4/16/2018 – Valentina Gunina took the sole lead after seven rounds in Vysoke Tatry, Slovakia. Against the top favourite, Mariya Muzychuk, she managed a very convincing victory on Saturday. Six players are now a half point behind with 5½ / 7. Sunday was a rest day. Play resumes Monday at 15:00 CEST (9:00 AM EDT) | Photo: Official site

4/16/2018 – Most modern computer programs can be handled intuitively. You start the program and get up to speed quickly. But from time to time, everyone needs a little help to get the most out of your programs. ChessBase offers a variety of support options. Here's a primer for what to do when that someone is you! | Drawing: ChessBase

4/15/2018 – Before this week's games I'd like to request more material from readers which can be sent either to the Dropbox mentioned below or directly to me at jonathan@speelman.demon.co.uk — If your games are selected for 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! | Pictured: Clement Lelievre (right) with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Laurent Fressinet in 2015

4/15/2018 – ChessBase recently reported on the new artificial intelligence program “AlphaZero” and its astoundingly steep learning curve for chess skill. Given just the rules of chess, in 24 hours of playing games only against itself, it improved to a superhuman level. Along the way, AlphaZero discovered and ultimately abandoned standard openings such as the French and Caro-Kann Defences. | Pictured: The learning curve projection for World Champion Magnus Carlsen overlayed on the actual rating trend.

4/14/2018 – REVIEW: This DVD gives an insight into the mind of one of the top professional chess players of our time. The way he prepares, his opening knowledge, the way he studies, what he finds important or useless. Clearly, a must-have DVD, not only for knowing more about the 1.b3 opening, and how it is played today but for the huge amount of ideas conveyed through the videos. Davide Nastasio explains why.

4/14/2018 – Chess players are very practical, result-oriented. They do feel satisfaction when they manage to produce a stunning combination or an imaginative opening novelty, but beauty is not a goal per itself. They are looking for strong, practical moves, ones that lead to victory in the game. Beauty is an ancillary factor. But it is a major goal for composers of chess problems and studies, as the Israeli problemist explains in part two of his article.

4/13/2018 – The 2018 Karpos Open was won by IM Radoslav Dimitrov ahead of GM Sinisa Drazic on tiebreak. Both players scored 7½ / 9 points. Diana Mihajlova sends photos and a brief report from the Macedonian capital, Skopje. | Pictured: Drazic and Dimitrov

4/13/2018 – The 13th of April is "Kasparov-day". Today, 55 years ago, arguably the best player in chess history was born and since then has shaped the history of chess like no other player — not only on the board! Andre Schulz briefly traces Kasparov's history from his first international moves, through the peak of his career in 1999, his life in politics (both in and out of the chess world) and on to his recent advocacy work. | Photo: Kasparov.com

4/13/2018 – Practising to calculate variations quickly keeps your chess mind in shape and helps you to win more games. ChessBase has a whole suite of tools that help you to train your calculation skills. In this overview, you can find a training recipe to suit your taste. Have a look and try it out!

4/13/2018 – In any endgame the bishop f3 would clearly dominate the knight f6. With queens on the board, however, White's vulnerable king on f2 becomes the decisive factor. How can Black exploit it?

4/12/2018 – The popular S.O.S. column from New In Chess Magazine, recently featured an almost comical second move for black against the English early fianchetto: 2...h5. NIC columnist Jeroen Bosch notes, ‘A move like 2...h5 gives rise to a lot of early creativity, of course.’ See what he means in this entertaining article from the leading global English chess magazine.

4/12/2018 – The 2018 Dubai Open was played between April 2nd and 10th. In a field stacked with 2600+ grandmasters, the Argentinian Diego Flores (pictured with the Sheik Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup) was crowned champion with 7½ / 9 points. In the last round, he beat the Indian Surya Ganguly on the top table. The runner-up was Eduardo Iturrizaga (Venezuela) who drew with Ahmed Adly (Egypt). S.P. Sethuraman (India) and Adly also scored 7/9 points to take the third and fourth spots, respectively. | Photo: (trophy) Dubai Culture Club on Facebook; (Flores) Carlos Ilardo / Graciela Manteiga (ChessBase archive)