World Cup 2017: A glorious opening ceremony

9/3/2017 – We are just hours away from the start of the World Cup 2017. The players have settled down in the Hualing hotel. The opening ceremony was held in the evening of 2nd of September at the Funicular restaurant. The players were treated to a spectacular view, sumptuous food, and entertaining Georgian dance and music. Our reporters at the venue not only bring some exciting pictures, but also videos of the opening ceremony and an interview with Magnus Carlsen's opponent who thinks it is his once in a lifetime opportunity! | Photos: Amruta Mokal

Study of the Month: September, 2017

9/2/2017 – The Ecclesiastes and the famous fictional rabbi Ben Akiba tell us, there is nothing new under the sun, everything has happened before. In a certain way this might hold true to chess — all the ideas might have been shown, but not in that particular setting or not in this particular combination. Looking at our first example, similarities to a previous selection are seen at the end, but the introduction is completely different.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (13)

9/1/2017 – The score was 11½-8½ for Challenger Bobby Fischer, who needed 12½ to win the title. In game 21 he had the black pieces and he played a Sicilian variation he had never before shown any liking for. He gained a distinct advantage, but then allowed Boris Spassky to sacrifice an exchange to get a drawn position. However, the still-reigning World Champion went on to blunder and finally lose his title.

Tbilisi loves you!

9/1/2017 – You know that the World Cup is one of the most anticipated events of the year when 19 out of the top 20 Elo rated grandmasters have confirmed their participation in this 128-player knockout tournament. From 3rd of September we will see the battles taking place on the chequered board. But before that our reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal reached the Capital of Georgia and take you on a tour of this beautiful city. Check out this pictorial report of the city nestled between the mountains. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

US Masters goes to Vladimir Belous

9/1/2017 – Twenty-four grandmasters turned out for the US Masters 2017, which took place from 23rd to 28th of August in Greensboro, North Carolina. This 6th edition was a very strong — one might say, “super Swiss” open — a gathering of titled players almost unheard of for a nine-round open tournament in the USA. Vladimir Belous took top honours winning a last round game that GM Elshan Moradiabadi calls, "just like Morphy!" | Photos: Davide Nastasio

Tune your tactics - The pinned f-pawn

9/1/2017 – 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 pinned f-pawns!

Quiet or loud

9/1/2017 – Playing 24.Nf3-g5 (diagram), White not only has parried the mate threat 24...Qxg2++ but also attacked the queen g3 (Rc3!). Not a bad one, right? Yet Black kept his nerves and found a cool winning continuation which actually was one of two alternatives. What would you have played?

September 2017 FIDE ratings: All hail the queen!

9/1/2017 – What a month it has been! Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was one of the most prominent names of the month, winning the Sinquefield Cup, and taking the no. 2 spot, and of course there was the return of Garry Kasparov, who joined the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, and with it, his first rapid and blitz rating. Then there was Indian prodigy IM Praggnanandhaa who became the youngest ever with 2500, but the one result that overshadowed them all was Hou Yifan's historic win at Biel. | Photo: Pascal Simon

Carlsen vs Aronian classic in CBM 178

8/31/2017 – This issue of ChessBase Magazine includes games from the Grenke Chess Classic, which marked the return of Levon Aronian. The Armenian finished 1½ points ahead of Carlsen and Caruana. In CBM 178 the tournament winner annotates his win over Arkadij Naiditsch. However, the pride of place belongs to the Carlsen-Aronian encounter from the second round, which has been annotated in depth by GM Aleksandr Lenderman. In his product review Prof. Nagesh Havanur advises readers to go through the game first without any analysis, and then match their wits with the players and the annotators.

Endgame Magic with GM Nicholas Pert

8/31/2017 – GM Nicholas Pert is in Hamburg recording a Fritztrainer to be published later this year. He joins Karsten for a look some of Pert's own queen endgames, as well as a survey of minor piece endgames from recent tournament practice. Live at 16:00 CEST (8:00 AM EST)!

Rinat Jumabayev tops Barcelona

8/31/2017 – The nineteenth edition of the Sants Open in Barcelona finished with a clear winner in group A: Rinat Jumabayev. The young man from Kazakhstan has been a GM since 2009 and is the number one in his country. An afternoon playoff determined second and third places which went to Moldovan Dmitry Svetushkin and German Julian Martin. | Photo: Gerd Densing

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (12)

8/30/2017 – The score was 10½-7½ for the Challenger, who needed 12½ to win the title. Was Bobby Fischer content merely to sneak in by split points? "I don't believe it — it's never been his style," wrote commentator GM Robert Byrne. "I think the explanation for the draws is to be found in Spassky's improvements in his openings." In games 11 and 12 Fischer kept coasting, but he also relaxed somewhat with social encounters.

