3/20/2018 – Some of the most important tactical questions are very basic: am I material up or down? Which pieces are attacked and not defended? Do I have a check? Does my opponent have a check? Etc. Practicing to answer these questions quickly will speed up your chess thinking and help you to improve your chess intuition. | Drawing: ChessBase

3/19/2018 – Test your tactical ability with these positions grouped in rough order of difficulty. The games come from various recent events: Gibraltar, Moscow, Riyadh, etc.. Don’t forget that whilst sometimes the key move will force mate or the win of material, other times it will just win a pawn. Take your time analysing the positions, on our news page, assisted by a JavaScript chess engine.

3/19/2018 – The new Endgame Turbo 5 offers reliable information to assess all 3-, 4-, and 5-piece endgames, plus 143 of the most important 6-piece endgames. The new turbo in Syzygy format is delivered on an USB stick and can also be used from this stick.

3/19/2018 – At the midway point, Fabiano Caruana took the sole lead after beating Levon Aronian in a wild game. Aronian seemed to be ina bit of a panic, while Caruana played very precisely, staved off the attack and took the point. Sergey Karjakin won his first game beating Wesley So and moves out of last place. Ding Liren, usually such a fighter, seems content to not lose, and drew Vladimir Kramnik after creating good winning chances. Here is the report and analyses by GM Alex Yermolinsky | Photo: World Chess

3/18/2018 – American Doug Schwtke is 65 years old, from Texas, and has two grandchildren. He plays chess "for the thrill of a good game", and sent GM Jon Speelman one tactical slugfest of a QGD exchange, and one nice positional game out of a Chigorin! Fancy Jon taking a look at your games? Send them in! If you appear in 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!

3/18/2018 – Our fascination with Bobby Fischer never ends. When ChessBase mentioned an unknown game that came to haunt him for decades, one of our readers was quick to identify the encounter and send us on a memorable journey into the past. In the first part of the article our columnist recreated the drama surrounding that game, and here he unravels the mystery with inputs from GM Michael Bezold and Leonard Barden. | Photo of Pyotr Romanovsky: chesspro.ru

3/17/2018 – The fifth round of the Candidates Tournament in Berlin brought the first round of all draws, but Levon Aronian missed a huge chance against Alexander Grischuk. Friday was a day full of surprises: Vladimir Kramnik overplayed his hand against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and was dealt a painful loss, while Wesley So managed a fantastic comeback against Aronian, whose confidence looks shaken. Fabiano Caruana played a double-edged game against Grischuk and now shares the lead with Mamedyarov. | Photo: World Chess

3/16/2018 – When 26-year-old Vishy Anand got married to Aruna, his career was at a very delicate juncture. He was one of the top chess players in the world, but had not yet become a world champion. If the marriage didn't suit him well, he would have bled a lot of rating points. However, the marriage worked like a charm. Within a few years Vishy not only reached the number one ranking in the world, but also became multiple time World Champion. If there was one person who would get the major credit for all of Vishy's successes, it has to be his wife and manager Aruna Anand. Today being the Women's day, there could be no better time to acquaint you with the Iron lady of Indian chess, the Tigress of Madras - Aruna Anand.

3/16/2018 – One of the keystones to improving our understanding of the endgame is the endgame tablebase, a sort of oracle that first came into existence over 40 years ago. This revolutionary technology, that first saw light in the chess world thanks to computer scientist and pioneer Ken Thompson, has evolved a great deal since then. Here is a look at its beginnings and what each generation brought.

3/16/2018 – Black's king has the queen at its side, while the knight c8 is also ready to join the defence. And yet in the diagram position the case is crystal clear: White to play and win!

3/15/2018 – The strong "Reykjavik Open Robert Fischer Memorial" was won by the Indian grandmaster Adhiban Baskaran. The 13-year Nihal Sarin gave Indian fans even more to cheer about: he made his second GM norm. The best woman in the field was Deimante Cornette. | Photo: Gerd Densing

3/15/2018 – The outstanding players in the history of chess were dominating their eras in their very individual styles, which was also reflected in the way they tactically concluded their games. Now you have the opportunity to follow in the world champions’ footsteps - with this unique collection of combinations!