12/8/2016 – With the arrival of Houdini 5 many will be asking themselves: What makes it so special? Aside from unique characteristics that made Houdini the reference all others were compared to is a special function hidden away in its options you should definitely know about: Tactical mode. This feature turns Houdini 5 into a single-minded tactics hunter that will find combinations and winners far faster than normal. Read on to learn about Tactical Mode and a backdoor trick.

12/8/2016 – 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 8.

12/7/2016 – Tanisha Boramanikar is one of the many talents from India. She is ten years old and rated just under 1400. But she plays much better. When she sent two "Agony and Ecstasy" games to Jon Speelman, the grandmaster was impressed.

12/7/2016 – ChessBase 14 has a lot of nice little features that help you to get better. One of these features is the "Assisted Analysis". It sets your chess mind working and makes you focus on the board. What is and how to use "Assisted Analysis"?

12/7/2016 – Having a World Championship in Manhattan, in New York, the financial and media capital of the world - this sounds like a dream come true. A golden opportunity to put chess into the limelight, to experience three weeks of chess fever and a chance to show the world why the game is so exciting. But in his first part of a three-part review of the Carlsen vs Karjakin match in New York, Yasser Seirawan critizes that a lot of opportunities were missed.

12/7/2016 – Post mortem: before the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin we asked experts for predictions and prognoses. Now we asked again and gathered views from von David Navara, Markus Ragger, Mikhail Golubev, Daniel King, Dorian Rogozenco, and lots of others. Some of them think that Carlsen deservedly won the match while praising Karjakin's defensive skills and his preparation. Ruslan Ponomariov, however, criticises the performance of the World Champion. He claims that Carlsen has stopped making progress as a chess player.

12/3/2016 – 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 3.

12/2/2016 – 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.

12/2/2016 – 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 2.

12/1/2016 – On December 1, one day after the end of the World Championship match, the Fide published its new ranking list. Magnus Carlsen lost 13 points in New York but with 2840 is still the world's number one, 17 points ahead of Fabiano Caruana. Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun lead the women's ranking list, Richard Rapport and Wei Yi are the best juniors, Lei Tingjie leads the girls' ranking list. The lists...

12/1/2016 – Maxim Dlugy did not want to miss the tie-breaker that was to decide the World Championship match between Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen. On Wednesday he visited the Fulton Market Building again and saw an exciting finish of a tough World Championship match. However, blitz specialist Dlugy wondered about Karjakin's handling of the clock.

12/1/2016 – Some attacks in chess are brutal, displaying a firework of sacrifices and tactics, others are more subtle, showing a fine mix of determination and patience - which is often a pleasure to watch. In his Agony Column #30 Jon Speelman presents a nice example of an attack by amateur Fabrice Fiol (photo) that is at once determined and calm.