3/29/2019 – Top seed Vladislav Artemiev has moved into the sole lead for the first time, as the only player with 8 points after ten rounds. He beat fellow Russian Andrey Esipenko on board one in Skopje on Thursday. Nine players trail by half a point, including Maxim Rodshtein, who will have White against Artemiev in the last round, which starts two hours earlier on Friday. A score of at least 7½ will be needed to qualify for the World Cup. | Photo: Patricia Claros

3/28/2019 – Every two months the ChessBase Magazine offers new opening ideas, top class analyses, video training, and much more. In between the ChessBase Magazine Extra updates your database and offers some treats the CBM Extra 188, for example, includes three videos with interesting opening ideas and a video that invites to enjoy brilliancy. More…

3/28/2019 – All four decisive results of round seven had a direct impact on the top of the standings at the US Championship. Wins by Fabiano Caruana, Leinier Dominguez and Sam Sevian allowed them to remain half a point behind sole leader Hikaru Nakamura, who also won on Wednesday. Meanwhile, among the women, for a second day in a row Jennifer Yu survived a losing position and went on to win to stay on top with 6½ out of 7. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

3/28/2019 – With an Elo rating of 2736, Vladislav Artemiev is the top seed at the European Championships in Skopje. And after a convincing attacking victory in round eight, he drew in the ninth round, along with the other players with 6½ points, resulting in a seven-way tie on 7 points together with two other young Russians — Andrey Esipenko and Grigoriy Oparin (pictured) — plus Kacper Piorun, Maxim Rodshtein, Nils Grandelius and David Anton. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ examines the highlights. | Photo: Patricia Claros

3/28/2019 – FIDE has announced in a press release the exact dates and the final field for the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. Yifan Hou is not playing and Aleksandra Goryachkina will take her place. The tournament starts on May 29th. A brief history of the Women's World Championship.

3/27/2019 – An exclusive discount, only through Sunday, March 31st! Get the two-volume bundle for a special price! Super-GM WESLEY SO published two opening DVDs: 1.b3, the so called Nimzo-Larsen-Attack, for White and his black secrets in the modern Italian. Read the review and get them in a package today and save! Here's a peek.

3/27/2019 – ChessBase 15 offers powerful tools to improve your training and your chess. One such tool is the "Tactical Analysis" that can work as a virtual coach to answer your chess questions. But to get the most of the answers you should know how to ask the right questions! In this tutorial, resident ChessBase expert MARTIN FISCHER demonstrates an effective method to work with a strong chess analysis engine within your ChessBase 15 program. | Drawing: ChessBase

3/27/2019 – The announcement came as a shock to the chess world: former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, one of the all-time greats of chess, said he would no longer be participating in competitive chess. Journalists rushed to ask him about his motives, and one of the resulting pieces stood out: an interview in the Chennai-based New Sunday Express. We bring you excerpts (with kind permission) and narrative by Frederic Friedel on his first encounter with the super-talent.

3/26/2019 – With a win over Timur Gareyev, Hikaru Nakamura (pictured) took sole lead in the US championship heading into the tournament's only rest day. But Fabiano Caruana is a mere half point behind after he scored his first full point in a classical game since October. Jennifer Yu leads the women's championship but yesterday she got a little help from Caissa the chess goddess. Despite her impressive 5½/6 score, she's also only a half point ahead, as Anna Zatonskih also won. | Photo: Justin Kellar

3/26/2019 – IM Lawrence Trent brings you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments every Tuesday at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST). This week he looks at a game from the first half of the US Championship. Free to watch on-demand for a limited time with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

3/26/2019 – The London System, which for a long time had been the reputation of a rather harmless sideline, has developed into a very popular opening, and World Champion Magnus Carlsen is only one of many top players who plays it regularly. The London System indeed suits the modern approach to openings very well: White does not necessarily strive for an opening advantage but is content to develop his pieces and hopes to outplay his opponent in the middlegame. However, the London System is more dangerous than it seems and if Black is not careful he can easily wind up in a bad position. Theory develops fast today, even in less concrete systems.

3/26/2019 – Maxim Rodshtein and Kacper Piorun were the leading duo after five rounds but a draw in their head-to-head in the sixth round allowed Nils Grandelius and Andrey Esipenko (pictured arriving with Kirill Alekseenko) to catch up, so this quartet now sits atop the field of the European Championships in Skopje with 6 points. The 22 best players qualify for the World Cup. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ analyses the highlights. | Photo: Patricia Claros