Champions Showdown: Three winners, Carlsen dominates

11/13/2017 – Three matches of the Champions Showdown in St. Louis are over: Hikaru Nakamura crushed Veselin Topalov, Wesley So needed an incredible comeback to defeat Leinier Dominguez, and Fabiano Caruana won a close match against Alexander Grischuk. Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren still play, but Carlsen dominates. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Russia's "Amazing People"

11/13/2017 – Talent shows such as Britain’s Got Talent, now exported to many other countries, American Idol, and so many others are now staples of contemporary TV, but it takes a country such as Russia to feature such a show with winning performances by chess players playing chess! But not only chess, of course. Enjoy this look at "Amazing People". | Photo: WeiT Media

Champions Showdown Live

11/12/2017 – Day 4 featured impressive comebacks from both Caruana and So, who won their respective matches. Meanwhile Nakamura had locked up his $60,000 winner's prize already with nine games to spare! Carlsen put the the screws to Ding in the Game 20 portion of their match and has a sizeable lead. Three matches are in the books but the fourth continues Monday and Tuesday in Saint Louis, USA. Games begin at 20:00 CET (1 pm in Saint Louis) Monday, and at 18:00 CET (11 am in Saint Louis) on Tuesday.

Fritz 16 – your companion and trainer

11/12/2017 – When is chess the most enjoyable? When you win! But computers have become far too strong and won't allow their human owners that satisfaction. Until now. The latest iteration of our flagship program has advanced handicap features that make it behave like an average human player. At the same time it is a full-blooded trainer that will teach you how to think – in grandmasterly style. Fritz 16 also comes with other very useful functions, like voice recognition, spell checking, and much more. It also has a completely overhauled navigation. Take a look.

Nigel Short's Philippines win

11/12/2017 – It’s never an easy thing to be the rating favourite in a field where the 2nd seed is a 100 points below and the 4th seed, almost 200 points. Nigel Short was in such a scenario where there was a lot to lose and little to gain, in terms of Elo and reputation. However, he is no stranger to being in such a position. Having steamrolled through Bunratty Masters and Bangkok Open earlier this year, he just cruised through the field at the Negros International Open in Bacolod last month, to win the event one point clear. Srinath Narayanan reports. | Photo: Piaya Network Facebook page

Speelman's Agony #64

11/12/2017 – Jon looks at a pair of exciting if blunderful games from an enthusiastic Chilean amateur. Want Jon to take a look at your games? Send them in, and if selected, 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!

Ding Liren Game of the Year?

11/11/2017 – Ding Liren, the Chinese number one and participant in the Candidates Tournament 2018 in Berlin, enjoys the reputation of being a solid positional player. But in round 18 of the Yingmei Cup — the Chinese Team Championship — he showed that he is also a world class attacking player by demolishing Bai Jinshi with Black in one of the most beautiful and most spectacular games of the year. Grandmasters Daniel King and Rustam Kasimdzhanov both had a closer look. Enjoy! And tell us about your favourite games of 2017. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

On the Road to Damascus

11/11/2017 – Curiosity, asking ourselves questions, engaging actively our opening study — what we really need on the road to chess mastery. In this review Davide Nastasio was curious to discover what made GM Bauer begin to play the Scandinavian, and thanks to Megabase 2017 he shares his findings in this review, through showing some critical games everyone should know.

Ahmed Adly wins strong Tegernsee Open

11/10/2017 – The International Open Bavarian Championship in Gmund attracted 484 players, among them a lot of strong grandmasters. GM Ahmed Adly from Egypt started with 6.0/6 and after a dramatic finish won on tie-break with 7½ / 9. IM Marco Baldauf presents highlights and brilliancies. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Tune your tactics - Play it like Magnus

11/10/2017 – 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 Play Magnus event from Hamburg!

Battery-driven

11/10/2017 – Some pieces spend the biggest part of a game asleep. Never mind — as long as they hear their wake-up call to spring into action! What do you suggest for White in the diagram position?

