Women's Candidates: Gunina beats Tan Zhongyi

6/9/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament reached half-time on Saturday. In round seven, only Valentina Gunina managed to score a full point, as she defeated Tan Zhongyi with the white pieces. This means there were no changes on top of the standings — Aleksandra Goryachkina is still leading, while Nana Dzagnidze and Kateryna Lagno are sharing second place one and a half points behind the youngster. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

Norway Chess, Round 3: Carlsen leads

6/7/2019 – Magnus Carlsen was close to losing against Levon Aronian in round two of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament, but in round three he appeared to be well-recovered, and won a seemingly effortless game against Alexander Grischuk. With this win Carlsen now leads the field. Aronian also appeared to be well-recovered and defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with Black. Ding Liren won against Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So got the better of Yu Yangyi, and Vishy Anand defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the only match-up that went to Armageddon. Analyses by CONSTANTIN LUPULESCU. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

A chess holiday

6/7/2019 – S´Arenal in Mallorca. A place where others spend their holidays was the venue for the 8th edition of the Llucmajor Open. ChessBase author Georgios Souleidis travelled from Hamburg to Llucmajor, hoping to enjoy sunny days and win rating points. A travel report. | Photo: Tournament Organisation

The Power Play Show: Carlsen's favourite pawn structure

6/7/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be considering one of Magnus Carlsen's favourite pawn structures, focusing on two of his games from the Abidjan GCT tournament. 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...

Paving the way

6/7/2019 – 26.Qe6! in the diagram position just feels right - the queen takes a threatening stance in front of Black's king which is stuck in the middle. However, after 26...Qc6 or 26...Bc6 White must walk the talk. Are you up to it?

Women's Candidates: A great day for Goryachkina

6/7/2019 – For a second time at the 2019 Women's Candidates, all four games of a round finished decisively. The results of round six all favoured sole leader Aleksandra Goryachkina, who was losing against her closest chaser, Nana Dzagnidze, but ended up getting the full point after the Georgian faltered by playing too passively. Both Muzychuk sisters won and left the cellar, as did Kateryna Lagno, who now shares second place with Dzagnidze. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Norway Chess, Round 2: Mamedyarov grabs the lead

6/6/2019 – Plenty of fighting chess was seen in (almost) all the classical games of round two at the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruana were the first ones to pick up two points by winning "slow" games in Stavanger. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen barely saved a draw against Levon Aronian in the Classical, but then went on to win in Armageddon. Wesley So and Yu Yangyi also got 1½ points after winning in sudden death. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

Women's Candidates: Goryachkina leapfrogs Dzagnidze

6/5/2019 – After winning three and drawing one in the first four rounds, Nana Dzagnidze lost for a first time at the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament — Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated the Georgian from the white side of an Alapin Sicilian. Aleksandra Goryachkina took this opportunity to leapfrog Dzagnidze atop the standings by taking down Tan Zhongyi. Meanwhile, Valentina Gunina and Kateryna Lagno missed winning chances against the Muzychuk sisters. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Game of the Week: Nico Zwirs vs Sipke Ernst

6/5/2019 – At the moment several interesting tournaments are played but IM Merijn van Delft prefers a little privacy and looks at a game between Nico Zwirs and Sipke Ernst, two of his friends. 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).

Women's Candidates: Nana Dzagnidze alone on top

6/5/2019 – Nana Dzagnidze is having a dream tournament in Kazan, as she now leads the Candidates Tournament on 3½/4 points — her victim in round four was Valentina Gunina. The other winner of the day was Kateryna Lagno, who defeated Mariya Muzychuk and is now in fourth place on a 50% score. Alexandra Kosteniuk drew Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychukk split the point with Aleksandra Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Norway Chess, Round 1: Five draws, five times Armageddon

6/5/2019 – The experiment has started. If two players draw their classical game at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger they have to go into Armageddon-overtime: White has ten minutes, Black has seven, no increment before move 60, and White has to win. Round 1 of the Altibox tournament brought five fine draws in classical chess, five exciting Armageddon games and a wild blitz battle. | Picture: Alexander Grischuk | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A plan, a plan, my kingdom for a plan!

6/5/2019 – Has this ever happened to you? You have managed the opening pretty well, you have an interesting position, but you simply don't know how to proceed. What you need is a plan. Let IM Robert Ris help you with that. The internationally known trainer and teacher has produced a brand new Fritztrainer with instructive videos and many interactive examples that will improve your strategic skills. Don't miss this one!

