Revisiting whether women play more beautiful chess

9/17/2018 – Dealing with subjects such as aesthetics and gender is generally prone to criticism. After all, the concepts that are used as bases for analysis tend to compel some degree of subjectivity. Nevertheless, AZLAN IQBAL has been exploring this issue for years. After publishing a controversial article a couple of years ago, he informs us about the improvements made to his original research. The question remains the same: do women play more beautiful chess than men? | Photos: Pascal Simon / Simon Bohnenblust

Simon Says — Puzzle hour!

9/17/2018 – Live and free to watch at 18:00 CEST (16:00 UT, Noon EDT) In this Simon Says I show you a number of fascinating puzzles, which I hope, you are able to solve! Good Luck!

Training with the Woodpecker method

9/17/2018 – The Woodpecker method — a name coined by Swedish GM Axel Smith — is a popular training method to improve your tactical vision and your tactical reflexes. To summarize: when training à la Woodpecker you have a set of training tasks which you work through repeatedly. And with ChessBase, you can easily create databases with sets of training tasks for this purpose. | Image: ChessBase
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Arianne Caoili to bike through Cilicia to support Armenian children

9/17/2018 – While Levon Aronian is fighting the chess elite in arduous events, his wife Arianne Caoili is engaged in various entrepreneurial and philanthropic initiatives in Armenia. The Australian Woman International Master will cycle through the south coastal region of Cilicia to raise funds on behalf of the Children of Armenia Fund. The biking tour's fundraising will allow COAF to expand its athletic programs for youth living in six villages of Armenia's Tavush region.

Maghsoodloo and Maltsevskaya are World Junior Champions 2018

9/16/2018 – Although the gold medal in the open section had already been confirmed by Parham Maghsoodloo, the fight for other medals was exciting on the last day of the World Juniors 2018. Esipenko managed to beat Maghsoodloo, but it wasn't good enough for a medal for the Russian. Silver went to Abhimanyu Puranik who beat Aram Hakobyan and bronze to Sergei Lobanov who got the better of Johan-Sebastien Christiansen. In the Girls section, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova drew her last round game which allowed Aleksandra Maltsevskaya to overtake her and win the gold. Tokhirjonova had to be content with silver and bronze to Nino Khomeriki.

Speelman's Agony #84

9/16/2018 – This week's lovely pair of games are by David Sprenkle an American who was 60 in April. A former Illinois champion, he now lives in Spokane, Washington. One game even reminded Jon of a classic Nezhmetdinov game. 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!

Laos, a new chess destination

9/16/2018 – The Southeast Asia chess scene has given an important step forward this year, as Laos organised its first international tournament. The landlocked country launched the 'Chess in Schools' program six years ago and has been working towards growing the game's stature. In the first Laos International Open, Armenian GM Karen Grigoryan was declared the winner, while the success of the event prompted the organisers to run a second edition later this year. Update September 21| Photo: Laos Chess Federation

World Junior Championship final round

9/15/2018 – (All stories on the World Junior) Live games and commentary from the 2018 World Junior Chess Championship in Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey, September 5th-15th with a rest day on September 9th. Live video commentary by IM Can Arduman, IM Ekaterina Atalik and FM Tarik Selbes.

Champions Showdown: Blunders, mishaps, fun!

9/15/2018 – There was almost no intrigue regarding the final results, but the 2018 Champions Showdown was filled with curious highlights and enterprising chess. The main attraction was Garry Kasparov's presence — the 13th World Champion lost his match against Topalov, but finished on a high thanks to a pair of wins in the last rounds. In the other matchups, Nakamura, So, Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian emerged victorious. In terms of entertainment value, the Saint Louis Chess Club hit the mark! | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

World Juniors 2018 Round 10: Parham Maghsoodloo is the champion!

9/15/2018 – (Current standings, games and results!) It has been one of the most dominating performances that you would ever see at any strong chess tournament, leave alone World Junior Championships. GM Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran started the tournament as the top seed. He conceded half a point in the sixth round by drawing his game against Alireza Firouzja. But rest of the games he managed to win thereby scoring 9½/10 and winning the tournament with one round to spare. In the Girls section as well, we have the sole leader after ten rounds and she is Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova. | Photo: Shohreh Bayat

Adolf Albin: Nothing wrong with a gambit

9/14/2018 – 170 years ago, September 14th, 1848, Adolf Albin was born. Statistics give Albin a historical rating of 2643 for August 1895 and with this rating he would have been the world's number 15 of that time. Today, Albin is mainly known as the namesake of an entertaining line in the Queen's Gambit, arising after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5!? - the Albin Counter-gambit. Another gambit, which Albin liked to play, is named after Alekhine. | Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Chess960: Champions Showdown LIVE

9/14/2018 – Another spectacular chess event is ongoing at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Ten world-class players, including Garry Kasparov, compete in rapid and blitz matches in Chess960. Live video and commentary from 20:00 CEST (19:00 UT). | Graphic: Standings after Day 3 / Saint Louis Chess Club

San Francisco Bay Area International returns in the new year

9/14/2018 – The 2019 Bay Area International Chess Tournament which already has many strong players signed up and runs from Jan 1-7, 2019, in Burlingame, California, USA. The early registration deadline is tomorrow, September 15th.

