Study contest – Jan Timman turns sixty-five

1/7/2017 – In December he turned 65. For decades Jan Timman was a top GMs – in 1982 in fact the world's number two player, behind Anatoly Karpov, against whom he played a World Championship match. Timman is also an expert in endgame studies, with many prize-winning compositions to his name. It is therefore appropriate that Hans Böhm celebrates his 50 years of close friendship with Jan with a special composition contest, and we present some enchanting pictures.

Deep Sengupta victorious in Hastings

1/7/2017 – The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess festival with a long and rich tradition. The top event was the Hastings Masters, which took place 29th December to 5th January 2017. Deep Sengupta of India took clear first with 7.0/9, half a point clear of five players with 6.5/9 each. Among them was the world's youngest International Master, Indian talent Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.

Krishnan Sasikiran wins Rilton Cup

1/6/2017 – The Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran won the 46th Rilton Cup in Stockholm with six wins, three draws, no loss and 7.5/9. Second place went to Russian Grandmaster Sergey Volkov who scored 7.0/9. Seven players with 6.5/9 shared places 3 to 8, among them Gata Kamsky and Ivan Sokolov. But the most spectacular game was played by Tiger Hillarp Persson.

Best of 2016: Best Move

1/6/2017 – After votinng for "Best Player", "Best Female Player", "Best Game", and "Best Endgame", it's time to vote for the "Best Move" of 2016. Have a look at the spectacular, surprising, paradoxical or simply beautiful moves Oliver Reeh selected from games played in 2016. Which of these moves, do you think, is the best move of 2016?

Charming: Blitz Quiz with Judit Polgar

1/6/2017 – One of the highlights of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin in New York was the live commentary by Judit Polgar. The eloquent charm she displayed while explaining the games between Carlsen and Karjakin also comes out in a short "Blitz Quiz" video recorded during this year's Global Chess Festival, Judit Polgar's initiative to promote chess all over the world. The video is short but helps to understand why chess can make you happy.

Career opportunities

1/6/2017 – Tactics can seem deceptively simple, particularly when seeing an engine analysing grandmaster games. Strange, however, how difficult it is to find the right move and to calculate variations properly when playing yourself. It is easier if you solve tactical puzzles regularly. In the ChessBase Magazine and his tactics column Oliver Reeh helps you to do so.

Yannick Pelletier: "The Hedgehog is universal"

1/5/2017 – Recently Yannick Pelletier was visiting Hamburg to record his trilingual DVD about the Hedgehog in the ChessBase studio. Before he went back to Paris we invited him to a little chat. A chat about counterchances, exchanging queens, Carlsen's limited opening choices and recent opening trends. Interview...

Best of 2016: Best Endgame

1/5/2017 – The year 2017 is already a few days old and it is time to have a look at the endgame highlights of 2016. Karsten Müller selected six fantastic endgames played in 2016. But which, do you think, is the best endgame of 2016?

Grand Chess Tour makes new moves

1/5/2017 – In a recent press release the Grand Chess Tour announced two things: a new rating system, called Universal Rating System, or URS™, that combines the results players have in classical, rapid and blitz chess, and the Wildcard Selections for the five events of the Grand Chess Tour 2017. More...

Jon Speelman: Agony Column #35

1/4/2017 – In his "Agony Column #35" Jon Speelman presents three games: one win, one loss, and a draw. The loss was agonising, the win mildly ecstatic, and the draw had both, agony and ecstasy.

Best of 2016: Best Game

1/4/2017 – 2016 brought a a lot of entertaining, fascinating and amazing games. But what was the "best game" of 2016? Our experts created a shortlist of ten games, now it's your turn. What, do you think, is the best game of 2016?

CHESS Magazine: The story of Fred and Bruce

1/4/2017 – When Bob Jones undertook a trip to buy a collection of chess books he found some treasures, including a letter by the wife of Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964), one of the most prolific writers on chess. Only later did Bob realize that he had purchased the chess library of Bruce Hayden, himself an extraordinary personality in chess: chess correspondent for The Times and a great raconteur of chess tales. Here's a story that looks at one of the most prolific writers on chess.

