Connected pawns on the move

10/10/2020 – Round 4 of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger saw Levon Aronian and Alireza Firouzja playing an Armageddon tiebreaker after drawing their classical game. Karsten Müller assessed the final phase of the encounter as a “fascinating knight endgame”. The endgame specialist examined the sequence in detail and now shares it with all ChessBase readers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Russian Higher League kicks off in Sochi

10/10/2020 – The Russian city of Sochi will host the “Higher League” until October 17. Thanks to the large number of strong grandmasters in the country, this qualifying tournament to the Superfinal is heavily contested, so much so that it equals the level of the national championship in almost any other country in the world. Rating favourite Vladislav Artemiev (2716) already gave up a half point in the first two rounds. In the women’s tournament, Valentina Gunina is the rating favourite. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili

"Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual": an interview with Karsten Müller

10/9/2020 – Many players believe that Mark Dvoretsky's "Endgame Manual" is one of the best chess books of all time. Recently, Russell Enterprises released the 5th edition of this legendary work. In an interview with Johannes Fischer, Karsten Müller, who edited and revised the 5th edition of the "Manual", talks about his passion for the endgame, why studying Dovretsky's manual is fun and worth the effort, and what makes this book so special.

Norway Chess: Carlsen beats Caruana to take the lead

10/9/2020 – Magnus Carlsen climbed to the top of the standings in the Norway Chess Tournament by beating former co-leader Fabiano Caruana with white in their classical encounter. Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja and Aryan Tari won in Armageddon, defeating Levon Aronian and Jan-Krzysztof Duda respectively. A misunderstanding with the arbiter meant Firouzja arrived a couple of minutes late to his sudden-death game. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

AlphaZero/Kramnik: Torpedo pawns

10/9/2020 – Modifying the existing rules for chess to make it more dynamic or decisive, needs years of experience and a large numbers of games if we are to assess the quality and appeal of any new variant. The company DeepMind has used their AI technology to evaluate nine variants proposed by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in a much shorter period of time. Here are their findings for "Torpedo Chess", where pawns can move two squares forward from anywhere.

Norway Chess: Another instructive endgame

10/9/2020 – The first four rounds of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament saw a number of instructive and interesting endgames. Karsten Müller is happy and took a close look at the textbook-endgame between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Levon Aronian in round 3, which shows why it is sometimes better to have less.

King in the middle (3)

10/9/2020 – Grabbing the opponent's b-pawn in the opening by sending your queen on a killing spree is not always bad, as the Poisoned Pawn Variation in the Najdorf (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6!?) shows. But in the diagram position, Black's greedy 9...Qxb2? is indeed bad. However, to refute the move, White needs to use many a piece. Have fun!

Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival goes online - on October 10!

10/9/2020 – The Global Chess Festival, initiated and organised by Judit Polgar, is a treat for chess players all over the world. Traditionally, the festival takes place on the second Saturday of October, which this year falls on October 10, and this year the festival goes online - with a fantastic program and an amazing choice of events, all for free! "Chess Connects Us" is the slogan of the Global Chess Festival, and chess fans all over the world are invited to join the fun!

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Attacking with Black against the Slow Slav

10/8/2020 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris shows how Black can mix things up against the Slow Slav. | "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.

The Penrose Family: Scientists and Chess Players

10/8/2020 – The Penrose family's passion for chess can be traced back to Lionel Penrose, a famous professor of genetics, whose legacy also includes a number of chess problems and studies. Of his four children, Jonathan Penrose showed the greatest talent for chess: he was ten-time British Champion, an International Master, a Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess, and in 1993 the FIDE made him an Honorary Grandmaster. On October 6, his brother Roger Penrose won the Nobel Prize in Physics. | Image: Pioneer Works (Screenshot)

Matthew Lunn: Opening Surprises

10/8/2020 – In order to improve your tournament results you can focus on (i) endings; (ii) tactics; or (iii) openings. "I am an adherent of the third option," writes Matthew Lunn in CHESS Magazine, "not because I think it's the best way to improve my chess, but because I enjoy it." You too may share this approach after replaying some of the examples Matthew provides.

