11/2/2018 – ChessBase Magazine 186: 535 Games, annotations by Ian Nepomniachtchi, Mikhail Golubev, Peter Heine-Nielsen, Michal Krasenkow, Mihail Marin, and a major contribution by Suat Atalik. 10 Opening surveys from the Spanish to the English Opening. Two under the microscope in review by Prof. NAGESH HAVANUR | Pictured: Kasparov, Karpov and Timman in 1987 | Photo: Bart Molendijk / Anefo [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

10/20/2018 – A full century after the Doomsday Worm had erased all the world’s electronic records, British scientists discovered, excarvations in the suburbs of Hamburg, Germany, evidence of the existence of a game that was popular in the 20th century, and of the existence of a legendary champion of the game. We have a transcript of a lecture held in Oxford in 2147 by Prof. Eduard Sommer, which we quote in this spoof article by John Nunn. It also contains two remarkable puzzles.

9/18/2018 – Reflecting on the Champions Showdown in St. Louis, Macauley Peterson pulls a few highlight videos from the commentary webcast and breaks down what appeals to fans of the Chess960 variant, for a look at how the next event like this from the Saint Louis Chess Club could be improved. Chess960 may have its problems gaining traction, but as Peter Svidler notes, there's plenty of space on the chess schedule to try new ideas. | ChessBase via Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube

9/15/2018 – There was almost no intrigue regarding the final results, but the 2018 Champions Showdown was filled with curious highlights and enterprising chess. The main attraction was Garry Kasparov's presence — the 13th World Champion lost his match against Topalov, but finished on a high thanks to a pair of wins in the last rounds. In the other matchups, Nakamura, So, Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian emerged victorious. In terms of entertainment value, the Saint Louis Chess Club hit the mark! | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

9/13/2018 – After two days of Chess960 in St. Louis, Wesley So established the largest lead in his match against Anish Giri. Perhaps that why So says he prefers the variant over "normal chess". Or is it the other way around — preference breeds success? Garry Kasparov, on the other hand, is well behind in his match against Veselin Topalov. Elsewhere the rating favourites all lead, with the exception of Hikaru Nakamura vs Peter Svidler, which is tied at 6 points apiece. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club/ Lennart Ootes, Austin Fuller

8/27/2018 – The Sinquefield Cup 2018 is not over yet but that does not stop the Saint Louis Chess Club from announcing its next big event: in about two weeks, from September 11-14, ten top players will battle it out in Chess960. Garry Kasparov is one of them! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/11/2018 – ChessBase co-founder Frederic Friedel was cajoled into a conversation on Ben Johnson's Perpetual Chess podcast by summer guest-host Macauley Peterson. Here we bringing you some photos and other visual aids, video highlights and transcription of some of the stories and quotes for posterity. In this first part, Frederic talks about his introduction to chess players, meeting Nigel Short and Garry Kasparov, how he came to know his co-founder, ChessBase CEO Matthias Wullenweber, and got the project off the ground, with Kasparov's help.

6/22/2018 – If Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik could learn from the great Patriarch of chess Mikhail Botvinnik, we are sure you can also learn a great deal from this great master. Hence, ChessBase has launched its tenth DVD in the Master Class series in which capable tutors like GMsYannick Pelletier, Mihail Marin, Karsten Mueller and IM Oliver Reeh dissect the play of the fifth World Champion. In this article IM SAGAR SHAH explains how studying the classics helped him to become a stronger chess player. He shows you one of his favourite games of Botvinnik and how he applied what he learnt in his own game at the under-19 nationals back in 2007!

6/12/2018 – Tactics are fun and solving tactics puzzles improves your chess. The search mask of ChessBase and Fritz allows you to quickly find games with sacrifices. And that's only one of the many options for this tool! | Drawing: ChessBase

6/8/2018 – The recent article by Qiyu Zhou on pattern recognition was very well received — by our readers and in academic circles. At the end of the article, Frederic Friedel asked readers if anyone could locate footage from a science documentary he had produced 38 years ago, in which similar experiments were conducted. Unfortunately nobody apparently could, and so this promised follow-up article will have to make do with vivid descriptions and black and white photos. | Pictured: A teenage Nigel Short, a subject of Friedel's chess experiments

5/8/2018 – Alexander Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers of the USA and the first Secretary of the Treasury. To honour his memory the Manhattan Institute gives the Alexander Hamilton Award to public figures that are seen to incorporate the spirit of this legendary figure. 2018, Stanley Druckenmiller, Co-Founder of the Kasparov Chess Foundation, received the prestigious award. The Kasparov Chess Foundation congratulates. | (Photo: Kasparov Chess Foundation

