Rybka Aquarium: Using IDeA in correspondence chess
I recently completed an informal experiment that lasted eleven months. During that time I participated in three correspondence chess tournaments. My goal was to evaluate IDeA as an analysis tool for correspondence play and see how it performed in a variety of positions that arise in real games, especially middlegame and endgame positions. I made limited use of various resources normally used by correspondence players, since I wanted the results to depend as much as possible on IDeA itself. Those self-imposed restrictions affected the results, but I think they made the experiment more interesting for users who are considering IDeA for correspondence chess analysis. Read the rest of this entry »

Wijk aan Zee 2011
The 73rd traditional Tata Steel Chess tournament will be held in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands from Jan 14th to Jan 31st. There are going to be three groups as usual Group A average ELO is 2736. It is 20th FIDE tournament category. All rounds except for the final round start at 12:30 UTC. The Final round will start at 11:00 UTC. ChessOK will to broadcast all games of group A tournament with Rybka Aquarium commentary.

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Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN], Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN], Round 10 [ PGN], Round 11 [ PGN], Round 12 [ PGN], Round 13 [ PGN]

New Aquarium 4.0.6 – major update
Major Aquarium update, version 4.0.6 is released. This is setup for update from any 4.0.* version (i.e. Aquarium 2010 and Aquarium 4) to 4.0.6: Update Here is the list of improvements in 4.0.6 comparing to Aquarium 4.0.5: What’s new Read the rest of this entry »

Rybka Aquarium: A Guide to Basic IDeA Usage
This column is geared towards the average user who wants to start using IDeA (Interactive Deep Analysis) in Aquarium 4.0.6 (the official release will be at 30th of December – ChessOK Development Team). I will explain the basic steps to begin the analysis of a selected position and how to guide the analysis into variations of interest.
If you are new to Aquarium, I strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with other Aquarium analysis features, such as infinite analysis, before diving into IDeA. In the following I assume that you already know how to use a game database in Aquarium, so that you can create or search for games and positions that you want to analyze. I also assume that you know how to install and configure chess engines in Aquarium.
Read the rest of this entry »

New Training Software
— Training Package for Club Players (on CD, for download) consists of five educational programs: Opening Lab, Encyclopedia of Opening Blunders, Chess Combinations Encyclopedia, CT-ART. Mating Combinations and Theory and Practice of Chess Ending, covering every phase or aspect of chess from Opening to Endgame. CT-ART. Mating Combinations is now available on CD for $32/€25.6. The course is composed of entirely new material, using a new iBook technology and focuses on mating combinations, giving 1200 examples and 700 exercises to solve.

London Chess Classic 2010
London Chess Classic will be held London, Great Britain from December 8th to 15th December. Participants: Anand, Calrsen, Kramnik, Nakamura, Adams, Short, McShane, Howell ChessOK is going to broadcast all games of this tournament with Rybka Aquarium commentary. Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN], Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN] [–table–]

Women’s World Chess Championships 2010
The Women’s World Chess Championships 2010 takes place in Hatay, Turkey 2nd-25th December 2010. Top seed is India’s Humpy Koneru (2600). ChessOK is going to broadcast the most interesting games of this event with Rybka Aquarium commentary. Games: Round 1-1 [ PGN], Round 1-2 [ PGN], Round 1tb [ PGN], Round 2-1 [ PGN], Round 2-2 [ PGN], Round 2tb [ PGN], Round 3-1 [ PGN], Round 3-2 [ PGN], Round 3tb [ PGN], Round 4-1 [ PGN], Round 4-2 [ PGN], Round 4tb [ PGN], Round 5-1 [ PGN], Round 5-2 [ PGN], Round 5tb [ PGN], Final [ PGN] Pairing: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5,  final

New CT-ART and Peshka Interface Updated
ChessOK presents a new member of CT-ART family: CT-ART. Mating Combinations. This training course features entirely new theoretical material of very high quality and new technology of giving the studying material: iBook, that uses hyperlinks and additional windows for comfortable reading. The most interesting positions can be viewed on the additional board and played against the built-in chess program. The course includes 1200 instructive examples on 14 themes, illustrating the peculiarities of using certain pieces for mating combinations and 700 exercises for solving. In exercise mode, it show refutations of wrong moves as well as other hints to help. The price is $25/€20 for download. CD version will be available later. The Peshka interface which our training courses use has been updated. Now it features a new customizable design, iBook courses (the above CT-ART. Mating Combination would be an expample) and a number of bugfixes. It also comes with a free preinstalled course from our Modern Chess Openings series: King’s Gambit, featuring both theoretical material and exercises. Be sure to try the course and if you’re interested, have a look at other Modern Chess Opening training courses, which have been released both for download and on CD. The new Peshka interface can be downloaded there.