FIDE GP in Palma: Grit and determination

11/24/2017 – Although little changed overall in round seven, perhaps the buzzword that best describes the action of the day was ‘determination’. On board one, it was Rapport’s tenacity that won out over Aronian, who came close to winning, while Radjabov overcame his disappointment to outplay Li Chao. Finally, Boris Gelfand scored his first win, beating Riazantsev in a game analyzed by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

TCEC: Superfinal Houdini vs Komodo

11/23/2017 – Over the years the "Thoresen Chess Engines Competition" (TCEC) has become the unofficial Computer World Championship and the very best programs start in this tournament. After two qualifiers, season 10 now finishes with the superfinal in which Komodo faces Houdini. They play 100 games against each other, and the games are shared live on PlayChess. As a bonus, we bring you a brief modern history of computer chess. @StockfishLegalNotice

The Power Play Show

11/23/2017 – Thursday at 6pm UK time Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free. Daniel King will discuss the latest news on the FIDE Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca, showing how Magnus Carlsen de-fangs the London System and, as usual, will be setting puzzles and answering your questions. Puzzle and the live video...

Granda, Sveshnikov World Senior Champs

11/23/2017 – Peruvian grandmaster Julio Granda Zúñiga has been crowned World Senior Champion in the over-50 category, scoring an impressive 9½ points out of 11 rounds. The silver and the bronze went to Rogelio Antonio and Eric Prie respectively, both with 8½ / 11 points. In the over-65 section, Evgeny Sveshnikov stood out with 8½ / 11 points. The title of Senior Women's World Champion over-50 was awarded to WGM Elvira Berend (7/9). The great favourite of the over-65 women's section, Nona Gaprindashvili managed only the runner-up spot this time, behind Tamar Khmiadashvili. Both scored 7½ / 9 points, but Khmiadashvili won their direct encounter. | Photo: (Granda) Alina l´Ami | (Sveshnikov) Helen Milligan

FIDE GP in Palma: Tomashevsky beats Radjabov

11/23/2017 – Round six of the FIDE Grand Prix in Palma was a bit of confirmation of how the tournament had gone thus far. Levon Aronian built a big advantage against Svidler, but after a mistake settled for a draw, and is still sole leader. The next notable result was Teimour Radjabov’s loss to Tomashevsky after declining a draw earlier. Read on in this illustrated report. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

Give thanks for a chess cake

11/23/2017 – For those who don't give a fig for pumpkin pie this Thankgiving, here's a dessert treat even your grandmaster will love. Anya Corke Allen is a chess player with a penchant for baking, and shared her adventures making a chocolate chess cake. Yummy! | Photos: Anya Corke Allen

New ratings on Playchess

11/23/2017 – Readers may have noticed a recent, and significant, change in Playchess, notably the playing room: the new ratings. It is designed to get you a quick game with no delay against a random opponent with a similar rating. These "pools" include ratings calculated on games played at the same time control, as compared to the previous system which lumped multiple game times together as "blitz" up to 5 minutes with 4 seconds of increment. We now have 1-minute bullet, and 3-minute and 5-minute blitz, with no added time. The ratings for previous modes, and individual challenges, are now called "Classic" but continue to be maintained independently. Read on for a more detailed explanation.
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Kasparov Chess Foundation turns 15

11/22/2017 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation celebrated 15 years of global chess outreach with a gala reception and dinner at the New York Athletic Club on November 6th. World-famous commentator GM Maurice Ashley was the host for an evening, which included a 10 board simul by the 13th World Champion. Read on to find out how he did, along with photos and highlights of the event. | Photo: Derrick Bryant

Tari leads World Juniors, Abdumalik caught

11/22/2017 – Aryan Tari from Norway and Zhansaya Abdumalik from Kazakhstan lead at the World Junior Championships. In the Open Tari drew in round 7 against Awonder Liang from the US and won in round 8 against Grigoriy Oparin. With 7.0/8 he is now half a point ahead of two players with 6½/8 each. One of them is the Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa, who won against Liang in round 8 and scored his first GM-norm. In the Girls section Abdumalik won in round 7 but lost in round 8. With 6½/8 she now shares the lead with Anastasia Paramzina. | Photo: Bernd Vökler

The Sniper reviewed

11/22/2017 – Who wouldn't want to learn a universal repertoire against White's most common first moves? In this review of FM Charlie Story's first DVD for ChessBase, Davide Nastasio is doing just that, learning all about a highly flexible opening, which can help you win many games in weekend tournaments. From the videos we learn about Story's extensive experience with the Sniper, see his teaching skills, which will improve our opening repertoire, and also our game generally. If you want to step up your results, while saving time, there is only one choice: become Snipers!

