Women's World Chess Team Championship March 2-12 in Astana

Astana will host the Women's World Chess Team Championship from 2-12 March. The best teams of the world will participate in the coming championship, among which three teams which were ranked the best at the World Chess Olympiad, five continental champions, the country-organizer and one team elected by the FIDE President according to the rules.

Astana will gather around 50 best chess players out of ten countries: China, Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, France, Turkey, Georgia, Rumania and Kazakhstan. Every team consists of five players and the team-winner will be determined in a round-robin event after 9 games. Time control is 90 minutes per 40 moves and thirty minutes until the end of the game plus 30 seconds increment per move.

Participating teams
The WWTC has been organized since 2007 and Chinese team won all the championships in the past. Hou Yifan and Zhao Xue will not come to Astana and it’s going to be not easy for the team to prove their dominance without the strongest Chinese players.

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Zurich Chess Challenge 2013 Super Videos by Vijay Kumar: Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, Boris Gelfand

Videos by the renowned producer Vijay Kumar for Chessdom.com, including the start of the games of round 1, press conference with Gelfand, Caruana, and Kramnik, and interview with World Champion Viswanathan Anand. (As the players walk in, don't miss that short shot of India's most endearing chess couple!)

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Kasparov's Computer Programme for Kids Launched in Georgia Schools

A pilot computer program on chess games designed by Garry Kasparov was launched on Monday in Georgia to assist the country's youth to learn about the game. It was announced on Monday by Georgia's deputy minister in charge of sports and youth affairs.

Zurab Azmaiparashvili told the local press that the Kasparov chess program is to be used in schools in such Georgian towns as Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi and Poti which have been producing some of the world's most famous chess players.

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ChessFlash Knight Vision: Free App to Improve Piece Movement

ChessFlash KnightVision is a free chess-based game. Do battle against an army of pawns and capture them before they capture you. Chess players improve their piece movement fluency and skills and non-chess players improve and maintain their mental acuity and reflexes. Everyone has fun!

ChessFlash KnightVision is now available for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. To get the free app, just click this link from your Apple device:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chessflash-knightvision/id602098304?mt=8

Or, visit the App store and search for ChessFlash (one word). If you like the game please rate it and review it and share it with your friends! Here is a YouTube Introduction for the iPad version (the game plays the same on all devices):
 

ChessFlash KnightVision for Android was released in December and now has over 1000 users in over 100 countries. If you're already using it, thanks! If you've already reviewed it, rated it or "+1" it at the Google Play store, thanks! The Android version is now updated with the same game play options as the new Apple versions:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=chessflash.knightvision

Or, visit the Google store and search for ChessFlash (one word)!

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World Chess Champion Viswanathan Wins Grenke Chess Classic 2013

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand has won his first classical tournament in almost five years after an enthralling final day’s play in Baden-Baden. It started fast with Anand and Naiditsch blitzing out a rook ending that might have been drawn but ended in the German’s resignation on move 49. That left Caruana needing to beat Fridman to force a play-off, but he missed a gilt-edged chance in what fittingly became the longest game of the tournament.

Final rounds are sometimes dull, but there was every reason to hope for action at the GRENKE Chess Classic. No round had yet finished in three draws, and that was largely due to Arkadij Naiditsch’s seven decisive games in only nine rounds. He had the white pieces against Anand, and the players didn’t disappoint. Anand went for the Sicilian and followed the 1999 Kasparov vs. the World internet game, where the World played the novelty 10…Qe6. Anand said he’d looked at the line and that particular game just before this tournament. Naiditsch deviated from Kasparov’s line with 14.Nc3, and after 14…Rxa8 15.Bg5 e6 16.Re1 Anand played 16…Nd5:

Anand: “16...Nd5 is a pretty ugly move to make, but I simply didn’t want to keep calculating with the queens on the board”. After exchanging with 17.Nxd5 Qxd5 18.Qxd5 exd5 19.Rad1 h6 20.Bc1 d4 Black had doubled pawns, but they control the position, with the d4-pawn taking the c3- and e3-squares away from the white rooks and preventing the bishop dropping back to e3. Vishy thought his position was very good, but heaped condemnation on his later 24…a5?!, calling it a “terrible”, “horrible”, “embarrassing” and even “insane” move.

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Grenke Chess Classic 2013 Round 1: Fabiano Caruana Starts with Win, Adams-Anand Draw

When Baden-Baden hosted arguably the world’s first super-tournament back in 1870 it began in mid-July. 143 years later February snow was falling on the German spa town as tournament director Sven Noppes welcomed the players onto the stage. Things soon warmed up, however – Adams and Anand threw caution to the wind, Naiditsch and Fridman engaged in a fierce struggle, but it was Caruana who claimed the day’s only win. The Italian trapped Georg Meier’s king in the centre before ruthlessly applying the finishing touches.

Chess players have a reputation for iron logic, but in their press conference after a dazzling game both World Champion Viswanathan Anand and England’s no. 1 Michael Adams revealed that logic only takes you so far. When commentator IM Lawrence Trent started by asking the players how they were feeling Adams replied, “Good… confused by the game”. The confusion started on move 16:

Adams explained his first thought was, “16.Nd2 is a draw, but such is life – move on”. He’d dismissed 16.f4, but then thought, “Black has so many options that one of them must be good, but which one? Let’s see what happens!” Suddenly Vishy was also faced with a dilemma – all kinds of exchange sacs on e4 are possible and the rook can also simply retreat to e8, but the World Champion claimed his decision was also impulsive: “For some reason I started to like the idea of 16…Rh5, so I decided it was worth a punt”. The rest of the game was perhaps best summed up by Adams: “I was very suspicious of Rh5 – I was completely unable to refute it in any way, but it looked a very funny move.” After 17.e5 Nd7 18.Qe2 Rh4 19.e6 things looked dicey for Anand, but19…Nc5! showed he had the situation under control, even if he still felt Black needed to be very accurate in the play that followed.

Both players were in good spirits afterwards. In the position following 27…Qd7 Adams regretted playing a3:

They discussed alternatives, but Vishy brought the discussion to a close by joking, “it would have been a reasonable bluff just to play Rad1 and see if I have the guts to take on a2!”
 

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