Jerusalem hosts the 4th Japhet Tournament

6/29/2018 – Elite rapid chess and more in the Israeli city of Jerusalem. Nepomniachtchi, Svidler, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Meier and Anna Muzychuk star in the 4th edition of the Gideon Japhet Memorial, beginning July 1st. | Pictured: The prize giving podium of the third Japhet tournament 2016 | Photo: Ritvo photography
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Light summer mate III

6/29/2018 – In the diagram position, Black is just fine — the only thing she should avoid is the game continuation 20...Ne5?? Are you itching to move some white pieces after that?

GM tutorial: learn to play the Ruy Lopez

6/28/2018 – GM EFSTRATIOS GRIVAS is a world renown trainer. He tells you what the strategic goals of the main line of the Ruy Lopez are, and the way you can continue in tournament play. After reading a few paragraphs about this very popular opening, you can try it out for yourself, right there in your browser, against an engine that matches the playing strength of your potential opponents. You can play any number of games and test different ideas. Have fun!

Abu Dhabi: 'The land of the Gazelle'

6/28/2018 – The Abu Dhabi Chess Festival is just around the corner and its premier event, the Masters' Tournament, features an exciting list of players. Some of the bigwigs include Richard Rapport, Alexander Morozevich, Anton Korobov and Vladimir Fedoseev. With such a strong field, the tournament offers an ideal opportunity for aspiring masters to earn norms or gain rating points.

Four chess legends meet in Platja d'Aro

6/28/2018 – A small town in Catalonia's beautiful Costa Brava has welcomed four renowned chess players from the past. Anatoly Karpov, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Anatoly Vaisser and Eugenio Torre are playing a unique rapid and blitz tournament in Platja d'Aro. David Llada sent some very nice pictures from the singular Legends Tournament. | Photos: David Llada

The Power Play Show

6/27/2018 – Wednesday at 6pm UK time 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. Puzzle and the live video...

Zweig: A Chess Story and a dramatic death

6/27/2018 – One of the most popular writers in Europe — the most translated in the interwar period — Stefan Zweig escaped the Nazi regime as a prominent writer. Since he thought Hitler's threat would spread throughout the world, he emigrated repeatedly and visited South America several times, considering the continent "a promised land". An admirer of Argentina, he finally settled in Brazil, where he died in 1942. In this article, SERGIO NEGRI reviews his extensive and successful literary work, including the one that has chess as its fundamental protagonist, "Schachnovelle".

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

6/26/2018 – 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. Today, Lawrence will have a look at games from the two recent matches, overshadowed somewhat by the Grand Chess Tour events in Leuven and Paris.

Talking modern correspondence chess

6/26/2018 – Does correspondence chess have any meaning in 2018, when chess engines definitely overcame the best humans already back in about 2005? Is it useful for a chess player to study a database of correspondence chess games? Or to use it as a reference? Discover more in an interview with Wolff Morrow, one of the top ten correspondence chess players in the USA!

Evans Gambit for the new generation

6/26/2018 – A romantic gambit? A modern product of top engines? How to define the Evans gambit? In today's frenetic chess world, with new tournaments every weekend, a chess warrior must keep the competition always unprepared using different sharp openings. Reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO has the review as GingerGM (AKA Simon Williams) continues his journey helping other chess players to spice up their openings and gain points while playing exciting chess.

The fortress - real or an illusion?

6/26/2018 – Some players believe in fortresses, others do not. But no matter whether you are believer or not, some fortresses are real and really solid. In the endgame rooks are usually much better than a knight. But with pawns on one side, the defending side might build a fortress:

"I don’t see Nigel as a great leadership candidate"

6/25/2018 – IM Malcolm Pein, now a candidate for FIDE Deputy President, took time out from a full schedule for a chat with Macauley Peteron in Leuven at the end of the "Your Next Move Rapid and Blitz" tournament. Malcolm discussed the Grand Chess Tour, the FIDE / Agon proposed "broadcast policy," the upcoming World Championship in London, and his thoughts on the election including having his old friend Nigel Short as a political sparring partner. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Simon Says — The English Defence

6/25/2018 – In this Simon Says, Simon looks at an opening for black today: The English Defence against 1.d4 or 1.c4. The action is live most Mondays starting at 18:00 CEST (Noon EDT). | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Using ChessBase on your Mac computer

