to unravel the mysteries of the position for the audience.
The complications proved too much for Malakhto’s opponent Bogdan Lalic who as always was very well prepared for the game but he could not follow up his prepared idea and after a single inaccuracy he was lost. In fact this game is particularly hard to evaluate, even with the aid of a computer as there was a knight trapped in the corner, immobile yet somehow inviolate and the assessment of the position depends largely on whether it can be extricated at some point.
Simon Williams scored a fine win over last year’s winner from Ukraine GM Valentin Neverov and edged closer to the 2500 rating he needs to secure the grandmaster title. Williams shares the lead with Malakhto and Nidjat Mamedov of Azerbaijan with three to play and there are plenty of Englishmen in the chasing pack.
Leaders: Williams, Malakhto (Belgium), Mamedov (Azerbaijan) 5.5/7; Hebden, Flear, G Jones, Conquest, Gormally, N Pert, Shakil ( Satyapragyan ( Chatalbashev (Bulgaria) 5.
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Close combat at Hastings
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The Hastings Masters, the main event at the 83rd Celebration Hastings International Chess Congress is extremely closely contested at the Horntye Park Sports Complex. After six rounds the leading score is just 4.5/6 with ten players sharing the lead. The English challenge is strong this year with Mark Hebden, Simon Williams, Nick Pert, Andrew Greet and Stuart Conquest, who hails from Hastings, in the leading group.
The top seed Vadim Malakhto is amongst the leaders after methodically dismantling the defences of Stewart Haslinger in the fifth round and then drawing a wild game with Hebden.
The Congress is once again sponsored by Hastings Borough Council and the number of entries is slightly up on last year. The Masters has attracted 17 Grandmasters and 2 Woman Grandmasters and entries have come from 24 countries.
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Wriggling is futile
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Alexander Morozevich secured the title of Russian Champion with a clinical last round victory that left nothing to chance. Morozevich capped another brilliant performance by showing that he can also win with sound Grandmaster technique as he played for a small advantage against Ernesto Inarkiev and gradually turned the screw in the endgame.
Final scores: 1. Morozevich 8/11; 2. Grischuk 7; 3. Tomashevsky 6.5; 4-8 Inarkiev, Jakovenko, Dreev, Vitiugov, Sakaev 5.5; 9 Svidler 5; 10 Amonatov 4.5; 11 Rychagov 4; 12 Timofeev 4.
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Morozevich halted
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Alexander Morozevich’s winning streak came to a halt in the ninth round of the 60th Russian Championship at Moscow as he fell to Alexey Dreev and his lead was reduced to just half a point going into the eleventh and final game.
Dreev is a former Russian international and, despite a big fall in his rating, he remains a very well prepared player and has played one of the games of the tournament to dismiss Dmitry Jakovenko.
Morozevich played white and it was one of those funny games where he did not seem to know whether to head for the draw when he had no advantage or fight for a win. When the former was not a success he went for the latter option too late.
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An imminent blunder
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The top seed at the Hastings Masters Vadim Malakhto was bottom of the pile after the first round as he was defeated by the German amateur player Sebastian Bognor. The Russian GM was playing one of those games where the professional seems to be in complete control and heading for an easy victory but he lost control of the position and as so often happens avoided a possible draw and then lost.
The second seed Boris Chatalbashev of Bulgaria was outplayed by Richard Bates of Richmond Chess Club but escaped with a draw as Bates ran out of time.
The early queen check is a popular Anti Gruenfeld Device and on unfamiliar territory, blunders are more likely. If 8…Nxe4 9.d5!
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Leonard Barden. December 29, 2007
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India's Vishy Anand and Russia's Vladimir Kramnik have finally signed up for their €1.5m world championship match. The 12-game series will be played in the Art and Exhibition Hall, Bonn, from October 11-30 next year.
Negotiations seem to have gone very much Kramnik's way. Germany is the homeland of his manager, and the traditional right of the holder, in this case Anand, to keep his title after a drawn series has been abandoned in favour of speed tie-breaks.
