Most Amazing Moves!

4/4/2018 – Chess mastery is a bit like a PhD in a university, many subjects need to be studied: openings, middlegames, endgames, tactics, checkmate patterns etc. One of these fields to add to the curriculum are beautiful games which can help raise our aesthetic appreciation of the game, while at the same time giving us ideas and interesting maneuvers we can apply to our games. Reviewer Davide Nastasio takes a look at Simon "Ginger GM" Williams' picks in his entertaining DVD "Most amazing moves"!

The struggle is worth more than records

4/4/2018 – R Praggnanandhaa had been making headlines ever since he became the world's youngest IM in May 2016. All eyes were on the little genius, with everyone eager to see if he could become the world's youngest GM too. The kid gave it his all, and as the deadline to break the record approached closer, he travelled across the globe playing every tournament that offered him the possibility of scoring a norm. But, in the end, he lost the race against time. However, Praggna earned heaps of admiration and love, and, most importantly, his zeal to excel remains undeterred. So, all things considered, wasn't the struggle worth a lot more than the record? | Photo: Lennart Ootes Reykjavik Open Facebook page

13-year-old steals the spotlight from Carlsen and co.

4/3/2018 – On Easter Monday, the GRENKE Chess Open ended with a sensation. Vincent Keymer won Europe's largest open chess tournament with 8.0 points from nine rounds. He started as number 99 in the ranking list, yet left behind 49 grandmasters, including such well-known names as Etienne Bacrot (France), Richard Rapport (Hungary), Alexei Shirov (Latvia) and Anton Korobov (Ukraine). What makes the victory all the sweeter is that it comes with a GM norm and a cash prize of 15,000 euros. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

No exit

4/3/2018 – Knight against bishop — an interesting duel. In open positions, the bishop is usually better than the knight. But of course, the bishop first has to BE in an open position.

John Nunn: Fifty years of chess

4/3/2018 – “Last year I took part in the British Over-50 Championship,” our friend and author writes. “A number of people wondered why I had entered. The explanation is that 2017 made it exactly half a century since I first took part in the British Championship, and it seemed reasonable to mark the occasion by once again playing in the event. I thought it would be interesting to tell the story of these two events, although I have allowed myself to wander off-topic to some extent.” Well, here it is for you to enjoy.

Grenke: Black strikes back

4/3/2018 – The third round of the Grenke Classic seemed headed to a very dull series of draws, but somehow things changed before the games ended. Carlsen tried very hard to lead young Bluebaum astray, but no luck, while Caruana final scored a win after a fairly sharp game against Meier. Finally, Hou Yifan lost a tough game against MVL. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Americans playing for the title: Samuel Reshevsky

4/2/2018 – Samuel "Sammy" Reshevsky was possibly the greatest player ever to never be a full-time chess professional, even as he vied for the no.1 spot during his prime. He was also one of the greatest prodigies of his day, conducting master level simuls around the world as a child. He played in many World Championship cycles, including the 1948 World Championship tournament. We bring you photos and a historic game commented by Reshevsky himself! | Photo: Kadel and Herbert

Grenke: The power of white

4/2/2018 – In a day when White scored 4½/5, how else could one describe the round? Even the one draw took herculean measures by Matthias Bluebaum (with black) to survive Fabiano Caruana's powerful attack. For Nikita Vitiugov, the qualifier from last year's Open, it means 2/2 also. Still, be sure to see the fascinating notes by GM Yermolinsky, who sheds light on how chess understanding has changed in the last 20 years. Not to be missed! | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

The April Fool's tradition

4/2/2018 – Did you think that the "Drunken Master" story we published 24 hours ago was an April 1st jest? No, it wasn't. It was funny but perfectly true (so far as we know). So is the made-up report coming? No, it isn't. We have decided to abandon the twenty-year tradition (this time really!) and stick to straight and truthful news. But we will look back at some of the pranks we have perpetrated in the past — just to prove we have not lost our sense of humour.

Speelman's Agony #73

4/1/2018 – A Two Knights and a Pirc from a Belgian. Sam Azzoug has a pawn sac gone wrong providing the 'agony' and then makes up for it with a nice a central pin breakthrough bit of 'ecstasy'. Fancy Jon taking a look at your games? Send them in! If you appear in 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!

Grenke: An exciting start as Carlsen and Caruana face off

4/1/2018 – The 5th Grenke Classic could not have come any sooner, as it features a preview of the upcoming World Championship match. By luck of the draw the two rivals Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana got to play each other in the opening round. While the engine jockeys screamed Carlsen had missed an 'easy win' as they drew, author and annotator GM Alex Yermolinsky shows that this was anything but true. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Meet the Drunken Master

4/1/2018 – How would you react if your opponent just moved all their pawns to the third rank of the board in the opening and still managed to hold ground? Wesley Falcao, a National Master living in New York, did exactly this in some of his blitz games. The result: this seemingly drunken manner of opening the game actually caught some strong players off guard, provoked errors and produced some really entertaining games. In this article, Wesley Falcao shares some of his games (a whopping 17 of them!) and discusses some key ideas behind his opening, urging readers to kick back and have a drink with the Drunken Master!

