Open Games with Bc5!

2/3/2018 – The open games are the formative backbone of a chess player. They teach fundamental lessons on initiative, development, and material value. A common example can be when we sacrifice a pawn to gain a needed tempo. It is the sacred duty of every chess player, young or old, to try to play 1...e5 against 1.e4, and gain knowledge, and understanding, which will reflect in tournament games, as well as understanding high level praxis. The latest Sam Collins DVD provides the basis for such enrichment of our chess understanding!

(S)Hort victory

2/3/2018 – Winning against a reigning world champion is always something special. In this example, Vlastimil Hort finds a tactic to take a point off of Anatoly Karpov.

What were the odds of Hou Yifan’s pairings in 2017?

2/2/2018 – The Gibraltar Masters wrapped up Thursday, with Levon Aronian in first place. This year round ten passed without incident, in contrast to 2017 when, on February 2nd, the story of the day was a rare scandal involving women's World Champion Hou Yifan deliberately losing a game in protest of the high number of women she was paired against. She was further confounded when a similarly unlikely string of pairings happened in October at the Isle of Man Open. Johannes Meijer looks at the odds in detail. Hou did not return to Gibralter in 2018, but instead competed in the Tata Steel Chess Masters. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Tradewise Gibraltar: Aronian takes the playoff

2/2/2018 – On the last day of the Tradewise Chess Festival in Gibraltar, there was plenty of excitement. Seven players ended tied after ten rounds. The four best on tiebreak battled in a pair of rapid and blitz matches. Aronian defeated Richard Rapport and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who ended Nakamura's run as Gibraltar champion. | Photo: Sophie Triay

Let a 2800 Elo player be your opening tutor: Wesley So!

2/2/2018 – ChessBase has video tutorials with the world's best grandmasters. Be it Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Nigel Short, Viktor Korchnoi, everyone has recorded Fritztrainers with ChessBase. Continuing this legacy of products with outstanding quality, we are proud to launch two DVDs by Wesley So. This is an amazing opportunity to learn 1.b3 with white and Italian with black from a player who has a live rating of 2799.3! | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Opening package: 1.b3 and Black Secrets in the Modern Italian

2/2/2018 – Wesley So published two new opening DVDs: 1.b3, the so called Nimzo-Larsen-Attack, for White and his black secrets in the modern Italian. Get them in a package and save money! In a total of nine video clips, top ten player Wesley So talks to IM Oliver Reeh, explaining his personal preferences as Black in the Italian game. The videos are structured according to specific concepts and ideas.

Meeting Oliver Reeh

2/2/2018 – 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 week it is IM Oliver Reeh who was sitting in the studio for an (off-camera) impromptu interview. | Photo: Pascal Simon (ChessBase)

Tradewise Gibraltar: Happenings

2/1/2018 – There's a lot more going on every year in Gibraltar aside from the main Masters tournament. From player interviews, to master classes, to the always entertaining "Battle of the Sexes" here's some of what's been happening. | Photo: Sophie Triay

Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival ARONIAN WINS

2/1/2018 – Blitz playoffs with Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Richard Rapport. Live commentary of the playoff! | Photo: John Saunders

Aronian all caught up in Gibraltar

2/1/2018 – Or, what Wijk-watchers have been missing. We take a look at the tournament of Levon Aronian who executed a "Swiss-gambit" of sorts, but finally is back in contention for first place. After lurking on the lower boards, Aronian is ready to pounce, and fans are treated to the hotly anticipated last round pairing Aronian vs. Nakamura, which could well decided the tournament. | Photo: Sophie Triay

50 games you should know: Tarrasch vs Lasker, 1908

2/1/2018 – Good chess players are often bad losers. After defeats they throw tantrums, berate themselves or their opponents and throw things around. But bad losers often train harder than others and learn from their defeats, provided they are self-critical enough. Some bad losers shy away from a critical look at their play. One of them was Siegbert Tarrasch. | Picture: Cover of the book "Die Schachwettkämpfe Lasker-Tarrasch um die Weltmeisterschaft 1908 und 1916", Edition Olms, Zürich 1990.

