ETCC R08: Hungry Hungarians!

11/22/2015 – In the penultimate round Russia drew its match against Armenia, but they still lead the field by two points. Hungary simply crushed Azerbaijan 3.5:0.5, and is now in the sole second spot, and it’s Hungary versus Russia in the final round. In the women’s section all the favourites – Russia, Georgia and Ukraine – won their matches. We have some highly interesting games.

ETCC R07: Daniel King analyses Grischuk-Fressinet

11/21/2015 – In the top pairing of round 7 Russia faced France. In a very tense match everything was possible. The board 2 pairing Grischuk vs Fressinet decided the match whilst all other games were drawn. English Grandmaster Daniel King looks at this game in detail. Click here for more...

ETCC R07: Russians forge further ahead!

11/21/2015 – There is no stopping the Russian teams in both the sections of the European Team Championships 2015. Alexander Grischuk scored a crucial win over France to give the men a 2.5:1.5 victory. Latvia held Azerbaijan to a draw, and Georgia beat Ukraine! In the women’s section Russia sailed through against Hungary. Serbia managed to hold Georgia. We have pictures and loads of analysis.

Eric Hansen leads in Wijk aan Zee

11/20/2015 – In January 2016 the world's best players will meet in Wijk aan Zee to play one of the strongest grandmaster tournaments of the year. The winner of the Challengers in Wijk qualifies for next year's edition of this tournament. The winner of the Cultural Village tournament that currently takes place in Wijk qualifies for the Challengers in January.

The right approach

11/20/2015 – 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.

ChessBase Account: videos for phones, computers

11/19/2015 – Last week, ChessBase announced a new suite of tools for Premium and Starter subscribers. Previously, these subscribers already enjoyed Playchess perks such as rated play, live grandmaster commentary, and more. Now they can also benefit from these new tools. Among the most exciting are the video/audio courses that can even be streamed on your smartphone!

ETCC R06: Things heating up in Reykjavik

11/19/2015 – The most important match in the women’s section between Russia and Ukraine was drawn 2:2, and the Russian women team continues to lead by a full point. In the open section Russia beat Georgia and leads with 11.0/12 match points. France beat Ukraine and are in the sole second spot. Good news for Carlsen fans: he beat Leko with black. Extensive analysis, pictures and videos.

ACP Masters Rapid to be held in Ashdod, Israel

11/19/2015 – The strongest invitational tournament ever to be held in Israel will be hosted by the city of Ashdod, in collaboration with the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) on December 7-10 during the Chanukah holiday. Twelve players will fight three stages of rapid games, in what promises to be a thrilling and intriguing event.

ETCC R05: Magnus goes down to 2832!

11/19/2015 – The Russian team maintained their lead in both the sections. The women team is in great form and have a perfect 10.0/10 score, while the men were held to a draw by Azerbaijan - yet with a score of 9.0/10 they have a point’s lead over the field. The biggest news was definitely Carlsen’s loss to Yannick Pelletier. The Norwegian is now down to 2832 on the live rating list. Round five report.

Victor Bologan: The Berlin Wall explained

11/18/2015 – As you can see in yesterday's European Team Championship report, it was raining Berlins in Reykjavik. For IM Nisha Mohota that used to be a problem: "I never understood what went on in these ‘boring’ positions." That all changed when she got hold of a Fritztrainer by GM Victor Bologan. Now she understands the ideas and plans – and has also generally become a better player!

European Team Championship R3+4: Russia!

11/17/2015 – The biggest news of round three was Aronian beating Carlsen. Eljanov played a sublime Catalan against Mamedyarov. In the fourth round top two seeds in both the open and women section faced off against each other. It was Russia who came out victorious! In the open they beat Ukraine 3:1, and in the women they thrashed Georgia 3.5:0.5. Lots of interesting games and analysis.

