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.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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