10/21/2019 – Say you have ChessBase 13, and are perfectly happy with it. But the world has moved on to version 15. You wonder what is new, how useful it is, and do I really need to upgrade? In 2014 Jon Edwards, World Correspondence Chess Championship contender, wrote a seminal book on the program that all serious players use to study and prepare, Now he has published a supplement that tells you which new features of ChessBase 14 and 15 are "are stunning and very valuable." And also trains you to use these new features. Definitely worth a click on Amazon to get a copy of this book.

10/21/2019 – The FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss is coming to an end and the tension continues to rise as those fighting for the Candidates spot have assumed a do-or-die attitude in Douglas. Seven out of the eight top games finished decisively in round ten. After the mayhem, Fabiano Caruana emerged as sole leader, while wins by Magnus Carlsen, Wang Hao, Kirill Alekseenko, David Howell and Nikita Vitiugov left them still with chances to take first place. The other two contenders are Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian, who drew their direct encounter. Round-up show by GM SIMON WILLIAMS. | Photo: John Saunders

10/20/2019 – Help for "fish head" Fleming courtesy GM JON SPEELMAN. Three exciting and instructive games for your agony column. | 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!

10/20/2019 – Going into the rest day we are now past the half way mark at the World Junior Championships 2019. In the open section we have two leaders: Evgeny Shtembuliak of Ukraine and Aram Hakobyan of Armenia. They are on 5.0/6 and are followed by a pack of seven players on 4½/6. In the girls section we have Mobina Alinasab who has taken the sole lead with 5½/6 beating Altantuya on top board. Polina Shuvalova is in the sole second spot with 5.0/6. As many as ten girls are on 4½/6. In this report we bring you the most interesting games of round six and interviews. We also tell you about the Iran-Israel controversy which has been going on at the event. Two Iranians (pictured) were paired against Israeli opponents in this tournament and forfeited. A power-packed report by IM SAGAR SHAH from New Delhi.

10/20/2019 – With two rounds to got at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss, four players are tied atop the standings on 6½ out of 9. The last one joining the group of co-leaders was Hikaru Nakamura, who defeated Vladislav Kovalev on Saturday. The ever-changing pack of chasers now consists of eleven players, still including world champion Magnus Carlsen. Meanwhile, Vincent Keymer, Jonas Buhl Bjerre and Raunak Sadhwani completed their third and final grandmaster norms. Daily highlights with IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photos: John Saunders

10/19/2019 – A Britannica Special Feature: ChessBase has received special permission from Encyclopaedia Britannica to highlight several sections from the classic article by Grandmaster ANDREW SOLTIS on chess, aimed at newcomers to the game. | Read part 1 | Here, he continues with an overview of Wilhelm Steinitz and the classical era.

10/19/2019 – Praggnanandhaa had an unbeaten streak of quite some games having won the under-18 gold at World Youth and playing some inspired chess in the first four rounds of the World Juniors. However, this came to an end at the hands of Ukrainian GM Evgeny Shtembuliak. Pragg sacrificed yet another exchange in the game, but it was not enough. Shtembuliak is now the sole leader with 4½/5, with three players following him on 4.0/5. In the girls section Mobina Alinasab (pictured, left) joined the leader Boldbaatar Altantuya at the top. Something from Iran to cheer amidst their player Aryan Gholami withdrawing from the event and Amin Tabatabaei facing Or Bronstein. In this report IM SAGAR SHAH brings you detailed analysis, photos and videos from New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/19/2019 – Three players are sharing the lead at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss, as David Anton joined Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian after beating Alexander Grischuk. Much like the leading pack, the group of chasers grew in size on Friday. Ten players are at a half point distance from the leaders, with some big names joining after round eight — Vishy Anand, Sergey Karjakin, Hikaru Nakamura and Boris Gelfand. Also among the chasers is Vladislav Kovalev, who upset Radoslaw Wojtaszek on board nine. IM LAWRENCE TRENT recapped the highlights of the day. | Photo: John Saunders

10/18/2019 – On October 17th, the World Junior Championships 2019 had two rounds. After the final game ended we already had clarity on who has the early lead in the event. In the open section we have three players who are sharing the lead with 3½/4 — Miguel Ruiz from Spain, Evgeny Shtembuliak from Ukraine and the local favourite Praggnanandhaa. In this article IM SAGAR SHAH analyses one game of Praggnanandhaa and one game of Shtembuliak in great depth. While Pragg teaches you the art of exchange sacrifices, Shtembuliak shows you how to play positions in which you are winning. In the girls section we have Boldbaatar Altantuya from Mongolia who is on 4.0/4 and is the sole leader. A detailed report from New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/18/2019 – White's 31.h5! in the diagram starts action on the kingside, and after 31...g5 he wins, with mates and more. Enjoy!

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

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