Chinese talent Jinshi Bai wins Groningen

1/3/2017 – Sergey Tiaviakov and Jinshi Bai both played solid, strong chess at the Chess Festival Groningen and after 9 nine rounds, in which both scored five wins and four draws, they both finished with 7.0/9, sharing first place. The tie-break had to decide. And here the young Chinese won by a very narrow margin.

Chess gets sexy with "The Mating Game"

1/3/2017 – Jovanka Houska is the British Women’s Chess Champion, but there is certainly more to her than meets the eye. She has co-authored a “sexy chess book” called The Mating Game, which is available to buy now! Find out more in this exclusive interview.

Indonesia: always the same, yet always different

1/3/2017 – With about 260 million inhabitants Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and it is a land full of natural beauty and diversity. Economically, Indonesia is on the rise and it also has a flourishing chess community. When revisiting Jakarta to play a tournament in the Indonesian capital Alina l'Ami was again struck by the many fascinating facets of Jakarta and Indonesia. Illustrated report...

Best of 2016 - Female Player of the Year

1/3/2017 – In the first voting about the highlights of 2016 we asked for the player of the year. In the second voting we ask for the "Female Player of the Year 2016". A lot of players stood out through their play and their successes in 2016 but which player left the deepest impression on you? Have a look at our list of candidates and choose your female player of the year 2016!

Study of the month: The pawn is the soul of the game

1/3/2017 – Two problemist friends, John Nunn and Yochanan Afek, have proposed it: introduce a monthly column on our newspage to demonstrate the artistic beauty of chess studies. It is a genre in which authors are able to show beautiful patterns and ideas that never occur in regular tournament chess games, but which are possible in composed positions. We have gladly accepted and present the first installment by German composer Siegfried Hornecker. Enjoy.

Stopping the checks

1/3/2017 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

The new rating list: Carlsen leads, Caruana comes closer

1/2/2017 – The Fide just published the first rating list of 2017. World Champion Magnus Carlsen starts the year as number one - in classical chess, in rapid and in blitz chess. But in classical chess Fabiano Caruana is only 13 Elo points behind. Hou Yifan continues to dominate the women's ranking list, Wei Yi is best junior, Lei Tingjie the best girl. Lists and statistics...

"I never celebrate until I get home with the trophies!"

1/2/2017 – One player who did exceedingly well in 2016 is Wesley So. The 23-year-old won two super tournaments – the Sinquefield Cup and London Chess Classic, he helped the US win team gold in the Chess Olympiad in Baku where So also won gold for the best performance on board three. So also won the Grand Chess Tour ahead of legends such as Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov and others. We got in touch with Wesley So to talk about the London Chess Classic and the chess decisions in much greater detail.

Best of 2016: Player of the Year

1/2/2017 – 2016 is over - time to review the chess highlights of the year. In the first of five votings we ask: which player impressed you most in 2016? A lot of players stood out through their play and their successes in 2016 but which player left the deepest impression on you? Have a look at our list of candidates and choose your player of the year 2016!

Fernando Arrabal - Hymn to Chess

1/1/2017 – Fernando Arrabal, born August 11, 1932, in Melilla, Spain, is a writer, director, poet and passionate about chess. He has published more than 100 plays, 14 novels, 800 poetry collections, numerous essays and for over 30 years has written a chess column for the French weekly "L'Express". To greet the new year Arrabal sends ChessBase readers a chess poem, a hymn to chess.

Yasser Seirawan - A Radical Solution Final Thoughts

12/31/2016 – After the World Championship match between Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen Yasser Seirawan proposed a "Radical Solution" to change the format of the World Championship match. It triggered an enormous discussion. Readers sent in hundreds of comments, Emil Sutovsky and Maurice Ashley published different proposals. Now Seirawan sums up his final thoughts on the World Championship format.

Sergey Karjakin is World Blitz Champion 2016

12/30/2016 – Sergey Karjakin is new World Champion in Blitz. After narrowly missing to beat Magnus Carlsen at their World Championship match in New York, Karjakin got the better of Carlsen at the World Blitz Championship in Doha, Qatar. Though it was close. Very close...