Archive for September 13th, 2009

Same title as the previous report? Yes, same title. Nothing changed, Levon Aronian could not be caught, and since both games were drawn even the exact oder of the following players remained the same. Aronian had a 2919 performance in Bilbao and is good for a 2784 rating on the next FIDE list – just four points behind the world’s second-highest rated player Vishy Anand. Final report.

Initially the grandmaster and chess author Dr John Nunn, who is one of the driving
forces behind Gambit Publications,
wanted to write an advanced book on endgames. It was to start with a brief
survey of all the things the reader would be assumed to know. However, it quickly
became clear that the “introductory chapter” would be more like a
book in itself, which is now available. Review.

It is astonishing that two such different pieces should be in general of approximately the same material strength.
But, when one gets down to it, in the duel between bishop and knight, it
depends to a great extent on the concrete features of the given position. In
open positions, with play on both wings, then as a rule the bishop is better – as
in the following rapid game: Kramnik-Khalifman, played recently in Zurich. With White to move, how could he have best
demonstrated the superiority of his bishop?

Analysis of Kramnik-Khalifman by GM Karsten Müller

The rapid games from Zurich