August 2018 FIDE Ratings

8/1/2018 – July was relatively quiet, with the annual super tournament in Dortmund exerting the most influence on FIDE's classical ratings. It was a good month for Ian Nepomniachtchi who is now number 11 in the world in both classical and rapid chess. | Photo: Ritvo Photography

The venue of the 2018 World Chess Championship has been announced

8/1/2018 – Shortly after the last round of the Biel Tournament was over, World Chess announced the venue for this year's most important chess event. The Carlsen-Caruana match will take place at The College in Holborn, Central London. The organizers also provided some information regarding the live broadcast of the games and the Premium packages that will be available. | Photos: Location House

India to host twin Grandmaster Opens this October

8/1/2018 – Today, India hosts at least six grandmaster events annually. This October, two more GM tournaments are slated to add up to that list: one in the heritage city of Ahmedabad and another in the party capital of the country, Goa. The events will be held from October 5th to 12th in Ahmedabad and October 13th to 20th in Goa. Both the places have their own specialities and these being the first editions of both events, the organizers are extremely motivated to provide the best possible service to the players. Here's all you need to know.

Aloyzas Kveinys 1962-2018

8/1/2018 – The Lithuanian grandmaster Aloyzas Kveinys died suddenly at the age of 56. He was a multiple Lithuanian national champion and represented his country at eight chess Olympiads. From 1992 to 2007 he played for the Godesberger SK in the second Bundesliga West and in the Bundesliga. | Photo: Waldemar Rydzewski

Biel LIVE - Round 10

8/1/2018 – Get set for one of the summer's biggest events and one with a long tradition. The Biel Chess Festival is LIVE with World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov leading the GM tournament. ChessBase brings you live commentary from Biel with GM Daniel King and IM Anna Rudolf.

Biel: Mamedyarov defeats Carlsen and wins it all

8/1/2018 – Magnus Carlsen needed a win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the ninth round to have a realistic chance of finishing first at the Accentus Biel GM Tournament. He played ambitiously and the game eventually escaped his control completely. Mamedyarov kept a cool head and took advantage of the World Champion's mistakes to win the game and secure tournament victory with a round to spare. MIKHAIL GOLUBEV analysed the key match-up and the two draws from round nine. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

7/31/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent goes on air on Playchess.com. In his show, Lawrence will be dealing with the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. This week features games from the British Championships!

The sharpest endgame weapons

7/31/2018 – Dominating the enemy and zugzwang are often the sharpest weapons of the attacker in the endgame.

Endgame Magic with guest IM Michael Rahal

7/31/2018 – Joining Karsten for a look some recent endgames from tournament practice today is IM Michael Rahal, who is in Hamburg again to commentate live on the British Championship. Watch live at 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EDT) or later on-demand!

Help! My databases disappeared!

7/31/2018 – You look in ChessBase 14 in the folder "My Databases", but there are no databases that you have definitely created! They're just gone! What now? Don't panic Here are some tips on where to find them. File this away for that rare occasion you may need it. Of course you'll find tons more help in our FAQ, Wiki and Support pages.
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Biel: Georgiadis lets Navara off the hook

7/31/2018 – The fighting chess continues in Biel. Despite all games finishing in draws, we enjoyed three very interesting clashes on the eighth round. Svidler used an advanced passed pawn to draw Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Mamedyarov explored an old variation in the Open Defence, while Georgiadis missed sharp tactics that could have given him the win against Navara. MIKHAIL GOLUBEV provided a thorough analysis of each game. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

Danzhou Masters: The unfortunate b5

7/30/2018 – Two wins and two draws were witnessed in the fourth round of the 9th Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament. Interestingly, the downfall of both losers — Vidit Gujrathi and Jan-Krzysztof Duda — began after they moved their pawn to b5. Bu Xiangzhi kept his tournament lead in the meantime with a draw against Wei Yi in a razor-sharp Ragozin. Going into the rest day, he remains ahead of his nearest rival by half-a-point.

