GCT Zagreb: Ding Liren beats Giri

7/1/2019 – A wild round was followed by a quieter one in Zagreb, as five games ended in draws, with most of them not living up to the level of excitement seen on Saturday. Only Ding Liren defeated Anish Giri to bounce back to 50% in the standings table. The other highlight of the day was Levon Aronian not managing to convert a big advantage — which emerged from brilliant play in the early stage of the game — against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Ian Nepomniachtchi defended well against Hikaru Nakamura and still leads. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

What can racing learn from chess?

6/30/2019 – Chess is more affordable than racing. Chess ratings are more highly-regarded than Driver Database ratings. The highest-rated women chess players have proportionally more opportunities than the top-ranked women drivers. In this second of two articles, WIM ALEXEY ROOT explores what racing can learn from chess. She also interviews and plays two in-person blitz games with a race car driver, Kory Enders, who aspires to be a grandmaster. | Photo: Louis A. Reed Jr.

GCT Zagreb: A fighting round

6/30/2019 – There were no decisive results in round four of the Croatian Grand Chess Tour, but not for a lack of trying. Most notably, Magnus Carlsen vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Anish GIri were wild struggles which could have gone either way. Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana also fought hard, while fortune continues to smile on Ian Nepomniachtchi, who was in a difficult position against Sergey Karjakin but ended up taking home the half point and still commands the standings table. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Hillel Aloni: Patience and perseverance

6/29/2019 – When on May 26th 2017, in Netanya, a man died during the preparations to celebrate his 80th birthday, the jubilee turned into a memorial for one of the greatest study composers from Israel. Many chess composers have an endless love and passion for chess, but he also had it for raising other young talents. | Photos: Arves.org

GCT Zagreb: Three out of three for Nepomniachtchi

6/29/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi was the sole winner in Zagreb for a second day in a row, as he took down Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with the black pieces at the Croatian Grand Chess Tour. The Russian grandmaster now has a one-point lead over Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen, after the world champion finished on the bad side of a draw against world's number two Fabiano Caruana in the stellar match-up of the day. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Netanya: McShane stopped, Dominguez takes the lead

6/28/2019 – After starting with two wins, the McShane-Express came to a screeching halt after running into Tamir Nabaty in the 3rd round of the GM tournament in Netanya. But Nabaty was able to enjoy his lead at the Netanya Chess Festival for only one round, before losing Leinier Dominguez who leapfrogged him into first place where he has stayed through six rounds of play. In the Open, two players have 5½ points. | Photos: Yoav Nisenbaum / imt.chess.org.il

Carlsen flexing influence in Norway

6/28/2019 – The Norwegian Chess Federation is facing a democratic dilemma. The betting company Kindred Group, registered in Malta and Gibraltar with offices in Stockholm, has offered the federation a sponsorship agreement worth about five million euros. The deal is controversial and the association wants to vote on the matter on July 7th. Magnus Carlsen is in favour of the deal and has now set up a chess club to gain direct influence on the vote.

Light summer mate II

6/28/2019 – 26.Rfd1! in the diagram is best if one has a reply ready to 26...Bb6. Can you see how White hunts down Black's king in the centre after that?

Zagreb GCT: A second win for Nepomniachtchi

6/28/2019 – Round two of the Croatian Grand Chess Tour finished with only one decisive game, but there was no lack of excitement as some big misses led to unexpected results. Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Fabiano Caruana from a clearly inferior position, Magnus Carlsen could not convert a knight endgame a pawn up against Vishy Anand and Ding Liren failed to make the most of his advantage against Sergey Karjakin. These results left Nepomniachtchi as the sole leader with 2 out of 2. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Ernst Karl Falkbeer and his countergambit

6/27/2019 – With Falkbeer's Countergambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4!?) Black tries to spoil the fun White wants to have in the King's Gambit. A number of top players have tried this countergambit which led to entertaining games. Today, the line is only rarely seen but today, June 27, 2019, Ernst Karl Falkbeer, who gave the countergambit its name, would have celebrated his 200th birthday.

Fast and Furious: Sicilian Rossolimo with 3...e6

6/27/2019 – Looking for a great attacking weapon against the Sicilian Rossolimo? You better come and watch this episode of the Fast & Furious show! The live show at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT) 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.

NEW: ChessBase Magazine 190

6/27/2019 – ChessBase Magazine is the most comprehensive and most sophisticated chess magazine there is. World class players analyse their brilliancies and explain the ideas behind the moves to you, opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and offer exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in the fields of tactics, strategy, and the endgame show you the tricks and techniques a successful tournament player needs! Here are the highlights of this new DVD with several hours of video + booklet.

