Hou mystified by pairings, sits out round five

9/27/2017 – Since round four ended with the four leaders drawing their respective games, now seven share first with 3.5/4, from Magnus Carlsen to Alexander Lenderman. Hou Yifan, who faced her fourth consecutive female opponent, requested a half point bye in round 5, but contrary to rumour has no intention to withdraw for now. | Analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi; Photo: Alina L'Ami

FIDE World Cup 2017: Die another day!

9/27/2017 – It could all have ended today had it not been for some heroic defence by Ding Liren. After getting an extremely bad position out of opening, it seemed as if the Chinese player had no chances of survival. But he started to make his moves quickly and confidently and Levon Aronian who was clearly under pressure, couldn't find the best possible way to make most of his advantage. With all the four classical games ending in draws we are now going into the tiebreaks to decide who will win the World Cup 2017. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

New and newsworthy: News design and Quiz

9/26/2017 – You may have noticed some changes on the News page recently. Today we unveiled an updated design for individual posts, which we hope you'll regard as an improvement. Last week was the soft-launch of a new Quiz feature you can find in the right sidebar available for ChessBase Account holders. Did you know who finished in fourth place at the 2007 Wijk aan Zee tournament? Try it out!

Chess photography: Do's and Don'ts

9/26/2017 – Photography, and notably chess photography, is a tricky thing, since on the one hand it seems so simple, while on the other it is clear some do it a lot better than others. You might be inclined to dismiss this as a matter of talent or expensive equipment, but the truth is one can do very well even with a smartphone following some basic rules of thumb.
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Isle of Man: Kramnik's Candidates crisis

9/26/2017 – James Tarjan is 65 years old and has an Elo rating of 2412, but he was clearly the story of the day at the Chess.com Isle of Man International after beating Vladimir Kramnik in round 3. While the former World Champion stumbled, the current one, Magnus Carlsen, remained in charge. He won against World Junior Champion Jeffrey Xiong and is now tied on a perfect 3.0 / 3 together with three other players. Annotations by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson | Lead Photo: Chess.com / Maria Emelianova | Other photos: Alina l'Ami

Breaking through

9/26/2017 – Knights surprise again and again. One single knight can frighten king, queen and rooks of your opponent (or yourself) or block strong and dangerous passed pawns. But sometimes knights are helpless against a single pawn that wants to queen. No wonder that knight endings are full of tactical tricks.

FIDE World Cup 2017: A mouth watering clash awaits!

9/26/2017 – In the third game of the finals of the World Cup 2017, Levon Aronian came up with an interesting idea in the Reti. He moved his queen four times in the first ten moves in order to hamper Black's development. But Ding Liren kept making simple and strong moves. The end result was a tame draw. We bring you not only detailed analysis, but also in-depth interviews with the players, photos of the venue, prediction for game four and video of 76-year-old Nona Gaprindashvili analysing chess with her youthful energy. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

World Solving Championship solutions (2)

9/25/2017 – In his report on the Problem Solving event in Dresden, Germany, John Nunn gave you eight problems to solve. A few days ago he showed you of the first four. Today the last four are explained, in John's inimitable style. Play through the solutions and read his comments — this will give you a unique insight into the entertaining and challenging field of chess problems. | Photo: Franziska Iseli

India to host quartet of GM Tournaments at the turn of 2018

9/25/2017 – Feel like escaping to a warm climate this winter? Why not India? From December 2017 to January 2018 we'll see events in Bhopal, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Her are all the details about the forthcoming Indian Winter Circuit tournaments along with a few tips on what one can expect from each of the tournament destinations as a tourist.

World Cup 2017 Final, Game 2: Round-up show

9/25/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Yesterday Daniel King showed the highlights of game 2 between Ding Liren and Levon Aronian. Who will win the World Cup in Tbilisi 2017? Have a look...

FIDE World Cup 2017: Aronian's masterful technique falls short

9/25/2017 – Game two of the World Cup 2017 Finals was a tense affair. Ding Liren's opening idea was swiftly neutralized by Aronian with black. It seemed as if the players would agree to a draw around move 30 mark, and call it a day. But Ding went wrong and the moment he did that Aronian started turning the screws on the position. Before you knew it, White had landed in a completely lost position. It was only through a miracle that Ding escaped. Detailed analysis of the game, photos, videos and more from Hotel Biltmore in Tbilisi.

