Master class with David Llada

1/22/2018 – To create a work of art requires great hard work and dedication. David Llada has done exactly that with his book "The Thinkers". David is one of the best chess photographers and his 208 pages of The Thinkers resonates his quest for perfection. Each picture is meticulously captured and edited to bring to you the beauty and intensity of the game of chess. When one of India's ace chess photographers Amruta Mokal met David in Delhi, the duo sat down and discussed the book in great depth. This article not only contains David's best photographs from the book, and some pearls of wisdom, but also 32 minutes of this conversation with Amruta in video format. | Photo: Arizmendi for Diario Vasco

Tata Steel Chess: A three horse race

1/22/2018 – A tumultuous day in Wijk aan Zee as Anish Giri won his head-to-head with Mamedyarov and Magnus Carlsen recovered from a huge blunder, as the three players are now in a dead heat heading into the second rest day. GM Mikhail Golubev annotates the game that stole the show more than any other. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

4th Floripa Open: a massive start

1/21/2018 – The 4th Floripa Open held in Florianópolis, Brazil, has grown into one of the pre-eminent swiss open tournaments, not just in Brazil, but in all of Latin America. Each year the organizers have striven to improve it with better conditions, prize money and more, and the field has now grown past 400 players. Here is a large report with many high-res photos. | Photo: Albert Silver

Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen gets it going

1/21/2018 – 'Shak' Mamedyarov won again — his third straight and took a full point lead through the half-way mark of the Masters. Vladimir Kramnik put a big dent in Anand's tournament by winning with black against his successor to the World Champion title. Sergey Karjakin got his first win of the week, breaking his drawing streak and dealing Fabiano Caruana his third loss. And Magnus Carlsen handed Hou Yifan her fifth loss, as the World Champ moves up into a four-way tie for second place. GM Mikhail Golubev annotates all the decisive games of the round. Meanwhile, the Anton Korobov train keeps chugging along in the Challengers, as he drew with Black against Mikhail Krasenkow, keeping his full point lead over Vidit. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

Study of the Month: January, 2018

1/20/2018 – There is an old saying about dwarves on the shoulders of giants, traced back to Bernard of Chartres 1120, said most pointedly by Sir Isaac Newton in his letter to Robert Hooke on 5th February 1676: “If I have seen further it is by standing on [the] shoulders of giants.” A historical narrative from our study author Sigfried Hornecker, who reminds us (among other things) not to confuse Troitzky with "Trotzky"!

Learning to play blindfold with Fritz 16

1/20/2018 – The overriding theme of Fritz 16’s new functions is chess improvement, and among them is a special feature for blindfold chess that can help you refine your visualization skills like no other. It was designed to help players who cannot play a blindfold game yet. The following tutorial not only shows you how it works, but also techniques to fast-track your improvement. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Tata Steel Chess: Reversals of fortune

1/20/2018 – The rest day after round five obviously did not hurt the fighting spirit at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Round 6 brought dramatic games, two wins and a new leader: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. He won with some luck against Adhiban Baskaran and is now the sole front runner with 4½ out of 6. Peter Svidler and Magnus Carlsen had an entertaining exchange and Wesley So pulled a rabbit out of a hat to beat Wei Yi from a losing position. In the Challengers Anton Korobov leads with 5½ out of 6. | Photo: Alina l'Ami, Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

Mamedyarov's recent rise

1/19/2018 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has been a regular feature of elite tournaments for a decade, and yet he seems to have recently made a breakthrough, winning almost everything in sight in 2017 and climbing the Elo list to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen. 2018 offers him a rare chance to actually challenge for the World Title, as perhaps his biggest success of the past year was qualifying for the Candidates tournament in March. We take a brief look at some of his 2017 highlights. | Photo: Alina l'Ami, Tata Steel Chess on Facebook

On the a and h-files

1/19/2018 – The sacrifice 23.Bxh7+ in the diagram position gives White a dangerous attack, enabling him to use this rooks on both edge files. How far can you get in your calculations?

ChessBase India is two years old today

1/18/2018 – January 18th, 2016, is the date when ChessBase India came into existence. It's been two years since ChessBase India has been powering chess in the country. Right from a thriving news page, to bubbling social media, to online prize money tournaments, travel portal, calendar, ChessBase India is trying to provide all the services that help to improve the life of a chess player. In this article Sagar Shah, co-founder of ChessBase India tells the story of how this company came into existence and also we have a contest for you to win premium quality recently launched ChessBase India t-shirts.

Naiditsch wins Delhi Open

1/18/2018 – When the 2700+ rated GM confirmed his participation for the Delhi International 2018, questions arose whether he would be able to win the tournament or not. With the under-rated Indian players, it was not going to be easy. However, Naiditsch showed to the world that he was a class apart as he easily won the tournament with 8½/10. He paced himself in exemplary style and was never in danger of falling behind. Ziaur Rahman finished second and Nubairshah Shaikh was third. We bring you the final round report along with some pictures of the prize giving ceremony. | Pictured: Top three winners of the tournament with Bharat Singh Chauhan and Arkadij Naiditsch (centre), Ziaur Rahman (left) and Nubairshah Shaikh (right) | Photos: Niklesh Jain

Tune your tactics - Tata Steel Tactics 2018

1/18/2018 – 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!

Banter Blitz with Kingscrusher for January 17th, 2018

1/18/2018 – Tryfon Gavriel — a.k.a. Kingscrusher — continues his weekly banter blitz series playing on blitz.chessbase.com. He provides live commentary of his own games while playing against ChessBase Account members in his live stream on YouTube, Wednesdays at 20:00 CET (2 pm EST). Would you like to have your own banter blitz games featured on ChessBase, and earn free ChessBase software? Get in touch via our Feedback page!

Tata Steel Chess: 'Shak' joins Anand, Anish

1/18/2018 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat Fabiano Caruana to pull even with Anish Giri and Viswanathan Anand for the tournament lead, in the "on tour" fifth round played in Hilversum. In the other two decisive games, Hou Yifan's woes continue as she lost to Peter Svidler — his first win of the tournament. Wesley So also got his first win, dealing Adhiban his third loss. Anton Korobov scored again in the Challengers and now leads alone. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

January 17th, 1951: Bobby Fischer's first simul

1/17/2018 – Ten years ago, on January 17, 2008, Bobby Fischer died at the age of 64 in Reykjavik, Iceland. It is a strange coincidence that Fischer died on the same date that he played the first public game of his life. This was January 17, 1951, at a simul against American Master Max Pavey. | Photo: Fischer's grave in Iceland, © Gerd Densing

Bobby Fischer’s final days

1/17/2018 – Today, ten years ago, one of the greatest chess players of all time, Robert James Fischer, passed away. He had spent three years in Iceland, two in relative comfort and harmony, but struck by horrendous illness at the end of 2007. He had one true friend who tended to him to the end: Gardar Sverrison, who eight years later wrote a remarkable book on the Fischer he knew and who became part of his family. Today, with Gardar's permission, we bring you very moving excerpts from the final section of his book.

Tata Steel Chess: Kramnik shines

1/17/2018 – Yesterday Anand caused a sensation, but in today's fourth round it was Vladimir Kramnik's turn to be the ex-World Champion star. After just 24, moves Peter Svidler gave up resistance as his lifetime classical score versus Kramnik dips to -8. Anish Giri and Anand remain in the lead in the Masters. In Challengers Korobov and Vidit extended their lead to a full point. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

He just wants to play...and win!

1/16/2018 – This article is dedicated to some brilliant games played by Fritz 16, annotated nearly move-by-move by Davide Nastasio. In fact we can learn a lot from these engine vs engine games, especially when compared to our own mental chess dos and don'ts, and asking ourselves some questions as to why some moves — even apparently good ones — were not played. Often we hear the advice to study master games to improve our chess level, and if you watch these games, you'll gain a lot of insight and ideas for your next tournament!

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

1/16/2018 – 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 ongoing Tata Steel Chess tournament.

Hunting the bishop

1/16/2018 – In the endgame bishops are usually better equipped to fight against passed pawns than knights. After all, they are long-range pieces and not that easy to put into zugzwang. But bishops need room to manoeuvre.

Tata Steel Chess: Anand ups the ante

1/16/2018 – Magnus Carlsen drew quickly with Wei Yi to start round three, and there were more draws to follow including the leader Anish Giri. That gave Anand an opportunity to pull equal on 2½ points. In the challengers, top seed Vidit Gujrathi scored for the second straight day, but Anton Korobov kept pace, and both now stand at 2½ as well. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

Simon says — Amusing Chess Problems

1/15/2018 – In this Simon Says Simon Williams takes a look at amusing chess problems! Watch live from 18:00 CET (12 Noon EDT). Puzzles, free sample and information inside the article. | Photo: Alina L'Ami

Tata Steel Chess: Giri grabs early lead

1/15/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won in round two and, as luck would have it, two of three co-leaders after the first round met in round two. Anish Giri toppled Vladimir Kramnik, while Vishy Anand drew, so the Dutchman moves to the fore. In the Challengers group, no one can claim a perfect score after two rounds. The 2018 Tata Steel Masters and Challengers takes place January 13th to 28th. Grandmaster Daniel Fernandez dissects the Masters games in detail. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

Speelman's Agony #68

1/14/2018 – A reader from Sweden gets a second crack at Jon who looks at two wild gambit games. 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!