Riga GP: Vachier-Lagrave starts with a bang

7/13/2019 – The second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix kicked off with plenty of fighting chess. Only Maxime Vachier-Lagrave managed to score a full point, however, as he took down David Navara in 19 moves out of a sharp Caro-Kann. Wesley So, Alexander Grischuk and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had big chances but failed to join Vachier-Lagrave as the winners of round one, while Peter Svidler and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a sharp, entertaining game. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

58-year-old GM Igors Rausis accused of cheating

7/12/2019 – Every once in a while we hear a story of a chess player who surpasses the established norms and achieves truly something special. At that point a thought does cross almost every chess fan's mind: Is he for real? This is the case of 58-year-old GM Igors Rausis who saw a phenomenal surge in his rating that brought him as high as 2686, gaining over 50 Elo points in the last year alone. For a player of his age, Rausis' performance was closely scrutinized. Was it just his beating many lower rated players honestly? On July 11th, suspicions of something more nefarious finally gained gravity in the Strasbourg Open in France where he stands accused of cheating with his mobile phone inside a toilet! | Photo: Dominique Primel, Sautron (2018)

The Power Play Show: Ding-Nepomniachtchi

7/12/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be examining Ding vs Nepomniachtchi Zagreb 2019 — a rich and imaginative attacking performance. 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...

FIDE looks for statistical guidance with Nielsen

7/12/2019 – No, not Carlsen-second Peter Heine Nielsen, but rather the global measurement and data analytics company which has been contracted by FIDE to evaluate the chess market. Chess players of all levels from casual fans to grandmasters are encouraged to participate in a survey, and the international chess federation is offering an incentive in the form of two hours of training with none other than the 14th World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik.

Igor Yarmonov is the IPCA World Champion 2019

7/12/2019 – The 19th IPCA World Individual Chess Championship 2019 was held in Slovakia. Even though chess is primarily a mental game, it demands from its players great physical stamina. To keep finding good moves on the chessboard even after hours of strenuous battle is not for the faint-hearted. Every participant of this event showed great tenacity sitting at the board and fighting it out for three or four hours at stretch, despite their serious physical limitations.

Light summer mate IV

7/12/2019 – From the diagram position it's still quite a way to go for White until he finally hunts down Black's king in the centre. Enjoy the motifs!

Lucas van Foreest surprises as new Dutch Champ

7/11/2019 – The 18-year-old grandmaster Lucas van Foreest was the unexpected winner of the Dutch Championship defeating none other than his big brother Jorden in a tiebreak. After seven rounds in Amsterdam, the brothers had each had 5.0 points. Lucas won one of the two blitz games and drew the other. Their little sister Machteld van Foreest did well in the Women's Championship making it a true family affair, but WGM Iozefina Paulet earned the Women's Champ title with 6.0/7. | Photo: Harry Gielen

Reviewing the Colle-Koltanowski system

7/11/2019 – For those who wish to learn the first 25 moves of an opening by heart, the Najdorf is the breakfast of champions! But for those who love to just get through the opening with as little memorization as possible and directly play the middlegame and endgame the Colle-Zukertort and the Torre Attack are a fine choice! Reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO explores these openings allowing you to create a repertoire without fear of encountering computer generated novelties. As always, GM Simon Williams has created an attacking video series aimed at slowing raising the pressure on your opponent, making them quite uncomfortable until they crack.

Maghsoodloo masters Leon 2019

7/11/2019 – Three young players plus Vassily Ivanchuk gathered in Leon for this year's "Masters" rapid and blitz fest over three days. Ivanchuk deftly dealt with the Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin to reach the Final, but there he met his match in World Junior Champion Parham Maghsoodloo. The Iranian dispatched Jaime Santos in his semifinal, and dominated the final, winning two of the four games. | Photo: José Luque / Luque Fotografía León

Game of the Week: Lucas van Foreest vs Erik van den Doel

7/10/2019 – This week's training show covers another key game from the Dutch Championship featuring the ultimate winner Lucas van Foreest. 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 on-demand this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Dev Shah

7/10/2019 – More endgame training with an even younger Indian prodigy! Karsten is joined by 12-year-old Candidate Master Dev Shah. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST; 9:00 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Abhijeet Gupta is Commonwealth Champion for a record fifth time

7/10/2019 – The Commonwealth Championships 2019 were held from June 30th to July 7th 2019 in New Delhi, India. 'Mr. Commonwealth', four-time Commonwealth Champion also known as Abhijeet Gupta (pictured right) was taking part in the event and was the top seed. It was a fierce fight and in the end Abhijeet emerged victorious to take home his 5th Commonwealth title. Tania Sachdev (pictured left) won the women's event. IM SAGAR SHAH interesting chess analysis, photos, videos and much more.

7 reasons you should hire a chess player

7/10/2019 – ...well actually 7+1 — just in case seven reasons isn't enough...LEONIDAS LIASKOS was looking for a job and found his chess skills could be an asset. Coming across a 2018 article recommending human resources managers take a close look at competitive swimmers, he got inspired to write his own version for chess players. | Photos: Micael Sáez, Unsplash.com

IM Nguyen and WFM Serikbay win Asian Juniors 2019

7/9/2019 – The weeklong Asian Junior Championship concluded in Solo, Indonesia on Monday, after Standard, Rapid and Blitz competitions. The new overall champion is IM Nguyen Anh Khoi from Vietnam, who scored an impressive 8.0/9. Among the girls, WFM Assel Serikbay of Kazakhstan came out on top with 7.0/9. | Photo: Mulyadi R

The Weekly Show: Maghsoodloo brilliancy

7/9/2019 – IM Lawrence Trent tackles the Leon Masters performance of Iranian World Junior Champ Parham Maghsoodloo, who took down Vassily Ivanchuk in a four-game rapid match. Free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

Savchenko lifts the Alekhine Memorial 2019 Cup

7/9/2019 – The Alekhine Memorial in Voronezh is considered as one of the strongest tournaments in Russia. You have a host of Russian players who are under-rated and fighting for the top spots. RUPALI MULLICK, who was present at the event, with her son Raahil, brings us a detailed report from the venue. It includes photos, game analysis and videos, but also interviews with the first and second placed players Savchenko and Visakh who show us their best games along with analysis.

The knight blocks and the king attacks

7/9/2019 – White is a piece up but still has to win. In such cases zugzwang often helps.

Pal Benkö and the Fischer challenge

7/8/2019 – This is one of the most elegant chess problems we have ever seen. It was composed by the master, Pal Benko when he was just fifteen. Five pieces, four on their original squares, and the task is to force mate in three moves. That is quite difficult: Bobby Fischer failed to find the solution in half an hour. Can you do better – and can you find a correction for the minor dual that was found in the problem? You can win a nice prize if you do.

Simon Says — King Magnus

7/8/2019 – In this Simon Says we take a look at the all mighty Magnus, who has just won his eight consecutive tournament, exhibiting the kind of domination we used to associate only with Garry Kasparov. Watch on-demand for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Rapport roars in Hainan Danzhou

7/8/2019 – Richard Rapport won the super grandmaster tournament in Danzhou (China) on Sunday after a draw against China's Wei Yi in the last round gave the Hungarian Grandmaster a final score of 4½/7, half a point ahead of Wei his countryman Yu Yangyi. Rapport gained 9 Elo points and entered the Top 20, surpassing Hikaru Nakamura on the live ratings. | Photos: Misty Pine / cca.imsa.cn

Zagreb GCT: Carlsen amazes with yet another triumph

7/8/2019 – 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 Grünfeld 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. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

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