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I have been told by some of the viewers that they miss seeing photos in the posts. So here are some older ones that will appear in the gallery and on some syndicated websites.

Vladimir Kramnik (pictured) was born on 25 June 1975 in Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea in Russia.  His father was Boris, a renowned sculptor and his mother was Irina, a music teacher.  He learnt to play chess at the age of 5 and by the time he was 12 he was studying at the prestigious Botvinnik school in Moscow.

At 16 he won the World under-18 Championship and emerged onto the world chess scene with a Gold Medal at the 1992 chess olympiad in Manila.

In 2000 Vladimir Kramnik achieved what few had thought possible; he defeated the great Gary Kasparov 8.5-6.5 to take the title of World Chess Champion without losing a single game.

He successfully defended his title against Peter Leko in 2004 by dramatically winning the final game to tie the 14-game match 7-7.  In 2006 he beat Veselin Topalov in a hugely controversial match which reunified the competing versions of the World Chess Championship title.

Is there no stopping Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen? The 17-year-old teenage ace is again in the spotlight by winning yet another big elite tournament, this time taking first place with ease at Aerosvit ahead of Vassily Ivanchuk to add to his extraordinary haul so far for the year.

Carlsen’s winning surge now of all the big elite events of the first half of the year — Corus, Morelia/Linares, the Fide Grand Prix in Baku, and now Aerosvit — is simply remarkable. No teenager has ever performed at this high a level in the game. Not even former world champion legends such as Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer – Carlsen is way ahead of their teenage feats.

And the rating points Carlsen is quickly amassing makes him odds-on to topple Vishy Anand for the top spot in the world rankings before the end of the year — and at the same time, he looks as if he’s going to become only the fifth player in history (behind Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov) to crack the 2800 barrier.

Fide only publish their rating list ever quarter and the cutoff dates for the July 1st list means Aerosvit – with Carlsen and Ivanchuk’s big hike in their ratings that would have made them world # 2 & 3 – not being included. However, you can follow Carlsen’s surge to the summit at Hans Arild Runde’s Live Top List, which is updated minutes after tournaments are completed. The Live Top List cover all players with a current, live rating above 2700, who are now generally known as “Super-GMs”.

In chess, opposition (or direct opposition) is the situation occurring when two kings face each other on a rank or file, with only one square in between them. In such a situation, the player not having to move is said to “have the opposition” (Flear 2004:12). It is a special type of zugzwang and most often occurs in endgames with only kings and pawns (Flear 2000:36). The side with the move may have to move the king away, potentially allowing the opposing king access to important squares.

There are extensions of direct opposition, such as diagonal opposition and distant opposition, which can be conducive to reaching direct opposition. All three types may be referred to simply as opposition if the type is unambiguous in context.

This is the story of Govind Mohan Lal, affectionately known as ‘GM’in the Chess Circuit!
He had a bad day in the office and he was livid with himself. He had drawn his crucial 6^th round game against his old foe that had pushed him into the joint 2^nd spot with a score of 5 points. Had he won that game, he would have propelled himself into the top of the table. And, with 3-rounds remaining, would have been favourite to win this championship.

How could he draw such a game, which was nothing but a total home preparation from the white-side of the Scotch Opening? After 15 moves he had his opponent on his toe and, the writing was all over the wall. With the country in the grip of IPL fever and the newspaper just forgetting about the existence of other sports, he could still imagine himself making the headlines next day, probably on the same page as with the RR team!

Alas! One moment of indiscretion and, his dreams were falling apart. Moreover, he was furious that he was forced to share the 2^nd spot jointly with his opponent in the last round, his long time Chess friend but enemy within!

He could not fathom the thought of his opponent playing Chess!! – a mere mortal that was created by God just to punish him for some of his misdeeds in his last birth!! So, whenever the opportunity presented him with a chance to play against his opponent, either in tournament or off-hand games, he played with full vigour of a gladiator!!

To a certain extent he had been successful with a score of +2 but the last 3 games prior to the current clash were a near disaster. He had no answer to his strong Berlin Defense and, he sometimes felt that he was playing against Kramnik! With Black, he had tried KID and was almost successful but somehow, he felt that his opponent had learned enough of Black magic to prevent him from winning! He was not superstitious but, playing against this opponent made him search for some Black magic ‘Limbu’, which he (his opponent) might have stashed in some remote corner of the tournament hall!!

As such, when he learnt the critical 6^th round pairing, he decided to change his repertoire from Ruy Lopez to a surprise Scotch, which he had never played before and, which his opponent would have never expected him to play!

With the help of his monsters, Fritz and Chessbase, he went through the recent advances in this variation but some inner intuition signaled him that he should adopt some obscure line – a line which was beyond the chess understanding of his opponent and, as such, he decided for Scotch Four Knight’s variation.

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From November 12-25 2008, the biennial Chess Olympiad for national teams from around the globe, will be held in the German city of Dresden. The official website for the event is here.

For this Olympiad, FIDE has announced changes to the rules. One change is that no draws will be allowed before the 30th move. This effort to end the curse of ‘Grandmaster Draws’ should be welcomed. However, another change may prove more controversial and challenging for those competitors who find they are often overdue, are habitually unhurried, or who are just terrifically tardy.

To quote: “…all players have to be at their table exactly at the beginning of play to shake hands, just like in any other sports, or else they will lose the match”.

Previously players have been able to saunter along to their table up to an hour late. Let’s hope that the elevators don’t break down in the playing venue and that the doors are wide enough to accommodate the massive rush of players running to take their seats at the last minute.

July 27 – August 1 at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, Texas

The annual Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls, the most prestigious all-girls event in the United States, will be held at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Starting time of each round will be at 11:00 A.M., except for round 1 and 6. Round 1 will be at 3:00 PM and round 6 will be at 10 AM., and the time control is 90 minutes for the entire game with 30 seconds increment added per move. This is the approved FIDE time control. Pre-tournament registration is required.

The open ceremony will be at 1:30 PM on July 27. The closing ceremony will take place 30 minutes after the conclusion of the last game on August 1.

Read all the details

We have selected our first chess coach for review and promotion on the site. NM Rene Phillips. Mr. Phillips hails from New Orleans but is currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia.

Mr. Phillips teaches chess to students of all age groups. Mr. Phillips also does game analysis in video format. Please find below one of his video games from last year. You will not he is full of energy and very entertaining. Also, click the Chess Coaches link at the top of the page to find his contact information.

In this video NM Rene Phillips plays another chess coach. Enjoy the entertaining banter.