6/30/2020 – Ding Liren will play Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals of the Chessable Masters after taking down Hikaru Nakamura in three sets. The Chinese ace had won the first set and, after losing the second mini-match in Armageddon, scored a convincing 2½:½ victory in Monday’s decider. The semis kick off on Tuesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/29/2020 – In this "Simon Says" English Grandmaster Simon Williams looks at some of Alekhine's best attacking games and discusses how attacking play developed due to his influence on the game. | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EST). | Photos: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

6/29/2020 – The seventh round of the jubilee tournament in Bamberg saw a lot of decisive games. Borislav Ivkov, Rudolf Teschner, Wolfgang Unzicker, Helmut Pfleger and Heikki Westerinen all won though the top encounter between Paul Keres and World Champion Tigran Petrosian ended in a peaceful draw. This allowed Ivkov to catch up to Keres and with 5.5/7 each the two now shared the lead. | Photo: Borislav Ivkov (Dutch National Archive)

6/29/2020 – Anna Ushenina, the classical World Champion in 2012, defeated Valentina Gunina in the final, leaving the score 7-4 in her favor. The Ukrainian outplayed her rival and was a deserved winner: a better opening preparation gave her the upper hand in most of the games, and she was also more accurate. Taking an early lead in the match was also an important factor that conditioned the rest of the final. | Photo: Anna Ushenina (UKR) by David Llada

6/29/2020 – ChessBase Magazine is the most comprehensive and most sophisticated chess magazine there is. World-class players analyse their brilliancies and explain the ideas behind the moves to you, opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and offer exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in the fields of tactics, strategy, and the endgame show you the tricks and techniques a successful tournament player needs! DVD with several hours of video + booklet. Also available for download including the booklet in pdf!

6/29/2020 – "Nana Dzagnidze is one of my most loyal and closest companions," writes Elizabeth Pähtz, Germany's top female player. "Our paths first crossed in 1995 during the European Children's Championships in Verdun, France. I hardly remember any of my nine encounters there, but the one with Nana was so special that even today I still have to smile when I think of it." Nana is now one of the world's top ten, with excellent chances to qualify for the Candidates and maybe challenge the Women's World Champion. Portrait by Elli Pähtz.

6/29/2020 – On his 26th birthday, Anish Giri reached the semifinals of the Chessable Masters by defeating Alexander Grischuk 3:1 in the second set of their quarterfinals matchup. Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura tied the score with Ding Liren after winning the Armageddon decider of the second set — the final set will be played on Monday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/28/2020 – At the Bamberg Jubilee Tournament, Hans-Günther Kestler could not repeat his surprise success from two days earlier when he drew world champion Tigran Petrosian: the local hero was literally overrun by Paul Keres’ central pawn mass in the 6th round. Keres remains the sole leader of the standings with 5/6. Petrosian and Borislav Ivkov are merely a half point behind. | Photo: The town hall of Bamberg (Pixabay)

6/28/2020 – Levon Aronian is the best chess player in Armenia and is currently ranked number 7 in the world. To show appreciation for Aronian, this article has a recipe for a dish that he might like to eat. And, also, an analysis of one of his wins. WIM Alexey Root tells why Aronian is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: David Llada

6/28/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi won their quarterfinal matchups with the equivalent of a 6-1 6-1 victory in tennis, needing only three games in each set to knock out Fabiano Caruana and Vladislav Artemiev. On Saturday, Carlsen showed precise play to beat Caruana in game 2 and saw his opponent crash and burn in the third encounter. Meanwhile, Nepomniachtchi was tactically superior in the positions that arose from Artemiev’s offbeat opening choices. | Photo: Justin Kellar

6/27/2020 – In the 5th round of the International Jubilee Tournament in Bamberg, Paul Keres took the sole lead with a victory over the Austrian Andreas Dückstein — the Estonian has collected 4 points so far. World Champion Tigran Petrosian from the Soviet Union and Borislav Ivkov from Yugoslavia, who had previously been level with Keres, drew their games and are now sharing second place with Jan Hein Donner.

6/27/2020 – When Bobby Fischer died in 2008, one printed article about him was titled “The lone king has wandered off”. Despite this obscure reference in the title, the topic of this month shall not be a specific composer but rather a curiosity, a subset of endgame studies, called “Rex Solus” — the lone king.