2/25/2018 – The Aeroflot Open 2018 has passed the half-way mark, and Russia's talented young grandmaster Artemiev Vladislav is now the only player with 4½ points at the top of the table. On Saturday, he showed his class to outplay the experienced Moldavian, Victor Bologan, taking advantage of small inaccuracies to convert the full point. It will be exciting to see if Fedoseev, Vidit and Andreikin can make a comeback in the second half of the event. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

2/25/2018 – Many people claim that chess is their passion, but how many have thought deeply about the reasons why they love chess so much. It takes an IIT graduate and the head of an engineering college to think objectively about this intense subject! Prof. Lakshmi Narayana breaks it down point by point, understanding how rich the game of chess is. "Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe!" There is something in this game for everyone, right from a philosopher to an illiterate! | Photo: Robert Couse-Baker CC BY 2.0

2/24/2018 – The tournament has almost reached halfway stage at the Aeroflot Open. However, none of the 2700s are among the tournament leaders. The lead currently rests in the hands of Bologan, Petrosian and Artemiev. Meanwhile, the bottom-most seed of the tournament, IM Eesha Karavade brought down GM Rinat Jumabayev and is now tied for second. With five more rounds to go, it will be interesting to watch the top seeds fight their way to the top.

2/24/2018 – Tables are the heart of tournament reports. Who won, who lost, who is currently first, who finished finally first, who played how against whom? But the new ChessBase tables offer much more than pairings and results. They also offer photos of and information about players, Elo-charts, games to replay, and more.

2/23/2018 – Two traditional tournaments, known for their social scene as much as their strong fields, kick off today, with anniversary editions. In Amsterdam, the Batavia tournament is in its 10th year, while in Bunratty, Ireland, the Bunratty Chess Festival is celebrating its 25th edition! Top seeds are GMs Ivan Sokolov and Nigel Short respectively, and both tournaments are carried on live.chessbase.com. Photo: Simon Williams pre-Bunratty selfie with Blair Connell, via Twitter

2/23/2018 – 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 Martin Fischer! Friday at 15:30 CET (9:00 AM EDT) it's all about calculation training!

2/19/2018 – We often hear that chess is useful in other phases of life. While this is true for the ones who play the sport, it is still quite a big question to the uninitiated as to what exactly are the benefits of playing chess. Also, the benefits are so vast that sometimes it is difficult even for an experienced player to jot them all down. Dr. Shrirang Joshi is a well-known psychiatrist and counsellor based in Mumbai. He spent a lot of time studying the benefits of chess and now brings us the details of his findings. In this article you learn how lessons learnt from chess can be better applied to our day to day life. | Photo: Val Vesa

2/19/2018 – In this Simon Says, Simon Williams will be taking a look at some instructive manoeuvres that will help us improve our planning. Come and join the show for lots of entertaining chess! Watch live from 18:00 CET (12 Noon EST). Puzzles, free sample and information inside... | Photo: Alina l'Ami

2/19/2018 – Starting on Tuesday, February 20th, the Cosmos Hotel in Moscow (view from a guest room pictured) is once again the venue for the major annual Open sponsored by the Russian airline Aeroflot, which is already celebrating its sixteenth edition this year. There will three separate nine-round Swiss tournaments, and the top A Open is one of the strongest open tournaments ever — for a place on the starting list a player must have an Elo rating of at least 2550. The top seed is last year's winner Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia, Elo 2724), followed by Indian phenom Vidit Gujrathi, just one Elo point behind. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

2/19/2018 – 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. Recently it was GM Karsten Müller who was sitting in the studio for an (off-camera) impromptu interview. | Photo: Pascal Simon

2/18/2018 – In his book on Bobby Fischer the Icelandic author Garðar Sverrisson recalls how in his final years his friend shared his fascination for a little-known game with him, and sought an improvement on Black’s play. Fascinated by this reference our columnist Prof Nagesh Havanur retrieved the many decades old game and annotated it, wondering what Fischer would have found and how it would have enriched our understanding of the game.

2/18/2018 – The 20th Dubai Open 2018 will be held from April 1st to the 12th, 2018. It is one of the strongest open tournaments in the world and an ideal tournament for all ambitious players to gain their rating or score their IM/GM norms. All the details and a look at Dubai attractions. | Pictured: The famous Burj Khalifa with a height of 829.8 m is one of the tallest structures in the world since its topping out in late 2008. | Photo: www.gabisworld.com