Vote: Newcomer of the Year

12/28/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: Who was the up-and-coming player of 2018?

World Rapid Ch: A tight race

12/28/2018 – In a day full of ups and downs, seven players ended up sharing the lead on 7½ points, with Magnus Carlsen part of the ten-player chasing pack half a point behind. So it is impossible to make any predictions in the open section, as anybody having a good last day will emerge as the winner. On the other hand, amongst the women, Ju Wenjun has kept her lead after winning two and drawing two in the second day of action. | Photos: Maria Emelianova / Lennart Ootes / Official site

An Auckland Assignment

12/27/2018 – And now for something a bit different...EDWIN LAM offers a noir-ish fictional introduction to the impending New Zealand Open. The set-up is fake but the tournament is very real, even if set in the fantastic wonderland of New Zealand. | Pictured: The young and young-at-heart playing in bubbles on scenic Lake Rotorua | Photo: Edwin Lam

Vote: Player of the year 2018

12/27/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: Who was the best player overall of 2018?

World Rapid Ch: Firouzja stuns while Carlsen suffers

12/27/2018 – A very confident Magnus Carlsen arrived in Saint Petersburg to prove his strength at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships. However, his hopes of victory in the Rapid were strongly reduced after he lost his first two games against much lower-rated opposition. The Norwegian went on to win his three remaining encounters and is now one and a half points behind the leaders: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Andreikin and 15-year-old Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja. | Photos: Maria Emelianova / Lennart Ootes / Official site

Game of the Week: Good knight vs bad bishop

12/26/2018 – 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: Good knight vs bad bishop. 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.

Gaprindashvili: "I am very thankful that chess was my sport of choice"

12/26/2018 – About a month ago, Nona Gaprindashvili took clear first at the 65+ Women's World Senior Championship. During her stay in Bled, the European Chess Academy made a lengthy interview with the living legend. Nona talks about personal experiences and gives her opinion on topics ranging from the Carlsen-Caruana match to her love for the Dinamo Tbilisi football club. | Photo: Hans Peters / Anefo

St. Petersburg: World Rapid Championship 2018 opens

12/26/2018 – The rapid world title fight starts today in St. Petersburg's Manege exhibition hall with the first of three days of rapid chess. The Blitz Championship will follow on Saturday and Sunday. In the Open sections, the reigning champions Viswanathan Anand (Rapid) and Magnus Carlsen (Blitz) are back in action. In the women's rapid tournament, Anna Muzychuk is the top seed followed by World Champion Ju Wenjun. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Vote: Player of the year 2018

12/26/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: Who was the best female player of 2018?

A Christmas story

12/25/2018 – ChessBase study expert Siegfried Hornecker highlights a study (and story!) by STEFFEN SLUMSTRUP NIELSEN which we are pleased to share to mark the Christmas holiday. The story begins: "It is the 1st of December. The White Family is slowly getting ready for the Holidays. The head of the family, Mrs Horsey White is in for a busy month, while the rest of the family is planning to just hang around lazily, waiting for the big day. Mrs White has to collect six presents from all over town to make for a happy Christmas."

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

12/25/2018 – 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. This week Lawrence looks at the Sunway International Chess Festival which just concluded in Sitges, near Barcelona.

Need some help, mate?

12/25/2018 – Looking for a hobby? How about composing some chess problems? Not the conventional kind, but a genre that is often overlooked by normal chess players. It is the wonderful and intriguing helpmate, where Black and White cooperate to achieve a mating position that nobody would believe is possible. We have done it before, but we would like to entreat you again. Try it – you cannot imagine how satisfying solving and composing helpmates is. Merry Christmas!

Hiding away

12/25/2018 – Knowing typical patterns and tricks makes you play better chess in general and rook endings in particular.

Vote: What is the best endgame of 2018?

12/25/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: what was the best endgame of 2018?

