Grand Swiss: Aronian catches up with Caruana

10/18/2019 – In a round that only saw three decisive results on the top fifteen boards, Levon Aronian defeated Wang Hao to climb to shared first place at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss. The Armenian caught up with Fabiano Caruana, who signed a 42-move draw with Alexander Grischuk. Caruana will have the white pieces against Aronian in round eight, while Wang Hao will face world champion Magnus Carlsen on board two. GM SIMON WILLIAMS looked at the highlights of the day. | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

World Junior Rd 2: The optimism of the young!

10/17/2019 – The World Junior Championships 2019 is so rich with chess content, it is becoming extremely difficult to write a report that would cover everything! In spite of having just 94 boards (47 in open and 47 in girls) there is high quality chess taking place on almost 70% of these games. After two rounds we have nine boys in the lead with 2.0/2 in the open section and eleven girls in the lead with 2.0/2 in the girls section. In this article we bring some of the most interesting and instructive moments of the second round. We not only have the pictures, analysis, and interviews but also a special section called highlights of the day which gives you the glimpse of what happened in just 12 minutes! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Fast and Furious: Tales from the World Youth

10/17/2019 – In this episode IM Robert Ris recaps his adventures as a coach at the World Youth in Mumbai. The live show at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 1 PM EDT) is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. In the diagram, it's White to play and win!

Benko's final three-mover

10/17/2019 – It is arguably one of the most elegant problems ever composed. The author is the late Pal Benko, a world class grandmaster and World Championship contender, who earned an additional ticket to immortality with his problems and endgame studies. The problem he composed when he was fifteen still occupied the nonagenarian. It has a dual, and we challenged our readers to find a modification to cure that. A large number tried. Today we show you Pal Benkös's own "correction".

Game of the Week: Wojtaszek vs Demchenko

10/16/2019 – Watching the top-flight chess on the Isle of Man, IM Merijn van Delft wonders whether the King's Indian is still playable at the elite level. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is on-demand this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

World Junior Rd 1: Tough start for the top seeds

10/16/2019 – The World Junior Championships 2019 began with great excitement on Tuesday in New Delhi, India. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich visited the event and boosted the spirit of the participants. This is the second big event happening in India in the month of October after the successful completion of the World Youth Championships. It is perhaps for the first time in the history that the number of male participants in the open section is exactly equal to the number of female participants in the girls section — 94 each! In the first round both the top seeds — Amin Tabatabaei (2642) and Zhu Jiner (2507) — were held to a draw. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you detailed coverage from the venue in New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Grand Swiss: No quarter

10/16/2019 – The last round before the rest day at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss saw decisive results on seven out of the top ten boards. Wang Hao and Fabiano Caruana recaptured the lead — they were the only two co-leaders after round three — with wins over Vladimir Fedoseev and Luke McShane. The chasing group a half point back now consists of seven players, with world champion Magnus Carlsen in the mix. IM LAWRENCE TRENT recapped the action of the round. | Photo: John Saunders

Lennart Ootes: "Chess is a sport and sport is emotion"

10/15/2019 – Lennart Ootes is one of the most prolific and renowned chess photographers. Chess players from all over the world enjoy his images of top players and amateurs. Recently, the Dutch photographer launched his own website on which he presents about 30,000 (not a typo!) of his pictures. In an interview with ChessBase, Ootes talks about his passion for chess and photography, the right moments for taking a picture and his joys of travelling. | Photo: David Llada

The Weekly Show: A Praggnanandhaa special

10/15/2019 – The World Youth concluded with a fantastic result for Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa in the Under-18. IM Lawrence Trent analyses one of his best games. | Puzzle time: In the diagram below, it's White to move. | Lawrence is free on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

A strong rook and a powerful pawn

10/15/2019 – Every beginner knows that a rook is better than a bishop. However, when passed pawns race things often get complicated.

Grand Swiss: McShane lets Caruana off the hook

10/15/2019 – Round five of the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss was as exciting as could be, with the game on board one lasting almost seven hours and seeing world number two Fabiano Caruana miraculously saving a half point against Luke McShane. The point was also split in Wang Hao v Parham Maghsoodloo on board two, while Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Fedoseev and Alexei Shirov won with White to join the leading pack. | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

Hans-Walter Schmitt says goodbye with simuls by Anand and Keymer

10/14/2019 – For 25 years Hans-Walter Schmitt has been organising prestigious and attractive chess events with the world's best players. Now he has retired, HARTMUT METZ reports, following two exciting simultaneous exhibitions by former World Champion Vishy Anand and the 14-year old German talent Vincent Keymer. | Photos: Hartmut Metz

Simon Says: Recent games from the Grand Swiss

10/14/2019 – GM Simon Williams selects his favourite examples from the high-stakes Candidates qualifier ongoing on the Isle of Man. Watch for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

