A premature peace

7/7/2019 – Jon starts the second half of the year with an Agony column submission from a Palestinian chess coach from Bethlehem. | 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!

GCT Zagreb: Round 11

7/7/2019 – We saw history in the making, as Magnus Carlsen won his eighth tournament in a row at the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb. The world champion defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from the white side of a Grüenfeld to finish in clear first place a full point ahead of his closest pursuer with a 'plus five' score. Carlsen's official rating in August will equal his own peak rating of 2882 points — the highest ever achieved. Wesley So finished in sole second place. Express report. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Zagreb GCT: Playing it safe

7/7/2019 – Round ten of the Grand Chess Tour event in Zagreb finished with all six games drawn. Wesley So had the white pieces against leader Magnus Carlsen and decided to use a safety-first approach which resulted in a 36-move tie. Only Caruana v Mamedyarov, by far the longest game of the day, saw the players creating some imbalances at the board. In Sunday's final round, Carlsen will have White against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and So will face Levon Aronian with the black pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Watch the Zagreb games live – here on ChessBase.com

7/7/2019 – The final round of the Zagreb Grand Chess Tour takes place on Sunday. Will Magnus Carlsen maintain his half-point lead over Wesley So? How will Caruana fare against Karjakin? To find out, and to follow the action live requires just a click or two on our news page. You get not just the moves, but running machine commentary, openings analysis, engine evaluation, and a lot more. Here is how you can really enjoy the round.
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Frode Urkedal wins Nordic Championship

7/6/2019 – The Nordic Championship, a tournament in which players from Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland crown their champion, is played every two years. This year Norway hosted the event and Frode Urkedal, with a rating of 2566 currently number 4 in Norway, won the event and now has the right to start in the World Cup. Holger Blauhut reports about the tournament and muses about the mentality of the Norwegians. | Photos: Bjørn Berg Johansen

Zagreb GCT: Top-notch draws

7/6/2019 – Magnus Carlsen still leads the Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour, as both he and his only chaser Wesley So got half points in round nine. Carlsen and Levon Aronian played a remarkable, precise 49-move draw while Wesley So was on the brink of defeat but miraculously survived against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The only winner of the day was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who defeated Vishy Anand with the white pieces. Round ten will see the deciding match-up between Carlsen and So. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Yermo's travels: U.S. Senior Open 2019

7/5/2019 – In the U.S. there's a new U.S. Senior Invitational starting soon, but as a warm-up GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY travelled to Illinois for the U.S. Senior Open. He and fellow former U.S. Champion Joel Benjamin were the top seeds, but 62-year-old GM Dmitry Gurevich, also a four-time U.S. Champion, scored a clutch last round win to finish in sole first with 5½/6. "Yermo" also snagged an annotated game from U.S. Junior Open winner IM Christopher Shen. | Photos: Alex Yermolinsky

This weekend: Magistral Ciudad de León

7/5/2019 – The 32nd edition of the "Magistral Ciudad de León" will take place this weekend, with the main event — a four-player knock-out tournament — starting today, July 5th. This year's participants are Vassily Ivanchuk, Parham Maghsoodloo, Nihal Sarin and Jaime Santos. Besides the GM event, an open tournament, a blitz event, a scholastic meeting and many other chess-related side activities kicked off on Thursday. | Photos: Archive

Light summer mate III

7/5/2019 – In view of the coffin nail f6, the only hope for Black's king in the diagram position is based on his defending knight on e8. White to play. Say no more!?

Zagreb GCT: Carlsen's impressive year continues

7/5/2019 – In consecutive days, Magnus Carlsen defeated two players from the elite he had never managed to take down in a classical game ever before. After beating Ian Nepomniachtchi on Wednesday, he got the better of Ding Liren in round eight of the Croatian Grand Chess Tour. Second-placed Wesley So also got a win, though, which means Carlsen still has a mere half point lead in Zagreb. Meanwhile, Anish Giri inflicted Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's third defeat of the event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Chess calendar: July 2019

7/4/2019 – Classical, rapid and blitz, oh my. There's a ton of top chess this month from China and across Europe to the USA. Find your favourite players and follow along all month in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage as well. A handy reference, updated every few days!