Alvar Alonso Rosell wins Sunway Open in Sitges

12/24/2018 – In Sitges, the Catalan seaside resort near Barcelona, ​the fifth edition of the ten-day "Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival" ended yesterday with the victory of local hero GM Alvar Alonso Rosell. The 26-year-old Spanish grandmaster, like his three toughest rivals, started the final round with 7.0 / 9, but was the only one to win his game to reach 8.0 / 10. A larger chasing group composed of well-known players ended with 7½ the top three of which contested a tiebreak for 2nd-4th place. Photos: sunwaychessfestival.com

Korobov and Buksa are the 2018 Ukrainian champions

12/24/2018 – Ukraine organised its national championships from December 10th to the 20th at the Hotel Raziotel in Kiev. Some big names were absent, but good fighting chess was in display anyway in both ten-player round robins. Rating favourite Anton Korobov got first place in the open section with 5½ points, while Nataliya Buksa managed a better score, 7 out of 9, to become the new Ukrainian champion in the women's category. Analyses and results from the seventh most populous city in Europe. | Photos: Ukrainian Chess Federation

Vote: What is the best combination of 2018?

12/24/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: what was the best combination of 2018?

The new Lasker biography: an interview with editor Michael Negele

12/24/2018 – On December 24th, 1868 Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1894 to 1921, was born. To celebrate this 150-year jubilee the first volume of a monumental trilogy about Lasker recently appeared. In an interview with HARTMUT METZ, Dr Michael Negele, one of the editors and driving forces behind this trilogy, talked about Lasker, the trilogy, and the motivation to carry out such a monumental project. | Pictured: Dr Michael Negele and Dr Richard Forster signing the first volume | Photo: Archive Michael Negele

Karjakin's GM record still stands

12/23/2018 – Two Indians pre-teeners came very close to breaking Sergey Karjakin's record of the youngest GM in history. Sergey made his final norm back in 2002 at the age of 12 years and 7 months. Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh were the boys that were within a hair of bettering that. Pragg missed the target by three months, and yesterday Gukesh, who had a realistic chance to complete his third GM norm at the Sunway Sitges International 2018, narrowly missed it. In the meantime 11-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam made his first IM norm. | All photos: Rupali Mullick

Princes edge Kings in Nutcracker Tournament

12/22/2018 – Right before Christmas, it is now usual for the Nutracker Tournament to take place in Russia. A squad of young talented players from the largest country in the world (Princes) face a team composed by older stars from around the globe (Kings). This year's edition finished with a tie in points, but the Princes were declared winners due to the fact that they had won the classical portion of the Scheveningen match. In a parallel event, a team of even younger Russian boys defeated their female counterparts. | Photos: Vladimir Barsky / Russian Chess Federation

Chess to enjoy — the Banff Open

12/22/2018 – Playing in big open tournaments and watching top grandmasters in action is fine. But playing a small open for fun can also be a chess experience to enjoy. AGNIESZKA MATRAS-CLEMENT knows this and it is what attracts her to the Banff Open in Canada. | Photo: Banff National Park | www.pixabay.com

Vote! What is the best game of 2018?

12/22/2018 – The year 2018 comes to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: what was the best game of 2018?

How to use Blitz to prepare better

12/22/2018 – Playing blitz is a lot of fun. But is it useful? This is the question on the minds of many chess players, parents and trainers. The answer is a resounding "Yes!" We have a great instructional video by IM and chess trainer Sagar Shah, who shows how you can make the best use of your blitz games using the normal ChessBase tools. It's a 16-minute tutorial that you shouldn't miss. Follow his instructions and watch the rating points pour in.

FM Kurniawan tops Penang Chess Festival

12/22/2018 – The week-long Penang Chess Festival 2018 took place from December 3rd to the 9th in the Malaysian city of Penang. This was the tenth edition of the event, which included both an Open and a Challengers section, a blitz turnament and the Wah Seong Penang Chess League. Despite the presence of a GM and several IMs, FIDE Master Muhamad Agus Kurniawan took first place in the main section after scoring 7½ points in nine rounds. | Photos: Penang Chess Association