4/11/2019 – It helps to get help when studying openings. The ChessBase "Let's Check" function offers a lot of help. It is a database with analyses made by other "Let's Check" users, often with top engines and powerful computers. "Let's Check" gives you access to these analyses and you can check, broaden, and sharpen your repertoire. Together with the ChessBase Magazine "Let's Check" is particularly powerful. | Drawing: ChessBase

4/11/2019 – Today the first round of the European Women's Championship will be played in Antalya. In all 130 players are on the starting list but only the top 14 finishers will qualify for the World Cup. The top seeds are Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia, 2534) and Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2513). Live games kick off each day at 12 Noon UTC (14:00 CEST / 8 AM EDT) from April 11th to 22nd with a rest day on April 17th (and the last round four hours earlier). Commentary by GM Ioannis Papaioannou & IM Can Arduman Official site: eiwcc2019.tsf.org.tr

4/11/2019 – Once upon a time, in a now nearly forgotten past, when phones were attached to walls, or rested on furniture, and "to dial" meant to carefully rotate a disc, a young man, just 13, entered the world of chess. As always, the chess journey is quite harsh, in fact he lost all the games of his first tournament. But persistence, and his love for the sport, made him go on, 'till a decade later he became a Grandmaster! Here we can read more about the story and chess journey of Greek GM Efstratios Grivas, who recently celebrated his 53rd birthday.

4/10/2019 – You know what the Knight's Tour is: move the knight so it visits every square of the chessboard just once. There are around 30 trillion ways to do this, but it is certainly not easy for humans to execute a single one correctly — least of all blindfolded and starting from a random square. Or is it? If you invest a couple of hours into the task you stand to entertain people at parties — or even appear on a hit television show.

4/10/2019 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT). On this week's show: Wrapping up Shamkir Chess with a look at the tournament from the Dutch perspective. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows.

4/10/2019 – The 33rd Reykjavik International started at the Harpa Concert Hall (pictured) in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik on Monday. The two sometime-2700s Gawain Jones and Nils Grandelius have both dropped half points, leaving two GMs, an IM, a class A and even a class B player (!) as the only perfect scores through three rounds. Highlights and live commentary of Round 4 (from 17:00 UTC / 19:00 CEST / 13:00 EDT) | Photo: Lennart Ootes / ReykjavikOpen.com

4/10/2019 – There's a new edition of our very popular compilation of opening knowledge — but it's more than an update. Naturally, the Opening Encyclopaedia 2019 has been extended to include all the latest lines and trends, but it has also been redesigned to enhance its usability for fast and easy access to your favourite openings. It has hundreds of opening articles by leading experts, and high-class opening videos to enhance your understanding. Is there a better way to keep abreast of openings theory?

4/9/2019 – A third consecutive win in Shamkir meant Magnus Carlsen finished on 7 out of 9, two points ahead of his closer pursuers, with an out-of-this-world rating performance of 2988. His last victim was Alexander Grischuk, who was duly overrun both on the board and on the clock. The rest of the games finished drawn. LAWRENCE TRENT took a closer look at the final encounters of the sixth Gashimov Memorial. | Photo: Official site

4/9/2019 – The last weekend of Germany's Premier League, (a.k.a. the Bundesliga), brought the perennial champions OSG Baden-Baden another success. With a 7-1 victory against Düsseldorf, Baden-Baden (pictured) once again became German Team Champion, securing their 13th title in 14 years. 14-year old German talent Vincent Keymer narrowly missed his third and final GM norm. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

4/9/2019 – In the Reykjavik Open a young Icelandic kid beat GM Andrew Tang with Black. IM Lawrence Trent shows you the game and what it can teach us about playing much higher rated opponents. Each week, Trent brings you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments every Tuesday at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT). Free to watch on-demand for a limited time with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

4/9/2019 – By winning his fifth game in Shamkir, Magnus Carlsen, who had already won the tournament, finished with a stratospheric 7/9 score, a full two points ahead of his nearest rivals. Carlsen's Elo performance was nearly 3000! Wow! All other games were drawn. | Games and video from 11:00 UTC (12:00 CEST / 6 AM EDT) and daily round-up show at 20:00 UTC (21:00 CEST / 3 PM EDT)

4/9/2019 – Caro-Kann players like their solid structure. As White the question is how to dismantle such solidity, and rampage the Black territory. That's the topic of this review article from DAVIDE NASTASIO and the hour-long intense theoretical training one can find on the "60 Minutes" video series from IM Lawrence Trent. Don't miss this chance to add a new weapon to your own repertoire and create chaos in the Caro-Kann player's camp!

4/9/2019 – Rook endings are difficult to win and difficult to draw. The following position is a typical example.

4/9/2019 – An implacable Magnus Carlsen beat Sergey Karjakin in the penultimate day of action in Shamkir to secure the title with a round to spare. This is the World Champion's fourth triumph in four attempts at the Gashimov Memorial. Alexander Grischuk and Ding Liren also won and now share second place with Sergey Karjakin, a point and a half behind the champion. LAWRENCE TRENT recapped the action of the eighth round. | Photo: Official site

4/8/2019 – At the end of March, San Juan, the capital and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, hosted what was depicted as the biggest chess event of the island in the last thirty years. Cuban grandmaster Yuri González (pictured) won the main section, finishing ahead of his compatriot Reynaldo Vera and American veterans Alex Yermolinksy and Alexander Shabalov. CRISTÓBAL VEGA ADORNO wrote a full report, while GM ALEX YERMOLINKSY sent expert analysis of two games. | Photo: Puerto Rico Chess Academy

4/8/2019 – In this Simon Says, Grandmaster Simon Williams will take a look at various exciting ideas, starting with Magnus Carlsen's great win over Anish Giri from Round 7 of the Shamkir Chess (Gashimov Memorial). He will then move onto a game of the late Eva Moser and some tactical problems, and finish with a look at some of the greatest games of chess that have ever been played. Live today at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

4/8/2019 – Nigel Short (pictured, right) was held to a draw by local 2025-rated FM Poompong Wiwatanadate (left). Babu Lalith drew with 13-year-old Filipino rising star (with a great chess name!) Alekhine Nouri. This another news from the early rounds of the Bangkok Open courtesy the press release by GM IAN ROGERS | Photo: BangkokChess.com

4/8/2019 – The one decisive game of round seven saw Magnus Carlsen defeat his Twitter arch-enemy Anish Giri to take the sole lead in Shamkir. It was a rather flashy win, which means Magnus will arrive in Monday's showdown against Sergey Karjakin in high spirits. With only two rounds to go, it seems almost impossible for any player other than Magnus or Sergey to win the event. Grandmaster YANNICK PELLETIER analysed the games in depth. | Photo: Official site