April 2018 FIDE Ratings

3/31/2018 – There were plenty of interesting results this last month, and the Candidates was but one of the contributing factors. There can be no discussion about calling Fabiano Caruana 'Man of the Month', but fascinating moves abound, from the rise of Iranian youth (watch out Batumi!), to Anand's ascension to world no.3 in Rapid. See all, read all, in this month's ratings report! | Photo: World Chess

Review of CBM 182

3/31/2018 – CBM 183 is just out. However, our columnist Nagesh Havanur did not want readers to miss out our recent issue. Among other things, it includes games from London Chess Classic, FIDE Grand Prix Palma de Mallorca and European Team Championship Tournaments. In all, 1768 games (several annotated) with 12 opening surveys from the Sicilian to the Catalan. A detailed review.

NEW: Calculation Training by IM Robert Ris

3/31/2018 – Nowadays, people tend to prefer working on their chess by studying opening variations with engines, neglecting the practical side of our game. This DVD emphasizes the importance of training your calculation skills. Dutch IM Robert Ris made a selection of training material which he uses in lessons with students ranging from 1400 to 2400. But Ris believes that this material is suitable for players of various strengths because anyone can benefit from practicing calculation in a structured way.

Caruana vs Carlsen in St. Louis?

3/31/2018 – Fabiano Caruana’s victory in the Candidates series in Berlin has sparked rumours that November’s world title contest may switch from London to the United States and offer a larger financial prize to the winner. Billionaire Rex Sinquefield, who has made St Louis a renowned global chess centre, and who has supported Caruana's chess career, might bid to host the match against Magnus Carlsen in the US. Leonard Barden, chess correspondent of The Guardian, shares his view.

Magnus' next moves

3/30/2018 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen has a busy Spring planned. He leads the field of the Grenke Chess Classic again this year from March 31st to April 9th. The tournament runs parallel to the Grenke Open in Karlsruhe and then moves to Baden-Baden. Later in April, from the 18th to the 29th, Carlsen will play in Shamkir, Azerbaijan for the Vugar Gashimov Memorial, followed by the Altibox Norway Chess tournament, May 27th to June 8th. The summer kicks off for Carlsen with the 51st Biel Chess Festival, July 22nd to August 1st. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis GrenkeChessClassic.de

Tune your tactics: Calculation training

3/30/2018 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! Friday at 15:30 CET (9:00 AM EDT) it's all about calculation training!

Larsen stunner

3/30/2018 – Larsen, the fighter! This time my inspiration was the great article "Vlastimil Hort: Bent Larsen". More to come, I hope! Your eyes do not deceive you, there is a black king on h3. Find out why.

Americans playing for the title: Frank Marshall

3/30/2018 – Fabiano Caruana’s victory at the Candidates not only promises an exciting match, but will also be the first title match by a player born in the USA in 46 years, since Bobby Fischer’s famous bout against Boris Spassky in 1972. However, theirs were hardly the only ones by US players. The very first was by Frank Marshall in 1907 against none other than Emanuel Lasker. Here is a look at that chess legend and his title match with annotations by Garry Kasparov! | Photo: Chicago History Museum

The Tigress of Madras - Aruna Anand (part 2)

3/30/2018 – Right from a very early age, everyone knew that Vishy Anand would make it big in the world of chess. His talent and work ethic combined with the love for the game took him to the top. But what is it that kept him at the top for so many years? If you had to ask us, we would say: a very important role was played by his wife Aruna Anand. She gave Anand the emotional support that helped him keep going for years and years. Even at the age of 48 he is going strong. In Part II of our interview with the Tigress of Madras - Aruna Anand, we ask her about her role as a manager, the biggest challenge, how she deals with Vishy's losses and how Akhil's presence has brought new colours into their lives!

Caruana's first reaction

3/29/2018 – Moments after winning the Candidates tournament, Fabiano Caruana was waiting, alone, in the players' rest area adjacent to the playing hall. Macauley Peterson followed him, for his first comment after officially becoming the next challenger to Magnus Carlsen. Pictured leaving the board, you get the feeling that the full impact of his achievement has not yet set in. But that was about to change. | Photo: Niki Riga

Ivan Saric is 2018 European Champion

3/29/2018 – Overshadowed by the Candidates tournament held in Berlin, the European Championship was still the fascinating event it has always been, with a field that is absurdly rich in grandmasters and titled players. This hard-fought affair brought many famous names, but it all went down to the wire with Ivan Saric emerging the sole victor in a huge win over David Navara in the last round. | Photo: Sophie Nikoladze

ChessBase Magazine 183

3/29/2018 – The editor’s top ten includes: Has Magnus Carlsen really given away a piece? World champion trainer and Dragon expert Peter Heine Nielsen explains what lies behind it. Decision in Wijk aan Zee: Enjoy Daniel King’s video summary of the tiebreak between Carlsen and Giri. In a Sicilian Stunner from Oliver Reeh White makes the going at first, but you get the opportunity to distinguish yourself in the defence of the black position. Plus coverage of the Nimzowitsch Larsen Opening, the London System, the Sicilian B41, and much more.