ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia 2018

4/25/2018 – In chess, braving the gap often leads to disaster after a few moves. We should be able to avoid things going so far. The ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia offers you an effective remedy against all sorts of semi-digested knowledge and a means of building up a comprehensive and powerful repertoire. It features complete coverage of all opening areas on a single DVD and constitutes the best possible introduction to opening training from many renowned specialists in their own area of expertise have contributed to this Chess Base Opening Encyclopaedia, e.g. Avrukh, Berg, Gormally, Krasenkow, Kosintseva, Kuzmin, Marin, Moskalenko, Postny, Ribli, Rogozenko, Stohl, Sumets and Szabo.

The battle for world's tallest chess piece

4/25/2018 – The World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened across the street from the Saint Louis Chess Club in September, 2011, has long boasted of having the "world's largest chess piece" outside its front door. King ‘Kong’, as it was known, was massive and many doubted the record — officially sanctioned by Guinness World Records — would ever be broken. But in 2014, St. Louis were bested by a small town in Belgium! Now they've taken the record back. | Photo: Austin Fuller

"With Peter everything is great fun" - an interview with Vincent Keymer

4/25/2018 – At the beginning of April the 13-year old German talent Vincent Keymer created a sensation by winning the strong Grenke Open in Karlsruhe. In an interview Keymer reveals how he experienced the last day of the tournament, how a positive, optimistic approach helped him to play, and why he likes bike-riding to keep in shape. | Photo: André Schulz

Relax and replay games automatically

4/25/2018 – What should you do when you are in the mood for some chess don't necessarily feel like serious training? Perhaps treat yourself to some "chess-cinema" and simply review a few nice games? ChessBase 14 makes this easy and fun. | Drawing: ChessBase
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US Championship: Shankland in the lead

4/24/2018 – Sam Shankland, after a big win Monday over Varuzhan Akobian, is in the sole lead with five rounds to go. Fabiano Caruana caught up with Wesley So after posting his third win of the tournament and the pair are in second place heading into the lone rest day. So drew his game with Zviad Izoria. Annie Wang is on | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

4/24/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5 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 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship.

Shamkir Round 5: Carlsen and Topalov score

4/24/2018 – After a lethargic start, the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir has slowly gained momentum. On Monday two games were decided: Magnus Carlsen celebrated his first win, against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and Veselin Topalov made it two in a row by beating David Navara with the black pieces. Topalov continues in sole first place as we reach the one and only rest day. | Photos: Shamkirchess.az

Nino Khurtsidze 1975-2018

4/24/2018 – Nino Khurtsidze died Monday in Tbilisi after a long illness. The multiple times youth and junior world champion was one of the best players in Georgia. In 2017, she was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 41. | Photo: David Llada

Forbidden squares

4/24/2018 – Two passed pawns are strong, but a bishop is often stronger — particularly so if it is supported by its king.

Praggnanandhaa and Poetsch winners in Crete

4/24/2018 – The Fischer and Capablanca Memorial tournaments were held April 9th to 17th in Heraklion, on the Greek island of Crete. The pair of closed round-robin tournaments were won by IMs Praggnanandhaa and Hagen Poetsch respectively. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ was one of the grandmaster guests and sends this report of the highlights. Plus, IM SAGAR SHAH goes through Pragg's tournament in detail. | Pictured: ViceGovernor of Crete, Evripidis Koukiadakis, makes the first move on the game Praggnanandhaa vs Taylor | Photo: Kostas Klokas

Daniel King: Powerplay 26 Checkmate Challenge

4/23/2018 – Essential knowledge! Checkmate. That’s the aim of the game. There are numerous ways to checkmate the enemy king, but there are common patterns that recur over and over again, and having these at our mental fingertips is essential for when we want to finish the game. From Beginner to Brain-buster, this DVD presents 100 puzzles, divided into 10 groups of 10 positions. Naturally, Level 1 is the easiest, and the puzzles increase in difficulty right through to Level 10. You can jump in at whatever level you wish, but try to solve all ten positions on each level before you move on to the next.

