11/24/2017 – Mihail Marin is considered one of the premier opening theorists and treats all his topics with great care and thoroughness. Hannes Langrock has watched his DVD on the main variation of the King's Indian Defense. Langrock calls it "an ambitious classical repertoire...the analysis is quite thorough and complete."

11/24/2017 – 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 the Perpetual Check!

11/24/2017 – Although little changed overall in round seven, perhaps the buzzword that best describes the action of the day was ‘determination’. On board one, it was Rapport’s tenacity that won out over Aronian, who came close to winning, while Radjabov overcame his disappointment to outplay Li Chao. Finally, Boris Gelfand scored his first win, beating Riazantsev in a game analyzed by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

11/23/2017 – Over the years the "Thoresen Chess Engines Competition" (TCEC) has become the unofficial Computer World Championship and the very best programs start in this tournament. After two qualifiers, season 10 now finishes with the superfinal in which Komodo faces Houdini. They play 100 games against each other, and the games are shared live on PlayChess. As a bonus, we bring you a brief modern history of computer chess. @StockfishLegalNotice

11/23/2017 – Thursday at 6pm UK time Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free. Daniel King will discuss the latest news on the FIDE Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca, showing how Magnus Carlsen de-fangs the London System and, as usual, will be setting puzzles and answering your questions. Puzzle and the live video...

11/23/2017 – Peruvian grandmaster Julio Granda Zúñiga has been crowned World Senior Champion in the over-50 category, scoring an impressive 9½ points out of 11 rounds. The silver and the bronze went to Rogelio Antonio and Eric Prie respectively, both with 8½ / 11 points. In the over-65 section, Evgeny Sveshnikov stood out with 8½ / 11 points. The title of Senior Women's World Champion over-50 was awarded to WGM Elvira Berend (7/9). The great favourite of the over-65 women's section, Nona Gaprindashvili managed only the runner-up spot this time, behind Tamar Khmiadashvili. Both scored 7½ / 9 points, but Khmiadashvili won their direct encounter. | Photo: (Granda) Alina l´Ami | (Sveshnikov) Helen Milligan

11/23/2017 – Round six of the FIDE Grand Prix in Palma was a bit of confirmation of how the tournament had gone thus far. Levon Aronian built a big advantage against Svidler, but after a mistake settled for a draw, and is still sole leader. The next notable result was Teimour Radjabov’s loss to Tomashevsky after declining a draw earlier. Read on in this illustrated report. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

11/23/2017 – For those who don't give a fig for pumpkin pie this Thankgiving, here's a dessert treat even your grandmaster will love. Anya Corke Allen is a chess player with a penchant for baking, and shared her adventures making a chocolate chess cake. Yummy! | Photos: Anya Corke Allen

11/23/2017 – Readers may have noticed a recent, and significant, change in Playchess, notably the playing room: the new ratings. It is designed to get you a quick game with no delay against a random opponent with a similar rating. These "pools" include ratings calculated on games played at the same time control, as compared to the previous system which lumped multiple game times together as "blitz" up to 5 minutes with 4 seconds of increment. We now have 1-minute bullet, and 3-minute and 5-minute blitz, with no added time. The ratings for previous modes, and individual challenges, are now called "Classic" but continue to be maintained independently. Read on for a more detailed explanation.

11/22/2017 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation celebrated 15 years of global chess outreach with a gala reception and dinner at the New York Athletic Club on November 6th. World-famous commentator GM Maurice Ashley was the host for an evening, which included a 10 board simul by the 13th World Champion. Read on to find out how he did, along with photos and highlights of the event. | Photo: Derrick Bryant

11/22/2017 – Aryan Tari from Norway and Zhansaya Abdumalik from Kazakhstan lead at the World Junior Championships. In the Open Tari drew in round 7 against Awonder Liang from the US and won in round 8 against Grigoriy Oparin. With 7.0/8 he is now half a point ahead of two players with 6½/8 each. One of them is the Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa, who won against Liang in round 8 and scored his first GM-norm. In the Girls section Abdumalik won in round 7 but lost in round 8. With 6½/8 she now shares the lead with Anastasia Paramzina. | Photo: Bernd Vökler

11/22/2017 – Who wouldn't want to learn a universal repertoire against White's most common first moves? In this review of FM Charlie Story's first DVD for ChessBase, Davide Nastasio is doing just that, learning all about a highly flexible opening, which can help you win many games in weekend tournaments. From the videos we learn about Story's extensive experience with the Sniper, see his teaching skills, which will improve our opening repertoire, and also our game generally. If you want to step up your results, while saving time, there is only one choice: become Snipers!