June 2016 ratings: Kramnik no.2; Inarkiev gains 43 Elo

5/31/2016 – While one must take one's hat off to Vladimir Kramnik, back to 2812 and world no. 2, the most amazing result of the month was by Ernesto Inarkiev who racked up 43 Elo after a near 2900 performance over 17 games, including a smashing 9.0/11 win of the European Championship. A special note also of 15-year-old Polina Shuvalova, who had a breakthrough this year.

Ilya Merenzon on the NY World Championship

5/31/2016 – In six months there will be a World Championship match (between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin) in New York. Preparation for the mega-event in the news media center of the world is well under way. The CEO of the organising body, AGON, spoke about a new broadcasting system (and philosophy) which includes free and unlimited B-rolls for TV stations. Interview with Anastasiya Karlovich.

Zalakaros: A small town with a strong open

5/31/2016 – Zalakaros is a small town in Hungary but the traditional Zalakaros Open grows continually. This year 261 players - among them 29 GMs of which nine have a rating of 2600+ - and 38 IMs travelled to the spa town to take part in the A-Group of the 35th Zalakaros Open. After four rounds six players share the lead with 3.5/4. Report, pictures, highlights...

Azlan Iqbal: Studies and a Decade in Development

5/31/2016 – Chesthetica, a computationally creative chess problem composer, has added studies to its repertoire. Dr. Azlan Iqbal shows us examples and looks back upon a decade of its development. He also describes the challenges he faced in trying to introduce the technology in the field of protein folding which might have yielded cures to diabetes, cancer and other deadly diseases. From chess to computers to medicine.

If you want to get better in chess...

5/30/2016 – The new ChessBase Magazine (#172) is out and again contains a wealth of material. One focus of this issue is the Candidates Tournament in Moscow - top players analyse the most exciting games. The magazine also contains lots of detailed opening surveys which help you to study, deepen and broaden your opening repertoire. To get better and to score more points.

Shamkir Round five: The Steamrollers

5/30/2016 – On a normal day, we would be reporting on Anish Giri's fabulous performance: He is on 4.0/5, is gaining enough rating points to put him back to fourth in the world now, yet today is not a normal day. Fabiano Caruana has even more points as he has won again, this time against Radjabov, and has now climbed back to World numero dos!

Asian Continental starts with dreams and hopes

5/30/2016 – The Uzbekistan Chess Federation on behalf of Asian Chess Federation and FIDE is hosting the Asian Continental Chess Championships. Atstake are five places in the World Cup for the Open section, and one spot in the Women World Championship. Top seeds are Le Quang Liem, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, and Wei Yi, but the field is chock full of prodigies ready to make waves. An illustrated report.

Praggnanandhaa – youngest chess IM in history!

5/29/2016 – Houston, we have an IM – and he is ten years and nine months of age! Better learn to pronounce his name: Praggnanandhaa, Pragg-na-nan-dhaa. A couple of hours ago he won his ninth round game at the KiiT International Chess Festival in Bhubaneswar, India, and made his third IM norm (after norms in Cannes and Moscow). We congratulate Praggu on this historical achievement.

2016 Shamkir Rd4: Caruana storms to 3.5/4

5/29/2016 – After four rounds, it is beginning to look like a one-man show, with yet another win for Fabiano Caruana as he defeated Rauf Mamedov with black, taking his score to 3.5/4 and his live rating to world no.2 at 2814. Pentala Harikrishna was outplayed by Anish Giri and lost in 27 moves. We bring you a full report of an incredibly important fourth round.

2016 Shamkir Rd3: Powerplay round gives Caruana lead

5/28/2016 – Round three was a display of powerplay, with the quickest scored by Caruana as he demolished Hou taking him to sole first with 2.5/3. Harikrishna played an astonishing(ly bad) 12...h6 that was punished very quickly, and though he had to work for it, Karjakin reeled in the point. As to Mamedyarov, he outplayed Eljanov in a queenless middlegame in impressive fashion. The tournament is red hot!

Panama Papers – it wasn't the RCF President!

5/28/2016 – We recently reported that a British newspaper had named Russian Chess Federation President Andrey Filatov in connection with the Panama Papers scandal that was rocking the financial world. Hefty rebuttals by the RCF and the threat of legal action were heeded by the Telegraph, which published a retraction: apparently the person mentioned in the company was a completely different Andrey Filatov.

