Rybka 4 UCI Released!
— Rybka 4 UCI for download — Deep Rybka 4 UCI for download — Rybka 4 UCI on CD — Deep Rybka 4 UCI on CD Rybka 4 Aquarium and Opening Book by Jir Dufek will be available in a few hours. Stay tuned! Please note, that (Deep) Rybka 4 Aquarium or Chess Assistant 11 already include Rybka 4 UCI / Deep Rybka 4 UCI without any additional payments along with a bonus program of Openings Encyclopedia 2010. There’s also a 30% discount package of Rybka 4 Aquarium + Chess Assistant available for order. Rybka 4 UCI / Deep Rybka 4 UCI can be used in all modern chess programs such as Aquarium, Chess Assistant, Fritz, Shredder, Chessbase, Arena etc.

FIDE Grand Prix Astrakhan 2010
The final FIDE Grand Prix is being held in in Astrakhan from May 9th to 25th. Players: Vladimir Akopian (Armenia) Evgeny Alekseev (Russia) Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) Boris Gelfand (Israel) Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia) Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) Peter Leko (Hungary) Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) Peter Svidler (Russia) Wang Yue (China). The top two in the Grand Prix series standings qualify for the next FIDE Candidates cycle 2010-11. All games start at 11.00 UTC. ChessOK is going to broadcast the tournament. 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] [–table–]

New training courses in our online shop
ChessOK presents 7 new chess courses dedicated to improve various skills: — Elementary Chess Combinations to learn simple tactical methods — Chess Combinations for Club Players to learn advanced tactical methods — How to Win Miniatures in Chess to learn how to mate in 2, 3 and 4 moves in opening — Attack on the King I to learn how to attack the king in middlegame and mate in 2 — Attack on the King II to learn how to attack the king in middlegame and mate in 3 & 4 — Chess: Easy Ways of Taking Pawns and Pieces to learn how to capture the pieces — Chess: Simple Defense to learn how to defend your pieces from capturing All courses cost €20 / $25. All courses are for download. The CD version will be available in a few days.

World Championship Match: Anand vs Topalov
The match between World Champion Vishwanatan Anand (India) and challenger, former World Champion, Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) for World Champion title is going to be held in Sofia from 21st April to 12th May. The total prize fund is €2,000,000 — €1,200,000 for winner and € 800,000 for the runner-up. Format: 12 games with classical time control. If total score is tied after 12 games (6-6), 4 rapid games are played. If these are also tied, 2 blitz games are played. If these are also tied, up to 5 similar blitz series are held. If there is still no winner, the ‘armageddon’ blitz is held. Game days: 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 30th of April, 1nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th of May and 13th of May for tie-breaks. Game 1 starts at 14.00 UTC. All other games start at 12.00 UTC. ChessOK is going to broadcast live with Rybka Aquarium commentary. Games: Game 1 [ PGN], Game 2 [ PGN], Game 3 [ PGN], Game 4 [ PGN], Game 5 [ PGN], Game 6 [ PGN], Game 7 [ PGN], Game 8 [ PGN], Game 9 [ PGN], Game 10 [ PGN], Game 11 [ PGN], Game 12 [ PGN] Final score: Anand – Topalov 6,5-5,5. Anand has won the match and retained the World Champion title!

Openings Encyclopedia 2010 released
Oenings Encyclopedia 2010 has been recently released ans is available at our online shop. It includes theoretical material on every opening, a user-friendly and detailed classification of variations, a quick search option and an option for analyzing games and positions. Openings material is based upon 500,000 of expert evaluations, 8,000 annotations to key moves , 40 million of evaluations by Rybka engine, and database of 4,200,000 games as of April 1, 2010. For download — €25.60 / $32 On DVD — €31.96 / $39.95

Rybka 4 Aquarium, Opening Book & Chess Assistant 11 preorder
We are glad to inform you, that Rybka 4 Aquarium and Deep Rybka 4 Aquarium with new Rybka 4 engine are available for preorder in our shop. Both items are planned to be released in the first part of May. The actual release date is yet to be determined, please follow our announcements on this page. — Rybka 4 Aquarium Download – €47.20 / $59.00 | DVD – €49.99 / $62.49 — Deep Rybka 4 Aquarium Download – €95.20 / $119.00 | DVD – €99.92 / $124.90 ^{Click on the links to view descriptions and additional information} With every Deep Rybka 4 Aquarium / Rybka 4 Aquairum package you will also get a bonus of Openings Encylopedia 2010, which includes rich theoretical material on all the openings, more than 8000 annotations from GM Kalinin and 500 000 expert evaluations to key opening positions as well as powerful search system. If you’re Deep Rybka Aquarium 2010 / Rybka 4 Aquairum 2010 customer you will also get a free Opening Lab training course. Both packages of course include the new powerful Rybka 4 engine. Read more what’s new in the upcoming Rybka 4 Aquarium. Rybka 4 Aquarium book is also available for preorder, both for download and on DVD. It includes over 18,000,000 positions and provides latest chess theory approved on millions of advanced chess games and matches of top human players. For download — $25/€20 On DVD — $30/€24 Chess Assistant 11 is also available for preorder in three packages: — Starter for download / on DVD — Professional for download / on DVD — Mega with Gold Nalimov Tablebases You can also upgrade from Chess Assistant 10 for a lower price. Check out Chess Assistant & Databases catalog.

New Features in Aquarium
A new version of Aquarium 2010 (version 4.0.3) will soon be released and it’s free for current users. The new version has several new features, some of which are described below. First a quick overview, followed by more detailed description of each feature: Read the rest of this entry »

Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament 2010
The 19th traditional TopGM’s blindfold and rapid tournament in Nice, France will be held from March 13th to 25th. Players: Levon Aronian (Armenia), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Leinier Dominguez (Cuba), Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Ruslan Ponomariov, Jan Smeets (The Netherlands) and Peter Svidler. 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] [–table–]