Prolific chess author slain

1/11/2020 – Chess author and publisher Bob Long has reportedly been murdered in his home in Davenport, Iowa, USA, according to local news media. ChessBase author IM Andrew Martin was a long-time friend and sent this reflection. | Photo: bobthechesser.wordpress.com

Alisa and Mirjana Maric celebrate their 50th birthday!

1/10/2020 – Quick trivia: Who was the strongest female player ever born in the USA? If you said Alisa Maric, you're right! She and Mirjana Maric are twins and they are both Women Grandmasters — a unique case in the history of chess. In 1990, Alisa almost played for the Women's World title and after the end of her chess career she had a successful career as an academic. From 2012 to 2013 she served as Serbia's minister for youth and sports. Today, January 10, 2020, Alisa and her 20 minutes younger sister Mirjana celebrate their 50th birthday. | Photo: Rochade Kuppenheim

The Power Play Show: Ju Wenjun vs Goryachkina

1/10/2020 – Power Play in 2020! On the show today: Ju Wenjun - Goryachkina. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

From Saturday: The world elite in Wijk aan Zee

1/10/2020 – Starting tomorrow the chess world will look again towards the tiny Dutch village of Wijk aan Zee. There, the crème de la crème of the chess world will drink pea soup with some very hungry young players at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which kicks off Saturday with Round 1 of both the Masters and Challengers groups.

Finesse

1/10/2020 – Following 19.Bg5!? Be7 in the diagram position White has a clever way to maintain the initiative, based on his mighty queen f3. Can you find four stringent moves in a row?

Aggressive idea against the Scandinavian with 3...Qd6

1/10/2020 – New opening ideas is one of the main topics of ChessBase Magazine. In this small series we want to present three selected articles from the current issue #193. It starts with GM Krisztian Szabo's aggressive recommendation against the Scandinavian with 3...Qd6. Szabo recommends 6.Ne5 and 7.f4! Have a look!

A Short chat at 2020 Women’s World Champs

1/9/2020 – Given past controversy over his views on women and chess, Grandmaster Nigel Short might seem a surprising choice for multiple roles at the 2020 Women’s World Chess Championship. Short is the championship’s FIDE Supervisor, Chair of the Appeals Committee, and a commentator. Short’s credentials include being the official challenger in the 1993 World Chess Championship, commentating expertise, and promoting chess in 129 countries. WIM ALEXEY ROOT sent us this brief interview.

July 20th is World Chess Day

1/9/2020 – The UN General Assembly, by consensus decision, adopted the resolution on December 12th 2019, put forward by Armenia’s permanent mission and co-sponsored by several countries, designating the July 20th as World Chess Day, marking the date in 1924 when the International Chess Federation was established in Paris.

A son remembers Misha

1/8/2020 – Sally Landau marries Misha Tal for love. Then she separates from him on account of his affairs with other women. Meanwhile, she has to make a living and bring up her son, Gera, so she takes up a job with a travelling orchestra. On one of these trips she leaves the little boy with Ida, her mother-in-law. Unfortunately, Ida falls seriously ill. So a friend who works in a sanatorium takes in Gera for the time being. | Photo: Svetlana Punte / "Sally Landau" Album

Game of the Week: Chandra vs Lenderman

1/8/2020 – For tonight's training IM Merijn van Delft turns West to Charlotte, North Carolina and a rare Alekhine's Defence between grandmasters. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

Alina in Mexico

1/8/2020 – Life is not fair, why should I be? So asks ALINA L'AMI as she kicks off her photo report of a recent tournament in Mexico with an enviably sumptuous beach scene. Another gem: She writes, "'typical' Mexican is atypical". If you can't swing a visit to beautiful Cancún yourself, this is the next best thing! "I love how sportive and fun this nation is," she added later noting that a recent trend towards enjoying outdoor runs (see photo) was brought about by the Mexican organizer, Señor Armando. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

Harry Golombek: chess master, author, arbiter, and codebreaker

1/7/2020 – 25 years ago, on January 7, 1995, Harry Golombek died. He was a prolific and popular author, and from the 1930s to the 1950s also one of England's best players. Golombek also worked as an arbiter and directed tournaments and world championship matches. During World War II he belonged to the famous group of English "Codebreakers" who helped the Allies to win the war.

The Weekly Show: Hello 2020!

