In a recent interview over at ChessBase, former World Champion Garry Kasparov ruled out the possibility of a serious comeback to chess, saying that his life is now on a different path. However, he does feel connected to the world of chess through Magnus Carlsen, and mentioned feeling the same sense of nervousness and tension again when following the games of his young protege.

Kasparov also covered a wide range of other topics, including his past in chess, his role in Russian politics, and his feelings on Chess960. He had an interesting idea when it comes to Fischer Random Chess: pick a position every year that will be played for that year's "season," allow some theory to build up to give some structure to the games but less than we see in standard chess, and then switch to a new position the next year. It would certainly spice things up, though it would take a lot more discussion before becoming a viable idea.

Speaking of comebacks, I had recently discussed with a friend how well Kasparov would do in a comeback. Actually, it would be impossible for us to know how strong a player he is now; we wondered how his chances would be perceived by the viewing public. In the final part of the interview, Kasparov addresses this somewhat, saying that if he had a few months to prepare seriously, he'd be able to compete with anyone in rapid chess, though he's less certain of where he would stand in classical games.

Where do you think Kasparov would find himself if he were to make a hypothetical comeback to the world of competitive chess?

It wasn't pretty, but Magnus Carlsen added another notch to his belt by hanging on to win the Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Carlsen found himself in a difficult (perhaps even losing) position against Fabiano Caruana in the final round, but Caruana couldn't find a way to win, allowing Carlsen to draw. Combined with draws by Vladimir Kramnik and Alexei Shirov, Carlsen's 8.5/13 score left him a half-point ahead of his nearest competitors.

The only decisive game in the final round came from Hikaru Nakamura, who scored a victory over Sergey Tiviakov to claim a share of 4th place. Along with Viswanathan Anand, Nakamura finished a point behind Carlsen.

In the lower groups, there was less drama in the final round. Anish Giri drew to take first place in Group B with a 9/13 score, a half-point ahead of German grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch. This victory earns Giri a spot in next year's A Group. In Group C, Li Chao finished 1.5 points ahead of the field with an impressive 10/13 score, coasting to first place. American Ray Robson, who led earlier in the event, finished in a tie for 5th. Robson did well against the bottom half of the field, but had no success at all against the leaders, losing all four of his games against the top four players in the group.

Overall, Corus was a successful tournament for the winner Carlsen, despite a few rocky points and a bit of luck in the final round. Some might have expected an even bigger score, but the world's #1-rated player still outperformed his rating, and it's hard to fault a 2800 player who does that. The other big winner in Wijk aan Zee may have been Hikaru Nakamura, who showed that he can compete at the elite level with a solid +2 score. That might be enough to start securing Nakamura more invitations to top-level events -- something American fans would be very thankful for.

After a slow start, Vladimir Kramnik has crawled back to join Alexei Shirov in first place at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee with a 6.5/9 score. Kramnik culminated his comeback by repaying Carlsen -- who beat Kramnik with the black pieces in London last month -- with a thrilling win from the black side in round nine. Carlsen had joked on Facebook that he would "crush Kramnik like a bug,", which in most other sports would be considered "bulletin board material." Somehow, I doubt Kramnik gained extra motivation from a status update, but it did add a little buzz to the game.

Carlsen's loss leaves him in a tie for third with Sergey Karjakin, who defeated Hikaru Nakamura to move up to 5.5/9. Nakamura has now lost two consecutive games, but still shares fifth place, a half-point behind Carlsen and Karjakin.

In the other groups, the battle for the top is also tight. Anish Giri retook the lead in Group B by defeating Pentala Harikrishna earlier today. Giri stands a half-point ahead of Erwin L'Ami and Ni Hua. Group C also saw a changing of the guard, as Li Chao defeating Ray Robson to overtake the young American by a half-point. Robson now shares second place with Daniele Vocaturo and Robin Swinkles.

Round ten begins Wednesday morning, with Sergey Karjakin facing Magnus Carlsen in a potentially must-win game for both players if they want to stay in the race for first place, while Viswanathan Anand takes on Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik faces Vassily Ivanchuk.

The 2010 US Chess Championship will debut a new format, but continue to use most of the structure from last year's event, as well as keeping the same venue: the beautiful Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The tournament is still a 24-player Swiss system event. The biggest change will be seen at the tail end of the tournament, where a unique idea will be tried for (I believe) the first time.

The idea is similar to one I recall hearing Greg Shahade propose last year -- not surprising, since he is the rules adviser to the event -- in which the first seven rounds would be played as normal, but the restriction on playing the same person twice would be eliminated for the final two rounds, allowing for dramatic clashes between the leaders even if they previously met in the tournament. This year's US Championship will use a refined version of this idea; after the first seven rounds of a normal Swiss tournament, the top four players will carry their scores over into a round-robin quad, with the player with the highest combined score at the end of the quad taking the title. Players who do not make the "final four" will also play two additional rounds to round out a 9-round event for them.

I like the idea, if only because it guarantees important chess games being played on the final days of the event without making the first seven rounds of the tournament meaningless. A player that enters the final with a full-point lead over the field will have a significant advantage, but not an insurmountable one. Even the fourth place player will have a chance to beat his competitors head-to-head to make up ground if they can get hot at the right time.

Full details can be found on the USCF website. Other changes include a larger prize pool, which has risen to over $170,000 in 2010, including $35,000 for first place.