Correspondence Chess with Aquarium 2010
A new version of Aquarium 2010 (version 4.0.3) will be released soon. It’s a free update for current Aquarium 2010 users. One of the new features is a correspondence chess module that keeps track of correspondence games played on Xfcc compliant chess servers. The Xfcc protocol was designed by Martin Bennedik. Servers of this type include the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF), SchemingMind.com, and myChess.de. Read the rest of this entry »

Ciudad de Linares 2010
The 27th traditional TopGM’s tournament in Linares, Spain will be held from Feb 13th to Feb 24th. Players: Veselin Topalov (BUL, 2805), Levon Aronian (ARM, 2781), Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2761), Vugar Gashimov (AZE, 2759), Alexander Grischuk (RUS, 2736), Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP, 2705). Tournament format: Double round-robin. Average ELO is 2758, 21th FIDE tournament category. 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], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN], Round 10 [ PGN] [–table–]

New Books
ChessOK has new, freshly printed chess books to offer: — Theory and Practice of Chess Endings 1 — Theory and Practice of Chess Endings 2
Excellent endgame books. The author, grandmaster Alexander Panchenko, being one the most known coaches of Soviet Union Chess School collected the material for nearly 20 years. It has been used it to train from the beginners to grandmaster levels many of his students. Panchenko considers that chess training should begin from the endgame. Those books teach you typical moves and plans in all kinds of endgames and then test the acquired knowledge.

Networked Computers with Aquarium 2010
What do all the green squares in the image below represent? Seasoned Aquarium users will immediately recognize that this is a screen-shot of the Aquarium status bar (split into two lines) where each square represents one chess engine (Rybka in this case). What is unusual here is the huge number of chess engines: thirty-four instances of Rybka, all analyzing at the same time, running on a network of computers! It is an amazing experience to have so much analysis power at your fingertips. Read the rest of this entry »

Aquarium’s Hidden Treasures. Part Two
Aquarium 2010 has been released. In comparison to the initial Aquarium version, which was released last year, it is clear that progress has been very rapid, both in improvements to existing features and the addition of new features and stability. Its database feature started out with a limit of two open bases, but now the limit has been removed and database performance has been improved. Aquarium has also taken the lead on publishing iBooks and HTML content for web pages and blogs. That’s quite a change from the initial version, which didn’t even have a printing feature. Aquarium has been a leading analysis tool from the beginning; nevertheless, the new version shows huge improvements in this area, as you can see by reading last month’s column about IDeA. The new Aquarium also emphasizes analysis on networked computers; a new feature that can give a big boost to IdeA, as well as advanced infinite analysis. Read the rest of this entry »

New Training Packages: for Beginners, for Club & Intermediate Players
ChessOK has three new training packages avilable: — Training Package for Beginners €47.96 / $59.95 Training Package for Beginners includes huge, carefully selected material to improve the skill level of newer players. You learn the very basics of chess, general mating patterns and proceed to more advanced tactical levels. — Training Package Club Players €47.96 / $59.95 Training Package for Club players covers wide range of opening, middlegame, and endgame subjects. It teaches how to avoid typical opening blunders and contains thousands of tactical exercises of different difficulty. — Training Package Intermediate Players €47.96 / $59.95 Training Package for Inermediate players is dedicated to experienced chess enthusiasts with ELO rating above 1600. It gives you theoretical knowledge of various openings, improves tactical skills and teaches the principles of chess strategy.

Corus Chess [Wijk aan Zee] 2010
The 72nd traditional Corus Chess tournament will be held in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands from Jan 15th to Jan 31st. There are going to be three groups as usual Group A average ELO is 2719. It is 19th FIDE tournament category. All rounds except for the final round start at 12:30 GMT. The Final round will start at 11:30 GMT. ChessOK is going to broadcast all games of group A 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], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN], Round 10 [ PGN], Round 11 [ PGN], Round 12 [ PGN], Round 13 [ PGN]  

[–table–] 

 

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World Team Championship 2010
The World Team Championship take place in Bursa, Turkey 3rd-14th January 2010. The first round was on 5th January 2010, and there will be no rest day. The event has taken place every 4 years since 1985. The official title for the event is the World Team Championship 2009 as it should have taken place last year. Teams: Russia, Brazil, Egypt, India, Armenia, Israel, USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Greece.  Games: Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN] Crosstable