Speelman's Agony #74

4/15/2018 – Before this week's games I'd like to request more material from readers which can be sent either to the Dropbox mentioned below or directly to me at jonathan@speelman.demon.co.uk — 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! | Pictured: Clement Lelievre (right) with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Laurent Fressinet in 2015

The Learning Curve for Chess Skill

4/15/2018 – ChessBase recently reported on the new artificial intelligence program “AlphaZero” and its astoundingly steep learning curve for chess skill. Given just the rules of chess, in 24 hours of playing games only against itself, it improved to a superhuman level. Along the way, AlphaZero discovered and ultimately abandoned standard openings such as the French and Caro-Kann Defences. | Pictured: The learning curve projection for World Champion Magnus Carlsen overlayed on the actual rating trend.

Review of Wesley So's secret weapon

4/14/2018 – REVIEW: This DVD gives an insight into the mind of one of the top professional chess players of our time. The way he prepares, his opening knowledge, the way he studies, what he finds important or useless. Clearly, a must-have DVD, not only for knowing more about the 1.b3 opening, and how it is played today but for the huge amount of ideas conveyed through the videos. Davide Nastasio explains why.

Amatzia Avni: Aesthetics and Beauty

4/14/2018 – Chess players are very practical, result-oriented. They do feel satisfaction when they manage to produce a stunning combination or an imaginative opening novelty, but beauty is not a goal per itself. They are looking for strong, practical moves, ones that lead to victory in the game. Beauty is an ancillary factor. But it is a major goal for composers of chess problems and studies, as the Israeli problemist explains in part two of his article.

Scenes from the Karpos Open 2018

4/13/2018 – The 2018 Karpos Open was won by IM Radoslav Dimitrov ahead of GM Sinisa Drazic on tiebreak. Both players scored 7½ / 9 points. Diana Mihajlova sends photos and a brief report from the Macedonian capital, Skopje. | Pictured: Drazic and Dimitrov

Garry Kasparov's 55th birthday

4/13/2018 – The 13th of April is "Kasparov-day". Today, 55 years ago, arguably the best player in chess history was born and since then has shaped the history of chess like no other player — not only on the board! Andre Schulz briefly traces Kasparov's history from his first international moves, through the peak of his career in 1999, his life in politics (both in and out of the chess world) and on to his recent advocacy work. | Photo: Kasparov.com

Calculation training with ChessBase

4/13/2018 – Practising to calculate variations quickly keeps your chess mind in shape and helps you to win more games. ChessBase has a whole suite of tools that help you to train your calculation skills. In this overview, you can find a training recipe to suit your taste. Have a look and try it out!
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Back, forth and sideways

4/13/2018 – In any endgame the bishop f3 would clearly dominate the knight f6. With queens on the board, however, White's vulnerable king on f2 becomes the decisive factor. How can Black exploit it?

NIC: When Harry meets the English

4/12/2018 – The popular S.O.S. column from New In Chess Magazine, recently featured an almost comical second move for black against the English early fianchetto: 2...h5. NIC columnist Jeroen Bosch notes, ‘A move like 2...h5 gives rise to a lot of early creativity, of course.’ See what he means in this entertaining article from the leading global English chess magazine.

Diego Flores first in Dubai

4/12/2018 – The 2018 Dubai Open was played between April 2nd and 10th. In a field stacked with 2600+ grandmasters, the Argentinian Diego Flores (pictured with the Sheik Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup) was crowned champion with 7½ / 9 points. In the last round, he beat the Indian Surya Ganguly on the top table. The runner-up was Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela) who drew with Ahmed Adly (Egypt). S.P. Sethuraman (India) and Adly also scored 7/9 points to take the third and fourth spots, respectively. | Photo: (trophy) Dubai Culture Club on Facebook; (Flores) Carlos Ilardo / Graciela Manteiga (ChessBase archive)

Nakamura supports chess talent in Africa

4/12/2018 – American Hikaru Nakamura, one of the world’s top chess Grandmasters, has shown his generosity by honouring a pledge he made earlier this year to assist two promising junior players from South Africa to further their chess careers. Hikaru identified the two young talents during his visit to South Africa in January while he was attending the South African Junior Chess Championships. Khanya Mazibuko (pictured), one of the selected players, was able to secure a win against his idol during the 100 player Simul in Johannesburg. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Meeting Yannick Pelletier

4/12/2018 – The unending stream of interesting visitors and authors coming to the ChessBase office in Hamburg, and frequenting our studio, continues. Often, we try to grab them for a few quick questions to see how they are and what's new. This time it was GM Yannick Pelletier who visited us in Hamburg in order to prepare a new FritzTrainer. Here's the latest, brief impromptu interview. | Photo: Pascal Simon (ChessBase)

Amatzia Avni: Different Thinking

4/11/2018 – A lot of chess writing is devoted to the thought process of players. Chess coaches direct their students to look for good, healthy, strong moves – not to search for beautiful ones. Problemists are quite different. For them beauty is a major goal. Composers search for extraordinary positions, which will bring the Aha! or OMG effect. In CHESS Magazine the well-known Israeli problemist examines some of the characteristics which separate those who play from those who compose and solve studies and problems.

