|
|
|
|
|
Play Chess At Your Own Pace
|
Play Opponents Anywhere In The World
|
Play Without Additional Software
|
|
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.
|
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.
|
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!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A new Grandmaster
|
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.
|
|
Leonard Barden. January 5, 2008
|
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.
|
|
Baffling the computer
|
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.
|
|
Close combat at Hastings
|
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.
|
|
Wriggling is futile
|
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.
|
|
Morozevich halted
|
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.
|
|
An imminent blunder
|
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!
|
|
Leonard Barden. December 29, 2007
|
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.
|
|
Tribute to the many
|
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.
|
|
Be careful of Caruana
|
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.
|
|
A knight out in the cold
|
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.
|
|
Leonard Barden. December 22, 2007
|
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.
|
|
Svidler still batting
|
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)
|
|
Trying to halt an attack
|
There were some fireworks on the board in the early rounds of the Russian Championship which is not surprising when you consider that there is a prize fund of five million roubles (About ?100,000) for the twelve player all play event. Of course even this largesse is small change to Vladimir Kramnik and he is the only leading Russian player missing from the field apart from the defending champion Evgeny Alexeev who was a late withdrawal.
As reported yesterday Kramnik is playing for the lion’s share of a one million pound prize when he takes on Vishy Anand in a world title match in October.
The Velimirovic Attack, named after its inventor, a Yugoslav Grandmaster gives White good attacking chances based on a pawn storm or a knight sacrifice on d5, f5 or e6. Black’s tenth move is designed to forestall the advance g2-g4-g5 but White switches plans and advances his f pawn in the first attacking wave. In such games the attacking race is finely balanced and Black miscalculates allowing a nice sacrificial finish.
F Amonatov – A Timofeev
|
|
The 1 million championship
|
The promised head to head world chess championship match between Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik has been announced. A best of twelve game Classical Chess contest will take place at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn.
The organisers are Universal Event Promotion who handled Kramnik’s battle against the computer program ‘Deep Fritz ‘last year at the same venue. Once again there is official government support as German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck will be the patron of the event.
The prize fund will be 1.5 million Euro (Pounds 1,0006,000) which will presumably be split 60-40 between winner and loser. The twelve games will be played between October 11th – 28th and if necessary a speed chess tie break will be contested on October 30th. The match sponsor will be Evonik Industries AG a German enterprise with interests in chemicals, energy and property.
Head to head contests are what the world championship is all about and are the most fitting way to determine the best player. This match continues a tradition that goes back to the 19th century. Anand, 37, deposed Kramnik, who is five years his junior, as champion at the Fide world championship tournament at Mexico City. Kramnik’s condition for his participation was a rematch with the winner in a head to head battle.
|
|
Set the egg-timer
|
Twenty Seconds chess, an innovative idea, is being introduced to the UK through a new tournament to take place at Bush Hall, Shepherd’s Bush in London on Saturday January 19th. It promises to be a lot of fun and perhaps somewhat more pressured than conventional speed chess as the clocks will be in what could be described as ‘egg timer mode’.
Both players start with 20 seconds for the entire game. When play commences and White’s clock is started his twenty seconds reduces as normal but the time elapsed is added to Black's clock. When White has moved and pressed his clock, Black's clock begins to run down and White's clock increases. If either side runs out of time they lose.
Players will be divided into groups irrespective of rating and the top 32 players will advance to the knockout phase. A win scores two points and a draw half a point in the group stage. The tournament is sponsored by Lexmark and there will be ?3000 in prize money. The English Chess Federation website has the entry form.
|
|
Shirov's fatal slip
|
Gata Kamsky eased his way to victory at the Fide World Cup with a draw in the fourth game of his match against Alexei Shirov at the Siberian city of Khanty Mansiysk. Kamsky won 2.5-1.5 to take the winner’s prize of $120,000 and he earns the right to a world title final eliminator against Veselin Topalov.
Shirov went into the final game needing to win with Black to stay in the match and past precedent suggests this is an almost hopeless task and so it proved. Kamsky chose a solid line against the Sicilian Defence and the message was something like: ‘ We won’t be having any of your tactical tricks today Alexei’.
Kamsky hastened to exchange pieces and Shirov’s creative talents surfaced just once, see the note to White’s … move but Kamsky snuffed out any sacrificial possibilities.
When Shirov threatened to create some counterplay Kamsky produced a deep sacrifice off rook for bishop which ensured him several positional advantages and deprived Shirov’s pieces of any activity. Once again Kamsky’s play was very impressive and Shirov, who missed a chance for advantage in game three saw his world title ambitions curtailed again.
|
|
Kamsky draws clear
|
Gata Kamsky took the lead in the World Cup Final with victory over Alexey Shirov in the second game at the Siberian city of Khanty Mansiysk. This was a fine achievement as Kamsky’s calculation was superior to Shirov’s and few players can compete with Shirov in complex positions.
