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!

Tata Steel Chess: And they're off!

1/14/2018 – One down, twelve to go; Tata Steel Chess is often described as a "marathon" — more of a "Belmont Stakes" than a "Preakness" — where anyone can recover from a loss and the early lead isn't necessarily indicative of how things will be down the stretch. Still, it's nice to be out in front! Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri, jumped out to an early lead on Saturday, as Anand starts his bid for a record busting sixth Wijk aan Zee title. The 2018 Tata Steel Masters and Challengers takes place January 13th to 28th. Grandmaster Daniel Fernandez breaks down the action in our extensive round one report. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

Wikileaks founder's mysterious chess tweet

1/13/2018 – What has Wikileaks founder Julian Assange got up his sleeve this time? In the early morning hours in London on Saturday, he decided to tweet some chess! But why? We can only guess. | Photos: @JulianAssange on Twitter , Frank Marshall portrait at the Marshall Chess Club, Jose Capablanca in 1919 Public domain via WikiMedia Commons.

Grigoryan came, saw and conquered Laos!

1/13/2018 – Edwin Lam Choong Wai reports from the inaugural Laos International Open which was held from January 3rd to 7th in Vientiane, near the country's southern border with Thailand. | Pictured: Chess is booming amongst the juniors in Laos, thanks to the "Chess in Schools" program | Photo: Laos Chess Federation

Aronian wins the World Cup: CBM 181

1/12/2018 – A detailed review of our current issue of ChessBase Magazine from Prof. Nagesh Havanur. Among other things this issue includes all games from the World Cup, The Isle of Man and the European Union Cup Tournaments. The icing on the cake is Marin’s lesson on finding difficult moves. Our reviewer sets a little test for young readers from Marin’s tutorial. 2075 games (several annotated) with 11 opening surveys from Sicilian to Slav. Not to be missed.

Wijk aan Zee turns 80 — and other stats

1/12/2018 – Today, Friday, January 12, is the official start of the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Tomorrow, Saturday, January 13th at 13:30 CET, the first round begins. The tournament in Wijk aan Zee is the first elite tournament of the year and always a great celebration of chess. It is also a tournament with a long tradition – this year it celebrates its 80th birthday. The tournament has written chess history and continues to do so today, which makes it tempting to look at some numbers. | Photo: TataSteelChess.com

Tune your tactics - Qd2 vs Qa5

1/12/2018 – 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! Friday at 15:30 CET (9:30 AM EDT) it's all about Qd2 vs Qa5!

Transformer

1/12/2018 – In the diagrammed position, White has two ways to make his static advantage (protected passed pawn e5) dynamic. The piece sacrifice 32.Nxc6!? is the first one. Can you see the alternative — and what would have been your choice?

Delhi 2018: India's biggest event

1/11/2018 – There are a lot of firsts happening at the 16th edition of the Delhi International Grandmaster Open 2018. This year, for the first time, the tournament (all categories combined) has a total prize fund of 7,777,777 Indian Rupees (great number, which is equivalent at current rates to USD $122111!) It is also for the first time that a 2700+ player is competing in an Indian grandmaster event — Arkadij Naiditsch (2701). Also a record: nearly 2300 players from all over the world are competing at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. After four rounds, 43-year-old Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman was the only player with a perfect 4 / 4 score, but he was caught in the double-round action on Friday and is now tied with Naiditsch and Murali Karthikeyan with 5½ / 6.

On the bucket list: Wijk aan Zee

1/11/2018 – Starting tomorrow, Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and their colleagues will be making a return trip to the Dutch hamlet of Wijk aan Zee. ChessBase will have daily round-up live shows, following each round starting with GM Yannick Pelletier for Round 1 which kicks off on Saturday. But earlier this week Anish Giri, visited the city of Hilversum to promote the "chess on tour" initiative, which will see the fifth round of the Masters group, held on Wednesday, January 17th, at the museum "Beeld en Geluid" ("Image and sound") | Photo: Tata Steel Chess

Banter Blitz with Kingscrusher on blitz.chessbase.com

1/11/2018 – Tryfon Gavriel — a.k.a. Kingscrusher — will start a weekly banter series on blitz.chessbase.com. He will commentate while playing against ChessBase Account members in his live stream on YouTube, Wednesdays at 20:00 CET (2 pm EST). "I will try and give you greater enthusiasm for the game and in particular the dynamic aggressive aspects of playing chess", writes Kingscrusher. "If you want to be a dynamic aggressive player, I may be able to encourage you..."

Exercises in Style: (4/4) Solutions

1/11/2018 – In the fourth and final part of the "Exercises in Style" readers were asked to identify games by Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, and Magnus Carlsen. Not an easy task because three of these World Champions are still active and develop stylistically - only Kasparov withdrew from tournament chess. But though modern chess is becoming more and more universal each of these four World Champions has a unique style.

Best of 2017 poll results

1/10/2018 – The results are in! Find out how ChessBase readers rated our nominations for Player of the Year, Female Player of the Year, Game of the Year, Endgame of the Year and Move of the Year. From Anand to Zhongyi, we look back at the highlights of 2017, as selected by ChessBase editors and voted on by members!

50 Moves: GM Ian Rogers' 17 in 17

1/10/2018 – Three highlights from 2017 selected by 50 Moves Magazine editor GM Moulthun Ly and analysed by Australian GM Ian Rogers. Among them are "the most remarkable piece of opening preparation for 2017" (spoiler alert: it's Nepomniachtchi) and "the missed opportunity of the year" from Wei Yi, plus a look at some of the top young talents from Down Under.

Charlie Storey's story

1/10/2018 – FIDE Master Charlie Storey from Morpeth, Northumberland, shares his backstory and how he got into professional "sniping". In his pet opening, Black plays 1…g6 2…Bg7 and 3…c5 against most of White’s set-ups. "The Sniper fires up the imagination, just like The Dragon — but chess is a game of mediaeval war and I just updated it to modern warfare — rooks, tanks, queens, drones — you can figure the rest out."

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

1/9/2018 – Tuesdays at 5pm UK time Lawrence Trent goes on air on Playchess.com. In his show Lawrence Trent will be dealing with the latest trends, games and combinations from the elite chess tournaments. This week features games from players who have recently earned the coveted Grandmaster title.

60 years ago: 14-year old Bobby Fischer wins US Championship

1/9/2018 – 60 years ago this week, on January 7, 1958, to be precise, the tenth U.S. Championship came to an end with a sensation: the 14-year old Bobby Fischer won with 10½ / 13 ahead of a strong field. With this win Fischer qualified for the Interzonal tournament in Portoroz 1958, and won the first of his eight U.S. titles. | Pictured: Bobby Fischer in 1959 | Source: unknown (via D. Griffin)