Woodpecker method, part 3: strategy and endgame training

9/27/2018 – One of the best methods to improve your chess is to analyse your own games. ChessBase helps you to create training tasks from your own games which you can then use for your training. With the "Tactical Analysis" this is easy — and quick. Give it a try! | Image: ChessBase
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FIDE election campaign gathers momentum

9/26/2018 – One week from today, FIDE delegates will meet for their General Assembly and elect a new President. (Vote in our reader poll!) With the era of Ilyumzhinov now over, the race has become quite competitive. It remains a three-way contest between Georgios Makropoulos, Nigel Short and Arkady Dvorkovich. The election campaign is in full swing (with gloves off) and we'll be bringing you up to date on the major events of the past weeks as well as late-breaking news, in a series of articles leading up to the big day on October 3rd. Who would you vote for?

Batumi Olympiad Round 2: Improve your chess with the Olympians

9/26/2018 – There was a proposal of marriage before Round 2 at the Olympiad but, of course, it is also a hotbed of high-quality chess. We could produce an entire book with interesting tactical and strategic positions for your improvement., but instead we have given a few positions for you to train and improve your chess. At the same time you get all the updates of the big news of round two, the main one being Uzbek women getting the better of Russia!

The Game of the Week

9/26/2018 – 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: Excitement at the Olympiad!

The Power Play Show

9/26/2018 – 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 games from the first rounds of the Olympiad. Puzzle and the live video...

Nine Indicators to improve your chess (part 2)

9/26/2018 – In a deeply thought-out and specific proposal, IM JAN PRZEWOZNIK provides a method to train the way we think while playing a chess game. He unveils nine indicators that push us to reflect on our decisions and interprets them in terms of problem-solving cognitive strategies. In Part 1, we presented an introduction and the first three indicators; now we follow with the final six and an explanation of the "Chunking Theory".

India to host its first super tournament in November

9/25/2018 – It's a historic moment for Indian chess. The country will be hosting its first super tournament this November — the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz. Bigwigs like Aronian, Nakamura, Karjakin, So and Mamedyarov will be seen crossing swords with Anand, Harikrishna, Vidit and others. Prodigies, Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa will also be seen matching their wits with some of the absolute best in the world. Here's all you need to know about the event.

Cornered

9/25/2018 – Usually, endgames in which a bishop fights against a rook are drawn when no more pawns are left on the board. However, the defender should not go to the corner his bishop covers.

Endgame Magic / Weekly Show special with IM Lawrence Trent

9/25/2018 – Joining Karsten for a look some recent endgames from tournament practice today is English IM Lawrence Trent...and the pair will also look at some recent games in this special Endgame Magic / The Weekly Show combo. This week's show is live at 18:00 CEST (16:00 UT; 12:00 Noon EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!

"Oh Capablanca", the song

9/25/2018 – From musician and chess fan Juga, comes a ballad inspired by, and about, chess. "Oh Capablanca" has been making the rounds on social media in recent weeks to high acclaim. Today she has released a new acoustic version in a video recorded at the Marshall Chess Club in New York. Juga appears playing chess with a member of the Marshall and the video includes shots of historic photographs from the club of Capablanca, Marshall, and more. | Photos: Jugamusica.com

Batumi Olympiad Round 1: Li Chao is the biggest casualty

9/25/2018 – The first round of the Batumi Olympiad 2018 saw no upsets in the form of match score, but there were individual upsets where a Moroccan player was able to beat 2700+ Chinese GM Li Chao. Vassily Ivanchuk could not win his game and Sophie Milliet lost to a 1900 opponent. We bring you all the pictures from the venue as well as videos that give you the flavour of the environment. The tournament is just warming up with ten more rounds to go, but there is already so much going on! That's what Olympiads are all about, too many things happening at the same time!

Israeli grandmasters triumphed at the Corrida Chess Tournament

9/25/2018 – World-class players, such as David Navara, Alexei Shirov, Veselin Topalov, Richard Rapport, Valentina Gunina, Jon Ludvig Hammer or Markus Ragger were the stars of the eighth annual Nový Bor at the Corrida Chess Tournament, which was won by the Israeli grandmasters. The main match was dominated by Boris Gelfand (pictured), who beat the Czech no.2 chess player Viktor Láznička, 6:2. The match between Tadeáš Kriebel and young Israeli player Nitzan Steinberg ended with a narrow victory for the visiting player. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

Nigel Davies: learn to face the Caro-Kann

9/24/2018 – For White, the Exchange Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3) is a simple and easy to answer to the Caro-Kann. It is probably something you can use very effectively in your next tournament, especially if you have been given instructions by a true expert, and have practised the strategies he advocates against a human-like chess engine that matches the strength of your future opponents. That's precisely what you'll find here. Give it a try and see what it does for your understanding of this popular opening.

Simon Says — Basman's lost ideas (part 1)

9/24/2018 – In this Simon Says we take a look at an idea from one of the real pioneers of original chess, Michael Basman. Does his opening idea of 1 e4 e6 2 d4 a6!? make any sense? Simon is on-demand this week, but free for ChessBase Basic account holders. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

The best ever chess opening ceremony!

9/24/2018 – It was an opening ceremony like no other. So meticulously planned and so well executed. It was held at 9 p.m. and it was 45 kilometres away from the city of Batumi. Yet when the ceremony ended, no one was complaining. We bring you the entire detailed article with photos, videos and just about everything you wanted to know about this grand curtain raiser. Opening report from Batumi Olympiad 2018 in Georgia.

Terrific chess in Tenerife

9/24/2018 – The name of the tournament sounds like music. On Tenerife, the "1st Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez San Cristobal de la Laguna" was held, fittingly in an old convent. The guests met a chess-loving population, young and old. Venezuelan IM Daniel Pulvett emerged the winner a half point ahead of Grandmasters Ilja Zaragatzki and José ("Pepe") Cuenco Jiminez and FM Makan Rafiee who tied for second place. | Photos: Melik Kramer

Artemiev edges Harutyunian to win Nezhmetdinov Memorial

9/23/2018 – Rashid Nezhmetdinov (1912-1974) was one of the most famous chess players in the world during his lifetime — a few decades ago, it was almost impossible not to find his name while studying or following chess. In the early sixties, the International Master even worked as a coach of World Champion Mikhail Tal. The city of Kazan, Nezhmetdinov's hometown, hosts a memorial tournament in his honour every year. The 40th edition of the event finished Friday with a narrow victory by Russian Grandmaster Vladislav Artemiev. | Photos: Official website

In beautiful Batumi!

9/23/2018 – Batumi is a resort and port city on the Black Sea. It is the capital of the Georgian republic of Adjara and it is also the host city for the 43rd World Chess Olympiad 2018. The organizers have predicted that 4,000 people from 189 countries will be present in Batumi over the next fortnight making it the central hub of the chess world for the next few days. ChessBase reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal went through the city a couple of days before the beginning of the Olympiad and bring to you some of the best sights of Batumi.

Nunn on the World Chess Solving Championship 2018

9/23/2018 – It is a highly challenging discipline, with the top places generally going to the younger participants. But year after year a British mathematician, grandmaster and chess writer competes, successfully, with the strongest and brightest. This year the World Championship in problem-solving was held in a beautiful lakeside town in Macedonia, and once again 63-year-old JOHN NUNN did extremely well. In his report, he gives us some examples of the tasks that he faced. | Pictured: winners in the individual event, Kacper Piorun, Piotr Murdzia and Tomáš Peitl | Photo: Franziska Iseli

Perpetual Pelletier, an interview

9/22/2018 – Today is the birthday of Swiss Grandmaster Yannick Pelletier, who was born in Biel in 1976. During the Biel Chess Festival, where he served as the Tournament Director for the GM tournament, he was interviewed by Macauley Peterson and we bring you the full audio as well as transcribed highlights. Pelletier explains how he got into professional chess and the evolution of his career which will soon include magazine publishing. | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Nine Indicators to improve your chess (part 1)

9/22/2018 – In a deeply thought-out and specific proposal, IM JAN PRZEWOZNIK provides a method to train the way we think while playing a chess game. He unveils nine indicators that push us to reflect on our decisions and interprets them in terms of problem-solving cognitive strategies. The author laid out many example positions for everybody to test the method first-hand. In Part 1, we present the groundwork and the first three indicators.

A celebration of Peter Poobalasingam (1989-2017)

9/21/2018 – The Peter Poobalasingam Celebration tournament took place on Sunday September 9th in celebration of the life of a young man who is dearly missed by his friends and family. Four grandmasters turned out including British number 3, David Howell, who won the event alongside GM Stephen Gordon with 5½ / 6. | Photo: Sarah Longson

Guess who came to encourage the Russian Olympiad teams?

9/21/2018 – It was none other than Vladimir Putin, who dropped in at the training camp in Sochi. There he spoke to the men and women team members, about the importance of Russia regaining their dominating role in chess, about young talents and talent schools — like the one initiated by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. "Sirius" has already produced a number of children's champions. Watch this 1TV report — it is in Russian, but we provide a rough transcript for you to read.

Candidate moves, a Grandmaster's method

9/21/2018 – One of the most important tasks at the board, during a game, is to evaluate candidate moves and calculate the correct sequence. GM Christian Bauer, a famous expert on the Scandinavian Defence, has a new book out from Thinkers Publishing, which uses his own games as examples. Many different middlegame topics and ideas are explained in this innovative book, notes reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO who looks at two fully annotated games.