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• London calling!

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  The most important chess event for a quarter of a century in her majesty's realm starts in London today. The clash involves the four leading English players and four notable invitees.

• Gelfand close to the final?

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  In a one-sided affair Gelfand seized the initiative and took control very quickly against Karjakin. This Black win makes him a red-hot favourite to reach the final.
  The other game was drawn with Makharov's Chebanenko Slav again holding firm.

• Gelfand and Ponomariov in the final quartet.

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  Malakhov and Karjakin know who to prepare for! Three rapid games were sufficient in each of the matchs to determine a winner. Gelfand eliminated Jakovenko 2.5-0.5, and Ponomariov knocked out Gashimov by the same score.

• Homeward bound!

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  Two players can pack their bags and arrange their flights home. Renowned attacking specialists Peter Svidler and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were unable to win their second games and are out of the competition. The other two matches will require further games to split the players.

• Karjakin and Malakhov lead the way

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  Two players have taken a major step towards the semi-finals, Sergey Karjakin of the Ukraine and Russian Vladimir Malakhov.
  On the other hand things are looking grim for their opponents, Mamedyarov and Svidler, particularly for the latter who lost with White.

• And then there were eight!

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  Vugar Gashimov and Vladimir Malakhov cruised into the quarter finals after convincing winning their play-offs. After five draws Ponomariov finally won in the sixth game to eliminate Frenchman Etienne Bacrot. Jakovenko and Gelfand needed blitz games to get them past their opponents.

• Karjakin's day

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  Three players can look forward to their rest day tomorrow whilst getting ready for round five on Thursday. Svidler and Mamedyarov duly avoided losing with White and are joined by Karjakin who was the only winner in today's play... with the black pieces!

• Laznicka and Shirov in hot water in freezing Siberia

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  A good day to have the Black pieces! There were six draws, and two wins with Black. Svidler demonstrating his expertise in the Gruenfeld against Shirov, and Mamedyarov outplaying Laznicka in an equal middlegame.

• Chinese smoked out!

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  The chinese pair Li Chao and Wang Yue arrived a couple of minutes late for their second rapid games and were summarily defaulted. Apparently they were in the smoking room and lost track of time. Neither of them were able to rebound from such an unfortunate twist of fate.

• Tight at the top

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  The matches are becoming evenly balanced with 12 draws and only four wins today. The only player to tip a match in his favour being Alexei Shirov at the expence of Evgeny Tomashevsky.

• So sweet for Wesley

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  Mamedyarov has won all his games so far, but the biggest story is that the adventure continues for Wesley So of the Phillipines after winning comfortably with the black pieces against Gata Kamsky. Today a draw with White will be sufficient for him to get to the fourth round.

• Calmer day for the favourites.

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  On the play-off day it was notable that the big names were generally able to overcome the lesser lights without too much trouble. Svidler, Ponomariov and Shirov for example are now in the third round.

• Yu, what?

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  Several big names will be taking an early flight home, including Morozevich, Radjabov and Ivanchuk. Half the matches are still undecided and will require play-offs.

• First hand impressions from Kemer

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  Kemer, Turkey hosted this year's event from the 11th to the 23rd of November 2009. A few impressions from an insider!

• The World Cup has begun in Khanty Mansiysk

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  It's all happening in Russia at the moment. The Tal memorial followed by the World Blitz Championship took place in the capital earlier this month, whereas now it's the World Cup coming from Khanty Mansiysk in Siberia.

• World Youth Championships

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  Kemer in Turkey was the host for this year's event. The new World champions in several events ranging from the under-18s down to the under-8s are now known.

• Carlsen at a canter

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  He is on a roll! Magnus Carlsen has topped off a purple patch by becoming World Blitz Champion and by a clear margin, three whole points ahead of Anand.

• The World Blitz Championship

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  Moscow is an appropriate venue for the World Blitz Championships, a 22-player double round robin featuring most of the top players in the world.

• Opposition in King and Pawn endings

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  An important theme in King and Pawn endings is a special type of Zugzwang called the 'Opposition'. Watch this video to learn more about it.
  Enjoy this free sample of what lies in store for our subscribers who will also soon have access to more videos covering a variety of chess themes.

• Azerbaijan are European champions!

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  It went down to the wire, but Gashimov managed to squeeze a win out of a drawish rook ending and enabled his team to snatch the crown at Russia's cost. Russia at least took the ladies title despite losing in the match against their closest rivals the Georgians.