Anish Giri leads Shenzhen Masters after three rounds

4/19/2019 – Ding Liren, Anish Giri and Yu Yangyi are back in Shenzhen, as the trio has participated in all three editions of the six-player double round robin. Pentala Harikrishna is returning to the Chinese city after having played in 2017 but not in 2018, while the newcomers are Dmitry Jakovenko and Richard Rapport. After three rounds, Giri is the only player on a plus score. Harikrishna fell victim to Anish in round two but bounced right back the very next day. | Photo: cca.imsa.cn

Karpov's last bullet

4/19/2019 – After White's 49.Rd7 in the diagram position Black must find the right move with his attacked knight h7 to clinch victory. 49...Nf8 or 49...Ng5. What would have been your choice against a reigning World Champion?

European Senior Championships conclude in Rhodes

4/19/2019 – The 2019 edition of the European Senior Championships for men and women over 50 and over 65 was played between the 6th and the 14th of April. The organizers decided to reschedule the event earlier than initially announced, which complicated some of the logistics. Elena Fatalibekova, Tatiana Grabuzova, Jens Kristiansen and Zurab Sturua took home gold medals. The Amateur Championships for players U-1700, U-2000 and U-2300 took place concurrently. | Photo: Official site

Studying openings with the ChessBase Magazine, II: Creating a repertoire database

4/18/2019 – The second part of the opening tutorial shows how to create a repertoire database and how to import games from the ChessBase Magazine and other sources to your repertoire database to save a lot of time and effort. | Drawing: ChessBase
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Fabiano Caruana live Q&A

4/18/2019 – On Thursday at 15:00 UTC (17:00 CEST / 11 AM EDT), join us for a live question and answer session with world number two Fabiano Caruana, who will tackle ChessBase reader questions for about 30 minutes. Post your question in the comments section below and you'll be entered into a contest for a new Opening Encyclopedia autographed by Fabiano!

Fast and Furious: New developments in the Italian

4/18/2019 – Today's topic: The Italian with 4.c3 ♞f6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5, offers both sides dynamic chances. In this show IM Robert Ris will review GM games to illustrate the main plans and help you learn about the thematic attacking ideas in the ensuing pawn structure. 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.

European Women's Ch: Kashlinskaya takes the lead

4/18/2019 – Alina Kashlinskaya is the sole leader of the Women's European Championship after her victory over Pauline Guichard. Both had been leading the field after five rounds. Marie Sebag is in second. Wednesday was the tournament's one and only rest day. | Pictured: Alina Kashlinskaya and Marie Sebag | Photo: Kasia Selbes Photography / eiwcc2019.tsf.org.tr

Game of the Week: Carlsen-Grischuk

4/17/2019 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT). On this week's show: Magnus Carlsen's win over Alexander Grischuk from the last round of Shamkir. 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.

8-way tie in Reykjavik

4/17/2019 – After an eventful final round, eight players finished the Reykjavik Open tied with 7 points. Constantin Lupulescu had the best ranking on tiebreak and was declared the winner of the tournament ahead of Alireza Firouzja. Gawain Jones cracked the 2700 mark. | Photos: Fiona Steil-Antoni

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Fabiano Caruana

4/17/2019 – Karsten is joined by world number two Fabiano Caruana and this week's show will focus on his endgames. Join Karsten and Fabiano live at 14:00 UTC (16:00 CEST, 10:00 AM EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!

A Short swing through Atlanta

4/17/2019 – In the beginning of March 2019, FIDE Vice-President GM Nigel Short, came to Atlanta for a brief visit to his daughter. Unfortunately his daughter had a big movie project in Greece, so he found himself stranded in Atlanta! But there was a happy ending: thanks to the Atlanta Chess community, he had a warm welcome in the Peach state. Kudos to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta (from now on abbreviated as CCSCATL) it was possible to organize a lecture, and a simul in record time! DAVIDE NASTASIO was there.

Apropos illegal castling

4/16/2019 – In the third round of the Women's European Championship, an unusual incident involving illegal castling occurred in the game Gevorgyan vs Cornette, causing a stir. Although rare, this type of offence is not completely new, not even within official FIDE tournaments. We recall a famous case from 1995.

The Weekly Show: Reykjavik winds down

4/16/2019 – This week IM Lawrence Trent presents a key game from the Reykjavik Open, between Firouzja and Lupulescu which allowed the latter to take over the lead in Round 7. Free to watch on-demand for a limited time with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

One bishop, many pawns

4/16/2019 – Passed pawns can be dangerous, especially in the endgame. Here the black bishop is struggling to stem the tide. White can win but precise play is required.

