ContentNAO, WHO ELSE?
Traditionally, the last four rounds of the French club team competition, the Top 16, were held at one venue. In Port Barcarès, a holiday village close to Perpignan, the elite team of the NAO Chess Club from Paris confirmed their supremacy ahead of main rivals Cannes to claim the title for the third consecutive time. Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam travelled to the southernmost tip of France, watched a gripping final and spoke to Peter Svidler about the sense of dozens of chess professionals playing in five, if not more, national team championships. FROM MALMÖ TO COPENHAGEN
Hungry to play chess again after a period of relative inactivity, Jan Timman had a flying start in the Malmö part of the Sigeman tournament. Before the event the Dutchman had figured that 6½ points would suffice for shared first place, and they did when Krishnan Sasikiran caught up with him in Copenhagen. MASTERS OF THE CLOSE SHAVE
No fewer than six times Werder Bremen posted a narrow 4½-3½ match win in the 2004/2005 Bundesliga season. In a tense play-off match against odds-on favourites SG Porz exactly the same score sufficed for the underdogs to grab the title. 'PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!'
On May 13th Ratmir Kholmov celebrated his 80th birthday. In Moscow, Genna Sosonko talked to an outstanding natural talent, a master of defence, whose legendary wins over Keres, Bronstein and Fischer every chess lover should know. RUSSIAN LEAGUE
With a bottomless reservoir of grandmasters it is not astounding that Russia boasts one of the strongest leagues in the world now that more and more clubs find solid sponsorship. The 2005 championship was held in Sochi, on the Black Sea, and won by Tomsk with Morozevich, Bologan and Aronian on top boards. RADJABOV WINS DOS HERMANAS WANG WHO?
At the Dubai Open a 15-year-old boy with no title sensationally outstripped more than 50(!) grandmasters. ROWSON'S REVIEWS S.O.S.: THE KATALYMOV VARIATION
Surprise your opponent with an early queen sortie in the French. CHESS FOR THE LAZY
In times of trouble Hans Ree still finds consolation in chess and during a blitz match his face still turns red. MY LAST LINARES
'Although you will find few of my games in future editions of this magazine, for me chess is neither out of sight nor out of mind', writes our new columnist Garry Kasparov. JUST CHECKING
What was the best game Alexander Grischuk ever played? Did they play your opening?In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players: Sicilian Defence
Sebag-Vachier-Lagrave, by Vachier-Lagrave French Defence
Felgaer-Rustemov, by Dreev
Nakamura-Timman, by Timman Caro-Kann
Landa-Shaposhnikov, by Landa
Nataf-Chabanon, by Nataf Ruy Lopez
Polzin-Sokolov, by Polzin Scotch
Radjabov-Karjakin, by Radjabov King's Pawn
Nakamura-Sasikiran, by Sasikiran Queen's Gambit Declined
Lautier-Sharif, by Lautier
Sasikiran-Hansen, by Sasikiran Slav
Vallejo-Fontaine, by Vallejo
Aronian-Kobalia, by Aronian
Kacheishvili-Wang Hao, by Wang Hao
Werle-Tischbierek, by Werle
Vallejo-Sokolov, by Sokolov Queen's Gambit Accepted
Dreev-Karjakin, by Dreev Grünfeld Indian
Moiseenko-Svidler, by Svidler King's Indian
Nikolic-McShane, by McShane English Opening
Timman-Palo, by Timman
Kharlov-Yakovenko, by Yakovenko
Graf-Fish, by Fish Chigorin Defence
Rowson-Bülow, by Rowson
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