Game three was drawn and so Shirov is 1-2 down and must win with black in the final game to stay in the best of four game match and take it to a speed chess tie break.
Kamsky disobeys the standard rules of the opening and moves both his queen and knight more than once but to good effect. See the note to move eight.
G Kamsky – A Shirov
|
|
An honourable draw
|
Game one of the World Cup Final between Gata Kamsky and Alexey Shirov was drawn after 43 moves. Kamsky repeated a line of the Breyer Defence against the Ruy Lopez with which he was successful against Peter Svidler earlier in the event and although Shirov achieved a slight advantage he never looked like winning the game. The contest is the best of four games.
Kamsky looks very well prepared and having surmised that Shirov was going to produce an improvement over Svidler’s play, the American got his new idea in first and was very close to equality.
Since returning from a long lay off Kamsky’s main weakness has been a lack of opening preparation. His ability to defend difficult positions and his excellent technique have not deserted him. Now that he is working hard on his openings he can only improve further and threaten the very best players.
|
|
Three Indian tales
|
Indian players made almost a clean sweep of the Commonwealth Championships at Delhi as Gawain Jones’ narrowly missed out as he ended on 7/10. However an England Junior Squad, guided by GM Mark Hebden, acquitted themselves well and Ravi Haria of Elstree captured the bronze medal in the Under 8 age group for his score of 3.5/10 in the main event.
The Queen’s Indian is a solid defence to the Queen’s Pawn and so recently proponents of 1.d4 have revisited some pawn sacrifices to liven up the play and get some attacking chances. The following line was developed by Lev Polugaevsky but it was Garry Kasparov who honed it. Here is an early example.
G Kasparov – S Marjanovic
Malta Olympiad Valetta 1980
Queen’s Indian
|
|
Experience tells
|
Youth was vanquished a second time at the FIDE World Cup taking place at Khanty Mansiysk in Siberia as Alexey Shirov eliminated the former prodigy Sergei Karjakin 1.5-0.5 to qualify for the final where he will play Gata Kamsky. Kamsky eliminated the 17 year Magnus Carlsen in the other semi final.
At stake will be the winner’s prize of $120,000 and the right to play a world title eliminator against Veselin Topalov.
The first game between Shirov and Karjakin, given in part below, was an epic encounter with many twists and turns. After catching Shirov in a prepared line Karjakin appeared to have a huge attack but was rocked by some typically brilliant sacrificial play from Shirov that brought the white king into the open.
Karjakin defended desperately and after a huge time scramble the players reached an endgame of rook and bishop against two knights. These endgames have all been analysed out and in theory, according to the computer, Shirov could win if he found 208 perfect moves in succession. Of course in practice winning this endgame is extremely difficult and at Rapid Chess virtually impossible. Shirov tried until move 103.
In the return Karjakin was ground down in a rook and opposite coloured bishop endgame less a pawn that arose from the line of the Marshall Attack in which we saw Shirov defeat Jakovenko last week. Not an inspired choice from the youngster.
|
|
Gata shows his teeth
|
Gata Kamsky’s second chess career continues to gain momentum as he eliminated the 17 year old prodigy Magnus Carlsen from the FIDE World Cup to move just one match away from a world title final eliminator against Veselin Topalov. The American GM retired from top class chess in 1997 to study law but is now back at the board full time.
After a quick draw with Black in the first game Kamsky outplayed the Norwegian with white and not for the first time in this tournament employed a slightly unusual line to good effect. Carlsen went badly wrong in the middlegame and found one of his rooks trapped.
Kamsky won the exchange and then gave a textbook demonstration of how to exploit a material advantage while not giving the opponent even a hint of counterplay – it looked quite Karpovian.
The match between Alexey Shirov and Sergey Karjakin went to speed chess tie breaks after Shirov produced a new wrinkle playing black in the Ruy Lopez and made light of the difficulties he was confronted with by engineering a series of piece exchanges.
|
|
Magnus marches on
|
Magnus Carlsen was rock solid in game two of his match against Ivan Cheparinov and eliminated the Bulgarian from the Fide World Cup taking place at Khanty Mansiysk in Siberia. The seventeen year old Norwegian prodigy moved into the semi finals where he will take on Gata Kamsky of the USA, a former Fide world title finalist.
Carlsen gave up a pawn to reach a double rook endgame where he was more active and held on comfortably.
Kamsky upset the form book again and defeated Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine 1.5-0.5 with victory in the second game. Kamsky had been in serious difficulties with black in game one but escaped and with white he outplayed Ponomariov, a former Fide champion, in a sharp Sicilian Defence.
