Edgar Allen Poe's diatribe against chess

10/31/2018 – On this All Hallows Eve, we examine the chess connections of one of literature's great spooky storytellers, the American author Edgar Allen Poe. (See part one!) Poe was curiously dismissive of chess, comparing it unfavourably to both draughts and the classic English card game Whist. In the process, he attempted to weigh the relative importance of calculation and analysis, and while he clearly misunderstood the game by our modern estimation, his work carries tremendous literary weight and influenced generations, including writers who would also use chess for its metaphorical powers in their stories.

The Game of the Week

10/31/2018 – 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: An overlooked game from the Isle of Man.

The Power Play Show

10/31/2018 – Wednesday at 19:00 CEST (18:00 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 games from the Chesscom Isle of Man. Puzzle and the live video...

Edgar Allan Poe vs The Turk

10/31/2018 – On this All Hallows Eve, we examine the chess connections of one of literature's great spooky storytellers, the American author Edgar Allen Poe, beginning with his relationship to an original "chess costume" — The Turk. Poe discovered the chess-playing automaton during its American tour in the 1820s, and quickly became suspicious of its authenticity. He set about to unravel the mystery, which to this day offers a lesson in rationality and morality.

Cori takes trophy at 2018 SPICE Cup

10/30/2018 – Jorge Cori shared first prize with Illia Nyzhnyk in St. Louis at the SPICE Cup, held from October 23rd to 28th. Cori then won the Armageddon game to claim top honours and the trophy! In all, 38 players, including 14 grandmasters competed for USD $16,550 in prizes in the 12th edition of the tournament created by GM Susan Polgar. Nyzhnyk previously won the title in 2014. | Photo: Paul Truong

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

10/30/2018 – 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. Lawrence is on-demand this week and free for ChessBase Basic account holders for a limited time! (Why not register for FREE in 30 seconds if you don't already have an account?) This week Lawrence continues his look at the recently completed Chess.com Isle of Man International.

Bishops are strong

10/30/2018 – Far advanced pawns are dangerous but that is no reason to panic. A strong bishop is often more than capable of coping with them.

Topalov takes Salamanca Centenary

10/30/2018 – In a packed auditorium, the final rounds of the University of Salamanca eighth centennial chess festival were played on Saturday. The game that aroused the most excitement was between Veselin Topalov and Julio Granda. Topalov came out on top ahead of Anatoly Karpov, Ekaterina Atalik, Miguel Santos, Almira Skripchenko, Ana Matnadze and Monica Calzetta. | Photo: Official website

Chess as an art: the beauty behind unnatural moves

10/29/2018 – Chess is a beautiful game, but sometimes the beauty is not so obvious to an untrained eye. When an experienced grandmaster like SUNDARARJAN KIDAMBI carefully studies a game between two world-class players, you know that you are in for a treat. Kidambi doesn't do a superficial job. He puts himself into the shoes of Wesley So and tries to understand the logic behind his every move. When studied carefully, this can seriously help you improve your chess understanding as well as appreciate the art of the game.

Endgame Magic with GM Daniel King

10/29/2018 – Joining Karsten for a look some recent endgames from tournament practice today is English GM Daniel King. This week's show was recorded on October 9th, 2018 and is FREE to watch on-demand (for ChessBase Basic account members)!

Isle of Man: Wojtaszek takes down Naiditsch in Armageddon

10/29/2018 – An exciting play-off went down to the wire and saw Radek Wojtaszek defeat Arkadij Naiditsch in Armageddon to take first place at the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament. They got to that stage after drawing their round nine game, while their chasers either drew or lost. In the meantime, three players won their games and joined the group that finished half a point behind the leaders — Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura. Wojtaszek's wife Alina Kashlinskaya won the top ladies' prize. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

Favourites sweep Hoogeveen

10/28/2018 – The Russians Peter Svidler and Vladimir Fedoseev narrowly won their Hoogeveen matches over Sam Shankland and Jorden van Foreest, respectively. Fedoseev needed a blitz tiebreak match to emerge victorious. In the Hoogeveen Open, the format called for a "final four" — a one-game semi-final and final in lieu of the last two rounds. Rating favourite Bassem Amin was among the four and then proceeded to beat Eltaj Safarli and Dmitry Kryakvin in back-to-back games to win the Open outright.

