NIC's Café
Your Move
Passionate play in Pashkov House
Little more than a week after the World Championship match, Moscow was once again the scene of a major chess event. With the high number of draws in the match still fresh in mind, and remembering the frustrating deadlock in the vast majority of last year's hard-fought games, many awaited the seventh Tal Memorial with some concern. Those worries were rapidly dispelled.
Magnus Carlsen, the Brand
Espen Agdestein reveals what it takes to turn a chess player into a brand.
Sasha and Seryozha up to Speed
The Rapid and Blitz World Championships in Astana ended in victories for Russian aces Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Grischuk.
Dawn of a new century
Having visited 100 countries, Nigel Short laconically decided to visit number 101.
Hertan's Forcing Moves
Master of the Grünfeld
Peter Svidler presents a further sample of his expertise in this grand opening.
Larsen's prophecies
You cannot learn much about chess if you only rely on Informant symbols (+-, !?) or computer assessments (+2.31, -1.08), argues Mihail Marin, underpinning his conviction with a fascinating analysis of Fischer-Larsen, Santa Monica 1966.
Close race in Kazan
The fourth leg of the FIDE Women Grand Prix in the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan ended in a shared win for the only two players that remained undefeated, Humpy Koneru from India and Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia.
Through the Luking Glass
Luke McShane gives his views on two very different books.
Deviate at move 6 in the Tarrasch!
Put your opponent to the test with an astonishing Queen retreat, says Jeroen Bosch
Going his own way
Dick van Geet, who died on April 29 at the age of 80, was much more than the man who gave his name to an opening, writes Hans Ree.
Carlsen's preparation
Would Magnus' results improve if he were to build a sharp opening repetroire as White? Asks Jan Timman.
Just Checking
Who is Evgeny Tomashevsky's favourite football player?
Did they play your opening?In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players:
Sicilian
McShane-Radjabov, by Radjabov
Caro-Kann
Muzychuk-Stefanova, by Muzychuk
Ruy Lopez
McShane-Kramnik, by Timman
McShane-Carlsen, by Carlsen
Scotch
Caruana-Kramnik, by Caruana
Radjabov-Carlsen, by Timman
Slav
Aronian-McShane, by McShane
Aronian-Morozevich, by Morozevich
King's Indian
Kramnik-Grischuk, by Kramnik
Grünfeld-Indian
Navara-Svidler, by Svidler
English Opening
Lahno-Koneru, by Koneru