February 2018 FIDE Ratings

1/31/2018 – January was naturally dominated by the Tata Steel Chess tournaments in Wijk aan Zee, and is otherwise a quiet month when most of the world's best players are inactive. It was a great success for Anish Giri, and a huge disappointment for Fabiano Caruana and Hou Yifan. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Tradewise Gibraltar: Four-way tie

1/31/2018 – The quartet at the Tradwise Masters in Gibraltar became a quartet. Rapport beat Howell and drew with Nakamura after he played only a draw against Wang Hao. Daniil Dubov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also score 6.5 points. | Photo: Sophie Triay

NEW: ChessBase Magazine 182

1/31/2018 – The new ChessBase magazine is here. With numerous tips on how to expand, improve and make more dangerous your opening repertoire, with analysis of world-class players and plenty of training material on tactics, strategy and endgame. A must for every serious chess player.

Tune your tactics - Tata Steel Tactics 2018

1/31/2018 – 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! Thursday at 15:30 CET (9:30 AM EDT) it's all about Tata Steel Tactics 2018!

The final years of Zukertort

1/31/2018 – In 1886 Johann Hermann Zukertort played the first official match for the World Championship and lost to Steinitz. But at that time Zukertort already suffered from severe health issues which two years later led to his early death. Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a look at the health of Zukertort in the final years of the chess legend.

CHESS Magazine: Changing the Rules

1/30/2018 – Recently a World Championship blitz game between Magnus Carlsen and Ernesto Inarkiev ended in bizarre fashion: Inarkiev stopped the clock because his opponent had "made an illegal move" — and was awarded the point. But then it was ascertained that it was he who had moved illegally on the previous move, and the point was given to Carlsen. We reported extensively on the incident. Now International Arbiter Alex Holowczak weighs in, taking a closer look at the recently released revised rules of the game.

Tradewise Gibraltar: Keeping up with Nakamura

1/30/2018 – English GM David Howell, is the first player to pull even with defending champ Hikaru Nakamura. After nicking the American for a draw in round six, he followed up with a win over Ivan Saric (pictured). We check in with that game and other notable results from the recent rounds. Games annotated by John Saunders. | Photo: John Saunders www.GibChess.com

The imprisoned king

1/30/2018 – Endgames with opposite-coloured bishops are often drawn but these endgames are also often very attractive because often material is less important than piece activity. This leads again and again to interesting tactical turns.

Rediscovering Morphy

1/29/2018 – Review: Certain legendary champions form the foundation on which every player should learn and improve one's chess. Morphy is definitely among the first players one must learn from, as his games can be used for teaching, for learning on one's own, or simply for enjoying the beauty of human creativity. Thanks to a team of ChessBase titled players we have a selection of the most beautiful combinations, endgames, and openings played by Morphy.

Lewis Carroll envisioned his Alice playing chess

1/29/2018 – If we were to create a list of notable writers who made significant contributions to chess, along with Alfonso X of Castile — also known as "the Wise" — Stefan Zweig, Vladimir Nabokov and Jorge Luis Borges, we would have to include Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), that is to say Lewis Carroll, the pseudonym chosen by the Briton to present his literary work. | Photo: Carroll's historical self-portrait

Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen, the Roger Federer of chess

1/29/2018 – Magnus Carlsen scored his record sixth Tata Steel Chess tournament win, on the same day tennis legend Roger Federer won his sixth Australian Open title. Draws from the tournament leaders in the Masters forced a playoff blitz match, which Magnus won with seeming ease. Challengers leader Vidit made a solid draw which secured him the top spot and automatic invitation to next year's Masters. And there will be a next year; at the conclusion of the round, it was announced that the tournament was guaranteed for January 11-27, 2019. Analysis and commentary by GM Daniel Fernandez | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook

Tata Steel Chess Round 13 round-up

1/28/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won the 80th Tata Steel Masters which was decided in a blitz tiebreak over Dutch number one Anish Giri. The players contested two blitz games with 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move, with no sudden death Armageddon game needed. Vidit played solidly to earn a draw that was enough to win the Challengers, as Korobov could not manage to pull off a win with black on-demand. | Photo: Alina l'Ami TataSteelChess.com

Tata Steel Chess: "Tomorrow is the wedding night"

1/28/2018 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov made a quick draw with Gawain Jones in under 30 minutes. That gave both Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen an opening to grab the lead with a win, heading into the final round on Sunday. In the Challangers, Vidit got a critical win with black against Girya, and takes a half point edge into round thirteen. Analysis and commentary by GM Daniel Fernandez | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook