Hot phase

10/19/2018 – Which side would you favour after 57.R1b7 in the diagram position? Three moves to find for Black and White, then we'll take stock together. Have fun!

European Club Cup: Svidler's Mednyi Vsadnik take gold

10/19/2018 – Any of the top teams could have won it, but Mednyi Vsadnik ended up ahead at the European Club Cup in Porto Carras. Valerenga arrived in the last round as sole leaders but barely one point ahead of the four-team chasing pack — the eventual champions from Saint Petersburg defeated Carlsen's squad and edged AVE Novy Bor on tiebreak criteria to take home the gold medals. In the women's section, Cercle d'Escacs de Monte-Carlo finished first thanks to Anna Muzychuk's win on top board. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

Sindarov: second youngest GM ever

10/18/2018 – The last half year went well for the young Uzbek Javokhir Sindarov: In June he got his first GM norm in Voronezh, Russia. In September, at the World Junior Championships in Turkey, he scored a second and elevated his Elo rating to 2500. Now, less than a month later, Sindarov has reportedly earned his third and final GM norm, making him the second youngest GM ever, at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 8 days. | Photo: Sagar Shah

Bringing chess to your TV screen

10/18/2018 – A computer is fine but following chess on your TV can be even better. With a HDMI cable that connects your computer with your TV you can watch the Fritz Trainer DVDs on a big screen. However, most modern TVs already come with a browser in which case you don't even need the computer to enjoy chess on your TV. | Drawing: ChessBase
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European Club Cup LIVE

10/18/2018 – Live games and commentary from the 2018 European Chess Club Cup, with GM Ioannis Papaioannou & FM Sotiris Logothetis, October 12th to 19th. All tournament reports and details on teams and players.

Championship problem solutions

10/18/2018 – Some weeks ago the World Chess Problem Solving Championship took place in Ohrid, a beautiful lakeside town in Macedonia. Mathematician and grandmaster JOHN NUNN, 63 years of age, did extremely well, winning the Open section. In his report John provided us with a sample of six problems, which showed us what the participants had to go through. Today he provides the solutions, explained in his unmatched style of unravelling complex chess ideas.

European Club Cup: Magnus and Valerenga lead

10/18/2018 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen kept fans on pins and needles as he appeared to be losing to Ding Liren which would have dropped him to number two in the world behind Fabiano Caruana (at least temporarily). But Carlsen defended hard and salvaged a critical draw that allowed his teammate Nils Grandelius to win the match for the underdog Norwegian squad of Valerenga. They are now in clear first. ALEX YERMOLINSKY shares his outlook. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

Karpov-Korchnoi: 40 years after

10/17/2018 – Today 40 years ago, on October 17th, 1978, a battle of nerves, which lasted over four months and 32 games, ended in Baguio City, the Philippines. The Soviet defector Viktor Korchnoi fought against the Soviet loyalist World Champion Anatoly Karpov for the chess world's highest title. We take a look at a few more details of the match, with photos and discussion of the new feature documentary "Closing Gambit" with producer Alan Byron. | Photos: Screenbound Pictures

The Game of the Week

10/17/2018 – 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: European Club Cup and Pavel Eljanov against Gerlev Meins.

The Power Play Show

10/17/2018 – 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 Olympiad. Puzzle and the live video...

European Club Cup: Nothing yet settled as four teams lead

10/17/2018 – A day filled with close matches at the top left four teams tied for first at the European Club Cup in Porto Carras. Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova held Alkaloid to a draw — and even could have won — while Valerenga and AVE Novy Bor edged Odlar Yurdu and Beer Sheva Chess Club by the closest margin. Therefore, two exciting rounds await with many top teams yet to play each other. In the women's section, Ugra and SSHOR qualified to the final knockout phase. DANIEL FERNANDEZ annotated six key games of the round. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

Closing Gambit, a new feature documentary

10/17/2018 – “If you were going to write a movie script, you couldn’t have done it better,” says English GM Daniel King. A new feature documentary, Closing Gambit, is being released to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the 1978 World Championship and the start of the Carlsen versus Caruana match in November. The film was successfully screened to international buyers at the Cannes Festival earlier this year, and will become widely available on TV and digital platforms later this year.

