Mamedyarov beats Sanal in hard-fought match

7/11/2020 – The 16-game match between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vahap Sanal, played from Tuesday to Friday on the PlayChess platform, was won by the rating favourite, but not by a big margin. Mamedyarov defeated his Turkish colleague 9:7 in a hard-fought battle that saw Sanal winning four games against his famed opponent. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

Donchenko wins Clarion Congress GM Tournament

7/10/2020 – Alexander Donchenko was the rating favourite at the ten-player single round-robin GM tournament in České Budějovice, and he convincingly won the event. The German grandmaster secured tournament victory in style by defeating Jan Mikes in the last round. GM Peter Michalik and IM Karel Malinovsky, both from the Czech Republic, finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Spassky attacks

7/10/2020 – In this Power Play Show, grandmaster Daniel King focuses on an exciting attacking game played by tenth world champion Boris Spassky when he was merely 18 years old. He also looks at a mate-in-three problem that even had him confused for a while! | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Logic Riddles for Chess Players (5)

7/10/2020 – Part five of our “Logic Riddles” series is here! This time it is all about a chess-related riddle, pertaining colours. We recently posted a philosophical brain-teaser which can be solved in more than one way. One of the many possible answers is shared in this article!

Well in advance

7/10/2020 – In the diagram, Black's blockade construct Qd8/Bh4 on the kingside looks artificial, but White rightly decided not to rush and calmly strengthened his position. How?

Daniel Gormally: My most memorable game

7/10/2020 – His painfully honest, self-deprecating style is impossible to miss amid the generally ‘well-behaved’ community of chess players. Love him or hate him, Daniel Gormally has gained notoriety in the chess world for his witty remarks, his dark sense of humour and his unique writing style. Now he presents his most memorable game — the time he beat Alexey Dreev to get the GM title — and includes a number of side anecdotes that are hard to come across in this context: from a curious chat with a Russian girl to Simon Williams exploding in anger after coffee was spilled on his laptop. Take a look for yourselves!

Leon Masters with Dominguez, Shirov, Maghsoodloo and Santos

7/9/2020 – The corona pandemic did not prevent the organizers of the Leon Masters (Magistral Ciudad de León) from launching the 33rd edition of the traditional yearly event. The main event, to be played on July 10-12, is a four-player knockout with two Spanish players and a couple of international stars. In the semifinals, Alexei Shirov will face local hero Jaime Santos, while Leinier Dominguez will play defending champion Parham Mahgsoodloo. Given the circumstances, the games will be played online. | Photos: Official site

Anand to play in Legends of Chess

7/9/2020 – After confirming his participation to play at the fourth stage of the Magnus Carlsen Tour, former world champion Vishy Anand talked to The Hindu. The “Tiger of Madras” praised the current world champion for having organized the tour and showed he is more than willing to try new formats in this time of crisis. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Chess in times of Corona: An example from Upper Franconia

7/9/2020 – As is well known, the coronavirus pandemic has brought public chess life to a standstill. But now it is slowly getting back into gear. In Bischofsgrün, the Upper Franconian Senior Championships were played. The social-distance rule was meticulously observed — with double boards.

Throwback Thursday: Vugar Gashimov’s brilliant legacy

7/9/2020 – Soon after rapidly climbing to the top of the chess elite, Vugar Gashimov sadly passed away at the young age of 27 on January 11, 2014. The Azerbaijani grandmaster was known for his joyful personality and his uncompromising style on the chessboard. We look back at a testimonial made about him and three of his greatest achievements as a chess player. | Photo: Nadja Wittman

“Game Changer” wins the Averbakh-Boleslavsky Award 2019

7/9/2020 – “Game Changer” by Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan, published by New in Chess, won the Averbakh-Boleslavsky Award to the best book of 2019. Artur Jussupow, who was a member of the jury, said of the book: “It is a unique project that combines human achievements with remarkable development in AI and opens a new approach to our beloved game. We could not choose a more deserving winner”. Books by Sam Shankland and Davorin Kuljasevic were shortlisted. | Photo: Alina l’Ami

Are you smarter than a chimpanzee?

7/8/2020 – This provoking title has some truth in it. Humanbenchmark.com specializes in measuring human brain abilities with games and cognitive tests. One of their exercises states that chimpanzees consistently outperform humans — the Chimpanzee Test. Interestingly enough, some games are strongly related to chess. For pattern recognition, the “Visual Memory Test” is helpful, while for online chess purposes the “Aim Trainer” might do the trick.

Getting the most out of ChessBase 15: a step-by-step guide #8 – Reference Database

7/8/2020 – ChessBase 15 is the most powerful chess database management software on the planet, but to get the best out of all that potential, the first thing you need is a large, up to date Reference Database. Nick Murphy takes you step by step through setting and updating your reference database.

On the origins of chess (5/7)

7/8/2020 – After presenting the Indian, Chinese and Egyptian theories of the origins of chess, researcher Sergio Negri takes us through hypotheses based on myths, legends and the fictional world — many of which are better known than those based on historiographical data.

Bamberg, Round 15: Keres wins tournament and final round!

7/7/2020 – Paul Keres' tournament victory was already certain before the final round. Nevertheless, the Estonian once again played uncompromisingly to win. This was not the only decisive game of the day, which ended with a wonderful closing ceremony. At which a budgie also changed hands. | Photo: SC Bamberg

Solution to the historical riddle Botvinnik vs Bronstein 1951: Bronstein could have drawn

7/7/2020 – One draw in a crucial game and David Bronstein would have been World Champion. After losing a difficult ending in the crucial 23rd game Bronstein drew the World Championship Match 1951 against Mikhail Botvinnik which allowed Botvinnik to keep the title. Now Karsten Müller wanted to know whether this ending was indeed lost or whether Bronstein had a draw. Karsten Müller asked the ChessBase readers for help to solve this historical riddle, and now, after long and difficult analyses and a debate about the 50-move-rule he has an answer: Bronstein indeed missed a draw in this historically important game!

A lot of ways to improve: the ChessBase Magazine #196

7/7/2020 – To improve in chess you need to practice. But what do you do when you have little time, e.g. just a few hours before going to work? Davide Nastasio uses this time to study his favourite chess magazine to keep in shape. In a review he takes a look at the latest issue of the ChessBase Magazine.

Running for shelter

7/7/2020 – In the endgame the king often gets active – after all, when only a few pieces remain on the board mate is less likely. However, the king often still needs protection from checks and attacks. But sometimes it can use enemy pawns as an "umbrella" to run for shelter.

Grandmaster Battle: Mamedyarov vs. Sanal

7/7/2020 – The Turkish Chess Federation is organizing online matches in which the best players from the country face international stars. Starting July 7, Turkey’s number four Vahap Sanal will face Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the PlayChess platform. They will play sixteen 15-minute games (with 10-second increments) over the course of four days. | Photo: Turkish Chess Federation

Jubilee Tournament Bamberg 1968, Round 15 - Live

7/6/2020 – To celebrate its 100th birthday the German Chess Club Bamberg organizes a big international jubilee tournament. Paul Keres won the tournament smoothly and before the last round he leads with 11.0/14 and is 1½ points ahead of World Champion Tigran Petrosian who is sole second with 9½/14. In round 15 Keres plays with Black against Helmut Pfleger and might want to finish the tournament with a win. The transmission of the last round starts 18.00 local time (14:00 UTC, 10:00 EDT).

Remembering Ennio Morricone (November 10, 1928 – July 6, 2020)

7/6/2020 – Initially, Ennio Morricone wanted to become a chess professional. But then he realized that his musical talent was much greater than his talent for chess and he became a composer, whose music added a special touch to many famous films. But Morricone was always passionate about chess. On July 6, 2020, he died in Rome at the age of 91. | Photo: Comune Turin

Bamberg 1968, Round 14: Keres wins tournament with one round to go

7/6/2020 – With an energetic win against Roman Toran Paul Keres also won the jubilee tournament in Bamberg. After 14 of 15 rounds Keres has 11.0/14 and is 1½ points ahead of World Champion Tigran Petrosian, who was lost against Jürgen Teufel but saved himself with a well-timed draw offer. The German players Wolfgang Unzicker, Lothar Schmid and Rudolf Teschner share places three to five.

An interview with Merijn van Delft

7/6/2020 – Merijn van Delft has been giving chess training for many years, and has a regular show at ChessBase. He now published an interesting book on "Positional Sacrifice". In an interview he talks about the book, his work and his passion for positional sacrifices.

Jon Speelman: “Play your own moves”

7/5/2020 – “The most important thing is to choose the moves you want to play — not somebody else, let alone an engine. They may not ‘theoretically’ be the best, but unless they can palpably be refuted you will do better with them than something ‘better’ which makes your stomach turn”, concludes star columnist Jon Speelman after exploring a number of instructional examples, including a couple of his games against Garry Kasparov!