Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Erwin l'Ami

9/11/2019 – Thursday: It's a special early morning Endgame Magic! Dutch GM Erwin l'Ami is Karsten's guest. Live at 7:30 UTC (9:30 CEST; 3:30 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Game of the Week: Huschenbeth vs Harikrishna

9/11/2019 – Join IM Merijn van Delft live for a look at his favourite game of the week: The duel between Niclas Huschenbeth and P. Harikrishna in the Polish League. The show 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. Merijn is live this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

FIDE World Cup: A few upsets

9/11/2019 – The most anticipated tournament of the year kicked off in Khanty-Mansiysk. Most of the favourites started with a win, with eleven out of the sixteen top seeds getting a full point on Tuesday. The biggest surprise rating-wise was given by Norwegian Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, who beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek with Black. But Christiansen was not the only young player to have a good day, as Alireza Firouzja, Nihal Sarin, Andrey Esipenko and Nodirbek Abdusattorov also got off to a good start. Do not miss the round-up show by IM Lawrence Trent. | Photo: FIDE

A chess and wine holiday weekend

9/10/2019 – The region of South Tyrol beckons European tourists in the autumn with beautiful hiking and other outdoor adventures. For chess fans who prefer to stay indoors, (in this case even subterranean) there is also the small and unique weekend tournament held in the wine cellar of Kaltern am See from October 18-20. | Photos: Gerhard Betrtagnolli

The Weekly Show: The World Cup begins

9/10/2019 – The start of the bi-annual World Cup is the focus of the chess world this week and with IM Lawrence Trent jumps on the first round action in today's show. Lawrence is live and 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.

Retreat to advance

9/10/2019 – When fighting against a bishop in the endgame the defender often tries to create a fortress on the squares which the bishop cannot reach. However, one should not believe too much in fortresses.

The World Cup returns to Khanty-Mansiysk

9/9/2019 – A central event of the 2019-2020 World Championship cycle is about to begin in Khanty-Mansiysk, as the Western Siberian city will host the 2019 FIDE World Cup. In the single-elimination tournament, 128 players will be fighting to get one of the two tickets on offer to next year's Candidates Tournament. The lengthy event will run through October 4th, and will be the main focus of chess fans around the globe. | Photo: FIDE

Simon Says: Under-promotion

9/9/2019 – It doesn't often happen, so when it does it tends to be notable. GM Simon Williams looks at examples of under-promotion. Fun instruction ensues. Watch for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Edouard's 'Magic Years' with Topalov

9/9/2019 – GM Romain Edouard, Editor-in-Chief of Thinkers Publishing, recently came out with a book of his own, a memoir on his years working as a second for Veselin Topalov, years in which the Bulgarian former FIDE World Champion was at the peak of his powers. He shares some perspective in this brief interview. | Photo: Vladimír Jagr

Get nasty with the Nimzowitsch Defence

9/9/2019 – We often hear that in order to make chess more interesting we need to shorten the time controls, as it would magically shift the interest of the masses from sports like soccer, football, basketball or tennis, while at the same time it will increase their chess understanding! But this new FritzTrainer proves there is a side of chess that cannot be appreciated and consumed like fast food, as we witness the development of a fluid repertoire in which each master put his personal fingerprint. The goal is to disorient the opponent and bring him out of his comfort zone.

Learning from "Poba" games

9/8/2019 – A slightly larger column this week as Jon makes up for lost time. A fan of "moba" games sent in some of his (shall we say) "Playchess online battle arena" experiences. | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material 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!

WASKO Katowice wins Polish "Extraliga"

9/8/2019 – The Polish Team Championship wrapped up this week with eight-time "Extraliga" champions WASKO Hetman Katowice and its star players GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, GM David Navara, GM Bartosz, GM Monika Socko and others winning yet another title. WGM KETI TSATSALASHVILI was there. | Photo: David Llada / ekstraliga2019.pzszach.pl

Letter from Hell

9/7/2019 – Certainly you have noticed the big "H" in the headline for this post. And indeed, ALINA L'AMI is alive and well, reporting on a chess tournament in the Norwegian village "Hell", which lies about 40 km east of Trondheim. And as always, Alina managed to create magical photos, not to mention the obligatory photo with the providentially humoristic sign; “Gods Expedition” — in fact the archaic spelling for cargo handling. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

Jorge Cori is the new Ibero-American champion

9/7/2019 – After organizing one of the strongest elite tournaments from 1978 until 2010, the Spanish city of Linares has not ceased to host important chess events. This year, the VII Ibero-American Tournament took place from the 10th to the 18th of August at the auditorium of "El Pósito". Jorge Cori (Perú), Francisco Vallejo (Spain) and Carlos Albornoz (Cuba) finished the nine-round Swiss tournament tied atop the standings on 7 points. Cori had the best tiebreak score and claimed first place. | Photo: FIBDA

The Power Play Show: David Navara

9/6/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King takes you through a sensational game from a master of attack — David Navara. Power Play is live most Fridays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) 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...

