The dance of domination

12/13/2016 – 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, 3.45 pm: Endgame Magic with Karsten Müller and Yannick Pelletier

Features of ChessBase 14

12/13/2016 – Three weeks ago ChessBase 14 was released, the new version of the most powerful tool for chess training. The Q&A on Youtube is packed with lots of information, hints and practical tips on ChessBase 14. Matthias Wüllenweber was live on air, showing you how to get the most out of ChessBase 14.

Advent calendar: December 13

12/13/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 13.

London Chess Classic, Rd. 4: Nakamura turns up the heat

12/12/2016 – In round four of the London Chess Classic Hikaru Nakamura scored his second win in a row. He won a wild and inspired game with Black against Veselin Topalov. Wesley So was close to a win against Anish Giri but the dutch player defended stubbornly and saved the draw - Georg Meier shares his impressions about this encounter. The other three games also ended in a draw, but they were also entertaining. See our report.

Maurice Ashley: 12 Games Are Enough!

12/12/2016 – How to play World Championship matches? Yasser Seirawan did not like the 12 game format in Carlsen vs Karjakin and proposed a "Radical Solution". Now Maurice Ashley disagrees. After asking the top players for their opinion and looking back at previous matches he concludes that 12 games and a rapid tiebreak are enough!

Modern chess in an ancient city

12/12/2016 – Tiberias is an ancient city with a rich history. Founded by the Romans it is mentioned in the New Testament and considered to be one of the four holy Cities of Judaism. Currently, chess is also an attraction of Tiberias. The city is host to the Championships of Israel and used the opportunity to show how much it supports chess.

ChessBase 14: the new Tactical Analysis

12/12/2016 – One of the things that has long been a hardcore difference between the program ChessBase and Fritz has been the automated analysis features. When it came to automated functionality, ChessBase only offered database research and reports, while engine analysis was available manually only. This has slowly changed with Let’s Check, and Deep (position) Analysis, but finally ChessBase 14 introduces complete independent game analysis with Tactical Analysis. Read on to find out more.
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Birthdays are unlucky

12/12/2016 – We all witnessed Nakamura’s painful defeat against Wesley So in round 1, which meant that he Hikaru’s birthday did not go the way he intended. We all watched him put Vishy through the same pain yesterday on his 47th birthday, meaning that birthdays seem to be unlucky in chess! Sabrina Chevannes reports...

Advent calendar: December 12

12/12/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 12.

David Howell guarantees himself £10,000…again!

12/11/2016 – We’ve been blessed with an incredibly exciting start to the London Chess Classic this year, with six decisive games from the first two rounds! This time last year, there was only one! The commentary room was buzzing yesterday, with spectators coming from all over the world to see their favourite chess players in action. However, there were also many visiting to see the British Knockout Championships. Report by Sabrina Chevannes...

London, Rd. 3: Wesley So remains in the lead

12/11/2016 – It could have become the day of Levon Aronian who was close to winning against the tournament's leader Wesley So. However the American defended skillfully and kept his lead in the tournament as well as in the overall standing of the Grand Chess Tour - GM Michail Krasenkow annotates the game - his closest rival Hikura Nakamura scored against Vishy Anand though, the race is still open.

Advent calendar: December 11

12/11/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 11.

London, Rd. 2: Anand, So and Caruana

12/10/2016 – The London Chess Classic kicked off quite fast as today's 2nd round brought three decisive games. Anand showed good preparation against the Najdorf and didn't shy away when Maxime Vachier-Lagrave gave him the chance to sacrifice an exchange - notes by Krikor Mekhitarian. Wesley So nurtured a slight but nagging advantage against Adams until the Englishman collapsed. Topalov and Caruana played a rollercoaster game but in the end the star from the U.S. had the better of it.

Surprises and Frustrations - Carlsen vs Karjakin (2/3)

12/10/2016 – Before the World Championship match in New York almost everyone saw Magnus Carlsen as clear favorite. But Sergey Karjakin was a surprisingly difficult opponent and though Carlsen had very good chances in the first half of the match he failed to crack Karjakin's defenses. Carlsen was frustrated, the match became tense. Yasser Seirawan takes a look at games 1 to 6.

London Chess Classic, Day 1: It's not only the Super Tournament

12/10/2016 – See what happened on day 1: Children were allowed on stage to play on the seats of the superstars, the British Knockout saw GMs fighting to keep their seats and last year's winner of the Fide open has to try the Swiss Gambit: Report by Sabrina Chevannes...

Advent calendar: December 10

12/10/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 10.

London Chess Classic: Three decisions in round 1

12/9/2016 – Three decisive games - the London Chess Classic is on. Georg Meier shows how Vladimir Kramnik outplayed Veselin Topalov from the opening to score a quick and clean win. Hikaru Nakamura celebrated his 29th birthday but blundered in the opening and lost in 28 moves against Wesley So. Michael Adams also blundered and lost against Levon Aronian. Report, results, games...

When Chess meets Business: the Pro-Biz Cup in London

12/9/2016 – One of the many attractions of the London Chess Classic is the Pro-Biz Cup. It offers businessmen the chance to team up with top grandmasters and top grandmasters the chance to discuss strategy with non-chess-related strategy experts. This year's Pro-Biz Cup was again a lot of fun and very competitive!

The Pendulum is Swinging Towards Defense

12/9/2016 – The recent World Chess Championship match in New York was a different match than the ones we have come to know before because defense – a modern style of defense – played such a dominant role. Our author Andy Soltis contemplates modern defense.

Inside Team Carlsen: Q&A with Peter Heine Nielsen

12/9/2016 – Peter Heine Nielsen is the second of Magnus Carlsen. In an extensive interview he looks back on the World Championship match in New York, tells us about Carlsen's helpers, explains why it is difficult to prepare with White, how Carlsen felt after losing game eight and what mind-set is best for Magnus to play good chess. Q & A with Peter Heine Nielsen

Attack vs. defence

12/9/2016 – 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.

Mega 2017: Enjoying the updates

12/9/2016 – When looking at the flagship database by ChessBase, Mega 2017, it would be understandable to conclude that its asking price was buying you the 6.8 million games it comes with, not to mention the over 70 thousand commented games, but that is only part of what you get. When you purchase Mega 2017, you also get a professional 12-month service that will keep your database completely up-to-date. Here is a tutorial on how to activate and use it.

Advent calendar: December 9

12/9/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 9.

Kasparov: "Karjakin as Champion would have been a misunderstanding"

12/8/2016 – Of course, the match between Carlsen and Karjakin was closely followed by the Russian chess press. Karjakin lost narrowly but in Russia he is still a hero. Garry Kasparov, however, was blunt: "A World Champion Karjakin would have been a misunderstanding." Here are more reactions from the Russian press, including an interview with Sergey Karjakin.