Bassem Amin: "Reaching 2750 is my next goal"

6/4/2019 – Bassem Amin has many firsts to his name. The Egyptian Grandmaster is a five-time African chess champion and the only player from Africa to have ever crossed the 2700 Elo mark. He serves on FIDE's Global Strategy Commission. Besides being a top chess player, he is also a doctor. Amin recently played for the club Clichy Echecs 92 in the French Top 12 championship in Brest in western France. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR caught up with Amin to talk on a range of issues from his performance in the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour to juggling chess career with medical studies.

The Weekly Show: The pleasure of having two bishops

6/4/2019 – On the show today Lawrence will have a look at a class positional display in N. Dzagnidze vs M. Muzychuk - how to squeeze a positional advantage with the two bishops. 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.

Niclas Huschenbeth is new German Champion

6/4/2019 – The two grandmasters Niclas Huschenbeth (pictured) and Dmitrij Kollars were dominating the 90th German Championships which were part of the German Chess Congress 2019 in Magdeburg. Both players finished the tournament with 8/9 but Huschenbeth had the better tiebreak and became German Champion 2019. | Photos: German Chess Federation / Frank Hoppe

Zugzwang?

6/4/2019 – White is almost in zugzwang but the diagonal a2-g8 happens to be just long enough for White's bishop.

Vachier-Lagrave wins Norway Chess opening Blitz

6/4/2019 – The 2019 Altibox Norway Chess Tournament officially kicked off Monday in Stavanger. The traditional Blitz Tournament, which takes place in lieu of the drawing of lots, was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman overpowered Magnus Carlsen in their final round deciding match-up and became the highest-rated player in the blitz ratings list. Levon Aronian and Carlsen shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

Chess calendar: June 2019

6/3/2019 – The Candidates tournament for the Women's World Championship technically began in May, but it's primarily a June affair. Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen is in action in Stavanger for the seventh time, and World Chess is trying a new format in Moscow that also involves Armageddon. You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage as well.

June ratings: Carlsen in striking distance of all-time peak

6/3/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for June 2019 starts with World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who has a chance to break his own all-time rating record this month. That would go a long way towards cementing a claim on the greatest-of-all-time honours. Pictured, however, is Cuban-born Leinier Dominguez, who now plays for the USA, and after a long hiatus is now knocking on the door of the Top 10 at 2760, just 8 points shy of his personal peak rating. That was set back in May 2014, when he briefly hit 2768. Do you know who else was at his peak that month five years ago? Magnus Carlsen! | Photo: Justin Kellar / Saint Louis Chess Club

Simon Says — The Torre Attack

6/3/2019 – Grandmaster Simon Williams says give the Torre Attack the ole college try! He'll show you the main ideas to whet your appetite for his latest DVD on this popular opening for amateur tournament players. Watch live for free starting at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Women's Candidates: Four winners, all with White

6/3/2019 – All four games favoured White in round three of the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. Both co-leaders — Nana Dzagnidze and Aleksandra Goryachkina — were among the winners, which leaves them on top of the standings with a remarkable 2½/3 score before the first rest day of the event. Meanwhile, Valentina Gunina bounced back from her round two loss and Tan Zhongyi got her first win of the tournament. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Material, structure and energy

6/2/2019 – This week our columnist JON SPEELMAN shares his own agonizing loss from over 40 years ago as a fine example of the "tension between structure and energy". Plus, in this study from GM John Nunn (pictured) it's White to play and draw! | 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!

Women's Candidates: Dzagnidze and Goryachkina strike first

6/2/2019 – An exciting round in Kazan resulted in two decisive games at the 2019 Women's Candidates. Nana Dzagnidze played bravely with Black and defeated Anna Muzychuk, while Aleksandra Goryachkina took down Valentina Gunina in 92 moves, after the latter stubbornly defended an inferior position for hours on end. Both co-leaders will have the white pieces on Sunday, when round three will be the last one before the first rest day. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Ready for Reti (part 2)

6/1/2019 – Many will know the Austro-Hungarian (and later Czechoslovakian) Richard Réti as a world-class player, but also as a great composer of endgame studies, so — in time for his 130th birthday — we continue our exploration of European chess composers with him. (Read part 1) | Photo: Ernst & Cesanek, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons