Sigeman: 'One doesn't need Viagra after a finish like this,' says Nigel

5/11/2017 – With a brand new sponsor, the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess tournament is back! The five-round event is being held in Malmo, Sweden. The tournament features a strong contention in the form of Nigel Short, Pavel Eljanov, Baadur Jobava, Nils Grandelius, Erik Blomqvist and Harika Dronavalli. And Short is off to a 'dream' start as he explained in his one-line tweet after the game. Report with grandmaster analysis.

Nihal's problem: how the b-pawn mates

5/11/2017 – When the 12-year-old Nihal Sarin visited ChessBase in Hamburg in April it was not just his incredible chess skills and understanding that impressed us all. The lad is blessed with a fair deal of humour, and sprouts entertaining chess puzzles at every turn. Like the series of problems that took advantage of an imprecise definition of the castling rules. Or one, which we passed on to our readers: "A game ends on move four with a b-pawn giving mate." We got a lot of feedback, and the winner has been drawn: the prize, a Fritz 15 program signed by three World Champions, goes to...

Wei Yi wins third straight Chinese Championship

5/10/2017 – Wei Yi won his third consecutive Chinese title, making it three in a row at the tender age of 17. The field was missing his fellow 2700 players, making it easier, and he came through immaculate with 8.5/11. In the Women’s championship, Lei Tingjie took sole first with 9.0/11, outpacing Tan Zhongyi and Wang Jue in spite of a loss. Both events were hard fought, with plenty of fireworks.

Master Shifu of Indian chess: R.B. Ramesh (2/3)

5/10/2017 – Indian chess is growing at a fervent pace thanks to some of the best chess minds in our country. One of them is India's super coach GM R.B. Ramesh. In the second part of his interview he speaks about the mindset that trainers and parents must have, how to make chess more popular, why having a super tournament in India is important and much more.

Using your home chess engine anytime, anywhere

5/9/2017 – Recently, a grandmaster was explaining that one of the biggest problems when travelling was that analyzing on his laptop would eat up his battery in an hour or two at most. When asked why he didn’t just connect to his desktop, he said he was not a ‘computer whiz’ like some. Do you sympathize with him? If so, learn how incredibly easy it is to set this up with Fritz or ChessBase so you can access your personal desktop anytime, anywhere.
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Karstedt's draw

5/9/2017 – Most chessplayers have at least a basic knowledge of opening theory. But how about the endgame? Knowing a little bit of endgame theory can help a lot. Karsten Müller has an example.

Returning to Rekyjavik

5/8/2017 – There is clearly something that works in the formula of the Reykjavik Open, which continues to attract a wide range of players every year, from the world's elite such as Giri, Andreikin, and Jobava this year, to rank amateurs who pack the venue. Looking back at the tournament and locale is Alina L'Ami in her report with games, quiz positions and of course high-res photos!

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #51

5/8/2017 – Fresh from the World Senior Team Championship, where he once more sat alongside mates Nigel Short and John Nunn, Jon Speelman takes a look at the two games sent by Andrew Medworth. Andrew is a software engineer working for Google and splits his time between London and Hong Kong. He enjoys chess, and sent detailed notes on his impressions and feelings during the game, now complemented with the grandmaster's expert eye.

Blind chess school is surprise winner in Bangladesh

5/7/2017 – It would have been a nice, but fairly normal chess initiative that would never have been reported here were it not for the highly unusual result. The Chittagong District Sports Association (CJKA) organized for the first time a school team chess tournament named the CJKS Nails and Wood Inter School Team Chess Tournament 2017. Open to all, with boys teams and girls teams, the unbeaten champion was the Chittagong Government School for the Blind.

FIDE Ethics issues 3-month ban to Zhukova

5/7/2017 – Readers may recall the astonishing accusations leveraged against Mihaela Sandu during the 2015 European Championship, after her great start, in which 15 players filed a letter of petition accusing Sandu of cheating, and requesting her games alone not be broadcast. Needless to say, computer analysis in no way backed their claims, and Sandu filed an official complaint against her accusers. The FIDE Ethics Commission has published its results.

Problems of the past month – did you see the solutions?

5/6/2017 – We have published a number of problems in the past months, initially without the solutions. After some days or weeks we added the solutions on the original page, but of course many readers might have missed this. And some may have missed the problems themselves. So today we bring you a special report with the problems of Pal Benko and Miguel Illescas, with their solutions. The prize winner of the Nihal Sarin puzzle will follow shortly.

Russian Team Championship - Shak carries his team

5/6/2017 – Alex Yermolinsky's first report on the Premier League of the Russian Team Championship starts with "One look at the lineup of Siberia-Sirius makes me think some kind of rating restriction rule has to be established for club competitions. Kramnik, Mamedyarov, Giri, Nepo, Grischuk, Andreikin, are you kidding me? Korobov and Khismatullin as .... 'alternates'?" Even Karpov is playing. Enjoy this report with great games and analyses by Alex Yermolinsky, and exclusive high-res photos by Eugeny Atarov.

Trump protesters clash with chess players

5/5/2017 – To be fair, the clash was not meant to be a direct confrontation, but chess players at Union Square were caught in the middle of a clash between protesters, and found their games interrupted with tables tossed and chess pieces sent flying, in spite of trying to stay apart from the angry banner bearers. Still, the community showed its spirit as a couple of Good Samaritans came to the rescue, and replaced the missing or destroyed material.

Forbes - Making A Living In Chess

5/5/2017 – It is not unusual to see chess appear in the mainstream press, but the topics are usually on either a scandal, a player profile, or a singular event such as the World Championship. Forbes published an interesting article regarding the state of professionalism in chess, making a living, and how the internet has opened doors not just for fans but working pros. Here are excerpts and a a video report.

Flawless performance

5/5/2017 – 21.Nf6! in the diagram position is a good idea since the knight cannot be captured. But how to continue if Black declines the sacrifice with 21...h6 then? Try to reproduce GM Markus Ragger's model attack from the Bundesliga - with splendid moves galore ...

What to do against the French? Sergei Tiviakov recommends 3.Nd2!

5/5/2017 – Sergei Tiviakov knows how to win against the French: by playing 3.Nd2! The renowned author and grandmaster regularly plays this move which has brought him a score of about 80% against the French. On a ChessBase DVD he revealed the secrets of this line. French expert Markus Hochgräfe had a close look at the DVD - and was impressed.

Chess species classified!

5/4/2017 – ChessBase's youngest author 12-year-old Avathanshu Bhat has a quirky habit - he observes people closely. Being a chess player he meets at least ten new opponents in each tournament that he plays. Based on his examination, the boy has segregated chess players into seven different groups. Check out this hilarious article and see if you can place yourself in one of those categories.

Celebrating chess: the Bundesliga plays final rounds in Berlin

5/4/2017 – In tournaments Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Vishy Anand are rivals. But from 29. April to 1. May they joined forces and met in Berlin to help turning the final three rounds of Germany's prestigious team competition, the Bundesliga, into a real chess festival. They also helped their team, the OSG Baden-Baden, to win the event more than convincingly.

Chess scandal over dress code in Malaysia

5/4/2017 – By now everyone, even those who are not primarily interested in chess, knows the story: at the National Scholastic Chess Championship 2017 in Putrajaya, Malaysia, a 12-year-old girl was warned by the chief arbiter because of the "improper dress" she was wearing, which was deemed to be seductive and "a temptation from a certain angle". The girl, fairly traumatized, withdrew from the tournament and all hell broke out in the press, with many thousands of reports appearing in the international news portals. Peter Long has harsh words for the Malayian Chess Federation.

Niranjan Navalgund on Nisha Mohota's DVD

5/4/2017 – "When a friend records a DVD, curiosity knows no limit!" writes Niranjan, an player who has made a first GM norm. "Nisha shares her intriguing story of her cards-to-chess shift and makes it clear that she is going to cover some practical aspects and leave you with some useful tools by the end of the DVD." He believes that Nisha Mohota's DVD "Strengthen your Chess Foundation" has the potential to help players who have played few tournaments. Review.

Learning from an epic endgame defense

5/3/2017 – When faced with a very bad or lost endgame, it is sometimes hard to muster the strength, much less the resources, to truly revert the situation. Yet that is what Hikaru Nakamura did, and against no less an expert than Vladimir Kramnik himself. Somehow the American found ways to keep it alive and justify playing on. Some of the resources he found smacked of black magic even. Here is a look at this epic endgame with detailed analysis by endgame expert GM Karsten Mueller.

Sutovsky and Najer supreme at Karpov-Poikovsky

5/3/2017 – The 18th edition of the Karpov–Poikovsky tournament was just held and it once again brought together a fascinating and eclectic group of players. The tournament ended in a spectacular win by Emil Sutovsky and Evgeny Najer, both finishing with 7.0/9 and both with 2900 performances. There were many very attractive games to enjoy. Here is the illustrated report with analysis and quiz positions.

A strong bishop

5/2/2017 – Passed pawns can be tricky. Especially in the endgame and if they are supported by the enemy king. However, bishops can also be powerful. Karsten Müller shows why.

May 2017 Ratings: Personal bests

5/2/2017 – Although the top players all played, the stratospheric 2800 club all saw losses small or modest. Still it was anything but a dry month, starting with Levon Aronian's crushing win at Grenke ahead of an elite crowd such as Carlsen and Caruana, and not omitting Anish Giri's big win at the Reykjavik Open. Nevertheless, a number of players also enjoyed personal bests such as Nils Grandelius, Varuzhan Akobian, and rising female stars in Spain and Germany. Enjoy the report on the new ratings list!