OSG Baden-Baden wins Bundesliga Championship

9/21/2020 – In the last 15 years the OSG Baden-Baden has won the title of German Team Champion no less than 14 times, and in 2020 they won it again. Though it was close. In the dramatic seventh and decisive round of the Bundesliga Championship Baden-Baden only narrowly won the top match against the SC Viernheim 4½-3½. | Photo: Christian Bossert

Outrageous Chess – Solutions

9/21/2020 – Last week we gave you a series of chess problems which cannot be solved by computers, taken from a book called "Outrageous Chess" by Burt Hochberg. Were you able to find the out-of-the-box answers? And do you like this kind of problem? In any case, today we reveal the correct solutions and explain the ideas behind the problems.

Post-mortems and princes

9/20/2020 – Star columnist Jon Speelman reminisces on the days chess players indulged in a post-mortem discussion — across a table — after their game was over. Speelman also talks about the very strongest players never to become world champion, particularly two that he faced repeatedly during his career — Viktor Korchnoi (pictured) and Vassily Ivanchuk. | Photo: Mary Delaney Cooke/Corbis

Grandmaster Chef: Peter Svidler

9/20/2020 – Grandmaster Peter Svidler is an eight-time Russian chess champion. Svidler’s peak rating placed him fourth in the world. National Master Mike Walder annotates one of Svidler’s wins and has a recipe for a dish that Svidler likes. WIM Alexey Root tells why Svidler is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

So and Carlsen co-champions of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament

9/20/2020 – In an appropriate turn of events, given how the tournament had developed, Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So tied for first place at the Saint Lous Rapid & Blitz online tournament. Carlsen beat the American in their direct encounter and had a one-point lead with three rounds to go, but So was not discouraged as he won his final three games to catch up with the world champion. Hikaru Nakamura was undefeated on day five and finihsed in clear third place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

Bundesliga Championship: OSG Baden-Baden takes the title

9/20/2020 – The Bundesliga Championship Tournament was a round-robin, over-the-board(!) team event in which eight teams with eight players each played from September 16 to September 20 for the title of German Team Champion 2020. OSG Baden-Baden, the perennial favourites, won the event after beating second-placed SC Viernheim by the smallest of margins in an exciting final-round match. The immensely strong Baden-Baden included Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Richard Rapport in their lineup, just to name a few of their 2700+ players. | Photo: Georgious Souleidis

The Kragerø Grand Prix 2020

9/19/2020 – The Norwegian holiday resort Kragerø is a popular venue for Norwegian Grand Prix tournaments. Recently, another one of these tournaments was played, though this year under special conditions. Holger Blauhut reports about a live tournament in times of corona.| Photos: Tanja Cecilie Kveim (TCK), Holger Blauhut (HB)

St. Louis Rapid & Blitz: Carlsen and So share first place

9/19/2020 – The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is being held online and showcases some of the world’s top rapid and blitz players, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen and a few of the American favourites — Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez and Jeffery Xiong. The ten players are competing for a $250,000 prize fund in nine rapid games and eighteen blitz games on September 15-19. Games start daily at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CET, 14:00 ET). Express report. | Images: Saint Louis Chess Club

Super-talent from Kazakhstan

9/19/2020 – Zhansaya Abdumalik is one of the most promising young talents of our time. She is from Kazakhstan, a country which has experienced a huge boom in women's chess, especially in recent years. She is a multiple youth and junior world champion, known for a very aggressive and dynamic playing style. "With her lively and open manner it didn't take too long before I took her into my heart," writes IM Elisabeth Pähtz in this personal portrait. | Photo Kazinform

St. Louis Blitz: A two-horse race

9/19/2020 – Magnus Carlsen reclaimed the lead at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz online event after scoring 6½ points in the first nine rounds of the blitz section. Wesley So, who obtained the highest score in the rapid, is a half point behind. With the second half of the blitz left to go, it is very unlikely for any player other than Carlsen or So to win the event, as Ian Nepomniachtchi currently stands no fewer than 3½ points behind the leader in sole third place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

Winners of the signed DVDs

9/18/2020 – A few weeks ago we offered a number of great Fritztrainers in a summer special for reduced prices. If you bought one of the offered bundles, you had the chance to win DVDs, signed by famous players such as like Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Nihal Sarin, etc. But we haven't announced all winners yet. Until now.

Bundesliga Championship, Round 3: Baden-Baden dominates

9/18/2020 – The OSG Baden-Baden is the clear favourite to win the Bundesliga Championship 2020, and they score better and better: in round 1 they won 6½-1½ against Deizisau, in round 2 they scored a 7-1 win against Bavaria Munich, which they followed up with a 7½-½ victory against SF Berlin in round 3. The only other team that could win all three matches is the SC Viernheim. | Photos: Christian Bossert

Use your leverage!

9/18/2020 – In the diagram position Black would like to close the position, while White wants just the opposite - he would like to open the position to give his pieces space. But it is White to move! How would you continue?

Online chess tournament on Playchess

9/18/2020 – On Saturday September 19, 2020, there will be another big tournament on Playchess, organised by ChessBase India, with a Rs.50,000 ($ 680 or €575) prize fund. Time control: 3 mins + 0 second increment, number of rounds: 10. Expect strong GM and IM participation – highest rated GM so far: 2611. Entry is FREE for all, irrespective of title, rating or location, but you can donate to a worthy cause – to help a well-loved coach who is fighting for his life.

St. Louis Rapid: So grabs the lead

9/18/2020 – Wesley So, the only player to finish the rapid section undefeated, took the sole lead at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz online tournament on Thursday. So obtained back-to-back victories over Levon Aronian and Pentala Harikrishna in rounds 8 and 9 to go into the blitz section atop the standings table. Former leader Magnus Carlsen is now in sole second place, after having finished the day with a loss against Alexander Grischuk. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Saint Louis Chess Club

Vitiugov and Zierk win Artist Point Grandmaster Tournament

9/17/2020 – With 7.0/9 Nikita Vitiugov and Steven Zierk shared first at the strong Pacific Northwest Chess Center Artist Point tournament, a 9-round Swiss online tournament with an almost classical time-control of 60 minutes for the whole game and a 5-second increment per move. Awonder Liang reports and takes a close look at interesting games. | Photos: Xuhao He

The Bundesliga Championship, Round 1: Favourite OSG Baden-Baden has a good start

9/17/2020 – The Bundesliga Championship in Karlsruhe is an over-the-board team tournament, in which eight teams with eight players each play for the title of German Team Champion 2020. Clear favourite is the team of OSG Baden-Baden which has no less than seven +2700 players in its line-up. In round 1 the OSG showed how determined they are to win this event. | Photos: Christian Bossert

St. Louis Rapid: Carlsen’s perfect day

9/17/2020 – World champion Magnus Carlsen took the sole lead of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament after winning all three of his games on the second day of action. Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi share second place a point behind — So repeated his formula from day one, winning a game and drawing the remaining two, while Nepomniachtchi won two and lost against Jeffery Xiong on Wednesday. Three more rapid games will be played on Thursday, before 18 rounds of blitz on Friday and Saturday decide the winner of the online event. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

What is CBM? Here's the answer!

9/16/2020 – CBM? It is the ChessBase Magazine! A postscript? A company magazine? A catalogue? All wrong! The ChessBase Magazine has come to life in 1987, when the first issue contained an incredible 1000 games on floppy disk. Now, ChessBase Magazine evolved with training material for club players at every level. All this is highly topical with the latest analyses of several titled players. Plus popular and recurring formats, tournament reports, opening innovations and traps, strategy training, endgame training and top coaches covering a highlight. All information is available on the new ChessBase magazine website and here in the article.

Game of the Week: Alireza Firouzja vs. Garry Kasparov

9/16/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game from the Champions Showdown Chess 9LX Online Tournament: Garry Kasparov's win against Alireza Firouzja, the encounter between the oldest and the youngest participant of that tournament. | 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: Garry Kasparov playing Chess960 in Saint Louis 2018 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Historical riddle: Benko vs Kortschnoi

9/16/2020 – Karsten Müller is the Sherlock Holmes of unsolved endgame riddles, and he passionately searches for the truth in complicated endgame positions. This time, he wants to know whether the famous endgame Benko vs Kortschnoi, Curacao 1962, was indeed won for White. And he needs your help to find the solution. | Photos: Dutch National Archive

St. Louis Rapid: Aronian and Harikrishna lead

9/16/2020 – The 2020 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament, this year played online, kicked off on Tuesday. After three rounds of rapid play, Levon Aronian and Pentala Harikrishna are leading on 5 out of 6 (each win is worth two points in the rapid section). Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi are currently a point behind, with the latter having got a win in round 2 after his opponent, world champion Magnus Carlsen, disconnected in an equal position. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

An interview with Ben Johnson, the perpetual podcaster

9/15/2020 – The online presence of chess has only increased throughout the years, and more so during the pandemic. A great medium for an abstract game, the web does not only serve as a place to share moves played in tournaments all over the world but also for people to share their passion for the game. Ben Johnson’s “Perpetual Chess Podcast” serves for the latter purpose, having shared in-depth interviews with top-level players, well-known authors and educators for almost five years — the podcast is now closing on two-hundred episodes!

The "Bundesliga" meets again

9/15/2020 – For many years, Germany's premier league, the "Bundesliga", has been one of the world's strongest team events, and players like Karpov, Kramnik, Anand or Carlsen have played in it. But Corona also hit the "Bundesliga" - the season 2019/2020 had to be interrupted and will continue in spring 2021. But now eight teams meet in Karlsruhe to play from September 16 to September 20 "live" for the title of German team champion 2020.