A month in the life of Garry Kasparov

6/24/2016 – What does a legendary World Chess Champion do when he retires? Appear as a VIP guest at chess events, or as a celebrities at social events. Not the 13th World Champion who jets across the globe holding political, business and chess speaking events, with participation in a world class blitz tournament as a quick interlude. Garry Kasparov sent us a description of hs recent activities. You should especially watch the video lecture at the end of the report.

Andrew Martin: Nimzowitsch Defence 1.e4 Nc6 - Review

6/24/2016 – The Nimzowitsch Defence (1.e4 Nc6) is an underestimated answer to 1.e4. But it is a fully valid line with possible transpositions to the French, the Scandinavian or the Pirc-Defence. On his new ChessBase-DVD IM Andrew Martin explains the chances this opening offers for Black. Markus Reinke, a Nimzowitsch expert himself, took a critical look at the DVD.

New in Chess 2016/4 is out

6/23/2016 – The current issue of the Dutch chess magazine honors Garry Kasparov's impressive performance in the St. Louis Blitz Challenge and has a frank interview with Magnus Carlsen about his success at the Norway Chess tournament. Nigel Short ponders about pleasant ways to improve one's chess performance while Judit Polgar praises the pawns. And much more...

Chess Festival Lublin: Europe wins against Poland

6/23/2016 – This year the 8. European Chess Festival in Lublin, Poland, was a match between Poland and "Europe". The two teams consisted of three players who played twice against all players of the other team. Top scorer of the event was Czech player David Navara who finished with 5.0/6 and secured the "European" victory by winning against Jacek Tomczak in the last and decisive round.

Masterclass weekend at luxury villa in Marrakech

6/23/2016 – Looking for something special – we mean really special? How about a weekend of chess, with two well-known British GMs (Short and Conquest) providing daily classes and lectures, in the most luxurious surroundings you can imagine (in Marrakech, Marocco)? It will set you back £2,000 per person, all inclusive, plus £600 for a partner in the same room. Before you shelve the idea take a look at these pictures.

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #7

6/22/2016 – Playing regularly against the same opponent can be tricky. Openings have to be prepared differently and psychology becomes even more important than in"ordinary" games. In today's column Jonathan Speelman presents two games by 17-year old Clara McGrew which illustrate such a struggle while revealing something about the art of annotating games.

Kurt Schneider: from chess to music

6/22/2016 – One of the most popular youtube video channels is run by Kurt Hugo Schneider. The young US-American can boast of seven million followers which makes him more popular than the NBA. Schneider is also an excellent chessplayer and was once one of the most promising talents in the US. But he then decided to use his creativity to change modern music.

Ivanchuk wins 51. Capablanca Memorial

6/21/2016 – The Capablanca Memorial is a tournament with a long tradition. The first of these events to honor the Cuban Champion was played in 1962, this year saw the 51st edition. Six of the previous 50 tournaments were won by Vassily Ivanchuk. This year he won for the seventh time. With four wins and six draws Ivanchuk scored 7.0/10 and was one point ahead of his closest rival.

Breakthroughs

6/21/2016 – 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

The case of the falling queen

6/21/2016 – Imagine you are playing an important blitz tiebreak game, and an Armageddon no less. Your team's progress depends on it. You have a winning position and plenty of time. You move your queen to capture a pawn. You press the clock, but while you are doing so the queen falls over. Are you allowed to replace it – on your opponent's time? Here, from an Indian chess league, is a forensic analysis of the situation and the rules involved.

Carlsen wins Grand Chess Tour Leuven

6/20/2016 – In Paris, at the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2016, Hikaru Nakamura was able to get the better of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. But at the second Grand Chess Tour tournament 2016 in Leuven Carlsen came back with a vengeance. He showed an impressive performance in the second part of the blitz tournament and won the event convincingly.

Ortisei: strong chess in idyllic surroundings

6/20/2016 – Ortisei is a small village in the Italian Dolomites. At the beginning of June the idyllic village was host to the 3rd Ortisei Open, which attracted 140 participants, among them several strong grandmasters. After nine rounds GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu first with 7.0/9. Dutch GM Jan Werle also had 7.0/9 but Nisipeanu had the better tie-break.

