Simon Williams: The English Opening - Vol 2

11/9/2015 – Since his junior days Simon Williams has been in love with the English Opening. A rewarding love - as Williams points out, the opening helped him to become a grandmaster. Williams now wants to share what he knows and on two DVDs he offers White a solid and aggressive English repertoire. Davide Nastasio tried it out. Here is his review of volume 2.

Mikhail Tal – a favourite of Caissa

11/9/2015 – The 9th of November happens to be the birth anniversary of Misha Tal, who continues to be adored by the chess world long after his death. In 1959 he won the quadruple round robin Candidates Tournament, and the next year he went on to beat Botvinnik in the World Championship match. He was only 24 years old. Prof. Havanur presents a delightful episode from his career.

FIDE visits the Italian Stock Exchange

11/8/2015 – In a surprising turn of events, the Skills Management Committee, a new FIDE commission, was a guest of honor at the Milan Stock Exchange. Presided by its president Roberto Mogranzini, it was invited to hold a three-day seminar during the TOL Expo, holding lectures dedicated to the improvement and innovation the world of trading. Read on this integration of chess and trading.

WYCC 2015 final: India! India! India!

11/7/2015 – What an amazing final result for the ever-evolving chess nation. It took not only five gold medals out of twelve, but also eleven in all. No other nation managed more than one gold. (Ed: Vishy, check the rear-view mirror, they are coming after you.) The final two rounds were full of drama as favorites fell, and new champions took gold. Final report with glorious pictures and results.

Abhijeet Gupta on Hoogeveen 2015

11/7/2015 – Winning a strong open event is never easy – a variety of factors have to work in your favour for you to succeed. The best way for us to learn the art of playing well in open events is to follow the games of players who win them on a regular basis. In this article GM Abhijeet Gupta, who won the Hoogeveen’s Open 2015, shares his experience in an exclusive interview with ChessBase.

Bruzon wins Ibero-American Championship

11/6/2015 – Lazaro Batista Bruzón won the Ibero-American Championships, which were played parallel to the Chess Masters Final in Bilbao. The Cuban started with 6.5/7 and finished with two draws to become sole winner with 7.5/9. Half a point behind followed five players with 7.0/9 each. Julio Granda Zuniga became second on tie-break, Axel Bachmann third. Pictures and games.

Robert Ris: Attacking the Semi-Slav with g3

11/6/2015 – Ever been to a tournament all by yourself? Players often feel handicapped when there is no coach to guide them at times of crisis. However, help is at hand! IM Nisha Mohota explains how Robert Ris's 60 Minutes lesson, Attacking the Semi-Slav with g3, bailed her out in a difficult situation. Casually watching it before an important game left ideas in her mind and helped her find killer moves.

Candidates will take place in March in Moscow

11/5/2015 – FIDE has announced the dates for the next candidates tournament. It will take place in Moscow from 10. to 30. March. Main sponsor is the Tashir Group, and the wildcard goes Levon Aronian. Six players had already qualified: Anand, Nakamura, Caruana, Karjakin, Svidler, and Topalov. Anish Giri has the best chances to become candidate number eight.

Living life the Jobi way (2/2)

11/5/2015 – Did you enjoy the first part of our interview with the top Georgian player Baadur Jobava, he laid out a plan for ambitious players to become better. In part two he talks about great players like Alekhine, Capablanca, Carlsen, Kasparov, etc.; about his wife and new son Maximus, about Chess 960 and women's chess. In the end he has priceless advice for chess lovers who wish to improve.

Knight escapades

11/5/2015 – 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.

Chess in the movies: James Bond "Spectre"

11/4/2015 – On Thursday the new Bond film will be released in cinemas all over Europe. British actor Daniel Craig (born 1968) impersonates the ageless Bond who fights an old acquaintance: an organisation named "Spectre". "Spectre" first appeared in the Bond film "From Russia With Love" from 1963 and its chief strategist was a chessplayer. 52 years later Bond is back at the board.

WYCC 2015 Rd8-9: Rise and fall of the leaders

11/4/2015 – The last two rounds saw leaders rise and fall in unexpected ways. The Boys Under-12 was blown wide open after the leader Abdusattorov fell, leaving ten players with medal chances. The Boys Under-16, as strong a division as there is, is led by Zhandos Agmanov ranked 69. Similarly, Mahalakshmi M from India is the biggest surprise of the Girls Under-18. Here are a few pictures and tales.