1/7/2020 – Before Lawrence hits the road again, a recap of some of the recent chess action including Hastings, Shanghai and a preview of Wijk aan Zee. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's Black to move! | Lawrence is on-demand this week beginning at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

Memorial for pioneering woman

1/7/2020 – Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska (born February 5, 1931 in Lemberg, died November 29, 2006) was a pioneer among women chess players and won a total of nine Polish Championships. She represented Poland five times at the Chess Olympiad and in 1957 in Emmen she won gold as the best single player. In honour of Hołuj-Radzikowska, the best Polish players competed against a team of women from the "rest of the world" in Wroclaw last month. The "world" won, but narrowly. | Pictured: Happy participants with photographer Maria Emelianova | Photo: Wojciech Zawadzki

Endgame Magic: Best endgames of 2019

1/7/2020 – Wrapping up the last year, Karsten dedicates this show to a review of the best endgames of 2019. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CET; 9:00 AM EST) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Why there’s a separate World Chess Championship for women?

1/7/2020 – The Women’s World Chess Championship match is from January 5-26, 2020. The first six games will be played in Shanghai, China and the remaining six games, plus any tiebreak games, will be played in Vladivostok, Russia. The match features Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun of China against challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, of Russia. Here, Alexey Root, a lecturer teaching courses about chess in education at The University of Texas at Dallas, answers questions about the Women’s World Chess Championship. | Photo: Lewis Liu

An amazing knight

1/7/2020 – Sometimes knights appear slow and sluggish. But knights can also be nimble, swift and very versatile. To wit, see how this valiant steed in the diagram below does battle against a veritable hoard of black pawns.

Two draws to start the Women's World Championship

1/6/2020 – The Women's World Championship between defending champion Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina is being played over 12 games, half in Shanghai and half in Vladivostok. The second game ended today in a draw. FIDE Vice President GM Nigel Short (pictured) made the ceremonial first move before his live commentary duties. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Lewis Liu, Michael Friedman

NEW: A nightmare for the Najdorf

1/6/2020 – The Najdorf is one of the most dangerous variations of the Sicilian Defence. Fighting against it is always difficult, but GM Sergei Tiviakov demonstrates a very effective way to combat this popular opening.

Kramnik and Gelfand train top juniors

1/6/2020 – Fourteen of the brightest talents of Indian chess will train with two of the legends in the world of chess: Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand. The Microsense Kramnik Gelfand chess program runs from January 8th to the 17th, 2020, in Chennai. This is the second training camp, after the successful completion of the first one in August 2019. Joining the original six students are eight more, all hand picked by Kramnik and Gelfand to receive intensive training over the next ten days. Microsense Private Limited is the sponsor of the program, while ChessBase India founders Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal manage the camp.
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Magesh Chandran dominates Hastings Congress

1/6/2020 – There was no stopping Magesh Chandran Panchanathan at the 95th edition of the Hastings International Chess Congress. The Indian grandmaster finished in clear first place with an outstanding 7½ out of 9 score. Second place went to Romain Edouard, who was the only player to end the tournament a half point behind Magesh. Four players shared 3rd to 6th on 6½. | Pictured: Magesh (left) during the 2017 Reykjavik Open | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Speelman's Agony: An English, a London, a Morra

1/5/2020 – "How could I refuse the author of my favourite endgame books, so I decided to submit four games", writes Justin Baptie. GM JON SPEELMAN provides his instructive comments on four club-level games. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Hovhannes Gabuzyan grabs North American Open

1/5/2020 – Close to a hundred chess players spent the last days of 2019 participating in the 29th edition of the North American Open at the Bally's Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Zviad Izoria finished atop the standings on 7 out of 9 — Gabuzyan took home the bonus prize money reserved for the winner, as he had a higher score in the second tiebreak criterion. GM RUIFENG LI sent us a report with expert analyses and a selection of noteworthy games. | Photos: Crystal Jiuzhou Gu

Ken Thompson: Moscow adventures (2)

1/5/2020 – In the early 1980s, FREDERIC FRIEDEL spent a week in Moscow with Unix pioneer Ken Thompson, who was supposed to demonstrate his computer chess world champion machine Belle to the Soviet Chess Federation, and to former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who was developing a rival strategy in chess programming. He takes us on a trip down memory lane. Read part 1.