World Juniors 2018 Round 5: Maghsoodloo and Khomeriki are sole leaders

9/9/2018 – Five rounds have been completed at the World Junior Championships 2018 in Gebze, Turkey and we have sole leaders in each of the sections. In the Girls, WIM Nino Khomeriki from Georgia displayed fierce attacking skills to beat Alicja Sliwicka, move to 5.0/5 and become the sole leader. In the open section Parham Maghsoodloo, once again emerged unscathed from a tense fight and with 5.0/5 is half a point ahead of three players — Firouzja, Christiansen and Sindarov. We have a detailed report from Turkey by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal with photos, videos, analysis and more.

Chess problems out of the box

9/8/2018 – Recently we did an article on Retro Chess, purely for entertainment. Amongst the many letters we received, one was particularly gratifying. "I was very pleased to read the article — simply entertaining, because I have been occupied with the subject for 50 years." It was from the former Mayor of the town of Meisenheim, located near Frankfurt, Germany. His letter and subsequent gift were quite invaluable. We will tell you why.

World Juniors 2018 Round 3+4: Fight until the very end

9/8/2018 – It was a day of double rounds at the World Junior Championships 2018. In the open section we have four leaders with a score of 4.0/4 - Maghsoodloo, Firouzja, Sindarov and Bharathakoti. Each one had their own unique way to reach the 100% score. We look at their games in this report. Special focus also on one of the longest games of the fourth round between Maghsoodloo and Hakobyan. In the girls section Alicja Sliwicka and Nino Khomeriki are in the lead with 4.0/4. Report from Gebze by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

Beatriz Marinello: "A good leader must have the heart of a teacher"

9/8/2018 – Beatriz Marinello is a Vice President of FIDE, the head of the FIDE Social Action Commission and a Woman International Master. Born in Chile, she moved to the United States in 1990 and started working in chess projects until becoming President of the U.S. Chess Federation. In an interview with the Spanish magazine "Ajedrez Terapéutico", she talks about chess in education, women's chess, Phiona Mutesi and shares some Bobby Fischer stories. | Photo: Dora Martínez / Ajedrez Social y Terapéutico

Meeting Nicholas Pert

9/7/2018 – As we are privileged with so many interesting visitors and authors coming to the ChessBase office in Hamburg and frequenting our studio, we often try to grab them for a few quick questions to see how they are and what's new. This time it was GM Nicholas Pert who visited us in Hamburg in order to prepare a new Fritztrainer. Here's a short impromptu interview, and Nick was also a guest on Karsten Mueller's Endgame Magic show. | Photos: Nadja Wittmann

World Juniors 2018 Round 2: The boy who works ten hours each day

9/7/2018 – Chess tournaments become interesting because of the players who are participating in the event and the quality of their games. At the World Juniors we have a player who is extremely interesting not only off the board, but also on it. He finds moves which even the engines have difficulties understanding, and he works for at least ten hours each day. He is none other than the top seed of the World Juniors 2018 - Parham Maghsoodloo. In this article we acquaint you with this big talent and also bring you the report from round two. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Rooks as bodyguards

9/7/2018 – In the diagram position White decided to force matters with 21.Re7 Ngxe7 22.dxe7+ Nxe7 23.Qd6, threatening perpetual check. Can you see the only way for Black to emerge victoriously now?

Sinquefield Cup video highlights (Part 3)

9/7/2018 – (Continued from Part 2) Wrapping up our tour of the extensive and high-quality Sinquefield Cup 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. Have a look and keep it in mind for future reference. There are game annotations from GM Daniel Fernandez too!

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!