A Short swing through Atlanta

4/17/2019 – In the beginning of March 2019, FIDE Vice-President GM Nigel Short, came to Atlanta for a brief visit to his daughter. Unfortunately his daughter had a big movie project in Greece, so he found himself stranded in Atlanta! But there was a happy ending: thanks to the Atlanta Chess community, he had a warm welcome in the Peach state. Kudos to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta (from now on abbreviated as CCSCATL) it was possible to organize a lecture, and a simul in record time! DAVIDE NASTASIO was there.

Apropos illegal castling

4/16/2019 – In the third round of the Women's European Championship, an unusual incident involving illegal castling occurred in the game Gevorgyan vs Cornette, causing a stir. Although rare, this type of offence is not completely new, not even within official FIDE tournaments. We recall a famous case from 1995.

The Weekly Show: Reykjavik winds down

4/16/2019 – This week IM Lawrence Trent presents a key game from the Reykjavik Open, between Firouzja and Lupulescu which allowed the latter to take over the lead in Round 7. Free to watch on-demand for a limited time with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

One bishop, many pawns

4/16/2019 – Passed pawns can be dangerous, especially in the endgame. Here the black bishop is struggling to stem the tide. White can win but precise play is required.

A guide to the Opening Encyclopaedia 2019

4/16/2019 – Are you struggling in the opening phase of the game? When you go to a tournament and face an opponent who plays a specific line, do you find it difficult to come up with a fullproof idea. Has building an opening repertoire always been tough for you? Well, if you do face these problems then the opening encyclopaedia 2019 can be quite a useful product for you. In this video review, IM SAGAR SHAH reviews the recently released Opening Encyclopaedia 2019 and tells you how best you can make use of it.

Simon Says — Puzzle Hour

4/15/2019 – Today GM Simon Williams aims to test your tactic ability with a range of different problems. You'll encounter a number of modern games with a pinch of 'Troitzky' thrown in for good luck. Live today at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Reykjavik: Firouzja Express derailed

4/15/2019 – Constantin Lupulescu beat Newcomer Alireza Firouzja in the 7th round of the Reykjavik Open with a very double-edged and topical variation in the French Defence and took a full point clear of the rest of the field with two rounds to play. Report on Round 7 plus live games and commentary of Round 8. | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni

Gustafsson bags Bangkok Open

4/15/2019 – GM Jan Gustafsson (pictured left) won the 19th Bangkok Open for the second time (he also took the title in 2011), after a critical eighth round win over Vietnam’s The Anh Duong, and a quick draw in the final round gave him an edge on tiebreak score over GM Deep Sengupta (pictured right) of India. IM SAGAR SHAH annotates the key games. | Press release and photos: Bangkok Chess Club

Ashdod win their seventh Israeli Team Championship

4/15/2019 – The 2019 season of the Israeli Team Championship finished last week in Ramat Aviv. Ashdod obtained their seventh national title, led by Emil Sutovsky and a host of international reinforcements, including Pavel Eljanov and Alexander Moiseenko. Beer-Sheva Levant, led by Maxim Rodshtein, finished in second place, while Kfar Saba A, with Israeli champion Tamir Nabaty on board one, took home the bronze medals. YOCHANAN AFEK sent a report from the Western Asian country. | Photos: Dr. Mark Livshitz

Efim Bogoljubov: A Chess Career

4/14/2019 – When asked how many Germans had the chance to play a match for the World Championship most chess players probably would name two: Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch and Dr. Emanuel Lasker. But there is a third: Efim Bogoljubov, who was born 130 years ago, on April 14, 1889 in Stanislavchyk, near Kiev, but in 1927 became German and in 1929 and 1934 played title matches against Alexander Alekhine. | Photo: Screenshot from a newsreel video by the German "Bundesarchiv" about the Bad Pyrmont tournament in 1951

European Women's Ch: Fighting chess

4/14/2019 – No less than twenty-two players share first place on 2½ out of 3 at the European Women's Individual Championship in Antalya. Curiously, though, only four of the top ten seeds are in the large leading group, as some of the favourites have been having a hard time trying to take down lower-rated opponents. It has been a hard struggle so far, and only fourteen players will get a ticket to the World Cup. Eight rounds are still ahead. | Photo: Kasia Selbes Photography / Official site

Maxim Matlakov marches to Dubai Open win

4/14/2019 – The 21st Dubai Open witnessed one of the closest finishes that you would see at an open tournament. After nine rounds we had eight players on the same score of 7.0/9. Buchholz was the tiebreak and based on it Maxim Matlakov from Russia finished first and took home USD $13,000 along with the glittering Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup. Other players on 7.0/9 were 14-year-old prodigy Abdusattorov Nodirbek, Le Quang Liem, Yuriy Kuzubov, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Sanal Vahap, Aleksandar Indjic and P. Iniyan. A detailed report from Dubai by NIKLESH JAIN.