Norway Chess: Aronian in the shared lead as Firouzja stops Caruana

10/8/2020 – Levon Aronian beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda from an equal rook endgame to catch Fabiano Caruana in the lead of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament. Caruana lost against Alireza Firouzja in Armageddon. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen was worse in a complicated position against Aryan Tari, but ended up getting a win after his young opponent mishandled his advantage. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Norway Chess: a tricky endgame - Caruana vs Duda

10/7/2020 – The players at the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament seem to enjoy playing "live" again, and the fighting spirit is high. The current tournament leader Fabiano Caruana started with two wins, and he won both games in the endgame. But was his endgame against Jan-Krzysztof Duda in round 2 really won? Karsten Müller is not sure and took a deeper look. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Growing with golf and chess

10/7/2020 – The Mechanics’ Institute’s Judit Sztaray discusses how her daughter Reka is growing from golf and chess. Reka outlines developing as a golfer thanks to her teammates and videos of golf pros. WIM Alexey Root compares Reka’s golf advice to learning from world chess champions’ games. College golfer Alex Chin and his chess opponent, National Master Mike Walder, annotate their game. | Pictured: Paul Whitehead teaching at Mechanics’ Institute in the summer of 2019 | All photos: Judit Sztaray

Game of the Week: Aryan Tari vs Fabiano Caruana

10/7/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game from the first round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament: Fabiano Caruana's win with Black against Aryan Tari. | 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:

Blohberger and Happala win 1. Austrian Internet Championships

10/7/2020 – The 1. Austrian Internet Championship turned into a race between Stefan Kindermann and Felix Blohberger and was only decided in the last round - by a mouse slip. Blohberger became champion. Elisabeth Happala smoothly won the women's tournament. | Photos: Chess.at

Norway Chess: Caruana remains perfect, Carlsen wins on time

10/7/2020 – Fabiano Caruana took the sole lead of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament by beating Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the white pieces to reach a perfect 6/6 score. Meanwhile, on his 38th birthday, Levon Aronian inflicted Aryan Tari’s second loss, and Magnus Carlsen defeated Alireza Firouzja in Armageddon after the latter failed to make the most of a very favourable position and lost on time. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Fedoseev wins Jackpot Blitz Tournament

10/6/2020 – The Pacific Northwest Chess Center (PNWCC) is a very active, Seattle based club that organised a couple of strong online events during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these events was the so-called Jackpot Blitz, a series of blitz tournaments. The excellent conditions and the attractive prizes attracted some of the world's best players, but a few weeks ago the Jackpot series ended with the 20th and last Jackpot Blitz. It was won by GM Vladimir Fedoseev, who sends a report and annotates games.

The Weekly Show: Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs Alireza Firouzja

10/6/2020 – In round 1 of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament Alireza Firouzja (pictured), the world's best junior, won a nice game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who is also an extraordinary talent. In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a closer look at the action. | Lawrence’s show is available at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST, 13:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Official site | Photo: Amruta Mokal (Archive)

New: Sergei Tiviakov - How to play the Ruy Lopez with Qe2

10/6/2020 – There are few other Grandmasters who can go into such detail, and explain complicated variations like Sergei Tiviakov. This is why our ChessBase community enjoys his content so much, and why he already has made 17 Fritztrainers with us so far. For this volume, Tiviakov concentrates on his favourite variation in the Ruy Lopez, with the White move - queen to e2. The Russian-Dutch Grandmaster analyses several variations, explains their purposes, tactics and strategies, and lets you establish a very solid continuation in this popular chess opening. Furthermore, 30 exercises round up this great download.

More than 100 players start at the Fagernes Open

10/6/2020 – Despite the ongoing corona pandemic, the organisers of the Fagernes Open in Norway decided to go ahead with their tournament, which is played live and under strict hygiene regulations. Evgeny Postny, Simen Agdestein and Frode Urkedal are the top seeds in the A-Open, which also functions as Norwegian National Championship. | Photos: Tom Eriksen, Malgorzata Kopaczek-Styczen (Tournament page)

Breaking the blockade

10/6/2020 – Knights are ideal to block passed pawns. However, in the diagram position White's knight on the rim cannot stop the black pawns. If Black is careful and proceeds with precision.

Norway Chess: Caruana and Firouzja get off to a good start

10/6/2020 – In a fighting first round at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger, Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja (pictured) grabbed the early lead by beating Aryan Tari and Jan-Krzysztof Duda without going to Armageddon. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen defeated Levon Aronian in sudden death after signing a 30-move draw in the classical encounter. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Simon Says: Should one play systems or openings?

10/5/2020 – In this "Simon Says" the Ginger GM takes a look at some games from the Pro Chess League and wonders whether it is better to play a system or to play specific openings. | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 14:00). | Photo: Bobby Fischer at the Candidates Tournament Portoroz 1959 | Photo: Tournament book