Pickup service

9/14/2018 – Two rooks on the second rank plus mobile pawns and king on the fifth versus a lonely white king on g3 — Black's superiority in the diagram position is crystal clear. But there is only one winning line. Can you see the way for him to rake in the rook b4 by force?

World Juniors 2018 Round 9: Four Russians and an Uzbek

9/14/2018 – The Open section has ceased to be interesting from the gold medal point of view as GM Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran notched up another win, this time against Awonder Liang from America. Maghsoodloo is on 8½/9 and has a 1½ point lead over the field with a rating performance of 2944! In the Girls section, there is everything to play for as five girls are tied for the top spot with 7.0/9. Among the five, four are Russian and one is from Uzbekistan. It will be exciting to see who comes out on top — Maltsevskaya, Dordzhieva, Tokhirjonova, Assaubayeva or Potapova?

Girls in Chess Video

9/14/2018 – PRESS RELEASE: Young female players explain the powerful impact of chess in their lives and the challenges they’ve faced in the game in a short video shot at the 2018 KCF All-Girls Nationals in Chicago, Illinois. The project exemplifies the educational mission of the US Chess Federation: “Empowering people through chess, one move at a time.” | Pictured: Cerena, who is featured in the video saying, “Chess is like life for me,” plays against Jen Shahade, executive producer of the video and US Chess Women liaison. | Photo: Rachel Utain-Evans

Kasparov struggles in Chess960 return

9/13/2018 – After two days of Chess960 in St. Louis, Wesley So established the largest lead in his match against Anish Giri. Perhaps that why So says he prefers the variant over "normal chess". Or is it the other way around — preference breeds success? Garry Kasparov, on the other hand, is well behind in his match against Veselin Topalov. Elsewhere the rating favourites all lead, with the exception of Hikaru Nakamura vs Peter Svidler, which is tied at 6 points apiece. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club/ Lennart Ootes, Austin Fuller

World Juniors 2018 Round 8: The unstoppable force called Parham Maghsoodloo

9/13/2018 – Parham Maghsoodloo has shown some tremendous chess at the World Juniors 2018. He is currently the sole leader with a score of 7½/8. He has a lead of one full point over his rivals. On 6½/8 we have Awonder Liang followed by ten players on 6.0/8. In the Girls section Maltsevskaya, Khomeriki and Dordzhieva are leading with 6½/8. They are being followed by five more players on 6.0/8. While Maghsoodloo is a clear favourite for gold in the Open section, nothing is clear in the Girls. Round eight report from Gebze, Turkey. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Documentation: The ChessBase account and more

9/13/2018 – With the ChessBase account you can train and improve, and follow live events. It's web-based, for use with a tablet, smartphone, iPad or PC. It's easy — here's a short manual (PDF) There's much more on our ChessBase download page.

Vienna vies for 2020 World Championship

9/13/2018 – The World Chess Championship 2018 is still two months away but some federations are already looking ahead to 2020. Depending on the winner of the forthcoming World Championship match in November in London, the USA or Norway may, of course, want to host the next edition. However, the Austrian Federation would also like to celebrate its 100-year jubilee with a very special event and recently received an official visit. | Pictured: Central Vienna | Photo: Public domain via Creative Commons

The Game of the Week

9/12/2018 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 20:00 CEST (19:00 UT, 2 pm EDT). On this week's show: Parham Maghsoodloo!

The Power Play Show

9/12/2018 – Wednesday at 19:00 CEST (17:00 UT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer, plus Daniel will be looking at a crazy attack in a new line of the Nimzo Indian. Puzzle and the live video...

NEW: Adrian Mikhalchishin: How Bobby Fischer battled the Sicilian

9/12/2018 – Bobby Fischer was a devoted Sicilian player. But the American chess genius and 11th World Champion was also a devoted 1.e4 (“Best by test” as he said) player, and his results against the Sicilian are remarkable. In almost all variations he came up with new ideas and developed systems of his own — such as 6.Bc4 (one of his pet moves) against the Najdorf, and the Rauzer. Fischer liked to play aggressive but basically sound lines against the Sicilian and many of his variations are still very much alive and a good choice for players of all levels.

World Juniors 2018 Round 7: The advantage of having the first move!

9/12/2018 – It is generally agreed that White has a small edge going into the game because he has the first move. At the top level, Black more often than not equalizes. Yet, at the seventh round of the World Juniors 2018, we had a pretty unique case where all six games, the top three in boy's section and the top three in girl's section, all of them ended in the white player winning the games. In this article, we show you all the games along with analysis. Apart from this you also have pictures by Amruta Mokal and videos by IM Sagar Shah.