World Memory Champion Simon Reinhard on how to keep things in your mind

7/4/2019 – With a German rating of 2246 Simon Reinhard is a strong amateur. But he probably learns openings better, more efficiently, and faster than most top grandmasters. After all, Reinhard is several times World Memory Champion. In an interview, he talks about the art of remembering and how memory techniques can help to train openings, middlegames and endgames in chess. | Photo: André Schulz

Zagreb GCT: Carlsen grabs the lead

7/4/2019 – A big blunder by Ian Nepomniachtchi gave his round seven rival, Magnus Carlsen, a second straight win at the Croatian Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb. Thanks to this victory, Carlsen is now in sole first place on 5 out of 7. The rest of the games finished drawn — three of them were rather lifeless, while Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri fought on until move 54 and Sergey Karjakin missed a simple chance to take down former co-leader Wesley So. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Game of the Week: Jorden van Foreest vs Ivan Sokolov and more!

7/3/2019 – This week's training show covers the Dutch Championship game between Jorden van Foreest and Ivan Sokolov. Don't miss the "cool sacrifices"! 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).

Gelfand, standing tall, wins Netanya International

7/3/2019 – Boris Gelfand turned in a strong second half in Netanya, and put himself in a tie for first with his victory in the eighth round against early-leader Luke McShane. Yesterday, a short draw against co-leader Leinier Dominguez was enough for him to win the tournament thanks to a better tiebreak score. Both finished with 5½ points. Mikhail Antipov won clear first in the Open with 7½/9. | Photos: Yoav Nisenbaum / imt.chess.org.il

Lively start in 10th Hainan Danzhou

7/3/2019 – With so many concurrent events, one thing's for sure: Chess fans around the world are not going to get bored! A strong tournament started in China on Sunday, the 10th Hainan Danzhou Tournament runs through July 7th with both top Chinese players and elite international guests. The Chinese are leading alongside Richard Rapport after four rounds. | Photo: sunnyhainan.com

NEW: Erwin l’Ami: The Shining Sveshnikov Sicilian

7/3/2019 – Erwin l'Ami's latest video series features a weapon recently brought to the fore by World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who used it extensively in his 2018 World Championship match in London. L'Ami is an active trainer and second of super-GM Anish Giri, and an experienced theoretician. Who better to deconstruct this topical and powerful defence for Black?

USA opportunities for chess kids

7/2/2019 – The latest news from the Kasparov Chess Foundation includes and update on their Young Stars program and, from New York, the Harlem Children's Zone. The most recent camp for US stars took place in June in Saint Louis, while the global camp has just wrapped up in Zagreb, Croatia, alongside the Grand Chess Tour. Try your hand at a few of the studies that Garry Kasparov himself poses for the students! | Pictured: Saint Louis celebrates the Blues hockey team with a parade, as IM Christopher Yoo analyses a position

Newly discovered Lewis chess piece sold for GBP £735,000

7/2/2019 – A recent discovery from the estate of an antique dealer turns out to be worth a small fortune: A previously unknown chess piece found in the 19th century on the Isle of Lewis was sold at Sotheby's auction house this afternoon for 735,000 British pounds. Read on for details of the rare artefact. | Photos: Sotheby's

Looking for a way

7/2/2019 – In the endgame, kings should get active. But sometimes it is not clear which way the king should take to make the most of its activity.

Zagreb GCT: Carlsen and So catch up with Nepomniachtchi

7/2/2019 – The last round before the only rest day in Zagreb saw former sole leader Ian Nepomniachtchi suffering a first loss — against Ding Liren — which allowed Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So to catch up with him on 4 points out of 6. Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian also won, while the only draw of the day was seen in Anish Giri versus Vishy Anand. The action continues on Wednesday, when Nepomniachtchi will have the white pieces against Magnus Carlsen. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

Summer Chess Classic: Le Quang Liem wins the A tournament

7/1/2019 – Over the weekend at the Saint Louis Chess Club, the trio of tournaments comprising the "Summer Chess Classic" came to an end after 10 rounds of action. The most Elo-heavy 'A' tournament was won by the Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem with 6.0/10. David Howell (England) and Jeffery Xiong (USA) each scored 5½ points. The winner of the B tournament was Grigoriy Oparin (Russia, 6.5 / 10); The C tournament was won by Arturs Neiksans (Latvia, 6.5 / 10). | Photo: Crystal Fuller

Simon Says — Recent games and the h-Pawn

7/1/2019 – In this Simon Says we take a look at the seemingly new fashion of top players pushing 'Harry' the h-pawn. We use a number of examples from the recent Grand Chess Tour action but also look at some other famous examples of this warrior of a pawn being used. Watch live for free starting at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

July ratings: Goryachkina vaults to world #3

7/1/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for July2019 with a focus on the outcome of the Women's Candidates tournament won by 20-year old Russian phenom Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured). In blitz, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has taken the #1 spot away from World Champion Magnus Carlsen thanks to his Norway Chess blitz win. And 58-year old GM Igors Rausis continues his improbable climb up the raking list by bashing much weaker players. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili