Challenges for humans and computers

5/10/2020 – Today we want to bring all our locked-in friends something unusual. This article is not going to make you stronger, it will not improve your strategic wisdom, or inform you on what is going on in the (virtual) tournament scene. It is meant to purely entertain – just cause you to smile or chuckle. It includes what we claim is the easiest chess problem ever composed (picture). Enjoy.

New York 1924, Round 6: Lasker and Lasker play remarkable draw

5/10/2020 – Round 6 of the New York Tournament saw the clash of the two Laskers: Emanuel vs Edward Lasker. It was a remarkable fight that lasted for 103 moves and gave Emanuel Lasker an opportunity to demonstrate his amazing defensive skills. World Champion José Raúl Capablanca played an endgame brilliancy against Savielly Tartakower and showed why it is worth remembering to look for sacrifices and mating attacks in the endgame. Alexander Alekhine smashed Dawid Janowsky. Geza Maroczy defeated Frank Marshall, and Richard Reti won in hypermodern style against Frederick Yates. | Photo: Emanuel Lasker (right) and Edward Lasker (left, with Black)

Nations Cup: United States to play China in the Superfinal

5/10/2020 – There was no lack of drama on the last day of the round-robin section at the Nations Cup, as United States qualified to Sunday's Superfinal by outscoring Europe by merely a half board point. Europe had beaten the Americans in their direct round-nine clash, but could not overcome Rest of the World to get their spot in the final, while United States inflicted China's first loss of the event. The Chinese squad will get a chance to take revenge on Sunday, when the action kicks off one hour later than usual. | Pictured: Wesley So | Photo: Niki Riga

Logic Riddles for Chess Players (3)

5/9/2020 – This is the third entry of logic riddles for chess players. In this case the riddle is a bit different compared to the previous logic riddles. It doesn't require too much mathematical skill and some people have a very hard time solving it. Others can find the answer in a finger snip. Keep in mind, you don't need a chess board for the solution, just your imagination and cleverness.

New York 1924, Round 5: Capablanca loses against Reti!

5/9/2020 – World Champion José Raúl Capablanca is often called a "Chess Machine" because his games seem to be so smooth and flawless. In fact, since his defeat against Oscar Chajes on January 21 , 1916 Capablanca has not lost a single game in the last eight years. But now, in round 5 of the tournament in New York, he suffered a sensational defeat against Richard Reti (pictured). | Photo: Ernst & Cesanek (Archive)

Nations Cup: China in the final, Europe and USA to fight for second spot

5/9/2020 – China has secured a spot in Sunday's final at the FIDE chess.com Nations Cup, while Russia, India and Rest of the World are completely out of contention. The United States have climbed to second place and will fight for the remaining spot in the final with Europe, which only collected one match point on Friday — the contenders will face each other in round nine. | Pictured: Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Big online blitz with 40 GMs and IMs

5/8/2020 – Suffering withdrawal? No visits to the chess club? So how about taking part in a giant blitz tournament. It is all virtual on the Playchess server, where you can play against more than twenty GMs, twenty IMs and many other titled players who have confirmed their participation so far. Amongst them are some the brightest young supertalents in the world, There is a prize fund of Rs. 101,000. Watching and playing is free of charge. Make this a Saturday full of chess!

Daniel King's Power Play Show: QGD with Bf4

5/8/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at a Queen's Gambit Declined position from the game Nakamura-Carlsen. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive) | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 18:00 UK (19:00 CEST, Noon EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Magnus Carlsen leading Steinitz Memorial tournament

5/8/2020 – The FIDE has announced a Wilhelm Steinitz memorial tournament in the middle of May - online! World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen will lead the event, including 19 other players, which have been nominated by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Chess pie and Fischer's cake

5/8/2020 – Many people are staying home now, more than ever. Baking bread has become a very popular activity in these times. Did you know that there is a cake recipe called the "chess pie"? Did you also know, that Robert Fischer has once received a cake, which looked like one of his played chess games? Chess can be such a sweet experience.

New York 1924, Round 4: Emanuel Lasker wins again

5/8/2020 – His convincing win against Alexander Alekhine in round 3 of the tournament in New York seems to have inspired former World Champion Emanuel Lasker, and in round 4 he won his second black game in a row, this time against his old rival Dawid Janowsky. In the prestige duel between Capablanca and Alekhine the Cuban dominated once again, but in the end Alekhine managed to escape into a draw. Bogolyubov came to a nice win against Reti and Yates won against Edward Lasker. Tartakower and Maroczy drew but Tartakower enriched the theory of openings with an original concept.

Best of Bundesliga

5/8/2020 – In the diagram position White played 15.d6!, a powerful move that opens the diagonal for the light-squared bishop and allowed White to score a brilliant victory after 15...Bxd6 16.Bc4+ Kg7. How did White win? Join and enjoy!

Alexander Münninghoff: 1944-2020

5/8/2020 – The biographer of Max Euwe and Jan Hein Donner, employee of New in Chess and Schaakbulletin and the author of a bestseller about his family, died a few days ago. He was renowned for his reports as an award-winning political editor, Moscow correspondent and as a romantic attacking player in the game of chess. Stefan Löffler looks back on an eventful life.| Foto: Koninklijk 's-Gravenhaags Schaakgenootschap Discendo Discimus

Nations Cup: China and Europe on a roll

5/8/2020 – China and Europe won both their Thursday games and are now in clear first and second places respectively at the FIDE chess.com Nations Cup. With four rounds to go, the United States and especially Russia need to rack up a streak of good results if they want to reach Sunday's final. India and Rest of the World are having a tough time in the online event. | Pictured: Ding Liren and Wei Yi. | Photos: FIDE / Amruta Mokal

Fast and Furious: The Queen's Gambit Declined with 5.Bf4

5/7/2020 – Robert Ris takes a look at the Queen's Gambit Declined with 5.Bf4 that poses Black a surprising number of problems and has been tried by players such as Ding Liren (pictured) and Magnus Carlsen. "Fast and Furious" is available from 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 15:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Niki Riga

Chogue - half chess, half rogue

5/7/2020 – Pippin Barr and Jonathan Lessard are the makers of the unique chess variant "Chogue". It combines the normal chess game with a rogue-like theme. After you have played your first move with the white pieces, the black king escapes into a deep dungeon, where you have to follow and check-mate him. We had a chance to interview the makers about their game idea, intention and future projects.

New York 1924, Round 3: Lasker beats Alekhine!

5/7/2020 – The top game of the third round of the New York tournament in the Alamac Hotel was the clash between the 31-year-old Alexander Alekhine and the 55-year-old former World Champion Emanuel Lasker. Alekhine has good chances to become the next challenger of World Champion Capablanca and is famous for his dynamic play and ferocious attack but against Lasker's magic he was helpless. | Photo: Emanuel Lasker

Nations Cup: China still on top, Aronian impresses

5/7/2020 – Europe had a tough first day, losing to China and drawing Russia, but are now well in the fight for first place after winning both their matches on Wednesday at the FIDE chess.com Nations Cup. Levon Aronian was the star of the Europeans, as he got impressive back-to-back wins over Vidit Gujrathi and Leinier Dominguez. China remain in the sole lead nevertheless, two match points ahead of chasers Europe and United States. | Photos: FIDE

Game of the Week: Carlsen vs Nakamura

5/6/2020 – Merijn van Delft takes a look at the dramatic final of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational match where Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura showed their skills in rapid chess. | Merijn's show is available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Petrosian could have held!

5/6/2020 – The Fischer-Petrosian Candidates match of 1971 in Buenos Aires was the third and final round in the eliminations to determine the challenger for the World Championship. Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian was considered undefeatable, and the match started 2½-2½. Then in game six Fischer scored a superb win that turned the match. Since then chess experts have discussed the question: could Petrosian have defended the game to a fateful draw? No conclusive answer was reached. Now endgame expert GM Karsten Müller – together with our readers – made a new attempt – has made a new attempt. And: we have a solution!

New York 1924, Round 2: Alekhine wins with the Alekhine

5/6/2020 – The second round of the Grandmaster Tournament New York 1924 saw only one decisive game. After a bold opening experiment Alexander Alekhine won with Black against Geza Maroczy, and with 2 out of 2 he is now sole first. The duel of the World Champions between Emanuel Lasker and José Raúl Capablanca ended in a bloodless draw but the game between Edward Lasker and Efim Bogoljubow was an interesting fight and gave Edward Lasker the opportunity to show why even the best players in the world make mistakes. | Photo: Alexander Alekhine (Archive)

Nations Cup: China lead after day one

5/6/2020 – Day one of the FIDE chess.com Nations Cup saw China getting the sole lead after winning both his matches, over Rest of the World and Europe. The Chinese squad got 3:1 wins in both matches, with Yu Yangyi scoring full points both times. United States are in second place on 3 match points, after drawing India and beating Europe. Fabiano Caruana led the American team by getting two victories in close to equal endgames. | Photos: FIDE

The Weekly Show: Carlsen, Alekhine, and the Nations Cup

5/5/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent talks about New York 1924, recaps the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, and looks forward to the Online Nations Cup. | Lawrence' show is available at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

Kovalenko's cavalry

5/5/2020 – Usually in endgames rooks are much better than knights - a rook is as mobile as a bishop and unlike the bishop it can go to squares of both colours. But believe it or not, sometimes the defending side can build a fortress.