2/16/2018 – Portugal is rarely hosting large international tournaments, but at the beginning of February Lisbon hosted a well-publicized international open. Baadur Jobava led the seedling list, but came up a half point short and finished fourth. The tournament winner was Serbian GM Alexandar Indjic. | Photo: openportugal.fpx.pt

2/16/2018 – The bishop b2 is longing for action, and 19.fxe5 in the diagram position is the first step to activate it. Can you see the best continuation for White following 19...dxe5, and then, possibly, all five moves until the end of the game?

2/15/2018 – Solving endgame studies is a highly recommended method of making you a much more creative player by improving your endgame understanding, sharpening your tactical sense and calculative skills, equipping you with a whole arsenal of conventional as well as out of the box weapons. Yet first and foremost it is a great fun provided you face human and friendly challenges and keep your silicon monsters switched off for a change. | Pictured: The winner, GM Twan Burg (left) & IM P.Peelen | Photo: Harry Gielen

2/15/2018 – What's the best way to study and train openings? It's a common question. Whether you use ChessBase 14, Fritz 16, the Web Apps or the Fritztrainer video series, you have tools at your disposal to make your opening work easier and more effective. Here's a short tutorial how to study and practice an opening with the help of ChessBase!

2/14/2018 – Bad press for FIDE as Dr. Adrian M. Siegel, the organisation's treasurer, has informed all officials and members of the World Chess Federation via an open letter that the FIDE account has been closed by the Swiss UBS bank, due to the more than two year old sanctions of the US Treasury against FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. | Photo (of Dr. Siegel): GFHund (Sarah Hund) CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

2/14/2018 – Magnus Carlsen made up for the minor setback on day four in the eight game blitz portion on Tuesday, winning the match with three games to spare. Nakamura is known as a blitz specialist but he has lost several blitz matches against Carlsen in recent years, and the "weirdness" introduced by Chess960 was not enough to tip the balance in the American's favour.

2/14/2018 – The "Top Chess Engine Championship", TCEC for short, is considered a kind of unofficial computer world championship. Currently the 11th season is played, now in the form of a league with promotion and relegation. After the preliminaries, the "Premier League" started on Tuesday with the eight top programs. S.O. Platz gives an overview of the history of this unofficial chess computer world championship.

2/13/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CET (5pm UK time, Noon EST) 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 4NCl and the Carlsen-Nakamura Fischer Random Match.

2/13/2018 – In a truly bizarre turn of events, Magnus Carlsen turned a match that should have been all but over into an exciting blitz battle on the final day, with Nakamura just two points behind. The World Champion literally threw away a half point, evidently disgusted that he did not manage to convert his clearly winning position earlier. One of the stranger spectacles you will ever see. Both games are analysed by GM Daniel Fernandez. Eight blitz games are played Tuesday beginning at 17:00 CET (11:00 AM EST). | Photo: Maria Emelianova / chess.com

2/13/2018 – Erwin l'Ami is a Dutch Grandmaster and well known DVD author for ChessBase. He's in Hamburg to record a DVD. He played the B-Group in Wijk aan Zee in January and also is a second to Anish Giri. Today he joins Karsten to look at some fascinating endgame from recent tournament praxis! Live at 15:00 CET (9:00 AM EST)!

2/13/2018 – Tools that run in the background and help you when you want help are a fine thing. One such tool is the WebApp "My Games Cloud". It helps you to organise interesting games, allows you to easily find games you discovered on the newssite, and helps you playing chess when you are travelling.

2/13/2018 – Pawn endings often reveal how surprising and beautiful chess can be. But pawn endings also often reveal how complicated the game can be.