6/25/2018 – ChessBase, Fritz & Co. are programs for Windows but they do also run on Mac computers if you install Windows, which is nowadays easy to do using, for instance, Boot Camp, Parallels, or VMware Fusion. We compare these three alternatives and describe how you can use them to install ChessBase on your Mac.
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GCT Paris: Nakamura by a nose

6/25/2018 – Sergey Karjakin seemed unstoppable after Saturday's first nine rounds of blitz, however, Nakamura finally emerged as the winner of the Paris Grand Chess Tour. Hikaru fought until last minute and finished one and a half points ahead of the field. Meanwhile, Wesley So played it safe to get clear third and keep the lead in the Tour overall standings. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Grand Chess Tour Paris LIVE

6/24/2018 – Wesley So won the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2018, the combined rapid chess and blitz tournament in Leuven. The tour continues with an equivalent tournament in Paris, where the French conglomerate Vivendi and its "Canal plus" TV channel is a leading partner of the tournament. Indeed, the games will take place in a television studio. Read our report on day four.

GCT Paris: Surging Sergey

6/24/2018 – Sergey Karjakin jumped out to a small lead after a stellar performance on the first day of blitz in Paris. Nakamura also had a good day and is second. Wesley So has slipped to third place, but along with Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian, remains in contention. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Ivory Coast to host major African tournament

6/23/2018 – An unprecedented rapid & blitz invitational tournament is being organised in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Ten players from ten different African countries will participate in an event that will mimic the Grand Chess Tour format. The French mass media conglomerate that sponsors the Paris GCT, Vivendi SA, is sponsoring this novel initiative. | Pictured: Abidjan city center at night | Photo: Cedric Favero

Praggnanandhaa, a Grandmaster!

6/23/2018 – In a small town of northern Italy called Ortisei, history is being made. The young uber-prodigy R. Praggnanandhaa is playing the 4th Gredine Open 2018 and he has qualified for his final GM norm making him the second youngest GM in the history of the game. In this article IM Sagar Shah analyzes one of Pragg's fine wins over Aryan Gholami from Iran. His sister Vaishali is also in fantastic form as she is on track to making her maiden IM norm. Also get to see some breathtaking pictures sent to us by Sushir Lohia.

Indonesia's red hot chili peppers

6/23/2018 – Surakarta, also known as Solo or Sala, a city in Central Java, Indonesia, hosted two round-robin tournaments earlier this year — one for GMs and one for WGMs. Alina l'Ami was there and prepared a long article filled with anecdotes, chess games and some extra spicy dishes. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

GCT Paris: So takes slim margin to blitz

6/23/2018 – Another single round-robin of rapid chess was completed in Paris over the past three days. This weekend the French capital hosts a double-round blitz tournament, with the scores of the two tournaments combined to produce an overall winner. As before in Leuven, the lead in the standings is in the hands of the American Wesley So, but this time his margin is much narrower, as he has only one point more than his compatriot Hikaru Nakamura and the Russian former World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin. Today, So calmly drew all three of his games. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Pia Cramling to miss Olympiad 40 years after her first

6/22/2018 – Pia Cramling was born in 1963, the same year as Garry Kasparov, and she is also a chess legend. 40 years ago, when she was 15, she played in her first Olympiad. But this year she won't in play the Olympiad in Batumi 2018. In an extensive interview, the Swedish grandmaster reveals what drove her decision and reflects on her long career. | Pictured: Juan Bellon, Anna Cramling, Pia Cramling; Photo: Swedish Chess Federation

Learn from the great Mikhail Botvinnik

6/22/2018 – If Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik could learn from the great Patriarch of chess Mikhail Botvinnik, we are sure you can also learn a great deal from this great master. Hence, ChessBase has launched its tenth DVD in the Master Class series in which capable tutors like GMsYannick Pelletier, Mihail Marin, Karsten Mueller and IM Oliver Reeh dissect the play of the fifth World Champion. In this article IM SAGAR SHAH explains how studying the classics helped him to become a stronger chess player. He shows you one of his favourite games of Botvinnik and how he applied what he learnt in his own game at the under-19 nationals back in 2007!

Light summer mate II

6/22/2018 – White's queen is threatening to take the rook e8 with a back rank mate, while his own exposed king might get ready to escape via e2. How would you continue as Black in the diagram position?