Runavik Open

11/21/2017 – After a wonderfully organized tournament in Faroe Island in the Summer month of July, the chess action is back in Faroes with the strong Runavik Open from November 20th to 26th. With 12 grandmasters in a field of just 48 players, along with the young and exciting Nihal Sarin, almost every participant has a very high chance to play a GM. The Wintery Charm of Faroe Islands | Photo: Hanna Ólavsdóttir Jacobsen

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

11/21/2017 – Tuesdays at 5pm UK time Lawrence Trent goes on air on Playchess.com. In his show Lawrence Trent will be dealing with the latest trends, games and combinations from the elite chess tournaments. This week features games from the World Junior Championships!

Running for cover

11/21/2017 – Usually it is good and fun to snatch the pawns of the opponent in an endgame. But sometimes the pawns of your opponents are your biggest help. Then you should think twice before snatching them!

FIDE GP in Palma: The quiet after the storm

11/21/2017 – After the tempestuous round the day before, round five was an understandable anticlimax with draws on all boards. For the top two boards in particular, this was quite expected, as it pitted the leaders against each other. Lions don't attack other lions for the 'challenge', they wait for easier prey. Still, it was not all dull games or lack of theoretical ideas as shown by GM Alex Yermolinsky in his round five report. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

50 games you should know: Pillsbury vs Lasker, 1896

11/21/2017 – Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1894 to 1921, was a strong defender who kept his cool in bad positions and always seemed to find ways to pose his opponents problems. But Lasker was also an excellent attacker and tactician. Lasker's perhaps most brilliant attacking game is his victory against Harry Nelson Pillsbury, played at the St. Petersburg tournament 1895/1896. A brilliancy in a crucial moment. | Photo: Cleveland Public Library

New: Charlie Storey — The Sniper

11/21/2017 – "Welcome to the Sniper" – officially created in 2010, it has now been tested with success against top grandmasters and computer programs and still manages to ensure new and creative opening situations full of imbalance, and hence winning prospects for Black. DVD author Charlie Storey has used the Sniper, in conjunction with deep computer analysis, to help gain 145 UK Open victories and has seen his students employ it successfully in European Youth Championships.

Simon says: Some crazy games

11/20/2017 – In this Simon Says Simon Williams takes a look at some crazy games that he has recently played. Expect lots of crazy sacrifices! Watch live from 18:00 CEST (12 Noon EDT).

Chess Festival Aeroflot Open 2018

11/20/2017 – The Aeroflot Open Chess Festival, which is popular throughout the world, will be held in Moscow from 19th February (the date of arrival) to 2nd March 2018 (the date of departure). This major event is open to chess players from all over the globe, of most varied qualification: from unrated to those having a very high rating. As before, the festival is held under the wings of Aeroflot – Russian Airlines.

FIDE GP in Palma: Sac, sac, mate!

11/20/2017 – What an exciting round it was! Round four not only saw a plethora of decisive games, but spectacular ones at that. Levon Aronian was once more his brilliant best as he defeated Anish Giri in a beautiful game with sacs coming from all directions. Ding Liren's imaginative attack against Ernesto Inarkiev was also a joy to watch, and even Hikaru Nakamura's endgame squeeze over Radjabov started with a sparkling queen sac. Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

FIDE GP in Palma: Missed opportunities

11/19/2017 – Round three was mostly one of missed opportunities as many games failed to capitalize on the promise of their positions. The first and foremost was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's excellent chances against co-leader Levon Aronian that fizzled out during the technical transition, while Rapport will regret his near-win not yielding its fruits. That said, Peter Svidler did deliver mate on the board against Jon Hammer! Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky | Photo: Valerij Belobeev

Building the ultimate chess machine

11/18/2017 – In a recent discussion with top grandmasters, notably GM John Nunn, the topic came up on what the ideal configuration and setup would be for chess analysis, whether at home, or abroad. Naturally we are talking about reasonable budget restraints as well, since otherwise the sky is the limit. What is better? Several strong machines, or just one top computer? Read on to find out. | Photo: AMD

Beating Magnus after a month of training?

11/18/2017 – Max Deutsch is an obsessive learner, a product builder, and guinea pig for a "Month to Master" project: the 24-year-old entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco has shown that he can train himself to memorize a deck of cards in two minutes, hold a 30-minutes conversation in Hebrew and develop perfect pitch, in each case after just 30 days of training. After eleven tasks he set himself for 2017 the twelfth was to beat World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a game of chess. The experiment, described in the Wall Street Journal, took place in Hamburg earlier this month. Tell us what you think.

FIDE GP in Palma: The lions are awakened

11/18/2017 – After a cautious game in round one, Teimour Radjabov roared like a lion as he unleashed a powerful King's Indian as only he, one of the world's foremost proponents, could do. It was a masterful game as he beat Vallejo Pons. Levon Aronian is another who scored a brilliant win, showing magnificent opening preparation that caught Inarkiev in his net. Here is the round two report with analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: Agon

Tune your tactics - Rook-Bishop Battery

11/17/2017 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! Friday at 3.30 pm CEST it's all about the Rook-Bishop Battery!