Veselin Topalov won the Fide world title in 2005, lost the bitter 2006 Toiletgate match to Russia’s Vlad Kramnik, was accused of computer advice via his coach’s hand signals, then dropped down the chess ratings. Now the Bulgarian’s chequered career has taken another strong upswing. His superb tournament form in the second half of 2008 this week raised him back to No1 in the rankings, ahead of the world chess champion, Vishy Anand.

Strategically, chess may not be the most complicated game, but it can be daunting to learn. Part of the reason is the vast literature about how to play chess - particularly about the opening phase, the first 15 moves or so

Chess is not simple, but it can seem uncomplicated compared with the issues swirling around the governance of the game.

In chess, consistency is hard to achieve. It is possible to play a series of great moves, and maybe a few great games, but doing it day to day, month after month, is supremely difficult. A chess player may become ill, face a better-prepared opponent, or suffer a lapse in concentration during a game leading to a fatal mistake

Chess requires exceptional reasoning ability, but problems besetting the game seem to defy logic. In the last few weeks, disputes within the World Chess Federation have led two top players to withdraw from the world chess championship selection process, while another player faces a two-year ban for failing to take a drug test - although he almost certainly did not take any since there are few if any drugs that can enhance a chess player’s performance. The episodes illustrate the struggles and foibles of a game that at times achieves immense popularity around the world and at other times - sometimes for reasons of its own making - falls by the wayside

Paul Morphy is widely considered the greatest chess player of his era, and is often referred to as an unofficial World Champion.

The World Chess Federation (FIDE) plans to begin the third tournament of its Grand Prix series today in Elista, Russia. The first two Grand Prix tournaments were unqualified successes, featuring exciting chess battles between many of the world’s top 20 grandmasters.

The 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden set new standards for attendance (146 teams) and excitement. The shorter schedule (11 rounds instead of 14) and the glut of powerful chess teams helped to continually shuffle the leaderboard

Armenia has won the gold medal of the Chess Olympiad by defeating China 2.5-1.5 in the 11th and final round. Armenia’s only win came on board four where Tigran L

The mighty were brought low as the first-place chess teams in both the open and women’s divisions fell in round nine on Saturday. In the open division of the Chess Olympiad, Israel played the role of David, knocking off Armenia 2.5-1.5. On the women’s side, Serbia edged China 2.5-1.5