Jobava extraordinary in Xtracon

8/3/2017 – The Xtracon Open and it's forbearer the Politiken Cup is a strong annual open tournament north of Copenhagen. This year fan favorite Baadur Jobava took first place clear with an impressive 8.5 / 10. Krishnan Sasikiran and Marin Bosiocic were second and third. IM David Midema was on the scene in Elsinore | Photo: Sigfred Haubro

Sinquefield Cup: Round 1 - Creativity and Precision

8/3/2017 – Aronian’s creativity, Karjakin’s precision in an advantageous position, and full-fledged fights in all the boards were the talking points of the first round at Sinquefield Cup which started today at Saint Louis, USA, the 4th leg of the Grand Chess Tour. So Wesley fell for the time immemorial classic zeitnot tragedy when he blundered on the 40th move and lost to Vachier-Lagrave from a difficult position. | Photos: Lennart Ootes (Grand Chess Tour)

Exercises in Style: From Wilhelm Steinitz to Magnus Carlsen (3/4)

8/3/2017 – Tigran Petrosian had a unique style. But do you recognize his games if you just see the moves? Have a try! Part 1 and 2 of the "Exercises in Style" presented games by Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Aljechin, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov and Tal, now follow games by Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer and Karpov. Do you know which World Champion played which game?

New: ChessBase Magazine 179

8/3/2017 – The new ChessBase Magazine arrived! Issue #179 is packed with games and reports from current tournaments, analyses by top players such as Levon Aronian and Ding Liren, endgame training, tactics and middlegame training, plus lots of hints, tipps and advice to improve and sharpen your opening repertoire. A must for the serious player!

Austrian chess legend Andreas Dückstein turns 90

8/2/2017 – Andreas Dückstein is living proof that chess keeps you young. In his long career he played against the world's best and won against Euwe, Botvinnik and Spassky. Today he turned 90 and still loves to play chess. And he is still strong!

50th Biel: Historic win for Hou Yifan

8/2/2017 – One could hardly imagine more exciting final round pairings! Hou Yifan and Pentala Harikrisha both had White against their closest pursuers, Nico Georgiadis and Etienne Bacrot respectively. Bacrot benefitted from a one-move blunder, to reach 6 points, which meant Hou was in a must-win situation. But win she did! | Photos: Pascal Simon

Paleochora Open 2017 - where the entire town celebrates chess!

8/1/2017 – It's one of the most southern points of Europe. The town of Paleochora has barely a population of 2000, yet it hosts one of the most popular tournaments in Greece. How did a town with absolutely no chess background become the central hub for the game? We bring you the story of how chess in Paleochora began and also take you on a tour of the entire city. Surely you will be as enchanted by its beauty, as our authors Amruta and Sagar were! | Photos: Amruta Mokal

50th Biel: Round 8 - Harikrishna and Hou out in front

8/1/2017 – Alexander Morozevich and Hou Yifan both won again, but so did Harikrishna, and so he and Hou will take a half point edge into Wednesday's final round. But Morozevich, Etienne Bacrot and Nico Georgiadis are all withing striking distance.

Helpless knights

8/1/2017 – Basically, chess is a logical and just game. However, some things still astonish. For example the fact that two knights and a king cannot mate the enemy king. But this paradox sometimes offers the defender unexpected possibilities.

Alex Yermolinsky wins US Senior Open

8/1/2017 – After years of eligibility to participate in the US Senior Open, GM Alex Yermolinsky finally 'caved in' and added his name to the roster when it coincided in date and location with a summer chess camp he was teaching at. This event came down very much to him and coleague GM Dmitry Gurevich, as they dueled for the title, but they were not alone. Still, it was not just a chance to compete, but also to catch up with old friends.

As sharp as it gets: the McCutcheon Variation of the French Defence

7/31/2017 – In the McCutcheon Variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4) Black sharpens the play very early and indicates his wish to win. Opening expert Rustam Kasimdzhanov shows how best to do so. Our reviewer Christian Höthe was impressed.
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50th Biel: Round 7 - Four winners, four leaders

7/31/2017 – Round 7 saw a stark reversal of fortune for tournament leader Etienne Bacrot whose loss to Hou Yifan, coupled with a win by Morozevich, infuses new drama into the 50th Biel Chess Festival's GM tournament. Half the field now has chances to win!