In the other semi final Alexei Shirov plays another prodigy Sergey Karjakin. Shirov was at his most impressive and followed up his win we saw on Saturday with victory in the second game after his opponent Dmitry Jakovenko blundered as he strove to create complications.
Karjakin needed a Rapid Chess tie break to overcome the Russian champion Evgeny Alekseev
|
|
Californian Takes World Title At Children's Event in Turkey
|
Children who play chess almost certainly learn practical skills. Some of the better players compete abroad, visit exotic places, make new friends, maybe become a world champion.
|
|
Leonard Barden. December 8, 2007
|
Michael Adams, the England No1, has a history of frustrating near-misses in world knockout semi-finals and finals. At Groningen 1997, Las Vegas 1999 and Tripoli 2004 he had winning positions, in two cases one-movers, which could have made him a world champion.
This week in Siberia Adams won his first three World Cup matches smoothly. In round four against Norway's wonderboy Magnus Carlsen he lost the first game but was on top in the return. With victory in sight, his nemesis struck again as he fell for a one-move drawing trap. At age 36, this was probably his last realistic attempt at the world crown.
|
|
Carlsen clips Cheparinov
|
The Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen looks well set to progress at the Fide World Cup after defeating Veselin Topalov’s trainer Ivan Cheparinov in the first game of their fifth round tie. A chaotic game ended with Carlsen appearing to throw away his winning chances before Cheparinov blundered at the death when in sight of a draw.
This endgame was extremely difficult, I have only scratched the surface in the analysis below but it was clearly a case of Cheparinov being the unlucky player who blundered last.
The World Cup has a prize fund of $1,600,000, $120,000 of which goes to the winner who also earns the right to a world title final eliminator against Veselin Topalov.
Game one Karjakin draw Alexseev; Shirov 1-0 Jakovenko; Ponomariov draw Kamsky; Carlsen 1-0 Cheparinov.
We pick up the Carlsen game after Cheparinov has played 43…Ra5. White is clearly better as he has three active pieces and a strong passed pawn but Black’s pawn on a7 is a long term threat.
|
|
Carlsen lost for words
|
The Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen who turned seventeen during the tournament is the only non-Russian speaker to get through to the last eight of the Fide World Cup taking place at Khanty Mansiysk in Siberia. Carlsen eliminated England’s Michael Adams in the fourth round and now plays Ivan Cheparinov
The World Cup has a prize fund of $1,600,000 10% of which goes to the winner who also earns the right to a world title final eliminator against Veselin Topalov.
|
|
Carlsen clings on
|
Michael Adams is out of the Fide World Cup after a 1.5-0.5 loss to the seventeen year old Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen. Adams needed to win the second game with the white pieces to stay in the match and although he held the advantage throughout he was unable to break down his opponent’s defences despite holding an extra pawn.
Carlsen, like Adams, played a counter attacking pawn sacrifice with black. He chose a recent idea in the Ruy Lopez that has created a new range of possibilities for Black. Adams was well prepared, consolidated and gradually made progress but short of time, he missed a winning chance and Carlsen clung on for more than forty moves in a position with just queens, bishops and pawns remaining.
Last 16 results: Karjakin draw 1-0 Nisipeanu; Alekseev draw draw Bareev – tie break; Aronian draw draw Jakovenko – tie break; Akopian 0-1 draw Shirov; Ponomariov 1-0 draw Sasikiran; Svidler draw draw Kamsky – tie break ; Carlsen 1-0 draw Adams; Cheparinov draw 1-0 Wang Yue.
The Russian champion Evgeny Alexeev took the lead in his tie breaker.
|
|
Carlsen goes bionic
|
Michael Adams faces elimination from the World Championship cycle after defeat at the hands of Magnus Carlsen in the first game of their third round match at the Fide World Cup. Adams seems to have been undone by deep computer-assisted opening preparation at home by the Norwegian prodigy who turned seventeen at the event.
Adams played a well known pawn sacrifice which appears to give Black good compensation but Carlsen managed to consolidate after some strange looking moves which would be unnatural to play for a human player and although Adams fought back to nearly equalise at one point his two knights were gradually forced back.
|
|
All too easily led astray
|
The favourite and world number two Vasily Ivanchuk has been eliminated from the World Championship yet again. The Ukrainian fell in the third round of the Fide World Cup to the Romanian Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu a former European champion.
Perhaps it is not a coincidence, Ivanchuk’s nerves are always frayed in these knockout events and it was Nisipeanu who eliminated him at Las Vegas in 1999.
Michael Adams faces the Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen. The full draw is
|
|
|
|
|