Study of the month: An impossible move

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.

New: ChessBase Magazine #176

2/3/2017 – As usual, the new ChessBase magazine offers a wealth of material: Fabiano Caruana and Daniel King analyze highlights of the Carlsen vs Karjakin World Championship match in New York, Simon Williams, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller invite you to some training, Wesley So takes a look at one of his game from the London Chess Class and a whole range of opening recommendations help you to sharpen and to improve your repertoire.

Double strike

2/3/2017 – 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.

Gibraltar Rd10: Almighty Hikaru

2/3/2017 – The 2017 edition of the best Open in the world was all set for a mouth-watering finale, with as many as 9 contenders for the 23000 pounds first prize. Young David Anton Guijarro is the greatest of Spanish hopes these days and was leading the tournament. But among the players pursuing him, there was one particular face who has made winning at the Rock a habit. Almighty Hikaru.

Gibraltar Flash: Hou Yifan resigns in 5 moves!

2/2/2017 – In a curious case at Gibraltar Masters, women's world champion Hou Yifan resigned in a mere 5 moves, breaking the record previously held by Viswanathan Anand for the quickest loss by a grandmaster. The 'scandal' occurred during the final round of the Masters tournament, known to be the best Open in the world.

Gibraltar Rd09: David Anton leads, eight follow

2/2/2017 – The Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2017 is set for an exciting finale. David Anton Guijarro is the surprise leader of the tournament with 7.5/9. He beat Topalov in the penultimate round and now faces Adams on Thursday. Eight players follow him on 7.0/9. What makes this particularly interesting is the fact that there will blitz play-offs to determine the winner. Apart from Anton David, Ju Wenjun has impressed everyone with her results. We have an illustrated report with pictures, videos and grandmaster analysis!

Erwin L'Ami's Stonewall Dutch - Cutting edge theory

2/2/2017 – In round twelve of Tata Steel, Magnus Carlsen once more played the Dutch Stonewall, an opening he has returned to more and more often, and played a very precise move order. What is special is that this is cutting edge theory that is also presented in this DVD, released just days before that game. In this treatise on the extremely solid opening, GM Erwin L'Ami shares the results of his deep investigation, including new ideas and special move orders.

February 2017 ratings: Closing the gap with no.1

2/1/2017 – Never has the no.1 spot been so crowded as now since Magnus Carlsen took over. For a while it seemed a matter of time before he established new records and left others fighting over silver. This month he finds himself with not one, but two approaching challengers, with Wesley So making strides at the rate of over 50 Elo in just 6 months and four big wins. We see also Wei Yi in his breakthrough tournament at Wijk aan Zee, and a new prodigy in US chess. Here are the report, stats, and stories.

Fritztrainer: Victor Bologan – The Modern Pirc

2/1/2017 – Moldovan GM and trainer Victor Bologan has played the Modern Pirc all his life. It brought him a lot of success – like winning the New York Open 1997, the strongest open of that time, with four wins with Black in the Modern Pirc. "This opening is actually a mixture of the Caro-Kann and the Pirc – very flexible and rich," Bologan says. "By studying it you will definitely refresh your chess brain and get a lot of new ideas." Improve your results with his instructions.

Kavalek on Huffington: Chess Champions and Their Queens (2)

2/1/2017 – In part one of his extensive look at queen sacrifices in top level chess GM Lubomir Kavalek discussed the final move of the World Championship match Carlsen vs Karjakin, Wesley So's queen sac plan against Topalov, and Nezhmedtinov’s famous 12.Qxf6!! sacrifice. Today he shows us Timman's failed queen sacrifice against him, Kavalek, and Caruana's successful 19.Qxf6!! sac against Nakamura at the London Chess Classic. There's a lot to learn and enjoy.

Gibraltar Rd08: The Lull before the Storm

2/1/2017 – The erstwhile leaders decided that this was the perfect time to recharge their batteries and take an unofficial timeout, settling for draws. Topalov sensed opportunity and dared Sutovsky to grab a winning advantage, which the latter did not take allowing the former to sneak into the lead as well. Ju Wenjun celebrated her birthday by creating history.

Gibraltar Rd07: With Love, from Hou Yifan

1/31/2017 – Once again there was an impressive percentage of decisive games amongst the top boards – 14 out of the top 20 – and we now have four players on the leading score of 6/7: Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), David Anton Guijarro (Spain) and Yu Yangyi (China). However, the round belonged to Hou Yifan who stole the limelight with a queen sacrifice par excellence.

New: Sergei Tiviakov - The Art of the Positional Exchange Sacrifice

1/31/2017 – "The positional exchange sacrifice is one of the most powerful and fascinating strategic weapons in chess," states Sergei Tiviakov on his new ChessBase DVD "The Art of the Positional Exchange Sacrifice". Modern practice supports this claim. In a recent game between Levon Aronian and Anish Giri, played in round 8 of the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Giri misjudged the consequences of an exchange sacrifice by Aronian and lost without much of a fight.

