And here we go! US Championship and World Championship Match start this week, and all the chess fans are impatiently longing to witness these much awaited events. ICC Chess.FM will have live broadcast for both events, with its international "dream team" of GMs commenting live on the games: Joel Benjamin, Ronen Har-Zvi, Alex Yermolinsky, Jonathan Speelman, David Smerdon, Larry Christiansen, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Miguel Illescas, Gawain Jones, Ben Finegold and Varuzhan Akobian. We will have the traditional Trivia during the broadcast, where ICC members can win extension to their membership and, for the World Championship Match, the Game Of the Day Trivia, where every day a lucky ICC member can win a one-year subscription to the best chess magazine out there: New in Chess!

The US Championship this year presents a line-up that makes it the strongest championship ever. Again in the wonderful Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, Hikaru Nakamura, # 7 in the live unofficial rating list, is back playing the Championship, seeking his third title - for the joy of his numerous fans - as the 2011 Champion Gata Kamsky will try to retain the title. The two favorites will have to face, in the 11-round round robin tournament, a plethora of strong GrandMasters though, and the final result is not easily predictable. Alexander Onischuk, ICC Chess.FM host Yasser Seirawan,  Robert Hess, ICC Chess.FM commentator Varuzhan Akobian, Alexander Stripunsky, Ray Robson, Alejandro Ramirez, Yury Shulman, Aleksandr Lenderman and ICC Chess.FM commentator Gregory Kaidanov complete the line-up. For those who can't follow the games online, Chess.FM will provide the Game Of the Day service, with GM Alex Yermolinsky analyzing the best game of the round. ICC will also relay the games from the US Women Championship.

Only three days after the US Championship starts, Anand and Gelfand will cross their wooden swords over the board, to decide who will be the 2012 FIDE Chess Champion! The match is played over 12 games, with playoffs if needed. The two aces will play two games and then rest for a day. Chess.FM will be on the air to comment every game of this fascinating match. As a savory hors d'oeuvre, GM Ronen Har-Zvi has started an interesting series of his acclaimed Chess.FM weekly show "Opening Survey": Openings from the World Championship Matches. In the videos GM Ronen investigates the openings played by the two contenders for the World Championship 2012: from Anand's opening in his previous Championship matches against Kramnik and Topalov, to Gelfand's openings in the candidates match that led the Israeli super-GM on to the great challenge. Ronen will be with us all the way through the big match, with updates and analysis on the openings and novelties played by World Champion GM Anand and challenger GM Gelfand. And to celebrate the World Championship, ICC has decided to make the first video of this amazing series free for everyone to watch!

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We are going to follow and enjoy the World Championship Match in May, with ICC Chess.FM LIVE commentary, and in a new series GM Ronen offers us a Special Opening Survey Series: he will be investigating openings played by the two contenders for the World Championship 2012: from Anand's opening in his previous Championship matches against Kramnik and Topalov, to Gelfand's openings in the candidates match that led the Israeli super-GM on to the great challenge. Ronen will be with us all the way through the big match, with updates and analysis on the openings and novelties played by World Champion GM Anand and challenger GM Gelfand.

2012 is the year of the great ICC giveaway, with FREE ICC apps for download! Everyone will be looking to play at the best online chess club with new holiday gifts of iPhones, iPads and Android phones. And here at ICC, such was the large response to our original free holiday offer we're extending it by making ALL of our mobile apps free for the time being.

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