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Tribute to the many
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This year’s Hastings International Chess Congress is the 83rd edition of what is the world’s longest running chess event. The congress starts today and runs until 6 January 2008 at the now traditional venue of the Horntye Park Sports Centre.
Tournaments will include Hastings Masters, Christmas Morning, Christmas Afternoon and New Year Tournaments and 25th Hastings Weekend Congress.
The Congress will be a celebration of the lives of many who have contributed to the chess world in different ways including sponsors, patrons of the game and arbiters. These include:
Tony Banks, Tony Bastable, John Bisson, Steve Boniface, Michael Bent, David Bronstein, David Brown, Keith Brown, Lord Callaghan, Lady Callaghan, Philip Church, Ian Cowen, Vernon Dilworth, Richard Furness, Isaac Iglesias, George Goodwin, Pete Harrison, Frank Hatto, Ted Johnson, Joyce Macdonald-Ross, Fred Manning, Ian Mason, Eric McCanlis, Kenneth Messere, Lady Milner-Barry, Robert Pinner, John Robinson, Arne Rosemberg, David Pritchard, Walter Sebley, Peter Shaw, Jack Speigel, Simon Webb, Paul Watson and Roy Woodcock.
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Be careful of Caruana
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In 2003 I played at the US Amateur Team East at Parsippany in New Jersey, a fun tournament where apart from the chess, which is not taken totally seriously, there is also a competition for the team with the wittiest name. The winner of that contest eludes me now but it was a clever and deprecatory pun on Trent Lott, a Republican Senator who had just achieved notoriety for a racist comment.
I played on board one for the United States Chess Federation to whom I was a visiting consultant on commercial matters. The rest of the team was composed of USCF staff so we were able to maintain comfortable mid-table obscurity throughout which meant that I was largely untroubled on top board. Until that is I came up against a ten year old boy.
I was warned before the game by some former Russian GMs to be careful. The youngster got the opening all wrong playing white but then defended like a demon and I had to acquiesce in a draw. I made a note of his name, Fabiano Caruana. Originally from Miami he had moved to New York where the chess scene was better. Subsequently his parents decided to move to Europe so he could play more tournaments.
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A knight out in the cold
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Alexander Morozevich made his move in the fourth round of the Russian Championship Superfinal taking place in Moscow as took a share of the lead with a chaotic victory over Andrey Rytchagov.
Morozevich Exploited a poorly placed white knight which was rooted to the b1 square for seventeen moves and took no further part in the game. As we shall see Rytchagov had several opportunities to bring the knight back into the game.
Five players share the lead on 2.5/4 including Morozevich and former world title Candidate Alexander Grischuk. It was a strange day’s play with four black wins and nearly a fifth when Peter Svidler’s queen was trapped by Ernestin Inarkiev and had to be sacrificed but the game ended in a draw.
The championship has a prize fund of five million roubles (About ?100,000), seven games remain.
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Leonard Barden. December 22, 2007
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He is the ultimate chess comeback kid. Gata Kamsky's victory in the $2m World Cup, after an eight-year break from serious play, puts the 33-year-old New Yorker, a former Soviet prodigy, within one eliminator of competing for the world title.
Kamsky lost to Anatoly Karpov for the Fide world championship in 1996, then gave up serious chess and spent eight years in law school, playing only a handful of games. When he returned in 2004 he was handicapped by rust and poor openings, but he was right back to his best in Siberia last week and beat Alexey Shirov 2.5-1.5 in the final.
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Svidler still batting
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No player managed to win their first two games at the Russian Championship Superfinal taking place in Moscow. Competition was so fierce that the two favourites Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich both lost early on although both managed to get back to 50%.
In Svidler’s case this was achieved in style, see below. The rest day probably came at the right time for Svidler who will be in shock following the England cricket team’s abysmal first innings collapse at Galle. I always fear for the cricket-mad Grandmaster when the live coverage is in the middle of the night Moscow time and now he will be even more aggrieved at the dropping of Andrew Strauss, who, as far as I can tell he holds in almost as much esteem as Raoul Capablanca.
P Svidler (2732) – A Dreev (2607)
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