A new version of Aquarium 2010 (version 4.0.3) will be released soon. It’s a free update for current Aquarium 2010 users. One of the new features is a correspondence chess module that keeps track of correspondence games played on Xfcc compliant chess servers. The Xfcc protocol was designed by Martin Bennedik. Servers of this type include the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF), SchemingMind.com, and myChess.de.

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The 27th traditional TopGM’s tournament in Linares, Spain will be held from Feb 13th to Feb 24th.
Players: Veselin Topalov (BUL, 2805), Levon Aronian (ARM, 2781), Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2761), Vugar Gashimov (AZE, 2759), Alexander Grischuk (RUS, 2736), Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP, 2705).

Tournament format: Double round-robin.
Average ELO is 2758, 21th FIDE tournament category.

ChessOK is going to broadcast all games of this tournament with Rybka Aquarium commentary.

Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN], Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN], Round 10 [ PGN]

Levon Aronian - Alexander Grischuk 1/2 \br\Vallejo Pons - Veselin Topalov 1/2 \br\Boris Gelfand - Vugar Gashimov 1/2 \br\Veselin Topalov - Vugar Gashimov 1-0 \br\Vallejo Pons - Levon Aronian 1/2 \br\Alexander Grischuk - Boris Gelfand 1-0 \br\Levon Aronian - Veselin Topalov 1/2 \br\Vugar Gashimov - Alexander Grischuk 1/2 \br\Boris Gelfand - Vallejo Pons 1/2 \br\Boris Gelfand - Veselin Topalov 1/2 \br\Vugar Gashimov - Levon Aronian 1/2 \br\Alexander Grischuk - Vallejo Pons 1/2 \br\Veselin Topalov - Alexander Grischuk 1-0 \br\Levon Aronian - Boris Gelfand 1/2 \br\Vallejo Pons - Vugar Gashimov 0-1 \br\Vugar Gashimov - Veselin Topalov 1/2 \br\Levon Aronian - Vallejo Pons 1/2 \br\Boris Gelfand - Alexander Grischuk 1/2 \br\Veselin Topalov - Vallejo Pons 1-0 \br\Alexander Grischuk - Levon Aronian 1/2 \br\Vugar Gashimov - Boris Gelfand 1/2 \br\Alexander Grischuk - Vugar Gashimov 1-0 \br\Veselin Topalov - Levon Aronian 1/2 \br\Vallejo Pons - Boris Gelfand 1/2 \br\Alexander Grischuk - Veselin Topalov 1-0 \br\Boris Gelfand - Levon Aronian 1/2 \br\Vugar Gashimov - Vallejo Pons 1/2 \br\Veselin Topalov - Boris Gelfand 1-0 \br\Vallejo Pons - Alexander Grischuk 1/2 \br\Levon Aronian - Vugar Gashimov 1-0 \br\ Veselin Topalov (2805) (BUL) \br\Levon Aronian (2781) (ARM) \br\Boris Gelfand (2761) (ISR) \br\Vugar Gashimov (2759) (AZE) \br\Alexander Grischuk (2736) (RUS) \br\Vallejo Pons (2705) (ESP)

ChessOK has new, freshly printed chess books to offer:

— Theory and Practice of Chess Endings 1
— Theory and Practice of Chess Endings 2
Excellent endgame books. The author, grandmaster Alexander Panchenko, being one the most known coaches of Soviet Union Chess School collected the material for nearly 20 years. It has been used it to train from the beginners to grandmaster levels many of his students. Panchenko considers that chess training should begin from the endgame. Those books teach you typical moves and plans in all kinds of endgames and then test the acquired knowledge.

What do all the green squares in the image below represent?

Seasoned Aquarium users will immediately recognize that this is a screen-shot of the Aquarium status bar (split into two lines) where each square represents one chess engine (Rybka in this case). What is unusual here is the huge number of chess engines: thirty-four instances of Rybka, all analyzing at the same time, running on a network of computers! It is an amazing experience to have so much analysis power at your fingertips.
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Aquarium 2010 has been released. In comparison to the initial Aquarium version, which was released last year, it is clear that progress has been very rapid, both in improvements to existing features and the addition of new features and stability. Its database feature started out with a limit of two open bases, but now the limit has been removed and database performance has been improved. Aquarium has also taken the lead on publishing iBooks and HTML content for web pages and blogs. That’s quite a change from the initial version, which didn’t even have a printing feature. Aquarium has been a leading analysis tool from the beginning; nevertheless, the new version shows huge improvements in this area, as you can see by reading last month’s column about IDeA. The new Aquarium also emphasizes analysis on networked computers; a new feature that can give a big boost to IdeA, as well as advanced infinite analysis.
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ChessOK has three new training packages avilable:

— Training Package for Beginners €47.96 / $59.95
Training Package for Beginners includes huge, carefully selected material to improve the skill level of newer players. You learn the very basics of chess, general mating patterns and proceed to more advanced tactical levels.

— Training Package Club Players €47.96 / $59.95
Training Package for Club players covers wide range of opening, middlegame, and endgame subjects. It teaches how to avoid typical opening blunders and contains thousands of tactical exercises of different difficulty.

— Training Package Intermediate Players €47.96 / $59.95
Training Package for Inermediate players is dedicated to experienced chess enthusiasts with ELO rating above 1600. It gives you theoretical knowledge of various openings, improves tactical skills and teaches the principles of chess strategy.

The 72nd traditional Corus Chess tournament will be held in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands from Jan 15th to Jan 31st.
There are going to be three groups as usual Group A average ELO is 2719. It is 19th FIDE tournament category. All rounds except for the final round start at 12:30 GMT. The Final round will start at 11:30 GMT.
ChessOK is going to broadcast all games of group A tournament with Rybka Aquarium commentary.

Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN], Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN], Round 10 [ PGN], Round 11 [ PGN], Round 12 [ PGN], Round 13 [ PGN]
 

Sergey Tiviakov - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Peter Leko - Alexei Shirov 0-1 \br\Loek van Wely - Nigel Short 1-0 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Tiviakov 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Fabiano Caruana 1-0 \br\Loek van Wely - Magnus Carlsen 0-1 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Alexei Shirov 0-1 \br\Nigel Short - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1 \br\Jan Smeets - Vassily Ivanchuk 0-1 \br\Peter Leko - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Sergey Tiviakov 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Fabiano Caruana 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Peter Leko - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Vladimir Kramnik 0-1 \br\Loek van Wely - Alexei Shirov 0-1 \br\Nigel Short - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Jan Smeets 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\Peter Leko - Fabiano Caruana 1-0 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Vassily Ivanchuk 1-0 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Alexei Shirov 1-0 \br\Nigel Short - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Nigel Short 1-0 \br\Peter Leko - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Loek van Wely 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Vladimir Kramnik 0-1 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Alexei Shirov 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Karjakin 0-1 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Fabiano Caruana 1-0 \br\Nigel Short - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Peter Leko 1-0 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Alexei Shirov 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Magnus Carlsen 0-1 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Peter Leko - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Loek van Wely 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Leinier Dominguez 1-0 \br\Nigel Short - Fabiano Caruana 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Peter Leko - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Alexei Shirov 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Fabiano Caruana 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Nigel Short - Jan Smeets 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\ Magnus Carlsen (2810) (NOR) \br\Viswanathan Anand (2790) (IND) \br\Vladimir Kramnik (2788) (RUS) \br\Vassily Ivanchuk (2749) (UKR) \br\Peter Leko (2739) (HUN) \br\Alexei Shirov (2723) (SPA) \br\Sergey Karjakin (2720) (RUS) \br\Leinier Dominguez (2712) (CUB) \br\Hikaru Nakamura (2708) (USA) \br\Nigel Short (2696) (ENG) \br\Fabiano Caruana (2675) (ITA) \br\Sergey Tiviakov (2662) (NED) \br\Jan Smeets (2657) (NED) \br\Loek van Wely (2641) (NED)  

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The World Team Championship take place in Bursa, Turkey 3rd-14th January 2010. The first round was on 5th January 2010, and there will be no rest day. The event has taken place every 4 years since 1985. The official title for the event is the World Team Championship 2009 as it should have taken place last year.

Teams: Russia, Brazil, Egypt, India, Armenia, Israel, USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Greece.

 Games: Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN]

Crosstable