Pure elegance

5/24/2019 – In the diagram position the white king seems reasonably protected, but the game continuation gives Black an irresistible attack. What would be your idea?

Moscow GP: No reason to press on

5/24/2019 – Alexander Grischuk and Radoslaw Wojtaszek drew their first semi-final encounters with the black pieces, and will move first against Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi in Friday's return games. Both draws were signed with plenty of play on the boards, but given the format the players decided it was too risky to keep going. Expert analysis by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

ChessBase Apps: Live Chess

5/23/2019 – ChessBase invites you to follow the top players and the top tournaments live — with the WebApp "Live Chess". This section of the ChessBase ecosystem offers more than just viewing the games: you can analyse in our full-featured game viewer, check current theory, tweet the game, open the games in the Live Database, MyGames or Fritz and much more. Try it! | Drawing: ChessBase
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Moscow GP: Grischuk, Nepo and Nakamura advance

5/23/2019 – Only two rapid games in each of the three quarter-finals matches were enough to complete the draw for the semi-finals at the first leg of the Grand Prix in Moscow. Daniil Dubov, Wesley So and Wei Yi were knocked out by Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi, respectively. The first games of the semis will be played on Thursday, with Nakamura set to face Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi paired up against Wojtaszek. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

A "futuristic" Game of the Week: Dubov vs Giri

5/22/2019 – The FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Moscow is played in KO format, starting with 16 players. Top seeds Giri and Mamedyarov were eliminated in the very first round, which pretty much illustrates that everyone can beat anyone in this elite tournament. The only downside is that some players prefer quick draws, to save their energy for the tie-break. Nevertheless, some amazing chess is being played and tonight we'll focus today on the futuristic game Dubov vs Giri. The live 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 at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

Moscow GP: Wojtaszek is the first one in the semis

5/22/2019 – Peter Svidler was the first player to be eliminated from the Moscow Grand Prix quarter-finals, after Radoslaw Wojtaszek defeated him with the white pieces on Tuesday. Alexander Grischuk and Wei Yi had difficult positions against Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi, respectively, but they ended up getting a second draw in their match-ups after all. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ analyses the games. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

Why IMSA had “Men’s” not “Open” Chess

5/21/2019 – Some press coverage of the 2019 IMSA World Masters tournament, including articles on ChessBase, mentioned a "Women’s" section and an "Open" section. Those reporters erred: In fact, there was a Women’s section and a Men’s section but no Open section. ALEXEY ROOT explores the advantages and disadvantages of Men’s sections, historically and today, in chess and in other sports. | Photo: hengshui2019.fide.com

The Weekly Show: The French Top 12

5/21/2019 – On the show today, the French team championship is taking place in Brest, and Lawrence was intrigued by some upset wins scored by 2200 players. A harbinger of the improvement of average standard? Live beginning at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

NEW: Simon Williams: The Colle–Koltanowski System and Torre Attack

5/21/2019 – NEW: A pair of new releases from the popular English grandmaster Simon Williams are out today. The Torre Attack and the Colle–Koltanowski System work perfectly against most Black setups and will be a perfect accompanying DVD to Williams' earlier best-seller on the London System. Info and sample videos...

Two knights and a pawn too many

5/21/2019 – It is strange but two knights alone cannot force checkmate. However, things are different when the defending side still has a pawn at or behind the so-called Troitzky-line. It also depends on where the defending king is placed. Karsten Mueller explores some of the secrets of this unusual endgame.

Moscow GP: Drawing is better than losing

5/21/2019 – The quarter-finals of the Moscow Grand Prix (Watch LIVE) kicked off on Monday with draws on all four boards, here annotated by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ. Alexander Grischuk and Wesley So were the last ones to leave the playing hall, after signing a 28-move draw — Wei Yi and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew in 31 moves, but signed the score sheets earlier. The highlight of the day was Daniil Dubov's unorthodox plan with Black against Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: World Chess

Simon Says — A topical line in the Caro-Kann

5/20/2019 – In this Simon Says we look at pros and cons of this variation in the Caro-Kann: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 (or ♘d2) dxe4 4.♘xe4 ♞f6 5.♘xf6 exf6! Watch live for free starting at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Komodo 13 comes out tomorrow

5/20/2019 – This program thinks like no other chess engine in the world. Inspired by the ideas of AlphaZero and Leela, the authors set out to implement a "Monte Carlo Tree Search". The result: Komodo 13 MCTS – an engine which looks for candidate moves in an incredible new way, and finds moves no other engine can. It enhances the traditional brute force engine that has reached well over 3400 points on the Elo scale.