The story of a picture

11/17/2015 – One of the most famous chess photos is the picture "Duchamp Playing Chess with a Nude (Eve Babitz)". It was made in 1963 by Time photographer Julian Wasser in Pasadena and shows Dada artist and chessplayer Marcel Duchamp playing chess with a naked woman. The picture was supposed to celebrate Marcel Duchamp but in the end it made Eve Babitz an icon.

Rooks on the hunt

11/17/2015 – 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!

Pavel Eljanov: The Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation

11/17/2015 – How nice if one of the best players in the world explains an opening to you. Even nicer if it is a strategically rich opening that leads to interesting rich positions, and if it is an opening which you can play for a lifetime. Pavel Eljanov's DVD about the Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation offers all of this. Indian IM Narayanan Srinath felt inspired.

KCF Gala: 30-year celebration

11/16/2015 – It is hard to believe that already thirty years have passed since Kasparov's triumph over Karpov in their 1985 World Championship match. The elegance of Garry’s last game, including one of the most talked about rook maneuvers in any Sicilian, has inspired young players for more than a generation. This week, at the KCF annual gala, we had the opportunity to relive this triumph.

Showdown in STL: Fabi, Yifan winners

11/16/2015 – Blitz is a dangerous game. The balancing act of time pressure, putting aggression on your opponent and not blundering anything is extremely tricky. Fabiano Caruana, usually not considered one of the top players in the world in this modality, showed that he can hang on with the big boys, won the blitz and the match! Meanwhile, nothing went right for Negi, and Hou Yifan emerged victorious.

Vishy Anand: in pursuit of excellence (1)

11/16/2015 – Louis Philippe is a premier Indian men’s apparel brand, and has a show hosted by an Indian tennis legend, Vijay Amritraj. In it famous personalities across a varied number of fields discuss their journey to reach the top of their profession. Of special interest to us: a very profound interview with former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. Definitely worth watching.

ETCC R02: France beats Armenia!

11/15/2015 – Maxime Vachier Lagrave beating Aronian was the big news of the day as France went on to win their match against Armenia. Spain beat Germany and the Italian team crushed Latvia. In the women’s section, the favourites Georgia, Ukraine and Russia all won their matches, although the Georgians faced a very serious scare from the Turkish team. Pictures and analysis.

Showdown in STL: Big Rapid Results

11/15/2015 – Big results from Saint Louis! In the marquee event, Nakamura was unable to match Caruana's wits in the rapid and fell 3-1. This gives the #2 player in America a full point lead going into the decisive blitz games. However, the big winner of the day was Hou Yifan. A miracle in game three and a solid win in game four gave her a 3-1 for the day, and 6.5-3.5 for current standings.

ETCC R01: Top seeds have it easy

11/14/2015 – The European Team Championships 2015 is underway and all the top European players are in Reykjavik to fight for the title of the best nation in Europe. In the first round all the top teams had it easy, although when there are so many games going on there are bound to be a few upsets. We have some nice pictures from the tournament and analysis of five highly interesting battles.

International Chess Festival Aeroflot Open 2016

11/14/2015 – This Open Chess Festival, which is popular throughout the world, will be held in Moscow from February 29 (date of arrival) to March 11, 2016 (date of departure). The event is open to chess players of varied qualification: from unrated amateurs to world class grandmasters. As in the previous twelve events the festival will be held under the wings of Aeroflot – Russian Airlines.

Showdown in STL: Chess 960 chaos

11/14/2015 – In many ways, this was the phase of the exhibition matches that promised the biggest surprises. Not so much in results, but the positions, as Chess 960 was on the menu today. While still chess at its core, it meant shuffled pieces, unorthodox castling and no opening preparation of any kind. While Nakamura and Caruana had a tight match, Hou all but wiped Negi off the board.

The king's best friend

11/13/2015 – 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.

Showdown in STL: World class Basque Chess

11/13/2015 – The first day of the very exotic exhibition matches in St. Louis began with elite level Basque Chess. Basque chess is when two players play two games against each other at the exact same time, one with white, the other with black. In the top pairing between Nakamura and Caruana, there were great games that ended sadly in draws. On the other hand, Negi handed Hou two defeats.