Isle of Man LIVE

10/28/2018 – The next major event on the chess calendar is the Chess.com Isle of Man International which runs from October 20th to 28th and includes ten players from the top 20 and a number of other players over 2700. Live games and commentary from 14:00 CET (12:00 UT) each day. Also this week are the Hoogeveen matches in Holland with three more members of the top 30 in action. | Photo: Chess.com/Maria Emelianova (official site)

Isle of Man: Naiditsch and Wojtaszek set up showdown

10/28/2018 – Six players are still within range of winning the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament on Sunday's final round. The favourites to take first, however, are Arkadij Naiditsch and Radek Wojtaszek, who are now sharing the lead after getting victories of very different nature on Saturday — Naiditsch will have White in their direct encounter of round nine. The other big winner of the day was Gawain Jones, who took down Levon Aronian and still has a chance of finishing first. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

Check Czech chess III: Miroslav Havel

10/27/2018 – 2012 was a strange year. Amid World Championships and Olympiads a Bohemian master was awarded the GM title for chess composition. Our study expert SIEGFRIED HORNECKER delves into the life and work of “Miroslav Havel” (a pseudonym). His speciality was "model mates" — problems with three or more checkmate variations where all white pieces (except possibly the king) participate in the checkmate.

Isle of Man: Adams joins the ever-growing lead

10/27/2018 – With only two rounds to go, seven players share first place at the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament. The six co-leaders drew each other — in fact, the six first boards finished tied, while the only player that used this opportunity to join them at the top was Michael Adams, who inflicted Gupta's second straight loss. Twelve players are trailing by half a point, including round seven winners Anish Giri, Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

A perfect chess day in Budapest

10/26/2018 – Earlier this month, Judit Polgar showcased chess for the fourth time in the Hungarian capital Budapest, presenting her Global Chess Festival with the theme "chess connects us". ALINA L'AMI was an official photographer on behalf of the festival and sent us this recollection replete with visual highlights of the day — interspersed with her typical whimsical prose — for a colourful jaunt through this annual chess celebration. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

Cool counter

10/26/2018 – Attacking the bishop f7 with 36.e6 in the diagram position contains many potential ways to lose for Black. His game continuation, however, gives him the advantage! What did White overlook?

Isle of Man: Crowded at the top

10/26/2018 – Nobody seems to be able to rise above the field at the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament. In round six, all the co-leaders either drew or lost, providing a chance for some big guns to reach the top — specifically, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura and Radek Wojtaszek took advantage of the situation. So now the lead is shared by six players, with no less than eleven hungry chasers half a point behind — Kramnik and Anand included. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

"I have to increase the activity of my pieces...with every move"

10/25/2018 – Weekends are quite busy for chess players, with tournaments of all kinds being organized. DAVIDE NASTASIO was lucky to witness the Georgia State Women's Championship held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta, and interview the winner, Alisa Scherbakova, who shares her insights along with games from the tournament. | Photo: Davide Nastasio

"Match of the Matriarchs" in Boston through Nov. 4

10/25/2018 – The Boston Sculptors Gallery (in Boston, Massachusetts, USA) has been hosting an interesting competition from October 3rd through to November 4th: the "Match of the Matriarchs". The exhibit is the brainchild of American artist Donna Dodson, who has designed a chess game with exclusively female figures inspired by marine animals. There is a closing reception the evening of November 2nd. | Photo: Boston Sculptors Gallery

FritzTrainer: Download advantage

10/25/2018 – FritzTrainer DVDs are easy to use but getting your FritzTrainer via download is even easier, especially in recent years when many laptop PCs ship without a DVD drive. This short tutorial shows why buying the download versions of the FritzTrainers are an elegant and easy way to improve your chess! | Drawing: ChessBase
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Isle of Man: Xiong and Gupta join the lead

10/25/2018 – All kinds of games were seen in the fifth round of the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament — short draws, theoretical battles, upsets, a checkmate with two knights against a queen, and so on. Jeffery Xiong and Abhijeet Gupta beat Richard Rapport and Vidit Gujrathi, respectively, to join Wang Hao and Arkadij Naiditsch in the lead with 4½/5. Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura and Sergey Karjakin won impressive games to up their tallies to four points. | Photos: John Saunders

Dreev dominates, Gabuzyan dragoons

10/24/2018 – The St. Louis Fall Chess Classic has become a regular fixture on the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis calendar. Grandmaster ELSHAN MORADIABADI reports on both Groups A and B which had record-breaking average Elo fields fighting for USD $36,000 in prize money in the US "chess capital". Alexei Dreev (pictured left) and Hovannes Gabuzyan emerged victorious after nine rounds of play. | Photos: Austin Fuller