Chasing the bishop

1/31/2017 – The pawnless endgame rook against bishop is usually a draw if the defending king manages to reach the safe corner - that is, a corner which the bishop cannot reach. If the rook succeeds, play often follows the scenario seen in this game. If you want to learn more, follow Karsten Müller's Endgame Blog

Kavalek on Huffington: Chess Champions and Their Queens (1)

1/31/2017 – On November 30 last year, in a tie-break game, Magnus Carlsen played the queen sacrifice 50.Qh6+!!, "the most brilliant final move of any world chess championship in history," as GM Lubos Kavalek puts it. "Chess players are always attracted to queen sacrifices. They symbolize victory of mind over matter, and bring mysterious twists into chess. Some are waiting to be discovered, stay behind the curtain and never show up." Kavalek pulls out a few from his rich knowledge of chess history.

ChessBase Account - Q&A with Matthias Wüllenweber

1/30/2017 – The ChessBase Account is a useful tool for every chess player, whether solving tactics, analysing games, preparing against the next opponent or playing chess online. To show you everything we will be live on air with a Q&A on Youtube tomorrow, January 31. Join us at 4.30 CET to ask Matthias Wüllenweber, the developer of the web apps and creator of the ChessBase program, any questions you might have and let us show you how to get the most out of ChessBase Account.

Chess educators explore connections between chess and the arts

1/30/2017 – Recently, the National Scholastic Chess Foundation, an organization specializing in chess education in the New York area, collaborated with European composer Jason Kouchak to create an event that would celebrate girls and chess. Entitled The Queen’s Journey: An Exploration of Music, Dance and Chess, the event featured a collaborative game played by girls from Executive Director Sunil Weeramantry’s programs in the region as well as original compositions, a ballet, and some chess history.

Gibraltar Rd06: Nigel cuts Fabiano Short

1/30/2017 – At the end of five rounds of play, six players led the standings with 4.5/5. After a trio of bloody battles at the top boards in the sixth round, three players are left in the lead. Early leaders Emil Sutovsky and Ju Wenjun were 'punished' by the goddess Caissa according to Nigel Short, who was also the highlight of the day as he defeated the world number two Fabiano Caruana. John Saunders reports from Gibraltar.

2017 Tata Rd13: Deserved Winner

1/29/2017 – It is a 56 non-losing streak. It is his second super-tournament victory in two months. He is the new #2 player in the World. Wesley So has rocked the chess world, and he finished Tata Steel on a brilliant note. His rival, Ian Nepomniachtchi, threw the kitchen sink against him, but the American crushed his opponent and won the tournament. In the Challengers Gawain Jones emerges winner.

2017 Tata R13 Express: So wins Masters, Jones qualifies

1/29/2017 – It was a suiting end to a superb tournament. Wesley So staved off the would-be-thiefs of his gold with a win over Nepomniachtchi to take first a full point ahead of the field, also taking his rating to a staggering 2822 FIDE. While Carlsen was held to a draw by Karjakin, thus taking silver, other contenders Wei Yi and Aronian lost, thus opening the way to a Cinderella ending to bottom-seed Adhiban who took bronze. Gawain Jones won the Challengers after a nail-biting round. Express report.

Gibraltar Rd05: Peace and War

1/29/2017 – Emil Sutovsky and Ju Wenjun were leading the tournament with 4.0/4. Behind them were a pack of super elite grandmasters on 3.5/4. The top board clash between Sutovsky and Wenjun ended in a tame draw. However, that was the only peaceful result of the round. All the top players including Caruana, Nakamura, Adams were able to win their games. Gelfand, however, lost to David Anton Guijarro. We have an illustrated report withpictures, videos and analysis.

Tata Steel and Tradewise Gibraltar live!

1/29/2017 – Both the 2017 Tata Steel and The 2017 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival are underway, spanning a range of events from the elite Masters to the Challengers, as well as Amateur opens. The events bring in world class players such as Magnus Carlsen, and Wesley So in Tata Steel, while the Tradewise Gibraltar has world no. 2 Fabiano Caruana, defending champion Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Veselin Topalov, and many more. Come enjoy the action with the video commentary and all the top games live!

Join the 4th ChessBase India "B. Adhiban" Chess960 blitz tournament!

1/29/2017 – B. Adhiban has shown absolutely no respect for the current status of opening theory at the Tata Steel Masters 2017. The viability of this approach is seen by his +1 score after twelve rounds against the world's best. In order to give a tribute to this wonderful performance by the Indian grandmaster, ChessBase India will organize an online Chess960 blitz event that will take place at 6 p.m. IST on 29th of January. Some exciting prizes to be won from the comfort of your home!

2017 Tata Rd12: Pressure on the last round

1/29/2017 – Pressure was certainly added to the leader, Wesley So, as with one round to go there are three super grandmasters close behind. Only trailing by half a point are Wei Yi, with whom he drew today, and the winners of the decisive games today, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian. In the Challengers section, Markus Ragger and Gawain Jones regain the lead as Jeffery Xiong proved he is still human.