An inspired Ian Nepomniachtchi and a fighting Peter Svidler climbed to shared first place in the standings of the Levitov Chess Week rapid tournament. Levon Aronian, who had finished day 1 as the sole leader, is now sharing third place with Vishy Anand, as the second half of the double round-robin remains to be played in Amsterdam. The players will return to the boards on Monday, after a rest day. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
An exciting first day of action saw Levon Aronian grabbing the lead at the Levitov Chess Week rapid tournament in Amsterdam. Aronian collected three wins and two draws to end the day as the only player with a 4/5 score. Vishy Anand, who obtained a good-looking victory over an out-of-form Wesley So, stands in sole second place, a half point behind the leader. | Photo: Levitov Chess webcast
From 22 to 26 September, Ilya Levitov is organising a “Chess Week” for the second time. Ten strong players will compete in a double-round rapid chess tournament, including two former world champions, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Four years ago, the winner was Ian Nepomniachtchi, who will attempt to defend his title in Amsterdam. | Photo: Adele and Ilya Levitov with Ian Nepomniachtchi
ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. The latest issue, CBM 215 is just out. Here our columnist, Nagesh Havanur takes a look at a recent issue. 162 games (41 annotated), decisive encounters from World Championship deeply annotated. 12 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 9 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler among others. The icing on the cake is a feature on Boris Spassky with 27 annotated games. | Photo: Ding Liren vs Nepomniachtchi, WCH 2023, FIDE/Anna Shtourman
It was the most popular opening for the first three centuries of modern chess. Paul Morphy relied on it heavily during his meteoric rise to world supremacy in the mid-19th century. Bobby Fischer claimed to have definitively refuted it after a famous loss with Black to nemesis Boris Spassky 12 years before their epic title match.