Magic of Chess Tactics 2: a DVD review

12/18/2017 – For an adult player Christmas can come early — In this case more than a year ago, May of 2016, when reviewer Davide Nastasio discovered Magic Of Tactics 2. Here's his take just in time for the holidays. There's also a corresponding book, which Davide will look at in a follow-up post.

Nunn problems: solutions and compositions

12/17/2017 – Last week we gave you some interesting problems to solve, today we bring you the solutions thereof. And some logical puzzles, which the veteran Super-GM gave us during spectacular walks along the cliffs of Cornwall. For some we need mathematical assistance and invite our readers to provide this. Finally a selection of prize-winning compositions, published over the years, by John Nunn himself. If you do participate there is a a very nice personal prize to win. | Photo: Frederic Friedel

Speelman's Agony #66

12/17/2017 – Morgon from Canada plays well positionally...before it all goes pear shaped. JS has the blow-by-blow. 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!

European Rapid Championship LIVE

12/17/2017 – Live from Katowice, Poland, December 16th and 17th. This Swiss system rapid tournament features 11 rounds, in which players have 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment for the entire game. Over 1,000 players are participating in all, and the prize fund is €21,000, with €4,000 for 1st place. After day one, Igor Kovalenko, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladimir Potkin and Marcin Dziuba were leading with 6 points, but on day two, Russian IM Maxim Vavulin was perfect and ended in sole first with 10 / 11.

Moroccan Chess: Tales from exile

12/17/2017 – In 2005, a Moroccan online chess magazine was created: ‘Maroc–Echecs’. It grew into a very popular chess news site in French and Arabic, and a platform where everybody could express their opinion about matters related to chess with a Moroccan focus. But its very existence imperilled the livelihood of Moroccan players who criticised their federation's management. Part one looked at some of the allegations of corruption and mismanagement. In part two we focus on the testimony of some of those, in the Moroccan chess community, who suffered the consequences. | Pictured (L to R): Mohamed Tissir, Ismael Karim, Ali Sebbar, Abdelaziz Onkoud | Photo: maroc-echecs.com

Review: Ris' Crushing Isolated Queen's pawn tactics

12/16/2017 – The most well-known quote by Tarrasch, if memory serves me well, is, "he who fears an Isolated Queen Pawn should give up chess." There are many steps one must follow in order to become a chess master. While tactics are fundamental, at a certain point it becomes obvious one needs to know how to treat pawn formations resulting from certain openings. The Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP) results from many different openings, hence the need to know it. When the topic of the DVD is the IQP and Tactics, one knows this is a DVD to have at all costs!

Russian Championship: Svidler makes it eight

12/16/2017 – Both the open and women's Russian Superfinals in St. Petersburg 2017 could not have been more exciting! In the open event, the two St. Petersburgers Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov were in first place with 7 points each after 11 rounds and had to decide the title in rapid chess (two games 15 minutes + 10 seconds). Svidler took his record eighth title, winning both tiebreak games. The same thing happened in the women's tournament: Alexandra Goryachkina and Natalia Pogonina were tied after eleven rounds also on 7 points each and also followed by an exciting rapid playoff, won by the 19-year-old Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

The Mega: Top players, up close and personal

12/15/2017 – Computers help to prepare for games, they help to study openings, and they help to analyse complicated tactical positions. But if you want to understand chess it is better to turn to a strong grandmaster with honest and direct answers...you can find some in the ChessBase Mega Database.

Tune your tactics - Calculation training

12/15/2017 – 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! Friday at 3.30 pm CEST it's all about calculation!

Grand Prix concept #2

12/15/2017 – The diagram shows a typical Taimanov Sicilian position (though it was 3.Bb5!) where Black has two ideas — the lever ...d6 and ...b5 shutting out White's bishop on a6. Yet Nakamura found a remarkable way to counter both, enabling him to completely dictate the further course of game. How would you have continued?

A year of Perpetual Chess

12/15/2017 – Chess podcasting is still in its infancy, even as the medium as a whole gains mainstream adoption. In the past year, Ben Johnson's Perpetual Chess Pod has racked up and impressive guest list and a dedicated fan following. This week Ben released his 51st episode and the first episode dropped a year ago on December 15th, 2016.

Review: Improve your Tactics with Tania Sachdev

12/14/2017 – "It was like visiting an art gallery with an art critic who is explaining in detail each masterpiece", says reviewer Davide Nastasio. IM Sachdev has an interesting view on how to teach tactics. In this review of her second DVD, one can discover how Tactics can be created in one's own games. While we often associate tactics with repeating patterns, based on specific themes, the truth is more complex. IM Sachdev quite skilfully outlines it in many example videos, and then through exercises from her own brilliant games.

