Hector's Achilles' heel

6/1/2018 – With his king running in the middle of the board, Black's position seems to be completely lost, and 34.Qe7+! Kd5 35.Rf2 in the diagram would indeed have sealed his fate. The immediate 34.Rf2?, however, could have (semi-) backfired for White. How?

Kathmandu, world of dreams

5/31/2018 – Photojournalist ALINA l'AMI continues the story of her journey to the Kathmandu International Open, battling sleepless nights, meeting interesting characters, and all the while trying to make a decent showing across a chess board. A vicarious trek through the urban scene in remote Nepal.

Vlastimil Hort: Nicolas Rossolimo

5/31/2018 – The Rossolimo variation in the Sicilian is well-known and popular but who remembers Rossolimo? He was a connoisseur of the art of living, a chess artist, and an imaginative attacker with a passion for live and chess. Vlastimil Hort shares memories.

Norway Chess: Carlsen dominant!

5/31/2018 – Magnus Carlsen seems to be in top form at this year's Norway Chess tournament. In Round 3, he defeated Levon Aronian in a near miniature and in a manner that was typically Carlsen-esque. This puts the World Champion in the clear lead after with 2½ of 3. The four other games ended in a draw, leaving Carlsen the only player who has yet scored a full point — and with two of them, he's already a heavy favourite to win the tournament if history is any guide. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess

Pattern recognition in chess

5/30/2018 – Is there a correlation between the strength in chess of players and their ability to recall a position in chess using short-term memory? This was the research question of a budding young scientist, QIYU ZHOU, who gave professional and casual chess players positions to study and then attempt to reconstruct them within 30 seconds. Her results are meticulously documented in a paper we are pleased to publish. At the end, there is an appeal to our readers to help with associated material.

A journey to Kathmandu

5/30/2018 – Jet-setting photojournalist and International Master ALINA l'AMI has collected her thoughts and pictures from remote Kathmandu, Nepal, and as far-flung a destination for a chess tournament as you're likely to see. Timeless, strange things, and a travellers Disneyland await.

Norway Chess: Draw round for the die-hards

5/30/2018 – The second round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament did not bring a winner, but some interesting draws and opening finesses. Magnus Carlsen remains in the lead. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess

NEW: ChessBase Magazine 184

5/30/2018 – The editor’s top ten features the deciding moment in the candidates tournament: Fabiano Caruana annotates his final round victory over Grischuk, plus “fresh and unexpected”: Vladimir Kramnik explains how he crushed Aronian with Black after innovating with 7…Rg8, and a new plan against the Najdorf? Peter Heine Nielsen annotates Carlsen's successful experiment with 5.Qd2!? in Shamkir. Plus much more...

Bischwiller leads in French Team Championship

5/30/2018 – From May 26 to June 5 the French Team Championships are played in the town of Brest, in the west of France. The counting method of the championship is unusual: the winning team gets 3 points, a draw yields 2 points, and a loss is still rewarded with 1 point, just for showing up. Of course if you lose by default that's punished with 0 points. After four rounds, Bischwiller leads with 12 points, followed by Grasse Echecs with 11 points (three wins, one draw), and three teams with 10 points each.

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

5/29/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) 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. Today, Lawrence will have a look at games from the Poikovsky tournament.

"Why is Anish Giri on the cover?"

5/29/2018 – In this second part of the review, our columnist draws attention to important games included in the issue. He also offers a test or two to young readers to hone their tactical skills. Among other things, this issue includes games from Wijk aan Zee, Gibralter Masters and Tal Memorial Tournaments. In all, 2189 games (several annotated) with 12 opening surveys from Sicilian to Slav. Not to be missed.

Norway Chess: Carlsen starts with the only win

5/29/2018 – An omen for the upcoming World Championship? Magnus Carlsen played the opening round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament against Fabiano Caruana, his next challenger in for the World Champion's title, and won, improving his classical record against the American. The remaining games ended in draws. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

King on the rim is dim

5/29/2018 – Knights on the rim are dim because they often do not have much room for maneuver. Kings on the rim can be dim because they might fall victim to a mating attack.

Komodo 12 with AlphaZero techniques

5/28/2018 – This is what the chess world has been waiting for: one of the strongest chess engines in the world, but with access to the most important AI enhancement of recent times: Komodo 12 can be switched to a Monte Carlo search, very similar to the one employed by AlphaZero. This engine achieves over 3000 Elo, but more importantly, it plays more aggressively and more human-like. Komodo Monte Carlo is not primarily concerned with material advantage and provides a completely new strategic evaluation of the game.

