Opening the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz 2019

8/10/2019 – It's the next leg of the Grand Chess Tour, IM VENTKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports on the opening ceremony from the Saint Louis Chess Club on the eve of the rapid tournament. Can Magnus Carlsen be stopped? Sergey Karjakin: “My answer may be primitive, but we (all have) to play very well!” Levon Aronian: “I don't think it is about stopping somebody. It is about achieving more points than the person”.

A knight on the rim is...what now?

8/9/2019 – To annoy chess players, orient a board incorrectly or reverse the kings and queens. Claim that a knight on a3 controls the centre, or that Stan Vaughan is a world chess champion. WIM ALEXEY ROOT shares chess sayings (like "a knight on the rim is dim") and songs to move chess players from exasperation to pleasure. Perfect for some Friday Fluff! And if you have any sayings or songs to share, you can win a free autographed copy of Fritz 16!

This weekend: The Russian Championship 'Superfinals' begin

8/9/2019 – The first round of the Russian Superfinals will be held on Saturday, August 10th, in Wotinsk, the Republic of Udmurtia. Vladislav Artemiev and Aleksandra Goryachkina are the favourites. The twelve-player round-robin tournaments are incredibly strong — the Open tournament carries an average Elo rating of 2688! Chess has recently become a compulsory subject in Russian schools, so the pace of Russian players isn't likely to diminish anytime soon. | Photo: Patricia Claros / Eteri Kublashvili

The Power Play Show: Levitov Chess Week

8/9/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be looking through some sharp finishes from the Levitov Chess Week. 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...

Gruenfeld grinder

8/9/2019 – In the diagrammed position White must act fast since his centre is about to be blown apart. What would be your choice?

Michael Adams repeats as British Champion

8/9/2019 – Wrapping up the the 2019 British Championship, GM DANIEL GORMALLY sends his final thoughts, including annotations of the key last round games, and musings on why draw offers should be banned. GM Michael Adams won his seventh British Champion title, undefeated with 7½/9, a half point clear of David Howell. Jovanka Houska was the best female player and thus won her record ninth British Women's Champion title. | Photo: John Upham

Jobava's perfect score at Abu Dhabi Masters 2019

8/8/2019 – Baadur Jobava at one point in his chess career was well above 2700 on the Elo scale and otherwise has managed to keep his rating close to 2700. However, recently his bad form has taken him into the 2500 Elo mark. But that's not his true level! The Georgian GM is showing this at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2019 as he beats one GM after another and is now in sole lead with 6.0/6. Parham Maghsoodloo won the blitz event, while in the exhibition match between Leko and Morozevich, it was the Hungarian who came out on top. | Photo: Rupali Mullick

How Surya Sekhar Ganguly won the Belt and Road Open 2019

8/8/2019 – He was rated 2630, he was the 15th seed, and yet he went on to win the Belt and Road Hunan Open 2019 with a clear half point margin. How did Surya Sekhar Ganguly manage to do it? It is said that a chess tournament has a life of its own. In order to understand a success story, you have to study it from all angles. In this article, IM SAGAR SHAH tells you about Surya's frame of mind during the event, the games that he played, the opponents he faced and how he managed to come out strong and win the first prize of US$50,000. | Photos: Ganguly's Facebook page

The Chelyabinsk Meteorite

8/8/2019 – A meteorite can pass through the atmosphere burning — a fulgent light in the darkness. Igor Kurnosov, who died six years ago today, passed through the chess world like a meteorite, leaving many interesting games in his wake. DAVIDE NASTASIO reviews the book which celebrates a life cut too short. | Photos provided by the publisher, Elk and Ruby

Game of the Week: Ivan Cheparinov vs Wang Hao

8/7/2019 – From the strong Belt and Road Hunan International Open tournament in China, IM Merijn van Delft has selected the game between Bulgarian GM (now playing for Georgia) Ivan Cheparinov against China's Wang Hao. 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 on-demand this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

Nepomniachtchi wins Levitov's birthday rapid

8/7/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the rapid chess exhibition tournament — part of what was dubbed "Levitov Chess Week" in Amsterdam — on Tuesday, ahead of Alexander Gríschuk, who came equal on points with 5.0/7. Anish Giri was the only undefeated player and came third with a half point less. | Photo: Zairon CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Shirov the boss in Lund

8/7/2019 – Alexei Shirov showed he can still play, at the 5th CellaVison Cup in Lund, Sweden. He won the tournament with 7 of 8 thanks to better tiebreak score ahead of Kryakvin and Külaots. Pia Cramling took the women's prize with 6 points. The tournament also featured paintings by Mariya Yugina, wife of GM Mihail Marin. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

Deal of the Week: Winning with the Ruy Lopez Vol. 1 - 3

8/7/2019 – In this Victor Bologan trilogy, the veteran grandmaster shows you how to succeed after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 with the Ruy Lopez: 3.Bb5. This week only you can get all three volumes as a package for nearly USD $50 off the regular price.

