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

Grand Master Sergey Karjakin might be the highest ranked chess player in the ongoing Asian Chess Champions League but he is still a teenager accompanied by his proud mother Tatania to all the international chess tournaments he takes part in. Sergey made history and headlines when he became the youngest ever chess Grandmaster at the age of 12 years and seven months. With an elo rating of 2730, Sergey is the highest ranked chess player and shoulders the hopes of the hosts to win the title.

Chess is not simple, but it can seem uncomplicated compared with the issues swirling around the governance of the game. Recently, there have been problems relating to the staging of a Grand Prix series to select a challenger for the world chess championship and an incident at which a top chess player failed to take a drug test, violating rules of the World Chess Federation that some top chess players feel are unnecessary.

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

Sunday, Dec. 21, was the solstice and the first day of Hanukkah. It also marked the date of the much anticipated grudge match between Santa Claus and Rudolph.

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

Failure can be a great spur to improvement. This autumn David Howell, 18 and England’s best young chess talent, was in the gold-medal position at the start of the final round of the world junior (U20) chess championship, but played passively, got short of time, and was crushed

While many beginners may confuse them because they look similar at first glance, check, checkmate and stalemate are very different situations. It is important to be able to identify each and understand what they mean.

Learn how to checkmate with a king and a queen, one of the most basic endgame checkmates in chess.