Shamkir Round 4: Topalov breaks the logjam

4/23/2018 – After 15 draws over the first three rounds in Shamkir, Sunday's round saw one of the players finally win a game. Veselin Toplalov wrestled with Shakriyar Mamedyarov in a razor-sharp Open Spanish and thus takes over the sole lead. Plus: David Navara analyzes the Caro-Kann until the end, Anish Giri lets Liren Ding off the hook and Teimour Radjabov explains his strategy with White against World Champion Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Shamkirchess.az

US Championship: The one that got away

4/23/2018 – On the surface, the round was a quiet one, with eleven draws out of the twelve games in both events, but things were not so simple. More than a few games seemed likely to leave a body behind, but this was not counting the defenders desire to not lose. Sam Shankland had a promising position against Fabiano Caruana with an extra pawn, but never quite built it up enough to win. Both Women’s leaders Nazi Paikidze and Annie Wang were dead lost in their games, but lived to fight another day. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Ducats on playchess.com

4/22/2018 – Historically, ducats are trade coins which were used in Europe from the middle ages to the early 20th century. Modern ducats are used to pay on the playchess.com chess server: to bet on games, to pay for ChessBase products, to hire strong players for lessons, to play simuls, etc. But one thing did not change over the centuries: the more ducats, the better! | Drawing: ChessBase
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Shamkir Round 3: The spell holds - all draws

4/22/2018 – At the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijani, the curious "remis-sery" (to use a cross-language pun) could not be broken in the third round either. The ten top grandmasters have played fifteen games; because none of them was decided, there are naturally also ten "leaders" with 1½ points. GM Alex Yermolinsky reports that things could have changed today round three, which saw the Bulgarian ex-FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov miss a winning chance against Ding Liren. Unfortunately, of the two ways in which Topalov could sacrifice his knight, Topalov chose the wrong one, and Ding could save the game in a draw. | Photo: Shamkirchess.az

US Championship: Caruana suffers shock loss

4/22/2018 – It was a rather astonishing day, with the headline involving Fabiano Caruana once more. This time it was because he ended up losing to the caboose of the tournament after overpressing. This in turn opened it up to others, and Sam Shankland joined the lead with a win over Ray Robson. In the women’s event, it was a gripping day with some great wins such as the marathon 106-mover by 15-year-old Annie Wang, and the power attack display by Nazi Paikidze, both who lead with 3½/4. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

US Championship: The leaderboard takes shape

4/21/2018 – Round three of the US Championship saw the leaderboards begin to take shape, with a hint of what is to come. Wesley So had a scare as he escaped a dangerous position against young Awonder Liang, while Fabiano Caruana continues to steamroll as he defeated Jeffery Xiong. In the Women’s event, Nazi Paikidze and Annie Wang lead. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Shamkir Round 2: Again five draws

4/20/2018 – The first round of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir ended with five draws, and the second round also brought five draws. The most excitement offered the game between Anish Giri and Veselin Topalov but in the end the two players shared the point. | Photos: Shamkir Chess

US Champs: Two in a row for So and Akobian

4/20/2018 – Wesley So and Varuzhan Akobian are setting the pace in St. Louis with two more victories in round two of the U.S. Championship. Fabiano Caruana and Ray Robson made it four wins with white in all. Zatonskih and Krush posted their first full points in the Women's Championship: | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Valentina Gunina is European Champion

4/20/2018 – Valentina Gunina won the European Championship 2018 with a full point lead. Nana Dzagnidze and Anna Ushenina top the list of second on eight points. The top fourteen players qualify for the next World Championship tournament. | Pictured: Gunina with tournament director Eva Repkova and chief arbiter Ivan Syrovy (right) | Photo: europchess.org

Shamkir: Five draws to start

4/20/2018 – The Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan began with five draws. The top game between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Magnus Carlsen was rather unspectacular. The best chances for a victory were held by Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren, but at the crucial moment against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Ding lacked a killer instinct. | Photo: shamkirchess.az

Sudden Death

4/20/2018 – Pushing the backward pawn with 26...c5! in the diagram is strong: White's queen cannot take since it is tied to the defence of the bishop d3, while 27.dxc5?? (played in the game) allows an immediate elegant finish by Black. Emulate and enjoy!

US college chess: UTRGV ends Webster's reign

4/20/2018 – The 2018 edition of Final Four of Collegiate Chess was held from March 30th to April 1st at the Marshall Chess Club in New York City. This edition was also touted as the strongest Final Four in history, as out of a total of 22 players, there were 18 grandmasters! The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) team (pictured) was the surprising winner, taking their first collegiate chess title. | Pictured: Vladimir Belous, Andrey Stukopin, Kamil Dragun, Bartlomiej Macieja (coach) Dr. Douglas Stoves (manager), Hovhannes Gabuzyan, Carlos Antonio Alejano Hevia | Photo: Paul Truong

U.S. Championship: So and Akobian start with wins

4/19/2018 – Kicking off the US Championships at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, defending US Champion Wesley So and Varuzhan Akobian started with victories — both coming with the black pieces. Awonder Liang took half a point off Fabiano Caruana. In the Women's championship, there were two decisions in round one. | Photo: Lennart Ootes