Wijk aan Zee Anish Giri Vasik Rajlich Diary of a Chess Queen Le Quang Liem Gibraltar Hans Ree Game of the Year? Jan Timman: Najdorf 6.Bg5 in Wijk aan Zee Just Checking

Content NIC’s Café Carlsen First in Corus Photo-Finish Invigorated by a training camp with Garry Kasparov in Morocco and entering the fray as the new world’s number one, Magnus Carlsen was fully determined to go after his first all-out Corus victory and his second Grand Slam title in the new cycle. In one of the most dramatic and exciting races in the 72-year history of the Wijk aan Zee festival, the top-seed indeed finished first, but although no one begrudged him his win it was fair to say that he needed some help from his colleagues. At the traditional pea-soup dinner, the Norwegian did not hide his happiness and gladly expressed his gratitude to everyone that deserved it. Another Great Leap Forward In hindsight his original ambition was laughably modest. Seeded 12th (from 14), Anish Giri had hoped that he wouldn’t lose too many games and avoid last place in the category 16 Corus B-Group. Following an explosive start he understood that he might strive for considerably more. In a fairy-tale scenario Giri continued to dominate the field and claimed the finest victory in his prodigious career. In a highly personal account the 15-year-old Dutch champion tells his ‘own story’ of one of the most sensational wins in recent chess history. Man vs. Machine In the decade between 1996 and 2006, man and machine waged a war of chess supremacy in a series of six well-publicized matches. Vasik Rajlich, the human brains behind today’s strongest and most popular chess engine Rybka, recounts the history of this defining decade and tell us where ‘we’ stand now. Diary of a Chess Queen Jennifer Shahade, woman grandmaster and author of 'Chess Bitch, Women in the Intellectual Sport', shares her views on Alexandra Kosteniuk’s new autobiography. A Name to Remember The ninth Aeroflot Open ended in a sensational win for 18-year-old Le Quang Liem, a name that still sounds exotic but may soon be a household name in top chess. With his back-to-back wins in the biggest Moscow opens, the Vietnamese GM took his rating close to the coveted 2700 mark. Franny and Zooey and Mickey Ask Stuart Conquest to write a report on the Gibtelecom Festival and you shouldn’t be surprised to be taken back to 1872, that fateful year when the Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic without a trace of the passengers and crew, and Lewis Carroll’s 'Through the Looking Glass' was published with the White Kings missing in the first diagram. He also pays tribute to J.D. Salinger and tells you how Adams and Zhukova won. Friendly Communist Claims Moscow Open The surprise winner of the Moscow Open was Konstantin Chernyshov, a 42-year-old GM who writes a chess column in the newspaper Pravda and holds one of the top posts on the Voronezh Oblast party committee. From Berlinchen to Alaska Hans Ree read 'Emanuel Lasker, Denker, Weltenbürger, ­Schachweltmeister', a heavy tome of 1079 pages that weighs 3.5 kilogrammes. The Game of the Year? It’s a bit early in the year, but Gashimov-Grischuk is bound to be an undeniable candidate. Dynamic Nostalgia 'New In Chess: The First 25 Years' took Jonathan Rowson down memory lane. Najdorf in Wijk aan Zee Jan Timman looks at the renewed popularity of 6.Bg5 against the Najdorf. Just Checking What does Michael Adams see as his best result ever? Did they play your opening? In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players: Sicilian Muzychuk-Giri, by Giri Ivanchuk-Van Wely, by Ivanchuk Gashimov-Grischuk, by Grischuk Adams-Halkias, by Adams French Karjakin-Carlsen, by Carlsen Alekhine Adams-Zhukova, by Zhukova Petroff Nisipeanu-Giri, by Giri So-Giri, by Giri Anand-Kramnik, by Anand Ruy Lopez Carlsen-Caruana, by Caruana Slav Lemos-Vernay, by Conquest Nybäck-Giri, by Giri Quang-by, by  Le Quang Liem Giri-Harikrishna, by Giri Catalan Carlsen-Kramnik, by Kramnik Grünfeld Indian Giri-Howell, by Giri Giri-Sutovsky, by Giri Quang-by, by  Le Quang Liem English Opening Chernyshov-Najer, by Chernyshov