Leuven Day 3: Hard-fought blitz keeps Carlsen in lead

6/19/2016 – It was an incredibly hard-fought nine rounds of blitz in which only Levon Aronian managed squeak ahead of the rest by half a point with 5.5/9, allowing him to take clear third in the combined standings with 15.5 points. Carlsen, So, Nakamura and Kramnik all scored 5.0/9 leaving Magnus Carlsen still in clear first with 17 points, trailed by Wesley So with 16. Illustrated report.

Leuven Day 2: Carlsen wins rapid after 4/4 day

6/18/2016 – If day one of the rapid games in Leuven was full of surprises, day two was no less so, though thankfully not due to record numbers of blunders. Vishy Anand started the day with a win, but after two losses lost the lead as he was caught up by Wesley So. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen showed he was back and managed to win the rapid phase after a fabulous 4/4. Illustrated report.

Leuven Day 1: Anand leads after nervy first day

6/18/2016 – It was an unusually nervy first day at Leuven, Belgium, as the world elite came to bump heads once more. In this stage, Anand takes the place of Fressinet as he returns from a win at Leon. To say nothing went as expected for other players would be an understatement, with Nakamura starting with three losses, or Carlsen blundering a piece to Hikaru in just 12 moves! Large illustrated report.

Chess and music in the Invalides

6/17/2016 – On the sidelines of the Paris leg of the Grand Chess Tour, five tournaments were held for 400 youths on the grandiose lawns of the Invalides, a 17th century complex of museums and monuments relating to the military history of France. This event saw the elite players visit the delighted children all in with a live string ensemble playing!

Eurasian Blitz Cup starts Saturday

6/17/2016 – The "Eurasian Blitz Cup" in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, might well be one of the strongest blitz tournament ever. Players such as Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Hou Yifan and many others will play 22 rounds Swiss for a prize-fund of USD 100.000. The tournament begins on Saturday!

Kortschnoj Classic I

6/17/2016 – Tactics can seem deceptively simple, particularly when seeing an engine analysing grandmaster games. Strange, however, how difficult it is to find the right move and to calculate variations properly when playing yourself. It is easier if you solve tactical puzzles regularly. In the ChessBase Magazine and his tactics column Oliver Reeh helps you to do so.

From Paris to Leuven

6/16/2016 – This weekend, the Grand Chess Tour moves from Paris to Leuven in Belgium, near Bruxelles. On Friday and Saturday the world's best players show and test their rapid skills, on Saturday and Sunday players and spectators can enjoy world class blitz. The field is almost identical to that in Paris, with one exception: instead of Laurent Fressinet Viswanathan Anand will play.

Russia wins friendship match agains China

6/16/2016 – The tenth friendship match between Russia and China in Moscow ended in a narrow 25.5-24.5 victory for Russia. It was Russia's women's team that decided the event in Russia's favor. The men drew their match 12.5-12.5 but the Russian women beat the Chinese 13-12. The result could have even been clearer had the Russian women used all their chances in the final round.

Can computers compose artistic problems? (2)

6/16/2016 – Earlier this week we brought you part one of Pal Benko's critique of machine composed chess problems. In part two this world famous problem composer shows us further examples and how they can be improved. He also gives us an example of composing together with a computer, "the first time in my life I did not create a chess problem fully in my own mind," and tells us why he has decided to drop out of problem competitions.

Carlsen and Karjakin clash in Bilbao

6/15/2016 – In November Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin will play for the World Championship, in July they will clash in one of the strongest tournaments of the year: The Bilbao Grand Slam Masters Final, a six-player double round robin with a fantastic line-up. The four players who compete with Carlsen and Karjakin are Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Wesley So and Wei Yi. Press Release...

Johann Hjartarson is back

6/15/2016 – In the 1980s the Icelandic GM Johann Hjartarson was one of the best players in the world. He played in the candidate matches, where he won against Kortschnoi but then lost against Karpov. Later, however, he played less and less. But now he is back and just won the Icelandic Championships. One of the first to congratulate was Icelandic GM Fridrik Olafsson.

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #6

6/15/2016 – It is easy to suffer agonies in the opening, particularly so when your opponent surprises you on move five with a gambit that looks dubious but turns out to be surprisingly venomous. But what a delight it is to stick to one's favorite opening and convincingly counter attempts to overrun you. Jon Speelman presents both, the agony and the ecstasy.