The sharp endgame weapon zugzwang

10/18/2016 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun! Discuss

Russian Superfinal Rd1-2: An inspiring start

10/18/2016 – The Russian Championship Superfinal to determine the Russian Champion for both men and women is currently running in Novosibirsk, Russia, and as usual, is the strongest national championship there is, even with the absence of names such as Kramnik or Karjakin. Peter Svidler leads the men’s lineup with Grischuk, Tomashevsky and others, while Kosteniuk and Gunina top the women’s rankings. With exciting games from the start, this report includes detailed analysis by GM Jonathan Speelman. Discuss

Hoogeveen 2016: Sokolov strikes first

10/17/2016 – The Hoogeveen Festival has started, and brings a number of fun events to watch. The eye-catcher is of course the match between Hou Yfan and ‘old git’ Nigel Short played over six games, with a second match between Dutch talent Jorden van Foreest and Ivan Sokolov. There is also a strong open with a large contingent of Dutch and Indian players. The first match games were fascinating struggles, and Sokolov was the first to draw blood. Discuss

Improve your 1.e4 repertoire with Fritztrainers

10/17/2016 – The ChessBase Online Shop is constantly increasing the number of products in its repertoire. We have DVDs on practically every opening, with hours of video lessons provided by world class experts. Today we bring you a list of hot items – absolute essentials – guiding you through the opening after playing 1.e4 or reacting to that move. Each product has a short description and a video sample. Our October shopping guide contains a useful 1.e4 overview in PGN. Discuss

Live Q&A with Women's World Champion Hou Yifan!

10/17/2016 – Last week we did an interesting Q&A with Women's World Champion Hou Yifan, who was in Hamburg visiting the ChessBase HQ. It was an interactive session where visitors could ask questions in Playchess and on ChessBase’s Official Facebook and Twitter handles! The session lasted just over an hour, and Yifan came across as an intelligent and eminently likeable chess star. For those who missed it live we have a full YouTube video and excerpts from the Q&A. Discuss

Global Chess Festival with the Polgars (2/2)

10/16/2016 – The chess highlight of the Global Chess festival was the Highlander Cup which was an eight player knockout rapid event. The participants consisted of many of the top Hungarian players versus last year’s winner Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Boris Gelfand. There was the theme “There can only be one”, which was also reflected in the event’s single prize, US$15 thousand at stake so there was plenty of motivation among the players. Illustrated report with games. Discuss

Why bother to bone up on Steinitz? (2/2)

10/16/2016 – "I have always been hooked on the game’s history," writes IM Craig Pritchett, a leading Steinitz authority, in the British magazine CHESS. In part one he took our readers through the history of the game’s so-called ‘Romantic Age’. In this second part Craig expands on Steinitz’s more nuanced, strategically based chess understanding and primacy, and the ways in which his greatest games and writings substantively helped move chess forward towards a radically new and long-lasting, early ‘modernity’. Discuss

2016 Shanghai Mixed Pairs

10/15/2016 – On Oct 5, the "Blue Arrow Training Cup" 2016 Chinese Chess Master Mixed Pairs Tournament was held in the Shanghai Haiwan National Forest Park. Eight of China's chess stars, four female players and four male players, participated in the double round-robin competition, including former Women World Champion Xie Jun and Xu Yuhua, the first Asian WGM Liu Shilan, GM Ju Wenjun, GM Ye Jiangchuan, GM Xu Jun, GM Yu Shaoteng and GM Ni Hua. This fun event had teams of two alternating moves in a showdown of stars. Discuss

Hoogeveen starts tomorrow + Yifan in Hamburg

10/15/2016 – The first round of this prestigeous tournament begin on Sunday. It has a very stong Open, and two amateur groups. But of greatest interest are the Hoogeveen Matches that pit Women's World Champion Hou Yifan against former WCh Challenger Nigel Short, and young Dutch star Jorden van Foreest against Ivan Sokolov. Earlier this week, on her way to Holland, Yifan was in Hamburg and visited ChessBase. Big illustrated report by Frederic Friedel. Discuss