World Solving Championship solutions (1)

9/24/2017 – This Problem Solving event took place in Dresden, Germany, in early August. We reported extensively on it and gave you eight problems from the Championship to solve. Not an easy task, as most of them required some experience in this entertaining and challenging field. Today we give you the solutions of the first four problems, wonderfully annotated by top problem solver Dr John Nunn. The remaining four solutions will follow later this week. Learn and enjoy! | Photo: Franziska Iseli

Isle of Man: Caruana beats Kramnik

9/24/2017 – Right on the heels of the World Cup, which is now in the Finals, is the Chess.com Isle of Man International bringing a very impressive lineup with several of the world’s best, including Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and more. Innovating from the Swiss pairings, the organisers decided that the first round would be entirely random, and this led to some very surprising round one match-ups. Report with analysis by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson. | Photo: John Saunders

FIDE World Cup Finals: Ding Liren's immaculate opening preparation

9/24/2017 – Grand! That's what the setting for the finals of the World Cup 2017 is! The venue is in the Biltmore Hotel, which is right in the heart of the Tbilisi. The playing arena is arguably the most exquisite that you will ever see. A lot of chess fans turned up to watch the first game. Levon Aronian and Ding Liren provided a good fight, but the Chinese player who had the black pieces hardly had any problems to hold the draw. He showed some solid opening preparation and surprised Aronian. Analysis, photos and interesting videos from the capital city of Georgia. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Armenian Lion vs Chinese Dragon and tour of Tbilisi

9/23/2017 – Both of them have qualified for the Candidates 2018 by reaching the finals of the World Cup 2017. But as Aronian put it, "The main goal has been achieved, how about a little bonus!" Winning a major event like FIDE World Cup would be a great addition to the resume. We have the statistics of previous encounters between Aronian and Ding Liren and also a poll for you to let us know your opinion. Finally, do not miss the rest day pictures of the Jvari monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.

Reconstructing Turing's "Paper Machine"

9/23/2017 – Can you guess when the first chess program was written – relative to the invention of computers? Ten years later? Wrong. The great mathematician Alan Turing did it earlier than that. During the celebrations of his 100th anniversary, in Manchester, June 2012, Garry Kasparov and Frederic Friedel delivered a lecture on the reconstruction of the engine Turing had programmed. Now the process has been described in a scientific paper.

Kim Jong Un vs. Trump 'End Game'

9/23/2017 – The September 23rd issue of New Scientist magazine has a striking cover illustration featuring President Trump squaring off against the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in what one presumes is a high stakes chess game with nuclear tipped missiles. While visually impressive, the position makes absolutely no sense. Why can't a major magazine using chess as a geopolitical metaphor make a tiny effort to have the game presented coherently? It was a missed opportunity, and I think ChessBase readers can do better. Here's your chance to propose an alternative. | Illustration: Robert Carter (crackedhat.com)
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"All my life I try to improve my chess level"

9/22/2017 – Interviews with Vassily Ivanchuk are rare. The man is happy playing chess and would rather find new ideas, or indulge in a game of draughts, than answer questions from journalists. However, the chess world is always intrigued by his brilliance. They want to know more about him. At the World Cup in Tbilisi, Ivanchuk agreed for a short interview with ChessBase. In it he speaks about his World Cup performance, future plans, checkers, his inspiration for new ideas and whether he still would like to become the World Champion. Video with complete transcript.

Tune your tactics - Calculation Training

9/22/2017 – 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 training!

The helping rook

9/22/2017 – In the diagram position both white rooks are skewered. A counterattack against the queen h6 might be the saving idea, but then again there are pin motifs in the g-file. What do you think - will White finally be able to save his skin?

World Cup 2017 Semifinals, Tiebreaks: Round-up show

9/22/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Yesterday Lawrence Trent showed the highlights and upsets of tiebreaks of the semifinals. Who will go through to the final and qualify for the candidates? Have a look...

FIDE World Cup 2017: And then there were two!

9/22/2017 – What an exciting day of chess at the semifinal tiebreaks! The match between Levon Aronian and MVL went all the way to the Armageddon. At the end it was the Armenian legend who struck the last blow and advanced to the final. The other semifinal was perhaps less exciting, but not without drama. Wesley So could not solve the Chinese conundrum. Ding Liren played a great match to beat his American opponent. Aronian and Ding have now booked their berths to Candidates 2018, the latter being the first Chinese player ever to reach the Candidates. A detailed report on the semifinal tiebreaks. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Chess shorts: Anna vs. Astronaut

9/21/2017 – Films that is! The first in a series of short posts on short films about chess that have come our way from various corners of the world. This one is a bit of a tribute film, and very short indeed — less than four minutes — but featuring an unlikely pair of contestants simply spreading their own joy of playing "the best game in the world".

World Cup 2017 Semifinals, Game 2: Round-up show

9/21/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Yesterday Daniel King showed the highlights and upsets of game 2 of the semifinals. Who will go through to the final and qualify for the candidates? Have a look...