Goryachkina is the new World Championship challenger

6/14/2019 – Aleksandra Goryachkina had a winning position against Tan Zhongyi in round twelve of the Women's Candidates Tournament, but decided to go for perpetual check and sign a draw, as this secured her first place in Kazan. The 20-year-old will play Ju Wenjun in the next Women's World Championship match. Meanwhile, Anna Muzychuk, Valentina Gunina and Nana Dzagnidze won their round twelve games. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

The Power Play Show: Caruana vs Anand

6/14/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King be looking through the Caruana-Anand classical game from Norway Chess in detail - there are some beautiful variations. 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...

Altibox Norway Chess, Round 9

6/14/2019 – The 2019 Altibox Norway Chess Tournament is a ten-player single round robin taking place on June 3rd-15th in Stavanger. Every single match will have a winner: if the classical game ends in a draw Armageddon will follow, White has ten minutes, Black seven, but White needs to win. Magnus Carlsen won the tournament with one round to spare but there is still money and prestige stake. In the ninth and final round Carlsen will play against Caruana. The last round starts Friday at 17:00 CEST (15:00 UTC, 11:00 EDT). Follow the games live, with commentary by Judit Polgar and Anna Rudolf. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

The Weekly Show: The powerful play of Aleksandra Goryachkina

6/14/2019 – On the show Lawrence had a look at the Women's Candidates tournament in general and the performance of Goryachkina in particular. Free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

Magnus Carlsen wins Norway Chess with a round to spare

6/14/2019 – After beating Yu Yangyi in their classical encounter of round eight, Magnus Carlsen secured his second Norway Chess title with a round to spare. Before the day's action, Levon Aronian was trailing Magnus by two points, but the Armenian lost — also in Classical — against Fabiano Caruana...and nonetheless remained in second place. Meanwhile, Vishy Anand, Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won their mini-matches in Armageddon. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

Queenless queensides

6/14/2019 – With 14...0-0-0 in the diagram position Black parries the threat Nc7+, but White's continuation shows that it's not only about material on the queenside. Five moves later it was "Game Over". But what did White play after 14...0-0-0?

Fast and Furious: Sicilians from Poikovsky

6/13/2019 – Today IM Robert Ris tackles Sicilians from Poikovsky on his 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.

Norway Chess, Round 7: Aronian climbs to second place

6/13/2019 – Ding Liren beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the classical phase of round seven at the 2019 Altibox Norway Chess Tournament. The rest of the games went to Armageddon. Magnus Carlsen drew Wesley So with Black to get his sixth win of the event in sudden death, while Levon Aronian also drew Yu Yangyi with Black to get the mini-match win — the Armenian is now in sole second place, two points behind the world champion. Round-up show by GM DANIEL KING. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

Women's Candidates: Wins for Gunina and Tan Zhongyi

6/13/2019 – Two players won with White in round eleven of the 2019 Women's Candidates in Kazan. Valentina Gunina bounced back from two straight losses with a win over Nana Dzagnidze, while Tan Zhongyi defeated former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Aleksandra Goryackina and Kateryna Lagno drew their games against the Muzychuk sisters, which means Goryachkina still has a lead of 2½ points, now with only three rounds to go. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Women's Candidates: Kosteniuk defeats Gunina

6/12/2019 – Round ten of the Women's Candidates Tournaments in Kazan finished with three draws and a single decisive game — Alexandra Kosteniuk took down Valentina Gunina with the white pieces. Meanwhile, in the crucial duel of the day, Kateryna Lagno could not overcome clear leader Aleksandra Goryachkina, which means the youngster kept her 2½-point lead over her compatriot with only four rounds to go. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

Game of the Week: Alireza Firouzja vs Murali Karthikeyan

6/12/2019 – At the moment several interesting tournaments are played and IM Merijn van Delft looks at a game between Alireza Firouzja vs Murali Karthikeyan. 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).

A delightful wealth of chess: the new CBM Extra 189

6/12/2019 – From issue to issue the ChessBase Magazine Extra is getting more attractive. The current issue offers no less than four opening videos, plus the popular “The Brilliancy Game” video. The “Lucky Bag” which was introduced half a year ago contains more and more high-class analyses. And the update service gives your database a powerful boost.

Karthikeyan Murali: A queen sacrifice on move nine

6/11/2019 – Chances to sacrifice your queen after nine moves are rare. But in round five of the Asian Continental Championship in Xingtai, China, the Indian Grandmaster Karthikeyan Murali had such a chance. He used it to win a brilliancy against Alireza Firouzja and to take the lead in the tournament. | Photo: Amruta Mokal (Archive)

Norway Chess, Round 6: One-move blunders

6/11/2019 – The sixth round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament saw all match-ups decided on Armageddon, as all the "slow" encounters finished drawn. Magnus Carlsen was close to lost in both his games against Ding Liren, but eventually managed to defeat the Chinese nonetheless. Meanwhile, Yu Yangyi and Levon Aronian also won their match-ups, thus staying in sole second and third places, respectively. Round recap by GM ERWIN L'AMI. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

Simon Says — The Colle System

6/11/2019 – Grandmaster Simon Williams says give the Colle System 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 it now from the archive.

Mate ends the game

6/11/2019 – "Mate ends the game!" Beginners know this simple truth but if you start to learn the intricacies of positional play you sometimes forget about the enemy king while trying to exploit weak pawns, weak squares, pawn majorities, etc. But mating attacks are often very powerful - even in the endgame.

Women's Candidates: A sixth win for Goryachkina!

6/11/2019 – Aleksandra Goryachkina has won six games and drawn three at the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. In round nine, she defeated Valentina Gunina for a second time in the event, thus getting 2½-point lead over second place with five rounds to go. Anna and Mariya Muzychuk also won and now share third place with 4½ out of 9 points. Kateryna Lagno is still in sole second place, after saving a draw against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Norway Chess, Round 5: Carlsen still on top, Yu Yangyi in second place

6/10/2019 – In the fifth round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, Magnus Carlsen has secured another 1½ points thanks to a couple of safe draws with Black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Given the fact that Wesley So only drew with White in his Armageddon match-up against Viswanathan Anand, Carlsen now has a 1½-point lead in the standings table. In second place is Yu Yangyi, who benefited from a mistake by Fabiano Caruana in a pawn endgame. Round-up show by YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The Fun of Chess Tactics

6/10/2019 – Why is it so much fun to solve tactical puzzles? The first reason has nothing to do with chess: Solving an interesting problem brings a sense of achievement. This releases a quantity of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a complex neurotransmitter and constitutes part of the brain’s neurochemical motivation and reward mechanism, often cited in pop culture as the “hormone of happiness”. It is the same substance your head gets overdosed with when you fall in love.
More...
 22

Women's Candidates: Goryachkina keeps on winning

6/9/2019 – Things are still going Aleksandra Goryachkina's way at the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. The 20-year-old defeated former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in round eight, which means she is now two points ahead of second-placed Kateryna Lagno. Before Sunday's round, Lagno was sharing second place with Nana Dzagnidze, but the Georgian fell on the standings table after losing against Tan Zhongyi with Black. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

Norway Chess, Round 4: Carlsen ahead of So and Yu Yangyi

6/9/2019 – In the fourth round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, only one of the five duels was decided in the classical phase: Yu Yangyi won with Black against Alexander Grischuk and is now in third place in the standings table. At the top is Magnus Carlsen — after a draw in classical chess, the world champion (with White) won his Armageddon encounter against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Wesley So is in sole second place, after drawing the Armageddon game against Caruana with Black, thus securing 1½ points for the overall standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

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