Chess at the Jewish Museum of Vienna

6/27/2019 – Simon Wiesenthal (1908- 2005) is well-known for hunting Nazi war criminals. Originally he had been an architect. One of his last designs was for a lavish coffee house and included a chess room. The drawings are for the first time on display at the Jewish Museum in Vienna. | Pictured: Porcelain chess set of Viennese artist Arik Brauer | Photos: Stefan Loeffler (unless indicated)

Zagreb GCT: A red-hot start

6/27/2019 – Four players opened the Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour with a win. Most eyes were on World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who continued his astounding year with an inaugural win in Zagreb over Anish Giri. Carlsen's latest challenger, Fabiano Caruana, also won, after taking advantage of a blunder by Hikaru Nakamura, while Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi got full points as well, with victories over Ding Liren and Vishy Anand. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Game of the Week: Luke McShane vs Pavel Eljanov

6/26/2019 – This week IM Merijn van Delft turns his training eye on the recent game between Luke McShane and Pavel Eljanov played at the ongoing Netanya Masters in Israel. 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).

Closing out Norway Chess with music

6/26/2019 – The Norway Chess tournament ended not only with a Carlsen win but with music. At the prize giving ceremony Jason Kouchak and Juga di Primo showed off their grandmaster-class musical skills. Both musicians have dramatized chess motifs in their compositions and are great chess fans themselves.

Become a Lumbeerjack with the Torre Attack!

6/26/2019 – These days there's no shortage of information on opening theory. Everyone, even an amateur, with a bit of study can play main line theory like a pro GM. In such circumstances, perhaps it's all the more salient to question to our opponents using openings which are sound, but less mainstream. That's what Simon Williams sets out to do in his latest DVD on the Torre Attack, and DAVIDE NASTASIO has the review.

The Weekly Show: Summer Classic

6/25/2019 – The focus this week is on the St. Louis Summer Chess Classic tournaments where I take a look at a game — and a novelty — by another young hope from the USA: Brandon Jacobson. Free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

McShane with the best start in Netanya

6/25/2019 – The Netanya Chess Festival (June 23 to July 2) features a GM round-robin and an open. In the GM tournament, possibly the strongest tournament in Israel ever, five world-class grandmasters take on five Israeli GMs. The prize fund is $100,000, while in the open it is just under $50,000: Luke McShane started with two wins. Watch Round 3 LIVE! | Photos: Yoav Nisenbaum / imt.chess.org.il

"Chess makes you smart": Huge scholastic tournament in Bremen

6/25/2019 – Marco Bode is a German football legend, famous for his fair play and his loyalty to his club, Werder Bremen. Bode is also a passionate chess player who is keen to teach young kids the game and to make chess a subject in schools. Last week, Bode's efforts led 1,000 primary school students to play a huge tournament in the center of Bremen. | Photos: Pascal Simon/ Rainer Woisin

Stop passed pawns or let them run?

6/25/2019 – Rules of thumb are just that — rules of thumb. They are often a good guideline but sometimes they are made to be broken and only concrete calculation helps.

Nyzhnyk nabs National Open

6/24/2019 – Grandmaster RUIFENG LI reports and annotates games from Las Vegas as Ukrainian GM Illya Nyzhnyk won the newly lengthened 9-round National Open. Nyzhnyk's five wins and four draws were good enough for clear 1st place and the USD $8,000 prize. Alejandro Ramirez was the best scoring US player. Pictured: Organizers Janelle and Alan Losoff, with the new National Open Champion. | Photo: Tim Hanks

Simon Says — Highlights from the Summer Chess Classic

6/24/2019 – In this Simon Says we take a look at some of the highlights from the Summer Chess Classic in St Louis. Concentrating on the top section, where David Howell and Jeffrey Xiong are leading, Simon will show you the best (and worst!) moves that have been played.

Half time at the Summer Chess Classic

6/24/2019 – The three tournaments of the "Summer Chess Classic" at the Saint Louis Chess Club will start in their second half today with five of the ten rounds in the books. Sunday was the tournaments' sole rest day. In the A tournament there was a draw between co-leaders Jeffery Xiong and David Howell, allowing Sam Shankland to move closer to the top with his win against Dariusz Swiercz. The encounter between Gawain Jones and Le Quang Liem ended in a draw. | Photo: Xiong vs Howell (webcast)