Vsevolod Rauzer: A fanatical researcher

10/16/2018 – 110 years ago, on October 16th, 1908, the Soviet Master and famous opening theoretician Vsevolod Rauzer was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Rauzer died in 1941 but during his short career, he discovered a number of new ideas in the opening and the endgame. Rauzer was convinced that 1.e4 is better than 1.d4 and wanted to prove that with all his might. | Diagram: The starting position of the Richter-Rauzer Attack

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

10/16/2018 – 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 European Club Cup!

Endgame Magic with IM Lawrence Trent

10/16/2018 – English IM Lawrence Trent is back joining Karsten with endgames from Batumi. 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)!

Always fascinating: knight vs bishop

10/16/2018 – Which is stronger, the knight or the bishop? Some players prefer knights, others like the bishop better. However, there is only one answer to this question: It depends!

European Club Cup: Alkaloid grab key win

10/16/2018 – Ding Liren inflicted Peter Svidler's third straight loss to give Alkaloid a critical victory over fourth seeded Mednyi Vsadnik. The rating favourites now share the lead with Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova, which barely beat the over-performing Dunajska Streda. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen drew Alexander Donchenko and lost 2.9 rating points, but his team Valerenga Sjakklubb grabbed a clear win to stay one point behind the leaders. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival

10/15/2018 – Last weekend, Judit Polgar's big, colourful annual Global Chess Festival took place. A full 24 hours revolved around chess — and not only in Budapest; about 100 places around the world were involved in one way or another. | Photos: Global Chess Festival

Miguel Illescas previews Carlsen vs. Caruana

10/15/2018 – We are only weeks away from the start of the World Championship in London, where Magnus Carlsen meets his latest challenger, the American Fabiano Caruana, and the fans wait impatiently for this impending train collision. It's a match which a priori promises great emotions and high-quality games because we will witness the indisputable numbers 1 and 2 of the world ranking. Grandmaster Miguel Illescas reflects on AlphaZero and wonders if secret preparation tools could make the difference. | Photo: Peón de Rey

Martyn Kravtsiv wins the 1st Gujarat GM Open

10/15/2018 – Ahmedabad, the fifth largest city in India, concluded its first International Grandmaster Open on October 12th. The ten round Swiss league attracted about 250 participants from more than 15 different countries. Although the field included some strong grandmasters, the event was dominated by Indian youngsters for the most part. At the end of ten rounds, the tournament's top seed, GM Martyn Kravtsiv won the event by defeating the overnight leader IM Vignesh NR in the final round. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

European Club Cup: Valerenga hold Novy Bor to a draw

10/15/2018 – Three rounds have taken place in Porto Carras and six teams still have a perfect record at the European Club Cup. The big match of Sunday was AVE Novy Bor vs. Valerenga — for quite a while it seemed like the Czech team was about to prevail, but Carlsen's colleagues saved the day with two longwinded wins. Meanwhile, Alkaloid and Odlar Yurdu continued with their commanding performances and got big scores yet again. Only four rounds are left in the short team event. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

Speelman's Agony #85

10/14/2018 – This week's games are from Polish IM Jan Przewoznik who is rekindling his chess passion and reflecting on his youth, including these games from 1979! 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!

European Club Cup: Magnus does not falter

10/14/2018 – In the second day of play in Porto Carras, the big teams once again took down their opponents with little collateral damage. While the real fight between clubs is only about to start, some individual encounters were in the spotlight on Saturday — Magnus Carlsen defeated Vladimir Potkin from an apparently innocuous position and Peter Svidler opened his tournament with a loss against Aleksandar Indjic. Calrsen's Valerenga will play second seeded AVE Novy Bor in Sunday's round. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

A joyful time in Paris

10/13/2018 – Have you ever been in the right place at the right time? That is precisely what happened to DIANA MIHAJLOVA, who reported from the Paris Championship in the midst of a citywide bash: France had just won the FIFA World Cup! The longstanding tournament organised in the ‘City of Light’ was won by the talented youngster Jules Moussard. Let’s dive into the pictorial report filled with anecdotes, places and faces. | All photos: Diana Mihajlova