Caruana, So, Svidler and Nakamura best in Chess 9LX

9/6/2019 – Hikaru Nakamura made a strong comeback in his match against Levon Aronian to score 6-2 and clinch his match with a margin of 14½:11½ in a remarkable comeback after a disastrous first day. Caruana and So completed the formalities in their matches against Kasparov and Topalov respectively to win with wide margins, while Peter Svidler too prevailed against Dominguez with a 4½:3½ margin. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports all action from Saint Louis. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

Improve your planning and understanding

9/6/2019 – If you play an opening, it is advisable not just to know the moves, but also the plan that is behind them. The ChessBase 15 Plan Explorer is able to show us these plans. It evaluates the games that have been played in different openings and shows how the players continued their development. Unlike the reference search it is not about next move, but about the further development. The Plan Explorer is a tool that helps us not only to remember the moves, but also to understand them. We will show you some practical examples and explain how it works. | Graphic: ChessBase

Take the Chess Train in 2019

9/6/2019 – The annual Chess Train rolls on, and the 2019 route takes it from Prague via Karlovy Vary to Český Krumlov, Brno and Trenčín, then back to Prague, from October 11th to 15th. During the trip, a rapid chess tournament is played over 11 rounds, while in the afternoon and evening you can see the sights of the destination cities and towns. A unique and fun chess experience!

A short Nordic drama

9/6/2019 – With 36...Qd2 in the diagram Black's queen approaches the enemy king and attacks its "best friend", the knight on d3. Please evaluate the position, and then make the right choice for White!

Chess and Art: Good Moves

9/6/2019 – From September 6th to October 5th, The Power Station, a not-for-profit initiative providing a platform for contemporary art projects in Dallas, Texas, hosts Good Moves, a group exhibition dedicated to chess. The Good Moves online auction ends October 6th. Auction proceeds benefit Vogel Alcove, to endow a chess program for homeless children. WIM ALEXEY ROOT is attending the Good Moves premiere and sent us this preview. | Photo: Kevin Todora

Chess960 in St. Louis: Caruana, Svidler, So and Nakamura win

9/5/2019 – Public appearances by Garry Kasparov are often notable, even more so at chess events and especially if the ex-world champion is coaxed into playing chess himself. At the "Champions Showdown" from the Saint Louis Chess Club, Kasparov faced Fabiano Caruana in a 'Fischer Random' match from Monday to Thursday. Although the final score is clearly one-sided in favour of Caruana, the world champion showed he still has what it takes to play against an active player of the elite. In the other match-ups Wesley So and Peter Svidler got comfortable wins over Veselin Topalov and Leinier Dominguez, while Hikaru Nakamura bounced back from a lousy start to finally beat Levon Aronian. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Caruana beats Kasparov with a day to spare

9/5/2019 – The third day of the Champions Showdown Chess 9LX almost continued on the same lines of the previous two days. Fabiano Caruana has already defeated Garry Kasparov in their match with a day to go, with a score of 14½:3½, while Wesley So too has almost crossed the threshold against Veselin Topalov at 13:5. Leinier Dominguez showed a fightback against Peter Svidler to narrow the trailing margin to 7:11. Kudos to Hikaru Nakamura who narrowed Aronian's lead to a point before the last day of 8 blitz games. Aronian leads 9½:8½. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

The Rossolimo of the champions

9/5/2019 – From ChessBase Magazine #191: International Master Robert Ris shows you the structure arising after 3..g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6. He concludes that the ensuing structures offer Black great dynamic chances. Even when the engines prefer White, the good news for Black is that he is never without counterplay.

Game of the Week: Giri vs Nepomniachtchi

9/4/2019 – Join IM Merijn van Delft live for a look at his favourite game of the week: Anish Giri's last round win at the Sinquefield Cup over Ian Nepomniachtchi. The show 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. Merijn is live this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).