The Magician from Moscow

4/13/2019 – Vassily Smyslov adored him. Garry Kasparov admires him. Magnus Carlsen enjoys him. Who is he? Discerning readers would have guessed his name by now. Our columnist revisits the life and work of the eminent composer. Before you read on, try out the problem in the picture. It’s fun. | Photo: chessnews.ru

Reykjavik Open: Firouzja shines

4/13/2019 – Five out of nine rounds of the Reykjavik Open have been completed, and four players share the lead on 4½/5. Tied with the best tie-break score are Robert Hovhannisyan from Armenia and 15-year-old Alireza Firouzja from Iran, who in addition finished in clear first place at the Fischer Random side event. Also co-leading are Sergei Movsesian and Constantin Lupulescu. Seven players are a half point behind. | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni / Official site

A chess weekend in Katowice

4/12/2019 – This weekend, the Polish-Hungarian friendship tournament will be played in Katowice. Together with the Polish individual and team lightning championships, 1000 chess friends are expected. Anne Kantane invites you for a preview. | Photo: M. Walusza

The Power Play Show: "The Octopus"

4/12/2019 – Friday at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! Today: "The Octopus" as seen in Karjakin vs Carlsen. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

Mar del Plata Open turns 50

4/12/2019 – From 1928, the Argentine city of Mar del Plata has hosted a large number of remarkable chess events. The 50th edition of the "Abierto de Mar del Plata" will take place on April 13th-20th, with about two-hundred players participating. SERGIO NEGRI takes us through some of the biggest chess milestones that transpired in the tourist destination, which even gave name to a variation of the King's Indian Defence. | Photo: Leandro Kibisz (CC BY-SA) via Wikimedia Commons

Yours truly lucky

4/12/2019 – The best move for White in the diagram position is 28.Rd3!, but following 28...Qc8 29.Rg3? throws the win away. Can you spot Black's saving trick after that?

Mouth-watering clash: Short vs Gustafsson in Bangkok

4/12/2019 – The 19th edition of the Bangkok Open 2019 has reached its pinnacle of excitement. After six rounds, we have two leaders: top seed Nigel Short and second seed Jan Gustafsson. Both of them on 5½/6. They have set up the top board clash in round seven. In this article, SHAHID AHMED, reporting from Bangkok, takes us through some of the most interesting games that have been played by Short and Gustafsson in this tournament.

Studying openings with "Let's Check" and ChessBase Magazine

4/11/2019 – It helps to get help when studying openings. The ChessBase "Let's Check" function offers a lot of help. It is a database with analyses made by other "Let's Check" users, often with top engines and powerful computers. "Let's Check" gives you access to these analyses and you can check, broaden, and sharpen your repertoire. Together with the ChessBase Magazine "Let's Check" is particularly powerful. | Drawing: ChessBase
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European Championship for Women starts in Antalya

4/11/2019 – Today the first round of the European Women's Championship will be played in Antalya. In all 130 players are on the starting list but only the top 14 finishers will qualify for the World Cup. The top seeds are Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia, 2534) and Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2513). Live games kick off each day at 12 Noon UTC (14:00 CEST / 8 AM EDT) from April 11th to 22nd with a rest day on April 17th (and the last round four hours earlier). Commentary by GM Ioannis Papaioannou & IM Can Arduman Official site: eiwcc2019.tsf.org.tr

Grivas: "Talent is the excuse of the failed!"

4/11/2019 – Once upon a time, in a now nearly forgotten past, when phones were attached to walls, or rested on furniture, and "to dial" meant to carefully rotate a disc, a young man, just 13, entered the world of chess. As always, the chess journey is quite harsh, in fact he lost all the games of his first tournament. But persistence, and his love for the sport, made him go on, 'till a decade later he became a Grandmaster! Here we can read more about the story and chess journey of Greek GM Efstratios Grivas, who recently celebrated his 53rd birthday.

Using the Knight's Tour to impress

4/10/2019 – You know what the Knight's Tour is: move the knight so it visits every square of the chessboard just once. There are around 30 trillion ways to do this, but it is certainly not easy for humans to execute a single one correctly — least of all blindfolded and starting from a random square. Or is it? If you invest a couple of hours into the task you stand to entertain people at parties — or even appear on a hit television show.

Game of the Week: Giri in Shamkir

4/10/2019 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT). On this week's show: Wrapping up Shamkir Chess with a look at the tournament from the Dutch perspective. 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.