EWICC: Dzagnidze and Cornette in the lead

4/11/2018 – After three rounds at the European Women's Championship, the number of perfect scores is down to two: Nana Dzagnidze and Diamante Cornette. They will face off today in round four. 21 players are in the chasing pack with 2½, among them the top seed Mariya Muzychuk and the German number one, Elisabeth Paehtz. WATCH LIVE (from 15:00 CEST) | Photo: Official site

The Tigress of Madras: Aruna Anand (part 3)

4/11/2018 – The final part of the interview with the Tigress of Madras Aruna Anand! While in the first two parts we got to know Aruna better, in the third part we turn up the heat with rapid-fire questions! For each question, Aruna has very little to time decide on her answer and this gives us some great insights into the mind of one of the greatest managers in the world of chess. India is lucky to have an icon like Vishy Anand and Vishy Anand is lucky to have a pillar like Aruna in his life! | Photo: Mandatory selfie with Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

Endgame Magic with guest Simon Williams

4/10/2018 – Simon Williams is an English Grandmaster and a well-known DVD author for ChessBase. He's in Hamburg to record a DVD follow up to his hit series on the London System. Today he joined Karsten to look at some fascinating endgames from recent tournament praxis! Watch on-demand!

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

4/10/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5 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. Today, Lawrence will have a look at games from the Grenke Open.

Grenke: Caruana clear first after clutch win

4/10/2018 – Fabiano Caruana strikes again! A win with black in the final round in Baden-Baden leaves him alone atop the GRENKE Chess Classic standings, with no playoff needed. Caruana defeated Nikita Vitiugov, while all other games ended in a draw. Magnus Carlsen finished the tournament in clear second place. Vitiugov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian finished with 5 points apiece, tied for third through fifth. | Photos: Georgios Souleidis, Macauley Peterson

Calculation training for advanced players

4/10/2018 – Calculating variations quickly and precisely is the basis for success in chess. Of course, modern chess engines calculate quicker and more precise than any human being. And Fritz 16 can help you to improve your calculation skills. An earlier tutorial focused on basic calculation training. Now we take a look at how more advanced calculators can take advantage of the tools in Fritz and the ChessBase account | Drawing: ChessBase
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China vs The World: China lifts the trophy

4/10/2018 – The final day of China versus the world match featured some amazing miniatures, inspiring comebacks and also a few incredible blunders! While the World team failed to overcome their two-point deficit on the final day, they came close and made sure the Chinese did not declare victory without breaking a sweat. Day 2 report and games.

Makropoulos declares candidacy for FIDE president

4/9/2018 – Last weekend the Belarus Chess Federation hosted the FIDE President meeting for the first quarter of 2018. The backdrop is the application of Belarus as host of the 2022 Chess Olympiad. In a blow to Kirsan Ilymzhinon, the Presidential Board called for his immediate resignation as president. After the meeting, Georgios Makropoulos announced his candidacy as FIDE president. | Photo: FIDE

Grenke LIVE: Caruana wins!

4/9/2018 – From March 31st to April 9th, the Grenke Chess Classic takes place in Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden, Germany. Ten grandmasters play a single round-robin, headed by World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, the winner of the 2017 tournament, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Viswanathan Anand. Live games and commentary webcast. | Photo: Macauley Peterson

Meeting Erwin l'Ami

4/9/2018 – As we are privileged with so many interesting visitors and authors coming to the ChessBase office in Hamburg and frequenting our studio, we often try to grab them for a few quick questions to see how they are and what's new. This time it was GM Erwin l’Ami who visited us in Hamburg in order to prepare a new training DVD. Here's a brief (off-camera) impromptu interview. | Photo: ChessBase

Grenke: Caruana, Carlsen, or Vitiugov

4/9/2018 – On a gorgeous Spring day in Baden-Baden there was another series of five draws in the eighth round. Magnus Carlsen tried to will his way to victory over Nikita Vitiugov, in the longest game of the round, but in the end, had to settle for a draw. Both remain a half point behind Caruana. It will be one of those three emerging as the GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 winner. Vitiugov, with White against Caruana in the final round (WATCH LIVE) has a chance to make a bold statement. For Magnus Carlsen, he'll have to try to win with black against Viswanathan Anand. Naiditch vs Anand is annotated by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson. | Photos: Macauley Peterson