All news

• Russia scrape through

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  There were some close calls in the first round of the European team Championship in Porto Carras, Greece. Alexander Morozevich managed to win a drawn endgame against Dmitry Svetushkin to enable the favourites to beat Moldova 2.5-1.5. Several strong teams only drew with weaker opposition, France, Netherlands and Poland for example. Surprise of the round was Turkey's victory over Georgia.

• European Team Championships 2011

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  The nine round European Team Championships start today in Greece in the Porto Carras resort, which is on the Halkidiki peninsular, about a hundred kilometres from Thessaloniki. Russia are top seeds in both events with 38 teams competing in the Open and 28 in the Women's event.

• Women: The top 33 in November

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  The new ratings are out, and we can see who has been in the best form. It's Radjabov and Morozevich amongst the men while Women's No.1 Judit Polgar has been on the rise. A younger generation are making headway, Anna Muzychuk is up to fourth for the first time, while Kateryna Lahno is just behind, with 22-year-old Valentina Gunina making further progress.

• Carlsen well ahead

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  On the new rating list for November, Magnus Carlsen is well-established as World No.1 and has even moved back up to equal his highest-ever rating. Showing sufficiently strong form to move them back into the World's Top Ten are Teimour Radjabov and Alexander Morozevich.

• Anand is Corsican Masters Champion

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  Viswanathan Anand beat last year's winner Shakhriyar Mamedyarov by the convincing score of 2-0 in the final of the 2011 Corsican masters. The earlier rounds were played at the Theatre in Bastia, but the Final took place in the 'Palais de Congrès' in Ajaccio, Corsica's second city.

• Le Quang Liem wins the Spice cup

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  A win in the final round over close rival Leinier Dominguez Perez sealed the Vietnamese No.1's victory in the strongest ever US invitational round robin, held in Lubbock, Texas. Georg Meier was equal second, along with the Cuban Dominguez, who was actually leading before his stumble at the final hurdle.

• Mamedyarov and Anand make the final

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  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won through comfortably against Gawain Jones and Ivan Cheparinov to reach Monday's final in the Corsica Masters. On the other hand, Viswanathan Anand had a serious scare in the Semi-Final against Krishnan Sasikiran, as after a first leg draw he was at one point staring defeat in the face, before surviving, and then going on to win the Blitz play-off.

• Bastia: Final round and the last sixteen

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  Today the action came thick and fast as the ninth round was followed by the beginning of the knock-out stage. The biggest surprise was the elimination of third seed Laurent Fressinet by IM Gabriel Battaglini in the knock-out stage as the Frenchman was outplayed as White in a Modern Benoni.

• Bastia: 8th round

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  In the eighth round the top five boards all finished with hard-fought draws. The same three players, Ivan Cheparinov, Krishnan Sasikiran and Hrant Melkumyan, retain the lead and are assured of going into the knock-out phase which starts later tomorrow.

• Bastia: sixth and seventh round

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  There were two rounds in Bastia today with the top of the table becoming clearer: Krishnan Sasikiran, Ivan Cheparinov and Hrant Melkumyan lead with six points out of seven. The qualification score will almost certainly be 6.5 or more, so these three are almost there.

• Bastia: Fifth round

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  After the fifth round, two players are leading on 4½/5, Laurent Fressinet and Ivan Cheparinov. A good result here could see Laurent Fressinet get back his 2700-status. Tomorrow there will be two rounds with the players having in mind the importance of finishing in the top fourteen, which means qualification for the knock-out stage.

• Bastia: Rounds 3 and 4

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  It was the first double day in Bastia and all the 2600+ players are now well-placed on 3.5/4. On Tuesday tomorrow there is just one game before another double-round day on Wednesday.

• Bastia 2

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  In the second round, all the 2600+ players won except for Pavel Tregubov who drew. The biggest surprise was Vitalii Pesotskyi's victory over experienced GM Nenad Sulava. Gawain Jones was the first of the favourites to win with an ambitious piece sacrifice, which worked a treat as his opponent was unable to solve the resulting practical problems.

• Bastia: First round

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  Top seed Laurent Fressinet got off to a winning start. In the first round, all the favourites won except Ivan Cheparinov, who obtained four pawns for a piece, but this proved to be insufficient for the full point.

• Bastia

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  The15th edition of the Bastia tournament has begun. This year the event is a nine-round FIDE-rated swiss followed by a rapidplay knock-out event. Bastia is the main town in Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean. There are 170-odd players in the open with over 20 nationalities present.

• Kramnik gets back to 2800!

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  Two draws in the final round of the Unive Crown group have left matters as they were. So former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik finished first ahead of Anish Giri. A score of 4½/6 was sufficient for Kramnik to gain enough points to get his virtual rating back over the 2800 mark.

• Zhao Xue and Ju Wenjun make it a China 1,2

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  Ju Wenjun ensured that she finished in second place after beating her compatriot Zhao Xue in the last round of the Nalchik Women's Grand Prix. This loss hardly took the shine off Zhao Xue's tournament result, as 9½/11 was still an exceptional performance and she will naturally take with her maximum Grand Prix points. Viktorija Cmilyte and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya were equal third.

• Kramnik wins Unive

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  Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has won the Unive tournament with a round to spare. In the fifth round he beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a complicated struggle where for much of the middlegame it wasn't at all clear who was better. Anish Giri is now in second after his win over Judit Polgar.

• Zhao Xue in a class of her own

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  A remarkable 9½/10 has left Zhao Xue 3½ points ahead of her closest rival, Ju Wenjun, who she will play in tomorrow's last round. In the other results, another win by Batkhuyag Munguntuul has taken her off the bottom, whereas Viktorija Cmilyte's win with Black has left her equal third with one round to go.

• No change in Unive

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  Two draws today in the Unive tournament have left matters as they were. Vladimir Kramnik still leads with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in second place. Only Vladimir Kramnik has managed to win any games so far, with two rounds to go.