Simon Says — Can you find the move?

5/28/2018 – In this Simon Says we look at ten different examples from games, or studies and asks you to take a stab at solving them. Simon then looks at the themes and breaks down the examples! | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Karpov Poikovsky: No draws in round one

5/28/2018 – The Karpov Poikovsky tournament went off to a flying start on Sunday as a decisive game was witnessed on every board: Vidit Gujrathi won in Karpovian style in his very first appearance in Poikovsky; Emil Sutovsky ground down Vladislav Kovalev in an 80 move marathon; Ian Nepomniachtchi and Dmitry Jakovenko won after winning a pawn a piece out of the opening; while Anton Korobov crushed Fedoseev's dubious opening. Here's an illustrated report with analysis. | Pictured: Anatoly Karpov | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Altibox Norway Chess 2018: So wins blitz tournament

5/28/2018 – The Altibox Norway Chess Tournament started with a blitz tournament, and with 10 of the world’s best players competing it was probably one of the best blitz tournaments in the history of chess. It determined which five players will have one more game with White in the classic tournament which starts today on Monday, April 28, but was of course also about prestige and invites predictions of form. Magnus Carlsen was favourite but Wesley So won. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Chess on the high seas concludes

5/27/2018 – From 11 to 23 May, the Norwegian Bliss was the scene of a "chess tournament at sea". The ship and the tournament travelled from Miami through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles. The winner was Michael Klyszcz from the SG Löberitz, an amateur angler and ex-basketball player. Jürgen Meijerink and Henry Gregory Allen earned prizes. On its last leg, the chess tourists visited "Switzerland in Central America" and then a land of the volcanoes (see picture towards the foot of one of them). | Photo: Michael Dombrowsky

In memoriam Evgeni Vasiukov (1933-2018)

5/27/2018 – On May 10, 2018, Evgeni Vasiukov died in Moscow. In his prime, he was one of the best players in the world and amongst other things he won the prestigious Moscow Championship no less than six times. Later he was a renowned coach, second, and organiser and achieved a number of successes in senior tournaments. An obituary by DAGOBERT KOHLMEYER.

Study of the Month: May, 2018

5/26/2018 – As the column is always changing, reader feedback was received that April’s historical examination was too long and the column should concentrate on studies more, which of course has been the heart of this column. Therefore the next issue will be more condensed again. In May and probably July SIEGFRIED HORNECKER concentrates on selected non-fiction (May) and fiction (July) literature about chess. This month focuses on Josef Kling and Bernhard Horwitz.

Ding Liren nears 2800 Elo, passes Kramnik

5/26/2018 – Rounds five through seven of the Chinese League were held in Shenzhen this week. The team from Shanghai currently leads the league, but the performance of Ding Liren (who plays for Zheijang) has attracted attention. He has had a strong showing, winning all five of his games so far, and by beating Ivan Cheparinov in the seventh round he nudged up past Vladimir Kramnik to the fourth spot in the world rankings and is less than three Elo points shy of 2800. | Photo: qipai.org.cn

Durarbayli endures in St. Louis Summer Classic

5/25/2018 – Vasif Durarbayli doubled up Varuzhan Akobian in a rapid tiebreak for first place in the top 'A' group of the St. Louis Summer Classic, winning both playoff games and earning $6,000. Both players finished the classical tournament with 6.0 / 9, a half point ahead of third-place finisher, Sam Sevian. GM Daniel Fernandez looks at the ninth round games. There was also a 'B' tournament, but one with far less drama at the end, as top seed Kamil Dragun took a quick draw to clinch clear first a full point ahead of Andrey Stukopin | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club on YouTube

Tune your tactics

5/25/2018 – 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! (Normally) Friday's at 15:30 CET (9:00 AM EDT) it's all about Tactics!

OSG Baden-Baden takes German League 2018 title

5/25/2018 – After the teams of OSG Baden-Baden and SG Solingen had ended the season tied, a playoff fight for the title of German team champion was necessary, and was held yesterday in Baden-Baden. The defending champions narrowly won, with a final match score of 4½ : 3½ thanks to wins by Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Peter Svidler, and in spite of a board one loss by Fabiano Caruana to Anish Giri. | Photo: Guido Giotta, schachbundesliga.de