At the Lausanne Young Masters top-seed Andrey Volokitin defeated second seed Hikaru Nakamura in a fascinating final.

Tomsk-400 win the European Club Cup.


Bareev wins the Russian Championship semi-finals.

A superior Dutch team claimed the European title in Gothenburg.

The third American Continental Championship ended in a fine victory for Cuba’s number one Lazaro Bruzon.

In Kuala Lumpur China’s big hope Wang Hao made his final grandmaster norm with the mind-boggling score of 10 out of 11.

Nineteen-year-old Alexander Areschenko, yet another strong GM from the seemingly endless reservoir of Ukrainian talents, won the national championship of his country.

In Vammala, Finland, Belarus-born Evgeny Agrest became the first player in the history of the Nordic championship to take the title three times in a row.

Content

DETERMINED VOLOKITIN DEFUSES H-BOMB
At the Lausanne Young Masters top-seed Andrey Volokitin (2679) defeated second seed Hikaru Nakamura (2660) in a fascinating final. The Ukrainian grandmaster took the lead with a brilliant bishop sacrifice and confidently stood his ground when the American champion tried to fight back with an H-bomb attack against the Sicilian.

BY THE SMALLEST OF MARGINS
The pundits were unanimous. There was only one team that could win the European Club Cup, and that was NAO Chess Club, the winners of the previous two editions. Not so this time, as Tomsk-400 threw a spanner in the works.

THAT'S THE WAY
At the Russian championship in Kazan the main concern of various ambitious youngsters was to qualify for the Super Final. How different was the attitude of 'veterans' Evgeny Bareev and Alexander Khalifman, who went all out to fight for the maximum result. Both won their last-round game to come out on top, with Bareev taking first prize on tie-break.

ORANGE REVOLUTION IN GOTHENBURG
In a city built by their fellow-countrymen back in the 17th century, a superior Dutch team claimed the European title. In Gothenburg, the orange squad faced all the strong teams, but that didn't stop them from going for gold. Among their finest wins was a morale-boosting victory over Olympiad champions Ukraine and a historic 3-1 rout of the Russians, who shocked friend and foe by finishing in 14th(!) place.

EMOTIONS RUN HIGH IN BUENOS AIRES
The third American Continental Championship ended in a fine victory for Cuba's number one Lazaro Bruzon. But that's not the only story Giovanni Vescovi has to tell.

KILLER INSTINCT
Genna Sosonko believes that in itself aggression is neither good nor bad – it is completely natural for <I>homo sapiens</I>. What's more, in chess he sees it as an indispensable attribute that no player can do without.

HOW WANG HAO WON
Wang Hao can no longer baffle the world as an 'untitled' player. At the Kuala Lumpur Open, China's big hope made his final grandmaster norm when he claimed first place with the mind-boggling score of 10 out of 11.

ACTIVE ATTACKER
Nineteen-year-old Alexander Areschenko, yet another strong GM from the seemingly endless reservoir of Ukrainian talents, won the national championship of his country.

AGREST AGAIN
In Vammala, Finland, Belarus-born Evgeny Agrest became the first player in the history of the Nordic championship to take the title three times in a row.

THE DIFFICULTY IS THE DIFFICULTY
Jonathan Rowson muses about essays by Julian Barnes and Martin Amis and thoroughly explains why he lost a game at the British championship where he successfully defended his title.

TWO LEGENDS OF ZUKERTORT
Hans Ree read a new biography of Johannes Zukertort by the Polish writers Cezary Domanski and Tomasz Lissowski.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Garry Kasparov keeps a close watch on the latest talents.

JUST CHECKING
Do you have any idea about Sergey Tiviakov's culinary preferences?

Did they play your opening?

In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players:

Sicilian
Kamsky-Granda Zuniga, by Vescovi
Bruzon-Milos, by Milos
Yakovenko-Krasenkow, by Krasenkow
Van den Doel-Guseinov, by Van den Doel
Shabalov-Needleman, by Needleman
Vescovi-Needleman, by Vescovi

French
Volokitin-Nakamura, by Volokitin
Areschenko-Efimenko, by Areschenko
Khalifman-Volkov, by Khalifman

Caro-Kann
Tiviakov-Dreev, by Tiviakov

Ruy Lopez
Motylev-Timman, by Timman
Motylev-Tkachiev, by Motylev
Yakovenko-Grischuk, by Yakovenko

Scotch
Shabalov-Granda Zuniga, by Granda Zuniga
Wang Hao-Torre, by Wang Hao

King's Pawn
Volokitin-Harikrishna, by Volokitin

Queen's Gambit Declined
Agrest-Sammalvuo, by Agrest

Slav
Volkov-Kobalia, by Volkov

Nimzo-Indian
Van Wely-Akopian, by Van Wely
Woodward-Rowson, by Rowson

Queen's Indian
Bareev-Bocharov, by Bareev
Shulman-Vescovi, by Vescovi

King's Indian
Sokolov-Socko, by Sokolov
Inarkiev-Schebler, by Inarkiev

English Opening
Rogers-Wang Hao, by Wang Hao
Timman-Kuzubov, by Timman