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.

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

A complete guide on how to play chess, including the basic rules of chess.   News widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com

Learn how to read and write algebraic chess notation.

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

One of the most important figures in Yugoslavian and Serbian chess Belgrade Chess Union is saddened to inform the chess public that International Master Nikola Karaklajic passed away on 16th December in Belgrade, at the age of 83. Nikola Karaklajic was born on 24th February 1926 in Belgrade. He learned how to play chess at the beginning of the elementary school, but only after the second World War he started entering in tournaments and quickly showed great talent.

The defending chess champion, the Dallas Destiny, won the 2008 United States Chess League, a 14-team Internet competition that ended this month. Dallas’s final match against the Boston Blitz was tied 2-2, but IM Davorin Kuljasevic won the title for Dallas, defeating former U.S.

The question of the week is what makes the difference between a good chess grandmaster and a world chess champion/world No. 1 player? It is extremely difficult to become a chess grandmaster

At first glance, hip-hop and chess may not seem like they go well together. But a local group is combining music, chess and martial arts to teach young people peace