Endgame Magic with guest GM Nicholas Pert

9/6/2018 – Joining Karsten for a look some recent endgames from tournament practice today is English Grandmaster Nicholas Pert, a professional chess player and trainer, who is representing England at the Chess Olympiad in Batumi. This week's show is FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!

World Juniors 2018 Round 1: Record breaking participation

9/6/2018 – The World Junior Championships are being held from the 5th to the 16th of September 2018 in Gebze, Turkey. This year this exciting event witnesses a record-breaking participation with 263 players from 62 countries. The open section has 25 GMs and 40 IMs making it a highly exciting tournament to follow. With players like Maghsoodloo, Van Foreest, Donchenko, Karthikeyan, Martirosyan, Esipenko, etc. the brightest chess talent in the world is fighting it out for the gold. ChessBase reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal are present at the venue and will bring you detailed coverage each day. | Photo: Amruta Mokal.

Russian Superfinal: Andreikin and Pogonina take gold

9/6/2018 – The extremely competitive Russian Superfinals finished on Wednesday in Satka. Both the open and the women's sections were decided on two-game rapid playoffs — Dmitry Andreikin and Natalija Pogonina won their games with White and drew with Black, against Dmitry Jakovenko and Olga Girya, to become the 2018 Russian champions. ALEX YERMOLINSKY sent a report with no less than ten games analysed. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili / Russian Chess Federation

Sabrina Vega and Salvador del Río de Angelis are the 2018 Spanish Champions

9/6/2018 – Between 1978 and 2009, Linares hosted one of the most prestigious chess tournaments in the world. Nine years later, the city became Spain's chess capital once again by hosting the National Championships for men and women. Salvador del Rio de Angelis (who's known as "Gabriel") finished first on tiebreaks, while Sabrina Vega took gold in the female category. The fact that Spain does not organize a separate Women's Championship has been an issue for a while now — WGM MONICA CALZETTA shares her opinion on the subject. | Photos: Patricia Claros

NEW: Endgames of the World Champions from Fischer to Carlsen

9/6/2018 – All world champions left their mark on chess. And although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well. The material on this DVD is based on the ChessBase MasterClass series, and gives you a good opportunity to enjoy some of the best endgames in the history of chess. Enjoy how Bobby Fischer plays the “Fischer Endgames”: let Karsten Müller show you how the 11. World Champion made Petrosian and Taimanov despair in endgames with rook and bishop against rook and knight! The endgame skills of the 12. World Champion Anatoly Karpov are also legendary. To generate a decisive advantage from seemingly harmless positions – Karpov was a master of this art as is Magnus Carlsen today! Or let Garry Kasparov’s or Vishy Anand’s dynamic style and their striving for initiative inspire you. And watch how Vladimir Kramnik exasperated Kasparov with the “Berlin Wall” endgame. Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Enjoy highlights of chess history, e.g. the Fischer-Spassky match in Reykjavik 1972 when games were still adjourned and chess fans all over the world enthusiastically joined the endgame analyses.

The Game of the Week

9/5/2018 – 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: Attacking with Daniil Dubov!

The memorable world of chess engines

9/5/2018 – The Swedish Grandmaster HARRY SCHÜSSLER was a commentator on the Computer Chess World Championships in Sweden. Schüssler admittedly does not understand much about computer chess, per se, but does knows about chess itself. The grandmaster looks back on the Computer World Championship and describes his impressions of the engine games and what lessons can be learned from them. | Photos: ICGA / Günes

Russian Championship LIVE

9/5/2018 – The Russian Chess Federation calls the final round of its national individual championship the "Superfinal" and that's not an exaggeration. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Jakovenko and Nikita Vitiugov are among the Russian stars in this 12 round Tournament is experiencing celebrating its 71st edition this year in Satka, from August 25th to the September 5th, 2018. Live games and commentary with GM Alexander Morozevich!

CHESS Magazine: Humans and Chess Software

9/5/2018 – Israeli psychologist AMATZIA AVNI, a FIDE Master in composition, describes the complex love-hate relationship between humans and their chess software. "They assist us in analysis and spare us effort in detecting our errors," he writes. "On the other hand, who likes smart alecs? Comparing ourselves with Fritz, we are bound to become demoralised." In just three examples he covers the whole range of human emotions toward chess software: anger, frustration, disgust, disappointment, joy, elation and gratitude.

Sinquefield Cup video highlights (Part 2)

9/5/2018 – (Continued from Part 1) One of the chief draws of any Grand Chess Tour event is the extensive and high-quality coverage on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube Channel. We've pulled out a number of the interviews and bonus material you may have missed from the Sinquefield Cup. So, break out the popcorn and kick back!

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

9/4/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent goes on air on Playchess.com for a free live show dealing with the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. This week Lawrence delves properly into the Spanish Championships! Afterwards the show will be available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders.

