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

Hoogeveen matches all tied

10/24/2018 – Peter Svidler lost the opening game of his six-game match against Sam Shankland, but in game two he was able to fight back and win with white. Tuesday's game ended drawn. In the second match between Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev the point was shared for the third time, meaning both matches are all tied up at the halfway mark. Wednesday is a rest day in the matches, but the Open games are live. | Photos: Official site

Carlsen insights from Norwegian podcast

10/24/2018 – Thanks to Norwegian social media guru Tarjei Svensen you can read highlights of a recent hour-long podcast with World Champion Magnus Carlsen being interviewed (in his native language) by two of his closest friends. | Photos: Alina l'Ami Players.Chessbase.com

Isle of Man: Naiditsch and Wang Hao surge ahead

10/24/2018 – They both won with the white pieces and are now the co-leaders of the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament — Arkadij Naiditsch took down Pavel Tregubov's French Defence, while Wang Hao converted a superior endgame into a win against Erwin l'Ami. On top board, Jeffery Xiong held Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to a draw, and now both of them are part of the six-player chasing pack. Meanwhile, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik won their games and took a bye for next round. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

Capablanca vs Marshall Attack, 100 years later

10/23/2018 – Exactly 100 years ago today, on October 23, 1918, one of the most famous games in history was played. (Even Wikileaks founder Julian Assange knows about it!) Frank Marshall, one of the world's strongest players at the time, had prepared a very special opening for his game against future world champion Jose Raul Capablanca. Charles Higgie has analysed this game in considerable detail. After studying his explanations you can try playing the Marshall Attack against an engine that matches your skill level. It's fun and can do wonders for your tournament results. | Photos: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

10/23/2018 – 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. The is streamed live, free for all, and will be available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders. This week Lawrence's focus is the ongoing Chess.com Isle of Man International.

Isle of Man: Six players keep a perfect score

10/23/2018 – The third round of the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament left six players tied on first place with a perfect 3/3. From the top-10 rated players, only Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is in this group, while the biggest surprise amongst the leaders is 48th seeded Pavel Tregubov, who beat Hrant Melkumyan with the white pieces on Monday. Names like Giri, Kramnik, Anand and Nakamura are not even at the chasing pack on 2½, as all of them stand a point behind on 2/3. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

No way out

10/23/2018 – Bishops are fast and can quickly run across the whole board. But sometimes this is not enough to escape a powerful rook.

Endgame Magic with FM Charlie Storey

10/23/2018 – English FM Charlie Storey joins Karsten for his look at endgame practice. This week's show is live at 15:00 CEST (13:00 UTC; 9:00 AM EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!