Researching Chess Prodigies: An interview with Dr. Kenneth Kiewra

10/14/2016 – In the chess world, Dr. Kenneth A. “Ken” Kiewra was initially known as the father of IM Keaton Kiewra. He raised Keaton in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Keaton dominated chess, winning the Nebraska State Championship nine times in a row. As Keaton’s rating soared, Ken became interested in whether his parenting experience with Keaton was unique. His research into chess prodigies and their parents led to chapters in two books and an article in a peer-reviewed journal. Alexey Root asks Ken about his experience nurturing chess talent. Discuss

Millionaire Chess 3: Swiercz beats Jones in dramatic finale

10/14/2016 – It had really seemed ‘written in the stars’ as Gawain Jones had managed to combine strong play with exceptional good fortune to reach the knockout phase unscathed. He then overcame Zhou Jiangchao to meet Polish player Darius Swiercz, but that is when everything went wrong, and in a dramatic final he lost. There was no shortage of big winners though, as every section saw players leaving off with big paychecks. Jeffery Xiong also became the youngest ever American player in the Top 100. Discuss

Outsmarted

10/14/2016 – Tactics can seem deceptively simple, particularly when seeing an engine analysing grandmaster games. Strange, however, how difficult it is to find the right move and to calculate variations properly when playing yourself. It is easier if you solve tactical puzzles regularly. In the ChessBase Magazine and his tactics column Oliver Reeh helps you to do so. Discuss

Global Chess Festival with the Polgars (1/2)

10/13/2016 – The Global Chess Festival organised by Judit Polgar can be described in many ways but the main feeling when you enter the glorious venue used, the Castle Garden Bazaar on the Danube in the center of Budapest is “fun”. There is an abundance of colour and music and noise that immediately attacks your senses. As a child you have a huge variety of activities to choose from, that is the idea: to show chess as an enjoyable activity that can be shared around the world as a common language. Enjoy this illustrated report. Discuss

World's smartest chess board is here!

10/13/2016 – How about sitting in the comfort of your living room and challenging a player anywhere in the world to play a game with you, on a "real chess set"? Sound's impossible right! With the world's smartest chess board, "Square Off", it no longer is! This article deals with the journey of how a revolutionizing chess technology was created. After years of hard work and innumerable prototypes, the final product is now ready. And you can be the proud owner of the Square Off chess set by supporting their campaign on Kickstarter. Discuss

Karpov-Timman 2016: Timman finally wins one!

10/12/2016 – It might seem like a needle to the great Dutch player, but consider that Timman and Karpov have a rivalry that now spans over 100 classical games, with their first match taking place 26 years ago. In this time, Jan Timman had never been able to best the 12th World Champion, Anatoly Karpov in a match, and it was not for lack of trying. At long last, he can finally cross off that item on his bucket list that had to seem was written in permanent ink: 'beat Tolya in a match.' Illustrated report. Discuss

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #23

10/12/2016 – This week's pair of games are by Michael Bacon from Lavonia, a small city in Georgia. He learned chess in his twenties, and made a living for many years from backgammon, also playing other games including poker, bridge and latterly Go on the Internet. Michael was champion of the city of Atlanta from 1974-6. The two games he sent, a victory against a strong opponent and then a heavy defeat against a less formidable opponent, are a fine encapsulation of the Agony and Ecstasy of chess in a microcosm. Discuss

#AskYifan: Q&A with Hou Yifan on ChessBase!

10/11/2016 – As a chess fan, what's your daily schedule like? If you are a student, you will probably attend classes and work on assignments, then follow chess games online, play a ton of blitz. But whatever you are doing right now, put it on hold! Hou Yifan, the Women’s World Champion, is in Hamburg, at the ChessBase HQ. And at 7 p.m. CEST on Wednesday she will be doing an interaction session with everybody, via Playchess and ChessBase’s Official Facebook and Twitter handles! Discuss

In the firing line

10/11/2016 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Today on the playchess server, 4 pm: Endgame Magic with Karsten Müller and Vidit Gujrathi! Discuss

Millionaire Chess 3: Jones, Swiercz, Cordova, and Zhou

10/10/2016 – The rounds five to seven were among the most intense, as they meant the cutoff for those who would get to see a big payday on Millionaire Monday, and those who would be left fighting the last two 'normal' rounds. After the dust settled in round seven, every section saw playoffs needed to choose the qualifiers. It wasn't just about the very top GMs in the Open section, as even players rated under 1200 will fight for thousands of dollars! Discuss