2/9/2017 – An opening destined to become a trend is the rather curious looking Modern-Pirc. Or as some grandmasters are already admiring it, a fusion of the strategies involved in the Modern Defence and the Caro-Kann Defence. If you are wondering how that is done, you are about to find out.

2/8/2017 – What's your favourite book of chess? This question is asked many a time, and every chess player has a book that is close to his heart. Usually it's a book that one has read in childhood and has ignited the love for the game. In case of IM Sagar Shah it was a book by Irving Chernev. In this article he speaks about what he loved about the book and also annotates his favourite game, which, to be frank, is some sort of a fairy tale!

2/8/2017 – Celebrating its 83rd edition, the Brazilian Championship is underway, and once more is held in the tropical city Rio de Janeiro. This year brings in a fascinating roster of players and characters, all with the dream of adding the title to their resume. For a couple, it is a chance to add one more, for the others, a chance to deny the top-seeds and play the underdog hero. After two rounds it is a pitched war with only one draw in twelve games! Illustrated report with analysis.

2/7/2017 – On January 30, 2017, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued to block key portions of President Trump’s executive order on travel. Trump’s executive order had barred entry to the United States by refugees and VISA holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries. On February 3, a judge granted Ferguson’s request for a temporary restraining order, meaning that federal employees cannot enforce Trump’s executive order. Result: Ferguson-Trump 1-0. Report by Alexey Root, who knew Ferguson as a chess opponent.

2/7/2017 – 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. Today on the playchess server, 4 pm: Endgame Magic with Karsten Müller and Vishnu Prasanna Endgame Blog

2/7/2017 – Once more one of the world's largest chess festivals took place in the heart of the chess world, the Moscow Open. Named as if it were but one event, it is rather a sprawling festival of chess competitions that range from foremost main Open, to an exclusive (and very well attended) Women's Open, an Amateur (sub-2300), team events, university competitions, a huge children's competition, and this year they even innovated with a Rapid Chess tournament for the blind!

2/6/2017 – Davide Nastasio wanted to take his game to the next level. He bought ChessBase 14 along with Mega Database 2017 and started experimenting with it. He was amazed at the things he could do with these tools. After working for a few days, he realised that CB 14 and Mega 2017 allowed him to not only study master games, but also analyse them, learn from world class annotators and find out errors in his own game. He now shares his experience with you in this detailed review.

2/6/2017 – In this second part of her pictorial of images from Tata Steel, Alina L'Ami continues to not only share her choice images, but also what fascinated her, what attracted her, what made her stop and think. All these moments are unveiled as she explains why some work, and why some don't, and ideas for you to take home and try to include in your own photography. In the meantime, enjoy this photographic selection with her comments.

2/5/2017 – Manuel Infante, an American in his early sixties. He survived childhood cancer, grew up an Air Force brat, became a mathematics teacher and coach. At the Western Heights Public Schools in Oklahoma he was the chess club sponsor, and after early retirement from teaching he renewed his chess studies and began once again to participate in chess tournaments. Manny submitted two games, an feature “agonising” loss in which he played an inventive pawn sacrifice, and a crushing win. They are analysed by our columnist Jon Speelman.

2/5/2017 – Tata Steel is without question one of the highlights of the year thanks to its great diversity of events and of course the Masters with its host of elite players. One other thing that has helped keep it such a pleasurable event is the attention made to have great videos and photography. Alina L'Ami has been the official photographer for the last few years, and enriched the reports by all with her lovely imagery. Here is a large pictorial of photos she chose with her comments and tips.

2/4/2017 – The ChessBase Mega Database 2017 lists 35 casual games Adolf Anderssen (photo) played from 1851 to 1859 against Louis Eichborn. Eichborn won 32 of these games, lost 2 and only one game ended in a draw. Now Anderssen is considered as one of the best if not the best player of that time while Eichborn is relatively unknown. How then to explain his overwhelming plus against Anderssen?

2/4/2017 – In our previous monthly study column we saw how powerful pawns are. The subject is amplified this time with three positions, two from games and one a study by two prolific chess composers from Georgia. In that study White would like to move his pawn backwards, which of course the rules of chess do not allow. So he has to promote it, very carefully, and then move the queen or rook to the square the pawn could not occupy. A remarkable idea and an amazing study.