Mega Database 2016: A tradition of excellence

11/3/2015 – The latest Mega Database 2016 has arrived and builds on a tradition that is now measured in decades. Yes, it is millions of games, it is tens of thousands of commented games and photos that span a player's career (and you can send yours!), but it is also the ultimate tool to prepare against a player, study endgames or openings and is a library of chess books all-in one!

Bobby Fischer's final years

11/3/2015 – There is a new and extraordinary book about one of the most charismatic and controversial personalities in chess. It describes the last years of Fischer's life, spent in Iceland, and is written by the only real friend Bobby had during ths time. Instead of rehash it contains genuine insights into the personality of the eleventh World Champion. It is in Icelandic, but will appear in English in 2016.

Knocking down the fortress

11/3/2015 – 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!

Bilbao: So wins after tie-break

11/2/2015 – Twelve games were played at the Chess Masters Final in Bilbao but only two had a winner. In the first half Wesley So defeated Ding Liren, in the second half Anish Giri won against Vishy Anand. But So won the tournament by beating Giri 1.5-0.5 in the tie-break. In the Ibero-American Championship Lazaro Batista Bruzon leads with 6.5/7, one point ahead of the field.

Zurich Challenge with new time controls

11/2/2015 – For the Zurich Chess Challenge, in February with world class players, the organisation has implemented a new time control: 40 minutes per game with additional ten seconds for each move, and two games per day. "We think that in the future classical chess needs to become faster." Winning gets you two points, a draw one point, while the blitz round is traditionally scored. Press release.

WYCC 2015 Rd6-7: Steaming ahead

11/2/2015 – It has been a tough event for the top seeds, with many failing even to stay in contention for a medal, but not all. The there are the surprises, some larger than others, with perhaps the most remarkable so far being Iranian Masoud Mosadeghpour, who has dominated the Boys Under-18 with a perfect 7.0/7, the only perfect score left. Here are pictures galore and analyzed games.

International Tournament in Barcelona

11/2/2015 – Barcelona is always worth a visit. And from 4. to 8. November the city invites to a six-player all-play-all with an attractive line-up: Alexander Morozevich, Karen Grigoryan, Csaba Balogh, Axel Bachmann, Marc Narciso and Hipólito Asis start in this category 14 tournament. With a rating of 2695 Morozevich is nominal favorite. More information...

Cap d'Agde: Laurent Fressinet victorious

11/1/2015 – Sometimes things just don't work out, and sometimes things just do. This was the tale of the final between Anatoly Karpov and Laurent Fressinet to decide the title of the 4th Anatoly Karpov Trophy at Cap d'Agde. The Russian had promising if not winning positions, but tripped at the finish line and the Frenchman prevailed in the end.

Living life the Jobi way (1/2)

11/1/2015 – After the 2015 Abu Dhabi Open Sagar Shah had to travel to Dubai airport to catch his flight back home. In the 150 km bus journey to the airport in Dubai he spoke with a brilliant and creative mind in chess – Baadur Jobava. In the interview the Georgian GM not only sheds light on his chess beginnings, but also provides invaluable advice for hard working and ambitious players.

November 2015 ratings: Kramnik and ELOjanov

10/31/2015 – There was no shortage of results this month, from classical chess in which 34 out of the Top 100 saw swings of at least 10 Elo, to the Rapid and Blitz ratings thanks to the recent World Championships. In classical chess, one of the most visible details was not just Eljanov's gain of 36 Elo and Kramnik's climb back to world no. 4, but that three of the top four players are at least 40 years old.

Cap d'Agde: Karpov and Fressinet in final

10/31/2015 – Although his fans certainly wished for it, it was quite unclear whether Anatoly Karpov would manage to overcome Romain Edouard, high-rated now, and well over 30 years his junior, but the former World Champion fought hard and made it to the final. Laurent Fressinet continued his strong play by beating Tigran Gharamian. It promises to be a great showdown.

Rest in Power: Emory Tate, 1958-2015

10/31/2015 – International Master Emory Tate was a chess legend, feared and renowned for his creative play and his tactical imagination. He was also known for his self-confidence and his love of the game - a love he liked to share with joy. On 17. October Emory Tate died after a sudden collapse. His student and friend Todd Andrews pays tribute to a truely fascinating man.