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.

"Human Chess" - an event to teach children chess

11/12/2015 – In 1988 Vishy Anand became India's first grandmaster. Now, 27 years later, India has 39 grandmasters and at the World Youth Chess Championship in Porto Carras that just ended, India won more medals than any other nation. This chess boom relies on chess teachers like Niklesh Jain who again and again have new ideas to teach children the game.

NY Times: Caruana awaiting his turn on bigger stage

11/12/2015 – As its newest arrival on the top teams, Fabiano Caruana is making the rounds to do his part to promote chess in the United States. He has been impressed by the improvements he has seen since he left it as a teenager. He was recently in new York where he visited schools and met with children for exhibition events and there to cover it was the New York Times.

Nakamura vs Caruana match starts today

11/12/2015 – Today two exciting exhibition matches will take place, and should not be missed. The first is Hikaru Nakamura against Fabiano Caruana, and will be games played in rapid, blitz and even Fischer Random 960! The second, along the same model, will pit top female Hou Yifan against GM Parimarjan Negi. In an innovative step, the readers and fans are invited to vote on the starting positions!

Announcing ChessBase Account – Access everywhere!

11/11/2015 – ChessBase is proud to announce the newest expansion of its online services, ChessBase Account. With it, you can now access a vast library of hundreds of training videos, from openings, to the middlegame, to the endgame, and including complete courses. Furthermore you will enjoy a brand new Openings Trainer to help you memorize your repertoire, and much much more!

Chess Pro-Biz Cup 2015 in London

11/11/2015 – This event, staged for a third time on Monday 14 December, at the conclusion to the 7th London Chess Classic, offers leading business minds the opportunity to team up with the world's best chess players in a fun rapid knock-out tournament. All money raised by this event goes to the Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC) charity. Best pairing: with World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Nine years of history

11/11/2015 – The Romanian Kings Tournament has a long tradition. The first edition was played in 2007. After nine years of prestige and a string of changes, the 2015 event faced rather challenging times from an international perspective. Alina l'Ami is stepping in and brings you an inspiring retrospective with annotations by Carlsen, Caruana, puzzles, photos and more.

Garry Kasparov - The happiest day of his life

11/10/2015 – 30 years ago, to this day, the victor's laurels were placed on Garry Kasparov, celebrating him as the new and 13th World Chess Champion, the youngest in history. It was not without controversy, much less challenges, but in the end the young challenger surmounted all the obstacles. We take a look at the final stages that led to his world title, and the world commemorating.

Queen retreats on the diagonal

11/10/2015 – 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!

Alexander Morozevich wins Barcelona

11/10/2015 – From November 4-8, a modest sized, yet prestigious six-player round-robin was held in the city of Barcelona, organized by the Catalonia Chess Federation and sponsored by the Barcelona City Hall. Although there was a large number of draws, the life of the event was also its winner: Alexander Morozevich. He brought his usual creativity and fighting spirit.

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.