Bu Xiangzhi and Lei Tingjie win IMSA Mind Games Blitz 2019

5/20/2019 – The IMSA Mind games Rapid section had been won by Anton Korobov and Alexandra Kosteniuk. After three days of rapid, it was now time for 22 rounds of 3'+2" blitz. Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi played a solid and stable event and with 14½/22 took home the gold. The silver was won by Korobov and the bronze by Rapport. In the women's section it was a fierce fight to the finish line between Lei Tingjie and Kosteniuk. The Chinese player won the gold, Kosteniuk the silver and Tan Zhongyi bronze.

Moscow GP: Duda and Rabjabov are knocked out by So and Nakamura

5/20/2019 – Two rapid games were enough for Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura to take down Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Teimour Radjabov in the first-round tie-breaks of the Moscow Grand Prix. Both Americans had White in the first encounter and scored right off the bat. While Nakamura was never in big danger in the return game, Duda posed many problems to So with the white pieces. Both encounters finished drawn, however. | Photo: World Chess

Development of the Bryntse Gambit

5/19/2019 – Our grandmaster columnist JON SPEELMAN reveals an embarrassing mishap at the closing dinner of the London Chess Classic and continues his investigation of games in the "Bryntse Gambit" queen sacrifice in the opening (on move six!) with theoretical contributions from a Polish IM by the name of Wladyslav Krol. 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!

Moscow GP: Only two match-ups go to tie-breaks

5/19/2019 – A day full of exciting chess at the Moscow Grand Prix ended up with six players qualifying to the second round without needing rapid and blitz tie-breaks. Daniil Dubov, Wei Yi, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Radoslaw Wojtaszek secured their spots in the quarter-finals, while Wesley So defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda to tie the score, and Teimour Radjabov signed another quick draw with Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: World Chess

Moscow GP: Three winners on opening day

5/18/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radek Wojtaszek won with the white pieces at the start of the FIDE Grand Prix in Moscow, which means Levon Aronian, Wesley So and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will need to push for a win on Saturday if they want to survive the first round. Three match-ups ended with quick draws, while Peter Svidler and Anish Giri accepted the draws offered by Nikita Vitiugov and Daniil Dubov in games that could have easily kept going. | Photo: World Chess

IMSA Live

5/18/2019 – In Hengshui, China, the IMSA World Master Championships began. IMSA stands for International Mind Sports Association and in Hengshui some of the world's best players in games such as Go, Bridge, Checkers, etc. meet to fight for money and fame. The chess players challenge each other in rapid and blitz. Day 5 of the tournament and day 2 of the blitz starts May 18th at 13:00 local time (7:00 CEST, 1:00 EDT). Follow the games live, with commentary.

Anjelina on Kasparov vs Deep Blue

5/17/2019 – 22 years ago Garry Kasparov played an ill-fated match against Deep Blue. There were many interesting visitors at the event in New York, amongst them a young Women's Grandmaster who, in an interview, said: "I don't think it's my place to criticize a World Champion, but ...". She went on to give a frank opinion of Kasparov's strategy. Today Anjelina Belakovskaia, who is doing remarkable work for American chess (and finance), turns fifty. FREDERIC FRIEDEL looks back at his first encounter with her, and the early days of ChessBase Magazine.

The Power Play Show: "Tony Miles"

5/17/2019 – Friday at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! Today: "An Endgame by Tony Miles". All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

Ambush

5/17/2019 – Black's 20...Qd5! in the diagram just feels right, with a concrete bonus — the game continuation 21.Qxa6? can be directly refuted. Watch the potential of all black pieces!

Elite Chess Training!

5/16/2019 – What would you do if you could have a different chess training regimen every day of the week? Beginning Monday with Openings and finishing Friday with Tactics? How should one train to be ready for the next weekend tournament? And where to find different trainers and coaches? CBM 189 is packed with videos by different titled players. It was created with a chess training regimen in mind, and will give you a chance to keep every single chess muscle trained, much like a sort of gym for chess. Reading Chessbase Magazine will be the experience of a lifetime.

Korobov and Kosteniuk dominate IMSA Rapid 2019

5/16/2019 – The rapid section of IMSA chess tournament came to conclusion. Anton Korobov emerged as the sole leader in the open section after a swashbuckling 4.0/4 on Day 2 and a steady 2.0/3 on Day 3 of the event. He won the tournament with a margin of 1½ points! In the women's section it was Alexandra Kosteniuk who dominated the last day with a clinical 4.0/4 sweep to bag the first prize. In this report we bring to you the glimpses of exciting action from days 2 and 3.