Magnus Carlsen Tour Finals: Live!

8/12/2020 – The Finals of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour are taking place on August 9-20, with a prize fund of US$300,000 at stake and US$140,000 reserved for the winner. Hikaru Nakamura already moved on to the final, while Carlsen has a 2:1 advantage over Ding Liren (see the full report on Day 3!). Action kicks off at 16:00 CEST (14:00 UTC, 10:00 ET). | Photos: David Llada / Niki Riga
Live Tournaments
Round 1: live
Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals Kiva
Carlsen 2881, Ding 2836, Nakamura 2829, Dubov 2770
Round 5: live
Summer Prague Open Match 2020
Round 6: live
Summer Prague Open A 2020
Live Training
August 12 20:00 The Game of the Week
The game of the week presented by IM Merijn van Delft. View the new video!
August 13 19:00 The fast and the furious
Fast and lightning opening lines with IM Robert Ris. View the new video!
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Game of the Week: Carlsen vs Ding Liren

8/12/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game in which Magnus Carlsen once again showed his phenomenal class against Ding Liren in the finals of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A trendy system against the King's Indian

8/12/2020 – With 5.h3 and 6.Be3 Fabiano Caruana hat set a new trend against the King's Indian. "A challenging positional setup, which has the further advantage of still being relatively fresh, uncharted and not overanalysed yet", writes Igor Stohl in ChessBase Magazine #196 - the current issue. In his article about this promising setup Stohl explains, among other things, why the typical King's Indian move 6...e5 here plays into White's hands.
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Vladislav Tarasiuk: Portrait of a composer

8/12/2020 – Vladislav Tarasiuk is known as an immunologist in medical circles in Kharkov, Ukraine. However, the chess world knows him as a composer. Recently Tarasiuk authored an endgame study, Noah’s Ark, and aptly dedicated it to the Health workers and medical professionals combating the pandemic all over the world. In an interview with Tarasiuk, our columnist Prof. Nagesh Havanur lets the composer speak for himself.

MCT Finals: Nakamura knocks out Dubov

8/12/2020 – Hikaru Nakamura needed only three sets to knock out Daniil Dubov in their best-of-5 semifinal match. ‘Naka’ will get two rest days before the final, where he will face either Ding Liren or Carlsen, with the latter now the favourite to advance after scoring a second consecutive 2½:½ victory over his Chinese colleague. | Photo: Justin Kellar

Polish Women's Championship: Kulon loses but keeps the lead

8/11/2020 – In round 7 of the Polish Women's Championship tournament leader Klaudia Kulon lost with Black against Patrycja Waszczuk. It was Kulon's first loss but she still has good chances to win the Championship. With two rounds to go Kulon leads with 5½/7 and is one full point ahead of Karina Cyfka who is sole second with 4½/7. | Photos: Szymon Pieczewski (Polish Chess Federation)

An interview with Anna Muzychuk

8/11/2020 – Anna Muzychuk is not only one of the best chess players in the world, she is also very charming. A short time before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic she visited the ChessBase office in Hamburg with Elisabeth Pähtz to record a video about the Taimanov Variation but also found time for a short interview about her career and her life as a chess professional.

On Playchess: Azerbaijan beats Turkey 26:10

8/11/2020 – The friendly six-round match on the Playchess server between Turkey and Azerbaijan to prepare for the Online Olympiad ended yesterday, August 10. In the Online Olympiad Azerbaijan is seeded in the "Top Division", while Turkey will start in "Division 2", and in the match the Azerbaijanis also had the better of it: they won 26:10. | Photo: Turkish Chess Federation

The right path into the fortress

8/11/2020 – Due to the colour blindness of the bishop there are often fortresses in pure endgames. In the following case White can either reach the saving corner h1 or Ponziani's old fortress.

MCT Finals: Nakamura strikes again, Carlsen bounces back

8/11/2020 – Hikaru Nakamura defeated Daniil Dubov for a second set in a row, which means he only needs one more win in the coming three days to move on to the final of the Magnus Carlsen Tour closing event. Meanwhile, Carlsen evened the score in his matchup against Ding Liren by scoring a clear 2½:½ victory on Monday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

John Hilbert on Edward Winter’s Chess Notes

8/10/2020 – Earlier this year, Edward Winter announced the curtailment of Chess Notes, which began nearly 40 years ago. Now, the United States’ leading chess historian, John Hilbert, has written an extensive assessment of Chess Notes, reflecting on the range and depth of material published and picking out many of his favourite articles. They cover almost every imaginable aspect of chess, past and present.
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Polish Women's Championship: Kulon stays on course

8/10/2020 – Six rounds have been played at the Polish Women's Championship in Ostrów Wielkopolski, and with 5.5/6 International Master Klaudia Kulon has a comfortable 1.5 point lead over Karina Cyfka. Another half point behind follows Monika Socko with 3.5/6. | Photos: Szymon Pieczewski (Polish Chess Federation)

Ian Gillan (Deep Purple): "Chess is great for your mind!"

8/10/2020 – Ian Gillan is the singer of the legendary rock band "Deep Purple" which recently released their 21st album, called "Whoosh!". In an interview with the German newspaper "Lübecker Nachrichten", Gillan, who will turn 75 on August 19, 2020, revealed his passion for chess.