Baku 1.1: Upsets here and there

9/11/2015 – Things went mostly as predicted in Baku, as the majority of the top seeds cruised through their games while the middle seeds had many draws as they played players of similar calibre. Some of the major upsets were certainly by two Argentinians: Perez Ponsa beating Dominguez and Sandro Mareco over Ni Hua. Several top GMs were also held to a draw, including Giri, Gelfand, Grischuk and Adams. Discuss

Attacking quartett

9/11/2015 – 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

World Cup starts today

9/11/2015 – The 2015 World Cup is upon us. Being hosted in the North Flame Tower (Fairmont Hotel) in Baku, the massive 128 player Knock Out event brings some of the best in the world, as well as qualifiers from every region of the globe. The top seeds will have relatively easy games, but the middle matches will be extremely close. We bring you the regulations, pairings, and some opening impressions. Discuss

Warakomski wins 2015 Rubinstein Memorial

9/10/2015 – The 51st edition of Akiba Rubinstein International Chess Festival will go down in history as an incredibly emotional event in which players struggled for the trophy till the very end. In the main section a slightly lucky but deserving IM Tomasz Warakomski triumphed after a poor start, after which he spread his wings and took gold. Illustrated report. Discuss

Final Impressions from the Abu Dhabi Masters

9/9/2015 – Do you know who the strongest siblings in the world are? Who is the ten-year-old kid who has already reached 2300? Which GM has beaten an ex-world champion in a match, has played over 600 people in a simul and is soon to finish a PhD? (Hint: he is not from a western nation, India or China). All this and more in form of pictures and stories in our final report from the capital city of the UAE. Discuss

Simon Williams: Most Amazing Moves

9/9/2015 – Recently IM Nisha Mohota was suffering a crisis, after returning unsuccessful from her Asian Women Chess Championship. "I was not getting the inspiration to work on the game," she writes. Then she chanced upon this ChessBase DVD by Simon Williams. "After I went through it I fell in love with chess all over again!" Nisha submits one of her own games for Vol. 2 of Most Amazing Moves. Discuss

Knight on the rim is not always dim

9/9/2015 – 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

Huffington on Aronian's Chess Comeback

9/8/2015 – Levon Aronian won the third Sinquefield Cup, the second leg of the recently established Grand Chess Tour. The top Armenian grandmaster finished a full point ahead of a group led by the world champion Magnus Carlsen and the U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura. Huffington Post columnist Lubomir Kavalek provides an evaluation and analysis of Aronian's and Nakamura's games. Discuss

Al Ain Classic in December 2015

9/8/2015 – If you wish to end the year playing in a very strong tournament, with many grandmasters, IMs – or simply chess lovers, then from 22nd to 30th December, Al Ain is the place to be. The 3rd edition of the Chess Classic promises to be bigger and better and just like the previous two editions. Al Ain, known as the ‘Garden City’ for its oases, parks and trees, invites you to enjoy its famous hospitality. Discuss

Ilyumzhinov for President – of FIFA?

9/8/2015 – He is the reigning president of FIDE, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs. Now the president of the Russian Chess Federation, Andrey Filatov, wants Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to run for the office of FIFA – the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. From world chess to world soccer. He is, as Filatov says, "an experienced sports manager with expertise in football." Press release. Discuss

Sinquefield Cup Recap

9/7/2015 – The 2015 Sinquefield Cup will probably be the strongest tournament of the year, and it was an exciting venture. In a very close race until the last couple of rounds, Levon Aronian took the title and impressed even his most die-hard fans as he recuperated from a tough year. We bring you the recap of what happened at the tournament, some interesting facts and Grand Chess Tour standings. Discuss

Chesthetica Composes Longer Mates!

9/7/2015 – This program, written by Prof. Azlan Iqbal, is an ever-improving attempt to create an artificial intelligence that composes chess constructs, a type of chess problem, from scratch, using a new AI technology and a model of human aesthetic perception. As expected, there has been some criticism that the results are not up to the standard of top problem composition. Is this justified? Discuss

ChessBase: larger text and bigger board

9/6/2015 – Whether you are using Fritz or ChessBase on a small laptop, or a large desktop screen, some parts such as the notation or computer analysis can have even healthy eyes squinting a bit to read the information. Also, perhaps you'd like a larger board to play through the moves. In the following guide, you will learn how to configure it for the most pleasant experience possible. Discuss

Ultimate Moves ends with jokes and jibes

9/6/2015 – With the final round over and the trophies and checks handed out, one would understandably presume that was the end of the Sinquefield Cup, but not quite yet. There was one last encore for the players and spectators, and not some simul or other, it was the Ultimate Moves. This very fun event brought teams with the stars in blitz games, rotating the players every few moves! Discuss

Prize winners at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2015

9/5/2015 – In our previous report we brought to you annotations and an interview with the winner of the Abu Dhabi Masters 2015, Nils Grandelius. But four other players had the same number of points and took places second to fifth on tiebreaks. Martyn Kravtsiv was the runner-up, with Baadur Jobava, Alexander Areshchenko and Richard Rapport following behind. Pictures and games annotations. Discuss

Chess in the land of dried apricots (2/2)

9/5/2015 – In spite of the many interesting things to see and enjoy, the Golden Apricot tournament was still about chess, and the event saw a number of surprises, notably two players rated just over 2000, both young and old, who finished with wins over master and grandmaster in a moment of inspiration. Here is second part of Alina L'Ami's report, chock full of portraits, profiles and moments. Discuss

Check the ideas

9/4/2015 – 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

Chess in the land of dried apricots (1/2)

9/4/2015 – The title could hardly be more fitting, as the 3rd International Golden Apricot tournament took place in Malatya, Turkey, a region that literally produces nearly 70% of the world's dried apricots. Although this is its obvious claim to fame, it is also the home of the UNESCO World heritage site, the mausoleum of Antiochus I (69–34 B.C.). We bring you a large illustrated report. Discuss

Grandelius wins Abu Dhabi Masters 2015

9/3/2015 – While the Sinquefield Cup was taking place in the United States, a strong open event with many 2600+ players was happening in the Middle East. After nine rounds of grueling chess five players tied for the top spot. Nils Grandelius of Sweden had the best tie-break and went on to win the title – the biggest result in his career. We have an interview as well as annotations from the winner. Discuss