A guide to the Opening Encyclopaedia 2019

4/16/2019 – Are you struggling in the opening phase of the game? When you go to a tournament and face an opponent who plays a specific line, do you find it difficult to come up with a fullproof idea. Has building an opening repertoire always been tough for you? Well, if you do face these problems then the opening encyclopaedia 2019 can be quite a useful product for you. In this video review, IM SAGAR SHAH reviews the recently released Opening Encyclopaedia 2019 and tells you how best you can make use of it.

Simon Says — Puzzle Hour

4/15/2019 – Today GM Simon Williams aims to test your tactic ability with a range of different problems. You'll encounter a number of modern games with a pinch of 'Troitzky' thrown in for good luck. Live today at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Reykjavik: Firouzja Express derailed

4/15/2019 – Constantin Lupulescu beat Newcomer Alireza Firouzja in the 7th round of the Reykjavik Open with a very double-edged and topical variation in the French Defence and took a full point clear of the rest of the field with two rounds to play. Report on Round 7 plus live games and commentary of Round 8. | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni

Gustafsson bags Bangkok Open

4/15/2019 – GM Jan Gustafsson (pictured left) won the 19th Bangkok Open for the second time (he also took the title in 2011), after a critical eighth round win over Vietnam’s The Anh Duong, and a quick draw in the final round gave him an edge on tiebreak score over GM Deep Sengupta (pictured right) of India. IM SAGAR SHAH annotates the key games. | Press release and photos: Bangkok Chess Club

Ashdod win their seventh Israeli Team Championship

4/15/2019 – The 2019 season of the Israeli Team Championship finished last week in Ramat Aviv. Ashdod obtained their seventh national title, led by Emil Sutovsky and a host of international reinforcements, including Pavel Eljanov and Alexander Moiseenko. Beer-Sheva Levant, led by Maxim Rodshtein, finished in second place, while Kfar Saba A, with Israeli champion Tamir Nabaty on board one, took home the bronze medals. YOCHANAN AFEK sent a report from the Western Asian country. | Photos: Dr. Mark Livshitz

Efim Bogoljubov: A Chess Career

4/14/2019 – When asked how many Germans had the chance to play a match for the World Championship most chess players probably would name two: Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch and Dr. Emanuel Lasker. But there is a third: Efim Bogoljubov, who was born 130 years ago, on April 14, 1889 in Stanislavchyk, near Kiev, but in 1927 became German and in 1929 and 1934 played title matches against Alexander Alekhine. | Photo: Screenshot from a newsreel video by the German "Bundesarchiv" about the Bad Pyrmont tournament in 1951

European Women's Ch: Fighting chess

4/14/2019 – No less than twenty-two players share first place on 2½ out of 3 at the European Women's Individual Championship in Antalya. Curiously, though, only four of the top ten seeds are in the large leading group, as some of the favourites have been having a hard time trying to take down lower-rated opponents. It has been a hard struggle so far, and only fourteen players will get a ticket to the World Cup. Eight rounds are still ahead. | Photo: Kasia Selbes Photography / Official site

Maxim Matlakov marches to Dubai Open win

4/14/2019 – The 21st Dubai Open witnessed one of the closest finishes that you would see at an open tournament. After nine rounds we had eight players on the same score of 7.0/9. Buchholz was the tiebreak and based on it Maxim Matlakov from Russia finished first and took home USD $13,000 along with the glittering Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup. Other players on 7.0/9 were 14-year-old prodigy Abdusattorov Nodirbek, Le Quang Liem, Yuriy Kuzubov, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Sanal Vahap, Aleksandar Indjic and P. Iniyan. A detailed report from Dubai by NIKLESH JAIN.

The Magician from Moscow

4/13/2019 – Vassily Smyslov adored him. Garry Kasparov admires him. Magnus Carlsen enjoys him. Who is he? Discerning readers would have guessed his name by now. Our columnist revisits the life and work of the eminent composer. Before you read on, try out the problem in the picture. It’s fun. | Photo: chessnews.ru

Reykjavik Open: Firouzja shines

4/13/2019 – Five out of nine rounds of the Reykjavik Open have been completed, and four players share the lead on 4½/5. Tied with the best tie-break score are Robert Hovhannisyan from Armenia and 15-year-old Alireza Firouzja from Iran, who in addition finished in clear first place at the Fischer Random side event. Also co-leading are Sergei Movsesian and Constantin Lupulescu. Seven players are a half point behind. | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni / Official site