4/14/2017 – As in the blitz, Yannick Pelletier and Peter Svidler were put under serious pressure, on the board as well as on the clock. While Peter managed to bring about a rearguard, not without some generosity from Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura gave his opponent no such chance. Vladimir Kramnik scored a trademark victory over Viswanathan Anand. Report with grandmaster analysis.

4/13/2017 – The second edition of the American Chess Magazine is out, and for those wondering whether this new foray into the challenging print chess magazine market could continue the promise of its first edition, the answer is a resounding yes. The main focus this time is of course the World Championship, but you will also find many fascinating articles, such as the tournament report on Nakamura's win in Gibraltar by... Hou Yifan!

4/13/2017 – When annotating a game, aside from the usual elements such as verbal commentary, or chess notation symbols, but some of the most powerful tools in ChessBase are the colored arrows or squares that can show an idea at a glance. The secret to using them is only found in the Help file though… or in this simple tutorial.

4/13/2017 – The Korchnoi Zurich Chess Challenge 2017 began with legendary grandmasters and Russian talents in the fray, promising entertaining chess for the fans. The opening day saw an exhibition match between the chief sponsor Oleg Skvortsov and Viswanathan Anand. The Indian legend made it a showstopper with a queen sacrifice. A seven-round blitz tourney followed to determine the pairings for the main event, which was led by Boris Gelfand until the sixth round, but as has become traditional in Zurich now, it was Hikaru Nakamura who won the tournament on the tiebreak!

4/12/2017 – The television show 60 Minutes featured the chess program in Franklin County, Mississippi (MS). Over 15 million viewers watched that episode (original air date March 26, 2017), which featured Dr. Jeff Bulington along with his chess-playing students and their proud parents. Bulington’s chess program began in August of 2015 and is sponsored for ten years by an anonymous wealthy benefactor. Here is the report and commentary by Alexey Root.

4/12/2017 – The beautiful Shanghai Haiwan National Forest Park has been a very active and attractive spot for chess in China in recent years, with three high level tournaments held there in the past two years. At the end of last month, held from March 26-31, we saw a high-level national junior chess tournament, "Shanghai Haiwan Cup" 2017 National New Youth Chess Tournament, a round-robin with eight top Chinese junior players.

4/11/2017 – He was recognized as the “Dean of American Chess” – in honor of his promotion of and many contributions to the game. During the 2017 US Championship, a title he had himself won 63 years earlier, this giant of chess, considered one of America's "most dangerous players", died of respiratory failure. He worked for decades for the United States Chess Federation and for its magazine Chess Life. There we find a touching eulogy.

4/11/2017 – Bishop and "wrong" outside pawn cannot win if the defending king manages to occupy the square on which the pawn wants to queen. Therefore the bishop has to prevent the enemy king from reaching this corner: Black to move. Today on the playchess server, 3:30 pm: Endgame Magic with Karsten Müller and Andrew Martin.

4/11/2017 – What a fantastic US Championship it has been, and the last day presented a very exciting playoff match between Wesley So and Alexander Onischuk. After two very exciting games, with game one seeing pawns tossed left and right, and game two almost saw Onischuk come back in a powerful endgame display, it was Wesley So’s turn among the Big Three to hoist the winner trophy. Final report.

4/10/2017 – After three games, Vassily Ivanchuk held a one game lead over Hou Yifan. In the event of a draw after four classical games, there would be a series of playoff games, but Ivanchuk was not to be denied as he took game four in just 20 moves and ended the match 3.0 - 1.0. The organizers have also announced a series of other matches to come. Report and analysis.

4/10/2017 – After the turmoil of the past weeks – the official FIDE web site announced the resignation of its President, followed within hours by emphatic denials from Kirsan Ilyumzhinov – an Extraordinary Presidential Board meeting was held in Athens today. It was attended by Ilyumzhinov, Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, and fourteen other voting members, representing a quorum. Ilyumzhinov apologized for making certain statements, and seems to remain in power. FIDE press release.

4/10/2017 – At the age of just twelve years and eight months, exactly the same as Magnus Carlsen, Nihal Sarin became a full IM, one of the three youngest in the world. This remarkable young chess talent from the southern Indian state of Kerala last week visited us in Hamburg, deeply impressing all and sundry in the ChessBase office. The idea was for him to get instructions in the optimum use of our software, and a little bit of GM training on the side. The only question was who learned what from whom?