2016 Shamkir Rd2: From lukewarm to scalding

5/27/2016 – There was nothing tepid about the second round with three decisive games and hard battles. The first to win, and the cleanest, was Indian Harikrishna who beat Mamedyarov. Eljanov and Caruana had a balanced battle, but Fabi pressed until Pavel blundered and lost. Karjakin blundered his queen to Giri, and in spite of heroic efforts, lost. All wins annotated!

A beautiful study explained

5/27/2016 – "One of the prettiest studies I have seen in recent times!" wrote Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta when he posted it on Twitter. Sagar Shah tried his hand at solving the position and gave it to a number of his students. The reaction was the same – everyone who was able to find the solution had a feeling of unadulterated joy. Here’s the study with a detailed explanation, including why King Leonidas is on the thumbnail!

Super idea

5/27/2016 – 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.

2016 Shamkir Rd1: A lukewarm start

5/26/2016 – It wasn't the most thrilling start with three draws in which there were never any doubts as to the result. It wasn't all dull though, with a rollercoaster game between Safarli and Eljanov that saw the Ukrainian dead won, then blew it to be lost, and by the time control it was equal and drew. Caruana pressed an advantage against Harikrishna for a long time, but drew. Round one report.

Casablanca - a tribute to a classic

5/26/2016 – Although the timeless masterpiece "Casablanca" is adored by film-lovers throughout the world, among chess fans in particular, it holds a special place in our hearts for the famous chess scene with Humphrey Bogart. Very recently, Madeleine LeBeau, the last surviving credited cast member passed away at the age of 92. We take advantage to pay homage to the great classic.

Shamkir: Gashimov Memorial starts on Thursday

5/25/2016 – The Shamkir super-tournament, also known as the Gashimov Memorial, kicks off tomorrow with an interesting range of players. Despite the absence of two-time winner Magnus Carlsen, the field is star-studded, with big names such as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Hou Yifan, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and others. We bring you a small preview, the opening ceremony and the schedule of our live broadcast!

Cheating incident mars Delhi under 1600

5/25/2016 – The total prize fund of the Delhi Chess Association Below 1600 FIDE Rated Chess Tournament 2016 was a cool one million Rupees (about US $15,000). Many participants feared that such a colossal sum – by Indian standards – was bound to attract cheaters. But the arbiters were ready for that. When one player finished with 8.5/9 points he was searched and found to be using machine assistance – in a fairly clever way.

Rapport's Retreats

5/25/2016 – 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. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #3

5/25/2016 – In this week's column, two violent games are presented by a reader and analyzed by GM Speelman. One is a painful loss that went horribly wrong, but with a valuable lesson, while the second is a victory worth cheering about described as "my most satisfying attacking game in many years". The grandmaster also shares a missed resource from a game of his own, and challenges readers to do better.

Ernesto Inarkiev is the 2016 European Champion

5/24/2016 – It was nothing short of an imperial performance by Russian GM Ernesto Inarkiev who stormed away with the tournament from start to finish, defeating all his would-be challengers, to end on 9.0/11 with a 2882 performance. Igor Kovalenko, who lost to him in round nine, bounced back with two big wins to take sole second. Here is the report with games and positions.

A list of must-haves and should-buys

5/24/2016 – The number of DVDs and products in the ChessBase Shop literally number the hundreds. What is best, or more specifically what is best for you? It depends on what you are looking for in chess, your level of play, your ambitions to get better. In case you are a mite overwhelmed by the vast range of products, here is a list, based on hands-on experience, of personal recommendations.

Karpov Diem: Happy 65th birthday, Tolya!

5/23/2016 – When Anatoly Karpov was 11 years old, he was invited to Botvinnik’s chess school. But the “Patriarch” passed a harsh verdict: “The boy has no clue about chess and therefore absolutely no future as a chess player.” Rarely was a judgement about chess talent more wrong — Karpov went on to become the 12th World Chess Champion. Here is a look at his career and lots of games.

Arrabal translates Hou Yifan interview

5/23/2016 – Fernando Arrabal Terán is a playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet, last survivor among the “three avatars of modernism” (New York Times theatre critic Mel Gussow). Arrabal has a strong interest in chess and writes a column on it for the French weekly L’Express. He has reproduced our interview depicting Yifan as Joan of Arc and himself as Pan, the mythological Greek shepherd god of the nymphs.