11/16/2018 – Magnus Carlsen noted in the post-game press conference that "obviously 6.b4 wasn't new to me" and former World Champion VISWANATHAN ANAND agrees in his analysis of Game 5 for the next ChessBase Magazine. Here's a sneak peek and also a candid video interview with Anand on his victory in the blitz tournament of Tata Steel Chess India after a tiebreak match. | Photo: (left) World Chess / (right) Amruta Mokal

11/16/2018 – In today's 5th game of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, the two players honoured Georgian champion Bukhtuti Gurgenidze with their opening selection and after a mild-mannered struggle, the game ended in a draw. (The 2017 World Junior Champion GM ARYAN TARI annotates.) The press conference, however, was once again lively. When asked which player Carlsen most admired from the past, he brought down the house with the original reply, "myself from three or four years ago". | Photo: Nikolai Dunaevsky / World Chess

11/15/2018 – Last week saw the birth anniversary of Mikhail Tal, (1936-1992) 8th World Champion and legendary player. Few players captured the imagination of the chess world as he and Bobby Fischer did. We offered him a small tribute and here is another by our columnist who also draws our attention to a slim volume that deserves to be better known. | Photo: Riga greets Tal

11/15/2018 – In this tutorial, learn all about "replay training", a new feature of ChessBase 15 that invites you to guess the moves in games — a well-known and powerful way to improve. Correct proposals are rewarded with points which allows you to measure your progress. "Replay training" is a nice feature that you can use for light-hearted fun and playful challenges but also for some serious training. Give it a try! | Drawing: ChessBase

11/15/2018 – ChessBase is a personal, stand-alone chess database that has become the international standard for top players, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. The latest version, ChessBase 15, has now been released. It brings you spectacular new training features, all geared to improve your playing strength in the most enjoyable way possible. The program also generates beautiful ray-trace chess movies you can post on social media. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy your chess even more.

11/14/2018 – The four semi-finalists of the 2018 Women's World Championship — all of which qualified to an upcoming Candidates tournament — have been decided. Ju Wenjun and Kateryna Lagno got their tickets in the classical portion, Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated Anna Muzychuk in a tense 25+30 rapid phase, and Mariya Muzychuk (pictured) eliminated Zhansaya Abudmalik in the second 5+3 blitz game, after the players traded blows all throughout the match. | Photos: Official site

11/14/2018 – As tournaments go, this was an odd one: with nine draws and one win, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took the Shenzhen Masters with a mere 5½ points from 10 games. Since Ding Liren and Anish Giri both also scored 5½, but 'MVL' beat Ding in their direct encounter, the Frenchman had the better tiebreak. Giri earned a notable first victory in the final round against Radoslaw Wojtaszek. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY sends his final thoughts. | Photo: qipai.org.cn

11/14/2018 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 20:00 CET (19:00 UT, 2 pm EDT). On this week's show: How Ding's 100 games undefeated came to an end. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders. To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows.

11/14/2018 – The Tata Steel Chess India 2018 Rapid came to an end on November 11th with American GM Hikaru Nakamura taking home the first prize with 6.0/9. Nakamura played the event as per the demands of the situation — calm on first and third days and three victories on day two! It was excellent news for Indian fans that Harikrishna managed to fight back with two wins against Levon Aronian and Vidit Gujrathi in last two rounds to finish second. Levon Aronian had to settle for the third spot. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you six things that happened on the last day of the rapid and reflections on the first super tournament held in his native India! Of course, one mustn't forget the small sensation — Vishy Anand was beaten by his former second Surya Sekhar Ganguly in the final round.

11/14/2018 – The Tata Steel India blitz tournament has started in Kolkata. From Tuesday, November 13th to Wednesday the 14th you can get warmed up for the World Championship by watching blitz chess with former Candidates: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian, Wesley So, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and India's top talent, Harikrishna, Vidit, Sarin and Ganguly. Live commentary with IM Lawrence Trent and IM Tania Sachdev. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / TataSteelChess.in

11/14/2018 – The fourth game of the World Chess Championship in London between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana also ended without a winner. With White, the World Champion did not get anything out of the English opening and on the 34th move, he offered to draw. That left spectators pondering over the potential ramifications of a video promoting Caruana which may have inadvertently provided the Carlsen camp with insights into the Challenger's opening preparation. | Pictured: Ellisiv Reppen makes the ceremonial first move for Carlsen | Photos: Nadia Panteleeva / World Chess

11/13/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent brings you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. Lawrence is on-demand this week and free for ChessBase Basic account holders for a limited time! (Why not register for FREE in 30 seconds if you don't already have an account?) This week Lawrence covers the recently concluded rapid tournament as part of Tata Steel Chess India.