"Let the kid own the process and the result" - Henrik Carlsen

8/6/2019 – At the Lindores Abbey tournament in Scotland in May 2019, IM SAGAR SHAH travelled from India to cover the tournament. Apart from doing the daily reports, he was able to interview Henrik Carlsen — father of the World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Henrik has been by Magnus' side right from the time he was a beginner to him becoming a World Champion. Their journey is a story worth sharing with the chess community.

The Weekly Show: British Championship wrap-up

8/6/2019 – The British Championship finished this past weekend in Torquay, England, with the resounding seventh title for GM Michael Adams. IM Lawrence Trent looks at how he did it, plus a glance at other highlights of the week in professional chess. Free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

From Abu Dhabi to Zeeland

8/6/2019 – Here are some of the major opens we're watching this week: 26th Abu Dhabi Masters 2019 (August 2-10), 23rd Hogeschool Zeeland Open 2019, Vlissingen, the Netherlands (August 3-10), RTU Open in Riga, Latvia (August 5-11). Live games, schedule and results.

The two faces of the opposite-coloured bishops

8/6/2019 – Opposite-coloured bishops have two faces: in a pure endgame they are often drawn because the weaker side is often able to defend on the squares that his bishop controls. But with more pieces on the board the opposite-coloured bishops indeed tend to favour the attacker. In this case Black can use the attacking potential of his queen.

Preparing against your opponent’s favourite variation

8/5/2019 – French Grandmaster Thal Abergel finished second in the recently held Paris Championship. Born in Haifa, Israel, the French GM hit a peak Elo rating of 2547 in March, 2010, and has found success as a trainer. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR spoke to him about tips and tricks of the trade for club players looking to improve their opening preparation.

A blitz (and rapid) birthday in Amsterdam

8/5/2019 – Eight top grandmasters are currently playing in Amsterdam a rapid and blitz chess tournament, invited to honour the 40th birthday of the former Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation, Ilya Levitov. Among them is Vladimir Kramnik, who retired from the tournament chess in January. He and Viswanathan Anand won the blitz tournament which was held on Saturday. | Photo: Peter Doggers / chess.com

The Sveshnikov: A top level guest that never leaves!

8/5/2019 – The Sveshnikov Sicilian is currently the hot topic of debate at the top level. With Magnus Carlsen scoring win after win with it, his compatriots are taking up the challenge and playing it themselves! With both White and Black finding hitherto hidden resources, it was high time that a FritzTrainer was made on the subject. Who better to do it than the man who has garnered numerous accolades for assisting Anish Giri? | Photo: Lennart Ootes / ReykjavikOpen.com (2017)

ChessBase Magazine 190: Eve at the chessboard

8/5/2019 – “She brings a whiff of romance to the magazine,” writes our columnist on the young player seen on our latest issue. Indeed, grace and elegance marked her performance in the recent European Women’s Championship that she won. But then her rivals were not far behind and as many as five players scored 8/11 before the result was determined by tie-break. This issue has 709 games from the championship with six fascinating encounters annotated by leading players. In the next part of the review our columnist would deal with the rest of the magazine. Among others it includes reports on FIDE Grand Prix, Grenke and Gashimov Memorial Tournaments (both won by Carlsen) plus 12 opening surveys and regular arsenal for the tournament player. Watch this space.

Repulsing a 'Greek gift'

8/4/2019 – "Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can" is a phrase by Ralph Waldo Emerson that GM Speelman's correspondent attached to his Agony game submission this week. Jon offers three instructive annotated games for your review. | 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!

British Championship - Round 9: Adams wins seventh title

8/4/2019 – The 106th British Chess Championships are being held at Riviera International Centre in Torquay England from July 27th to August 4th. The top British players are there including last year's winner Michael Adams, David Howell and Nick Pert. Round 9 games and commentary daily from 9:00 UTC (11:00 CEST / 5:00 AM EDT). Official site: britishchesschampionships.co.uk

Adams is the sole leader at the British

8/3/2019 – It's a familiar story: Michael Adams and Jovanka Houska are the leading contenders to be British Champion and Women's Champion heading into the final round. GM DANIEL GORMALLY brings us up to date on the action in Torquay, England, including several annotated games. Adams has a half point lead over David Howell, Stephen Gordon and Richard Pert. |Round 9| The final round starts at 9:00 UTC (11:00 CEST / 5:00 AM EDT). | Photos: Chris Stratford