Preparing for Alexei Shirov's Semi-Slav

8/30/2017 – At the RTU Open in Riga the drawing of lots gave me a very special opponent. I was to play against Alexei Shirov, one of my chess idols as a junior. The chance to play him was definitely my tournament highlight. I knew that I was the underdog but I did not want to submit meekly. But what to play against Shirov? Fortunately, Peter Heine Nielsen's new DVD "The Semi-Slav" offered help. | Photo: Pascal Simon

The most interesting match-ups for World Cup 2017

8/30/2017 – It is the most exciting event of the year, much like the royal rumble in WWE. The World Cup 2017 will begin with 128 players and after every three days we will see half the players going back home. It is the survival of the fittest! All the top players in the world including Magnus Carlsen are taking part at the event. We bring you the most interesting match-ups of round one and also ask your opinion through a poll as to who you think will win the World Cup?

Chess without borders

8/29/2017 – "Schach ohne Grenzen" ("Chess without limits" or "Chess without borders") is the confident name and motto of a young club from Kufstein/Tyrol in Austria. The club wants to promote chess in general and junior chess in particular. This summer the club organised its fifth "Chess and Adventure Camp". Almost 90 kids took part. | Photo: "Schach ohne Grenzen"

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

8/29/2017 – 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 is all about the Grand Chess Tour and the World Team Championship.

Very small winning zone

8/29/2017 – If queen and king fight against king and pawn in the endgame the side with the pawn has only a chance to survive if the pawn happens to be a rook- or a bishop's pawn and is only one square away from queening. But even then things can be tricky.

Etienne Bacrot wins French Championship

8/28/2017 – Etienne Bacrot did it again. At the French Championship which was played form 19th to 27th August in Agen he won his eighth National Championship. After a dramatic last round and a tie-break against Laurent Fressinet. Sophie Milliet became French Women's Champion. | Photo: Pascal Simon

Simon says - Typical Sacrifices in the Sicilian

8/28/2017 – In this Simon Says I take a look at some of the most amazing games, where White crushes the Sicilian defence. Tune in for some lively fun later! An example and more information...

The endgame teaches chess

8/27/2017 – Do you know which aspect of double rook endings is most often overlooked? Mating the opponent! But on his DVD about "Double rook endings" Karsten Müller dedicates a whole chapter - with stunning examples - to mating attacks in this endgame. He also shows the most important principles of this endgame. IM Martin Neubauer had a look at the DVD.

Who will become India's 50th GM?

8/26/2017 – The country's first grandmaster was Vishy Anand, back in 1988. The number slowly increased, and in recent years has surged: currently there are 49 GM in India, making it number eight on this count in the world (Russia has 240, the US 94, Germany 91 and Ukraine 89). The million Rupee question now is: who will be India's 50th GM? We give you the candidates for the golden jubilee grandmaster!

The Warakomskas give a fitting tribute to their mother

8/26/2017 – What is the best way to pay tribute to a person who has passed away. Perhaps, it's finishing their incomplete dreams. Irena Warakomska had a dream - to make Suwalki the chess center of Poland. She was successful in her attempts, but her efforts were cut short when an accident took place in September 2016. Her children WIM Anna Warakomska and GM Tomasz Warakomski decided to make sure that their mother's efforts were not left incomplete. They organized a huge memorial tournament in Suwalki. This report cover Irena's story as well as some interesting personalities at the event.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland — 45 years ago (11)

8/25/2017 – After draws in games 14 and 15, Fischer still had a three-point lead in the World Championship match, and the Spassky side was getting nervous. The Champion was fighting hard but not getting any points. Suspicion arose that Fischer might be using secret weapons: hypnosis, devices planted in the lights or the chairs, and even perhaps assistance from an "IBM" (Russian for "computer" at the time). All this was formally investigated, while Fischer continued to coast.

BBC Classic

8/25/2017 – In the middle 1970s/early 1980s British television used to stage the tournament "The Master Game" around Christmas, with the participants (great names!) accompanying their games with spoken commentaries - absolutely thrilling for me as a spectator! What do you guess Black thought (and played!) in the diagram position?