Remembering Mikhail Tal

11/9/2017 – November 9th is the birthday of Mikhail Tal, one of the most fascinating and adored World Champions. Tal loved to play chess, whether it was blitz, simultaneous events or games with classical time-control, and his imagination led to countless wonderful games. On the occasion of the birthday of the "Chess Magician" Prof. Nagesh Havanur shows brilliant games and a haunting elegy to pay a short tribute to Tal. | Photo: Unlikelylads / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Magistral Ciudad de Barcelona

11/9/2017 – On Thursday, November 9th "Masters of the City of Barcelona 2017" gets underway. The Catalan Chess Federation organises the event with sponsorship from the City of Barcelona and with the collaboration of Ateneu Barcelonès which is also host. Participants, details, and live broadcast from 16:30 PM CET. | Collage photos: Alina l'Ami

Magnus Carlsen Play Live Challenge simul

11/8/2017 – On Thursday at 19:00 CET (1 pm EST) ChessBase will webcast the Play Live Challenge, where World Champion Magnus Carlsen takes on twelve opponents in a 30 minutes per player clock simultaneous exhibition. The show will be live at the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski in downtown Hamburg, and will feature commentary by IM Lawrence Trent.

Ask Magnus, a special live webcast

11/8/2017 – Want to ask Magnus Carlsen a question? The World Champion will be our guest today on a special live webcast, where he'll take questions and have a look at one of his best games from his most recent tournament in the Isle of Man. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
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Fritz Powerbook 2018

11/7/2017 – The name says it all: Powerbook. This DVD contains over 21 million opening positions, the current opening knowledge. For study and training — your own opening repertoire gains a power boost.

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

11/7/2017 – 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 the European Team Championship!

Endgame Magic with guest Rustam Kasimdzhanov

11/7/2017 – Rustam Kasimdzhanov is a Grandmaster from Uzbekistan. A former FIDE World Champion, Rustam is also and renowned author and trainer of top players like Fabiano Caruana. He joins Karsten to look at some of his own fascinating endgame from recent years! Live at 15:00 CET (9:00 AM EST)!

Two bishops and two outside pawns

11/7/2017 – Opposite-coloured bishops are a paradox. In the middlegame they favour the attacker. In the endgame they favour the defender. In fact, some endgames with opposite-coloured bishops are drawn even if one side is two pawns up. But they don't draw themselves! You still have work to do.

Azerbaijan wins European Team Championship

11/7/2017 – Azerbaijan secured the European Team Championship gold on Monday with a draw against Ukraine. The Azerbaijani team scored a critical win over top-seeded Russia in Round 8, such that even a last round win for the Russians over Germany was only good enough for the silver medal. Ukraine, the third seed going in, took the bronze. In the European Women’s Team Championship, the favourites Russia, clinched gold with a round to spare, leaving Georgia and Ukraine battling for silver and bronze. In the end they finished exactly according to their starting rank. Fourth seed Poland was upset by ninth seed Romania and so just missed out on a medal. Analysis by IM Irene Sukandar | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

50 games you should know: Steinitz vs. von Bardeleben

11/6/2017 – In chess the goal of the game is to checkmate the enemy king. However, most chess games are not decided by elegant mating attacks but because one side is materially superior. You first take the pieces of the opponent, then you mate. Sacrifices suspend these brutal rules of materialism, that makes them so enchanting. And some sacrifices seem to be almost magical.

Simon says: Latest developments in the French Defence

11/6/2017 – In this Simon Says we take look at the latest developments in the French Defence. Watch live from 18:00 CEST (12 Noon EDT).

Gold to Russian Women

11/6/2017 – The Women's event gold goes to Russia for the second straight year as they blanked Turkey 4 : 0 to clinch with a round to spare. The silver and bronze medal battle is between Georgia, Poland, Ukraine and Armenia. IM Irene Sukandar looks at key moments from Round 8. | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

European Teams Open is still open

11/6/2017 – Azerbaijan beat Russia in Round 8, leaving the tournament to be decided in the final round with both teams plus Ukraine vying for the title. Rauf Mamedov has a remarkable 7½ out of 8 games and has broken 2700 for the first time. Azerbaijan takes a small lead into their match with Ukraine, Germany rocketed to fourth with wins over Armenia and Israel, and will face Russia. GM Daniel Fernandez and IM Lawrence Trent annotate the best games from Rounds 6-8. | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com