Russian Championship LIVE

12/14/2017 – Live from St. Petersburg, it's 70th Russian Championship Superfinal. The final round was December 14th, 2017. The 12-player round-robin, has a first prize of 1 million roubles (~€14,500 euros) plus a Renault Kaptur car. The top three finishers qualify automatically for the 2018 Championship. Peter Svidler, the top seed, defeated Vladimir Fedoseev with black in the penultimate round and also won his final round game to reach 7 / 11 and qualify for a tiebreak with Nikita Vitiugov, who also won. In the 15 minute rapid games that followed, Svidler won both to earn his eighth Russian Championship! | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Vlastimil Hort interviews Geurt Gijssen

12/14/2017 – Geurt Gijssen is one of the most renowned chess arbiters and during his active time witnessed many dramatic and historical moments of chess history. In an interview Vlastimil Hort asked the veteran arbiter about his career, his passion for chess, and his take on incidents and scandals in recent chess history. | Photo: Gerhard Hund

Kasparov on Deep Learning in chess

12/13/2017 – Garry Kasparov's match against the IBM computer Deep Blue was considered a milestone in Artificial Intelligence, a watershed moment. But was it really that? Kasparov has written a number of best-selling books on chess and other subjects, but his latest work, Deep Thinking, could be the most important one. It puts his 1997 defeat at the hands of a brute force computer and the latest development of self-learning systems into perspective. Who do you think is the ideal person to review this book?

Alpha Zero: Comparing "Orangutans and Apples"

12/13/2017 – In time for the start of the London Chess Classic DeepMind, a subsidiary of Google, published a remarkable report about the success of their "Machine Learning" project Alpha Zero. Alpha Zero is a chess program and won a 100 game match against Stockfish by a large margin. But some questions remain. Reactions from chess professionals and fans.

Houdini wins TCEC Superfinal

12/13/2017 – In recent years the TCEC tournament has turned into the unofficial Computer Chess World Championship. This year Houdini and Komomo made it to the final, a 100 game match. But even before all 100 games were played Houdini decided the match in its favour. In an interview during the match the programmers of Komodo and Houdini revealed their views on current developments in computer chess.
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London Chess Classic: Caruana's playoff

12/13/2017 – Fabiano Caruana won in the fourth blitz tiebreak game to take the London Chess Classic trophy and bragging rights. A fitting conclusion to the tournament, as he not only was the first grandmaster to win in London, but he also managed to win his clutch last round game against Mickey Adams. Ian Nepomniachtchi took an early draw and had the benefit of hours of rest, but as Fabiano explains, that may have been a mixed blessing. Interview and transcript. | Photo: Pascal Simon

A brave bishop

12/12/2017 – "Chess is 99 percent tactics" is an often-quoted aphorism usually ascribed to Richard Teichmann. This number seems exaggerated but that does not change the fact that it pays to keep an eye on tactics — till the very end.

Tata Steel Chess 2018 field complete

12/12/2017 – The field is complete for the Tata Steel Chess Master and Challengers coming up one month from today in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. A pair of Russian Grandmasters, Maxim Matlakov and Peter Svidler — the seven-time Russian champion — were the last two participants announced in the Masters group. World Junior Champ Aryan Tari will compete in the challengers and Indian talent Vidit Gujrathi makes his debut as the top seed. | Photo: www.TataSteelChess.com

Caruana wins London Classic, but Carlsen takes the Tour

12/12/2017 – Ian Nepomniachtchi made a quick draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in under 30 minutes giving him a share of first place. But he had to wait nearly six hours to find out that Fabiano Caruana had equaled his score. The pair played an exciting blitz duel, which ended with Caruana as the London Chess Classic champ, while Magnus Carlsen took the overall Grand Chess Tour. Games annotated by GM Daniel Fernandez | Photo: Lennart Ootes

All London Chess Classic interviews

12/11/2017 – The official Grand Chess Tour webcast is a treasure trove of information, and the best, most convenient way to hear directly from the players after nearly every game. But at five hours or more, it can be tiresome to scan through each days full show to find the interesting guests spots. No more! We've pinpointed every major interview for one-click access.

London Chess Classic 2017 LIVE

12/11/2017 – Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana tied for first place after nine rounds, leading to a blitz playoff, won by Caruana. But Magnus Carlsen took the Grand Chess Tour as a whole. The GCT finale was the 9th London Chess Classic, a 10-player round-robin, with a prize fund of USD $300,000. The LCC will return in 2018 with a new format.

Fritz 16 — a fun and instructive opponent

12/11/2017 – While chess engines have been a boon overall to the game, their sheer strength has long surpassed our ability, which usually makes playing them an exercise in masochism. Fritz 16 brings a series of features to make it fun to play against for all levels, and all kinds of tools to help you improve. From hot and cold hints, to Elo evaluations of your play, here is an introduction. | Photo: (Flickr) Joe Haupt from St. Paul, Minnesota CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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