4/13/2018 – The 13th of April is "Kasparov-day". Today, 55 years ago, arguably the best player in chess history was born and since then has shaped the history of chess like no other player — not only on the board! Andre Schulz briefly traces Kasparov's history from his first international moves, through the peak of his career in 1999, his life in politics (both in and out of the chess world) and on to his recent advocacy work. | Photo: Kasparov.com

3/30/2018 – Fabiano Caruana’s victory at the Candidates not only promises an exciting match, but will also be the first title match by a player born in the USA in 46 years, since Bobby Fischer’s famous bout against Boris Spassky in 1972. However, theirs were hardly the only ones by US players. The very first was by Frank Marshall in 1907 against none other than Emanuel Lasker. Here is a look at that chess legend and his title match with annotations by Garry Kasparov! | Photo: Chicago History Museum

3/8/2018 – Gisbert Jacoby was a chess aficionado and multiple Hamburg champion. As a national coach of the Hamburg Chess Federation, he later promoted many Hamburg talents. From 1988 to 1999, Jacoby was a Managing Director of ChessBase and set the course for the development of the young company. He was friendly with chess luminaries such as Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar. Last Thursday he died in Hamburg.

2/28/2018 – Two weeks ago there was a World Championship — in Chess960, a variant that symmetrically shuffles the position of the pieces behind the row of pawns. The game has gained some popularity since it eliminates the staggering amount of preparation that is required in regular chess. But Chess960 has a few problems that probably prevent it from really taking off. We discuss some possible solutions to these problems.

1/24/2018 – Kasparov has been making the media rounds as he does, but lately he's been fielding questions on chess rather than the subjects that are more often in his sights: Russia, politics, and AI. He's recently been featured in a serious conversation with conservative commentator Bill Kristol, a not-so-serious Q&A session with Twitter users published by Wired Magazine, and a wonderful mini-history lesson for The New Yorker magazine. | Photo: WIRED YouTube

1/12/2018 – Today, Friday, January 12, is the official start of the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Tomorrow, Saturday, January 13th at 13:30 CET, the first round begins. The tournament in Wijk aan Zee is the first elite tournament of the year and always a great celebration of chess. It is also a tournament with a long tradition – this year it celebrates its 80th birthday. The tournament has written chess history and continues to do so today, which makes it tempting to look at some numbers. | Photo: TataSteelChess.com

1/11/2018 – In the fourth and final part of the "Exercises in Style" readers were asked to identify games by Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, and Magnus Carlsen. Not an easy task because three of these World Champions are still active and develop stylistically - only Kasparov withdrew from tournament chess. But though modern chess is becoming more and more universal each of these four World Champions has a unique style.

1/4/2018 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) program to train young American talents, is expanding to include top prospects from around the world. Here's the info on how you can join. | Pictured: 2016 Under-10 World Champion Rochelle Wu | Photos: Derrick Bryant, kasparovchessfoundation.org

12/24/2017 – He has written many books, but this may be his most important. In Deep Thinking Garry Kasparov describes a journey he embarked on, in 1985, that led him to a monumental confrontation with machine intelligence. At the same time computers enhanced his and all chess players' abilities to study the game. He also narrates the beginnings, which included a humiliating defeat at the hands of a German toddler in a computer game — quite an enchanting Christmas tale.

12/15/2017 – Computers help to prepare for games, they help to study openings, and they help to analyse complicated tactical positions. But if you want to understand chess it is better to turn to a strong grandmaster with honest and direct answers...you can find some in the ChessBase Mega Database.

12/14/2017 – Geurt Gijssen is one of the most renowned chess arbiters and during his active time witnessed many dramatic and historical moments of chess history. In an interview Vlastimil Hort asked the veteran arbiter about his career, his passion for chess, and his take on incidents and scandals in recent chess history. | Photo: Gerhard Hund

12/13/2017 – Garry Kasparov's match against the IBM computer Deep Blue was considered a milestone in Artificial Intelligence, a watershed moment. But was it really that? Kasparov has written a number of best-selling books on chess and other subjects, but his latest work, Deep Thinking, could be the most important one. It puts his 1997 defeat at the hands of a brute force computer and the latest development of self-learning systems into perspective. Who do you think is the ideal person to review this book?

12/1/2017 – Magnus Carlsen played against his great predecessor, the 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov yesterday at the Pro-Biz Cup kick-off to the London Chess Classic 2017. Guess who won? Games, photos and info... | Photo: John Saunders