NIC’s Café Your Move Carlsen perseveres and prevails in Moscow In the last round of an epic Tal Memorial Magnus Carlsen ground down Hikaru Nakamura to edge out Levon Aronian by the tiniest of margins. The Norwegian magnanimously recapped: ‘Perhaps Aronian even played better than me’, only to claim almost in the same breath, and with a grin, that he felt he was still the rightful winner: ‘Rules are rules, of course!’ HD live video Over the past year viewers of major events in Russia have been treated to top-class live video coverage. Macauley Peterson stopped by Moscow for a ‘behind the scenes’ tour at the Tal Memorial. The power of pulling strings In chess circles outside Russia Arkady Dvorkovich is barely known, yet he is one of the most powerful persons of our game. Hou Yifan retains title In the Albanian capital of Tirana, the 17-year-old Chinese Women’s World Champion was never in any real danger against challenger Humpy Koneru. Short Stories ‘My general rule of thumb is that if a coach can add half a point to the score of his charge during a tournament, he is doing a par job’, writes Nigel Short. The Art of the Endgame To whet your appetite, we bring you an excerpt of Jan Timman’s new book The Art of the Endgame, a true labour of love. Germany upsets favourites Very few experts, if any, predicted the surprise winners of the European Team Championships in Porto Carras. ‘Let me entertain you!’ Jimmy Adams remembers Misha Tal in a tribute brimming with personal memories. S.O.S. The QGD solid? Push h4! Hertan’s Forcing Moves Crushing comeback At the Women’s GP in Nalchik, Zhao Xue demonstrated that she is still capable of the monster scores she used to be famous for. Paul and I Hans Ree read ‘the most revealing self-portrait of a chess player ever seen’. Bizarre and unique Jan Timman examines the mind-boggling battle between Kramnik and Carlsen at the Tal Memorial. Just Checking Which three people would Georg Meier invite for dinner? Did They Play Your Opening? French Movsesian-Meier, by Meier Ruy Lopez Ivanchuk-Aronian, by Aronian Slav Carlsen-Gelfand, by Carlsen Mamedyarov-Brunello, by Mamedyarov Nimzo-Indian Koneru-Hou Yifan, by Hou Yifan Grünfeld-Indian Leko-Topalov, by Leko Nakamura-Svidler, by Svidler English Opening Kramnik-Carlsen, by Timman Kramnik-Nepomniachtchi, by Nepomniachtchi Réti Radjabov-Naiditsch, by Naiditsch