On Monday, September 29 Greg Chamitoff, travelling 210 miles above the earth at five miles a second, will challenge team earth to a ground-breaking Space Match. It is a unique event, pitting the International Space Station astronaut against the residents of Earth, guided by a team of schoolchildren. Rate of play is one move per day. Press release.

As a child John Healy discovered that drink offered a release from his violent and unpredictable father. For fifteen years he dossed, drank and fought in the grass arena – the parks and open spaces of London. And spent time in prison. On one occasion he learnt chess – and became hooked. After a decade out of print Healy's gripping tale is now published as a Penguin Classic.

The Harlem Children's Zone is staging a Chess Festival on Sunday, September 28th. It features free chess lessons, a free drawing for 300 chess sets and T-shirts, problem-solving contests and free refreshments. As part of the celebration, Kasparov will play 20 games simultaneously against student players from Harlem. Press release.

The 22-year-old Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, rated 2622, is the second strongest female player in the history of chess. In this year's Women's World Championship she cruised through to the semi-finals and was then eliminated by 14-year-old Chinese wonder girl Hou Yifan. What went wrong? Manisha Mohite analyses the situation around Humpy and offers explanations. Sify report.

Ningpo or Ningbō is a provincial Chinese city – populated by over two million and covering an area of over 6000 square kilometres. It is playing host to a traditional China vs Russia match, which this year is going in favour of the Eastern players. After the five rounds of regular chess (rapid and blitz are to follow) the score is 26:24 points – thanks to the Russian girls. Pictorial report.

In 1939 neither the legendary Paul Keres, 23, nor the future World Champion Vassily Smyslov, 18, were obviously at their prime, but they were already very strong and great battlers. In our Wednesday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos takes a look at an encounter which starts with a low-tech opening but develops into a firework of attacking brilliance. Wed. night, free of charge.

The chess program Rybka has played a number of handicap matches against titled players, but never before one against a 2700+ player. Last week it got an opportunity against Vadim Milov, playing two regular games, two with pawn and move handicap and four with exchange odds. It was a well-matched battle, instructive for both the programmers and the Super-GM. Larry Kaufman reports.

It is 21 days to go for the start of the long awaited World Championship match. While tension is rising you should not miss getting to know the champion and his challenger in person. While Kramnik recorded his famous DVD 'My Path to the Top' at the end of 2007, Anand just recently made two DVDs, also in the Fritz Trainer format. Buy Vishys 'My Career vol 1 and 2' now or read this review.

One of the quirks of living on the surface of a tilted sphere is opposite seasons. When it is cold, dark and damp in the Northern Hemisphere, the southern half is enjoying balmy weather, with the denizens engaging in activities such as mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, skydiving and river safaris in jet boats. You can join them and play chess as well. The Queenstown Open is in January.

The Serbian Chess League took place in Subotica, from September 1 to 12, 2008. Fifty-one participating grandmasters make it one of the world’s strongest leagues. The well deserved victory went to NSK DDOR from Novi Sad. Second was Beograd Beopublikum, which chould not catch Novi Sad in spite of a 6/10 result and 2704 performance by Arkadij Naiditsch. Report and games.

We turn, as we have done in the past, from the digicam journalists who swarm around chess events to the professionals who take their work very seriously, composing, framing, cropping, colour correcting their high-quality pictures, and producing aesthetic pleasing visual feasts. Our friend and teach Fred Lucas was at the Chess Masters in Bilbao has provided us with his take on the event. Enjoy.

Just 23 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes and 06 seconds left (at the time of writing) for the start of the World Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn, Germany. For those of you who can barely wait there is a chess quiz on the official site; an opportunity to buy premium tickets for the live online coverage; and a chess film on DVD with spectacular chess visuals.

The Europen Championship in Liverpool, England, with 141 players and a prize fund is 30,000 pounds, was won by the young Dutch grandmaster Jan Werle, half a point ahead of a trio consisting of Czech GM Viktor Laznicka and the top Brits Michael Adams and Nigel Short (who lost one game by ringtone). The reporting on the tournament site was exceptional. Big pictorial wrapup.

If you're a 1.e4 e5 player you will want to tune in to our Wednesday night Playchess lecture. Dennis Monokroussos takes a special look at one of the first great American players, Frank Marshall, whose fame continues until today on account of his Ruy Lopez gambit. The game is from the World Championship match against Emanual Lasker in 1907. Very instructive.

The Russian GM drew the fourth game against 14-year-old Chinese wondergirl Hou Yifan to win the final of the Women's World Championship with a 2.5:1.5 score. In the final game Alexandra Kosteniuk was winning but played it safe and drew with a perpetual. Express report.

The third game of the Women's World Championship Final was a tough, 72-move draw. That left Russian GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in the lead with 2:1 points. On Wednesday the 14-year-old Chinese has to win with black in the last game to force a tiebreak. Kosteniuk can pick up the title with a draw. The game starts at 15:00h local time (GMT +3). You can watch it on the Playchess server.