Like a bad soap opera?

Spassky's sister speaks.

Spassky in Moscow

Not sure whether to take this story at face value. No matter: be well, Boris.

Tkachiev interviews Anand

World Champion Viswanathan Anand

Photo: Irina Stepaniuk for WhyChess

Another great WhyChess interview!  (Hat tip to Chicago's strongest vegan, NM Gopal Menon, who was disappointed that Vishy isn't a true vegetarian.)

Magnus Carlsen interview

Evgeny Atarov interviewed Magnus for my favorite Russian site, chesspro.ru. You'll find an English translation of highlights on WhyChess. Interesting stuff!

London Chess Classic underway

Chicago Blaze manager Daniel Parmet is working the event, and Illinois Chess Association President Tom Sprandel is in London.  Maybe we can get some inside info....

The nine grandmasters (including the world's top four: Carlsen, Anand, Aronian, Kramnik) played a fun exhibition game against "the rest of the world" on Twitter.  The geniuses won easily, but they missed an amazing combination (checkmate or win of queen) in the position below:

Black to play and win quickly

Follow this link for the answer, the entertaining game, and the notes.

Follow Round 1 (right now!) at the official site, WhyChess, The Week in Chess, or your favorite paid provider. 

Carlsen wins Bilboa in blitz playoff

...and Hikaru Nakamura, bizarre round nine loss notwithstanding, takes third on tiebreaks.  A deserved win for Carlsen (who beat the red-hot Ivanchuk twice in regulation play) and a bittersweet step forward for Nakamura.

Coverage in the usual places....

ChessBase 

ChessVibes

WhyChess (all games available via drop-down box)

The Week in Chess

Carlsen-Nakamura live

WhyChess has nice coverage: the game started at 1 p.m. Chicago time.

Aronian on Truffaut and Coltrane

Bad boy Vladislav Tkachiev just published a very entertaining interview with Levon Aronian at WhyChess.