Match of Millennials: World smashes USA

7/31/2017 – The Match of the Millenials was astonishing to say the least. On paper, the US under-17 team had such an Elo advantage that some bemoaned the lack of stronger foreign juniors to make it more ‘competitive’. Instead they had already lost a full round in advance, as had the under-14. A great result for the World team, winning 30.5-17.5, and a tribute to their team spirit and their captain. Full illustrated report. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Stupak, Nikolov and Bernadskiy win the 10th Paleochora Open 2017

7/31/2017 – ChessBase authors Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal are on their European journey, which they usually undertake in the summer each year. This time the first tournament they visited was the Paleochora Open in the island of Crete south of the Greek mainland. The small peninsula is perhaps the most picturesque spot you can imagine for a chess tournament. The event was a strong one with 15 grandmasters fighting for the first prize of €1800. Kirill Stupak, Momchil Nikolov (below right) and Vitaliy Bernadskiy (center) won the event with 7.5/9. Part one of our report. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

British Championship Round 2

7/30/2017 – Games and commentary from Round 2 of the 104th British Championship in Llandudno,July 28th – August 6th, 2017 | Photo: Phil Makepeace

50th Biel: Round 6 - Three wins for White

7/30/2017 – Leader Etienne Bacrot drew against Peter Leko to remain on top with 4.5 / 6. The closest pursuers are now Pentala Harikrishna and Ruslan Ponomariov. The Ukrainian former FIDE World Champion overcame of David Navara's Najdorf, as the Czech's slide continues. Rafael Vaganian got a win to pull himself out of the cellar. | Photos: Pascal Simon

Chess in Guadeloupe: the butterfly effect (part two)

7/30/2017 – In this second part of the report on the Guadeloupe Open, you will be treated to more gorgeous scenery, all captured in large high-res imagery, together with instructive chess analysis, including one game that brought up memories of.... Bogoljubow against Lasker. It is just one more example of why knowing one's classics can never be repeated enough. Enjoy this scenic chess lesson!

Greet is great at 150th Dundee Anniversary

7/29/2017 – Scottish IM Andrew Greet won the grandmaster tournament with 6 points from 9 games. GMs Simon Williams, Martin Petr, Spyridon Kapnisis and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant shared 2nd-5th places, a half point back. At look at the back story of the tournament. | Photo: Brendan O'Gorman

Chess in Guadeloupe: the butterfly effect (part one)

7/29/2017 – Being the Elo favorite in an event is one thing, but having your name and photo as part of a tournament's main promotional material and poster is another. At least for most common mortals. This was what IM Alina l'Ami faced as she arrived in the gorgeous Caribbean island, Guadeloupe, which lived up to its postcard reputation. Enjoy this lovely high-resolution pictorial.

50th Biel: Round 5 - Hou Yifan chases Bacrot

7/28/2017 – Etienne Bacrot has had a convincing performance in Biel. In round 5, he won with Black against the Swiss IM Noel Studer and is now at the top of the field with 4.0 / 5. A half point behind is Hou Yifan, who won with White against David Navara. Alexander Morozevich, who overpowered Rafael Vaganian in yet another French, was the third winner of the round. | Photos: Pascal Simon

Attagirl!

7/28/2017 – It's obvious that in the diagram position White cannot really castle short (black bishop a7!). So a queen move should be played. 16.Qd3 or 16.Qe4 - which of these two passes your stress test?

Match of the Millennials: World leads US 13-11

7/28/2017 – Part of a "summer of chess" at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, the Match of the Millennials, is a wonderful idea, pitting top US Juniors against a selection of international juniors representing the ‘World’ team. The US brings some of it hottest names such as Jeffery Xiong, Samuel Sevian, and Awonder Liang, while the World includes Praggnanandhaa, Bibisara Assaubayeva, and more. At the midway point, here is the illustrated report. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

50th Biel: Round 4 and four winners

7/28/2017 – In today's fourth round there were four decisive games in the GM tournament of the Biel chess festival. In three games, the white knights took were the key factor. In the fourth Black's passed pawn made all the difference. Etienne Bacrot now leads the field with Pentala Harikrishna and others a half point behind. | Photos: Pascal Simon

Exercises in Style (2/4): Solutions

7/27/2017 – The "Exercises in Style" are an invitation to playfully have a closer look at the style of the 16 World Champions. In each of the four parts of the series the reader is shown four games without data and is asked to guess which World Champion played which game. Part 2 showed games by Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov and Mihail Tal. Here are the answers to which World Champion played which game.