World Chess Grand Prix Series to resume in Hamburg

10/14/2019 – While all eyes are on the Isle of Man, here in Hamburg, Germany, the next leg of the 2019 FIDE World Chess Grand Prix is set to open in three weeks time. Sixteen players will compete for Grand Prix points in the penultimate tournament of the series from November 5th to November 17th. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk are currently leading with 10 GP points each. All the details courtesy of World Chess. | Photos: Theater Kehrwieder

Grand Swiss: Maghsoodloo and McShane join the leaders

10/14/2019 – Parham Maghsoodloo and Luke McShane won their round four encounters at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss to join co-leaders Fabiano Caruana and Wang Hao at the top of the standings table. With no more perfect scores at the Isle of Man, the chasing pack has grown and now includes sixteen players. World champion Magnus Carlsen was inches away from losing his unbeaten streak but ended up surviving against Vladislav Kovalev. | Photo: John Saunders

Praggnanandhaa and Polina dominate World Youth 2019

10/13/2019 – Six new World Youth Champions were crowned on October 12th 2019: Aydin Suleymanli and Meruert Kamalidenova won the under-14 open and girls section respectively, under-16 was won by Rudik Makarian and Leya Garifullina and under-18 titles went to Praggnanandhaa and Polina Shuvalova. How tense was the last round? In four sections things went as per plan, however in the under-14 girls and under-16 girls everything changed completely in the final round. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you a detailed report of how things panned out on the final day of the World Youth Championships 2019. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Chess icon Nana Alexandria turns 70

10/13/2019 – She was the Women's World Championship Challenger twice, losing once and then drawing to the title holder. Before reaching the age of twenty she had won the national women's championship of the most powerful chess nation three times, and became one of the contributing players of the Soviet Union team that dominated the women's Olympiads in 1969, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982 and 1986. Today Nana, now a FIDE administrator and general chess celebrity, turns seventy. We extend our heartfelt congratulations on an inspiring lifetime.

Grand Swiss: Caruana and Wang Hao still perfect

10/13/2019 – Fabiano Caruana and Wang Hao won their round three games to maintain a perfect score at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss. The chasing pack on 2½ out of 3 consists of ten players, nine of whom won on Saturday — only Adhiban, who was one of the co-leaders after round two, drew and stayed close behind the top scorers. World Champion Magnus Carlsen got good winning chances but ended up splitting the point with Rustam Kasimdzhanov. | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

World Youth Rd 10: High voltage penultimate round

10/12/2019 – From Mumbai, AMRUTA MOKAL updates on the penultimate round of the World Youth Championship, where Praggnanandhaa is poised to take the prestigious Under-18 Open section and Polina Shuvalova continues to lead the Under-18 Girls. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

NATO Chess Championship: A special victory

10/12/2019 – The victory in this year's NATO chess championships had a special significance for the German team. For one, the team was not the favourite this time, and they missed a teammate, IM Lorenz Drabke, who tragically died in an accident. ULRICH BOGN reports.

Grand Swiss: Five-player leading pack

10/12/2019 – Fabiano Caruana, Wang Hao, Bu Xiangzhi, Alexei Shirov and Adhiban Baskaran are the only five players left with a perfect score after two rounds at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss. World champion Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by Alexey Sarana and is now one of forty-five players on 1½ out of 2. Upsets kept turning up on Friday, as the plot begins to unfold in the Isle of Man. GM YANNICK PELLETIER looked at the highlights from round two. | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

World Youth Rd 9: Aronyak halts Niemann's momentum

10/11/2019 – Aydin Suleymanli is the sole leader in the under-14 open with 7½/9, while Eline Roebers has been the surprise of the tournament as she leads the under-14 girls section. The under-16 open section saw a huge upset on board one when the top-seeded Hans Niemann lost his game to Aronyak Ghosh. In the girls section, the deadlock between Nurgali and Garifullina hasn't been resolved. Under-18 open saw Praggnanandhaa pick up the sole lead by beating Zarubitski. He is closely pursued by Shant Sargsyan. Polina Shuvalova mantains her lead in the girls under-18. IM SAGAR SHAH reports from Mumbai. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Global Chess Festival returns in Budapest

10/11/2019 – Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival culminates on Saturday in a colourful finale at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest after a series of side events and an online record attempt. In addition to the three Polgar sisters, Vladimir Kramnik will be a guest. Here's a brief preview. | Photos: Global Chess Festival

Touch and go

10/11/2019 – The diagram (after 23...b3!) shows a parade example for a Sicilian position with opposite castlings and both sides using their "battering ram" (g-pawn/b-pawn) to open lines against the enemy king. No matter how White plays, Black's attack will come first. Enjoy!