Vladimir Sveshnikov wins Chess Festival in Bratto

9/4/2018 – Presolana is a mountain located in northern Italy, about 35 kilometres north of Bergamo. Bratto, a small village in this region, has been hosting the "Conca della Presolana" Chess Festival the last 38 years. GM JAN WERLE reports on the latest edition of the tournament, where IM Vladimir Sveshnikov — son of the legendary Evgeny Sveshnikov — finished first on tiebreaks in the main section. In the A-group, 11-year-old Brando Pavesi surprised all-comers with his clear win. | Photo: Ms. Pakleza

Something in-between

9/4/2018 – Pawn races are difficult to calculate. Much more so if the kings are exposed — and checks can come in-between.

The Petroff: dependable or dangerous?

9/4/2018 – The placid outwardly appearance of the Petroff Defence could easily trick one into believing that he or she could use it to enjoy a quiet draw. It isn't unusual these days to see grandmaster games that drift into this line end in quick draws. But the Petroff has been around since the times of Greco and white players have found their fair share of traps, tactics and attacking opportunities in it. Even in some of the very recent games from master practice, black players have fallen prey to brilliant attacks. So, is the Petroff really as innocuous as advertised?

International GMs dominate Washington Masters

9/3/2018 – GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan (pictured left) outpaced the competition in the Masters Section of the Washington International, held in Rockville, Maryland, adjacent to the US capital city from August 11-15, 2018. A full point behind him in the nine-round Swiss open tournament was a trio of international grandmasters including NICLAS HUSCHENBETH (pictured right) who annotated two games for our report. The top American player was US number ten and the sixth best Junior player in the world, GM Sam Sevian, who finished with 6 points. | Photos: Maryland Chess Association

Simon Says — Nezh the great

9/3/2018 – In this episode of Simon Says, Simon uncorks the great victories of "one of the greatest attacking players" ever: Rashid Nezhmetdinov. Enjoy!

Russian Superfinal: Andreikin and Jakovenko surge ahead

9/3/2018 – The open and women's sections of the Russian Superfinal continue in Satka. After eight rounds, both tournaments have two leaders — the main section has Dmitry Andreikin and Dmitry Jakovenko in front, while Olga Girya and Alina Kashlinskaya are ahead amongst the women. A large group of chasers are at a half point distance in both events, so everything is still up for grabs with three rounds to go. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili / Russian Chess Federation

Speelman's Agony #83

9/2/2018 – From Bradford, England comes a pair of games by Kevin Winter (pictured with Nigel Short). 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! | Photos: Kevin Winter

Paehtz wins Pia Cramling's Ladies Open

9/2/2018 – One of the most respected grandmasters in Europe, 55-year-old Pia Cramling, hosted two parallel events during the first weekend of September at the Scandic Foresta Hotel in Lidingö, Sweden. A four-player double round robin and a 7-round Swiss Open are taking place concurrently. After two days of play, Elizabeth Paehtz emerged the clear victor in the Invitational, while Inna Agrest had a near perfect run in the Open. | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

A lesson in chess mastery

9/1/2018 – Master level games are not engine like, they are human, with their mistakes, slightly imperfect moves, and mind battles. The game we see on the board, tell us only part of the story. NM Shanmukha Meruga shows us five of his tournament games, with the drama, ideas, and errors typical of human play.

September 2018 FIDE Ratings

9/1/2018 – September is here, and as the month kicks off we check in with the FIDE rating lists to see how a busy (northern) summer season has shaken thinks up Elo-wise. Magnus Carlsen's top spot in both classical and blitz was briefly threatened, but he remains the king of all formats. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

Asian Nations Cup 2018: Iran and China on top

9/1/2018 – The 2018 Asian Nations Cup took place from July 26th until August 4th in the Iranian historical city of Hamadan. Teams from twelve different countries participated in the Open and Women sections. They faced each other in 7-round Swiss Opens in Classical, Rapid and Blitz chess. Iran won all three Open tournaments, while China took first in the Classical and Rapid sections amongst the women — India won the blitz. | Photos: Iranian Chess Federation

Time per move in the notation

9/1/2018 – In over-the-board games, some people like to note down how much time they spent on each move to be able to analyse their games better and to improve their thinking processes. If you play online the computer does this for you: it automatically records the time you spent on your moves. You can use this information — or you can delete it. | Graphics: ChessBase
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Six players lead the Russian Championship

8/31/2018 – Halftime and a rest day at the Russian Championships, after six of eleven rounds. In the open tournament, six players are in the lead each with 3½ out of 6 points, but the Elo favourites are not among them. Even in the women's tournament, the nominal favorites have had a hard time. Olga Girya and Alina Kashlinskaya lead with 4 out of 6, while Alexandra Kosteniuk (pictured) has scored just 3 out of 6 or fifty percent. JULIAN WNUK breaks down the action so far. | Photo: Russian Chess Federation