Kandy Chess Fest: An event in Sri Lanka's historical former capital

7/30/2018 – The Kandy International Chess Festival is slated to be held from 6th to 13th August 2018 in the historical Sri Lankan city of Kandy. In its 9th edition this year, the festival will feature a Grandmaster Open and a Blitz tournament. FM Rajeendra Kalugampitiya sends us a report with all the details about the event. | Photo: lankapura.com

Biel: A good day for the Najdorf

7/30/2018 – The Najdorf, one of the strongest Sicilian variations, was definitely a good choice for the players that had the black pieces on Sunday. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was inches away from beating Magnus Carlsen in an exciting game, while Peter Svidler scored against Nico Georgiadis in a very sharp battle. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

Danzhou Masters: Bu races past Duda

7/30/2018 – The third round of the 9th Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster tournament was a turbulent affair. Bu Xiangzhi took sole lead beating Le Quang Liem after the latter faltered miserably in a Symmetrical English; Vladimir Fedoseev pulled out a draw from a lost position against Jan-Krzysztof Duda; Vidit Gujrathi broke Sam Shankland's undefeated streak of 62 games; while Yu Yangyi managed to eke out a win in a dead drawn position against Wei Yi. Round 3 report.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

7/29/2018 – Among other things this issue includes games from the World Championship Candidates, Grenke and Gashimov Memorial Tournaments. 2295 games (several annotated) with 10 opening surveys from the Caro-Kann to the Queen’s Indian. A collector’s issue. Not to be missed.

Elementary, my dear Watson

7/29/2018 – Some lightweight fare for this month's study column as SIEGFRIED HORNECKER brings you tales from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Raymond Smullyan, perfect for a hot summer Sunday.

Danzhou Masters: Bu catches Duda

7/29/2018 – After having missed a win twice in round one, Bu Xiangzhi had luck smiling on him in the second round as he won in a drawn endgame against compatriot, Yu Yangyi. With this win, he also caught up with the tournament leader Jan-Krzysztof Duda at 1½/2. Meanwhile, the other games of the round finished in sedate draws leaving a field of four players half-a-point behind the leaders.

Bassem Amin wins rapid portion in Abidjan

7/28/2018 – A good final day performance gave rating favourite Bassem Amin the first place at the rapid portion of the Cote d'Ivoire Invitational. The rapid results are added to the scores in the eighteen rounds of blitz that will be played during the weekend, so everything is still up for grabs in Abidjan. Alina l'Ami has travelled to Ivory Coast and sent pictures and video interviews with the participants | Pictured: Dr. Essoh Essis, President of the Ivorian Chess Federation makes the first move in Amin-Belkhodja | Photos: Alina l'Ami

Biel: Mamedyarov sole front-runner

7/28/2018 – Magnus started the Accentus Biel GM Tournament with two wins, but could only draw in the four games that followed. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took advantage of the Norwegian's drawing streak to take the sole lead with a win over Nico Georgiadis. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, like Shak, won with the black pieces and now is in shared third place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

Danzhou Masters: Duda the dauntless

7/28/2018 – A brilliant win and an amazing miss were the highlights of the opening round of the 9th Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament. Continuing his great form from the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda registered an emphatic win over Vidit Gujrathi of India to take an early lead in the tournament. Bu Xiangzhi also had good winning chances against Samuel Shankland but messed up quite remarkably and had to settle for a draw in the end. An illustrated report with games.

Dvorkovich: "Hopefully, we will be able to avoid a dirty campaign"

7/27/2018 – Arkady Dvorkovich has been on tour for his electoral campaign and made stops at the Biel International Chess Festival and, a day after, at the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund (where he made the ceremonial first move for the game Kovalev-Kramnik). Macauley Peterson and Georgios Souleidis interviewed him on topics ranging from his plans for FIDE if elected, his connection to the Russian government, Agon, and political campaign wrangling. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Rooks and knights and an unfortunate king!

7/27/2018 – Black has given a check on b2. Playing 44.Ka4 as White immediately gives one a very uneasy feeling (rightly so!). But the alternative 44.Kc4 also loses. Can you work out why?

Biel: Vachier-Lagrave beats Georgiadis

7/27/2018 – After losing twice at the outset of the event, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave improved his standing in Biel with a victory over Nico Georgiadis. In the clash of co-leaders, Magnus Carlsen could not convert a slim edge against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while Peter Svidler and David Navara also split the point. The tournament reached its half-time and everything is yet to be decided. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival