Ortisei: strong chess in idyllic surroundings

6/20/2016 – Ortisei is a small village in the Italian Dolomites. At the beginning of June the idyllic village was host to the 3rd Ortisei Open, which attracted 140 participants, among them several strong grandmasters. After nine rounds GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu first with 7.0/9. Dutch GM Jan Werle also had 7.0/9 but Nisipeanu had the better tie-break.

Leuven Day 3: Hard-fought blitz keeps Carlsen in lead

6/19/2016 – It was an incredibly hard-fought nine rounds of blitz in which only Levon Aronian managed squeak ahead of the rest by half a point with 5.5/9, allowing him to take clear third in the combined standings with 15.5 points. Carlsen, So, Nakamura and Kramnik all scored 5.0/9 leaving Magnus Carlsen still in clear first with 17 points, trailed by Wesley So with 16. Illustrated report.

Leuven Day 2: Carlsen wins rapid after 4/4 day

6/18/2016 – If day one of the rapid games in Leuven was full of surprises, day two was no less so, though thankfully not due to record numbers of blunders. Vishy Anand started the day with a win, but after two losses lost the lead as he was caught up by Wesley So. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen showed he was back and managed to win the rapid phase after a fabulous 4/4. Illustrated report.

Leuven Day 1: Anand leads after nervy first day

6/18/2016 – It was an unusually nervy first day at Leuven, Belgium, as the world elite came to bump heads once more. In this stage, Anand takes the place of Fressinet as he returns from a win at Leon. To say nothing went as expected for other players would be an understatement, with Nakamura starting with three losses, or Carlsen blundering a piece to Hikaru in just 12 moves! Large illustrated report.

Chess and music in the Invalides

6/17/2016 – On the sidelines of the Paris leg of the Grand Chess Tour, five tournaments were held for 400 youths on the grandiose lawns of the Invalides, a 17th century complex of museums and monuments relating to the military history of France. This event saw the elite players visit the delighted children all in with a live string ensemble playing!

Eurasian Blitz Cup starts Saturday

6/17/2016 – The "Eurasian Blitz Cup" in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, might well be one of the strongest blitz tournament ever. Players such as Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Hou Yifan and many others will play 22 rounds Swiss for a prize-fund of USD 100.000. The tournament begins on Saturday!

Kortschnoj Classic I

6/17/2016 – 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.

From Paris to Leuven

6/16/2016 – This weekend, the Grand Chess Tour moves from Paris to Leuven in Belgium, near Bruxelles. On Friday and Saturday the world's best players show and test their rapid skills, on Saturday and Sunday players and spectators can enjoy world class blitz. The field is almost identical to that in Paris, with one exception: instead of Laurent Fressinet Viswanathan Anand will play.

Russia wins friendship match agains China

6/16/2016 – The tenth friendship match between Russia and China in Moscow ended in a narrow 25.5-24.5 victory for Russia. It was Russia's women's team that decided the event in Russia's favor. The men drew their match 12.5-12.5 but the Russian women beat the Chinese 13-12. The result could have even been clearer had the Russian women used all their chances in the final round.

Can computers compose artistic problems? (2)

6/16/2016 – Earlier this week we brought you part one of Pal Benko's critique of machine composed chess problems. In part two this world famous problem composer shows us further examples and how they can be improved. He also gives us an example of composing together with a computer, "the first time in my life I did not create a chess problem fully in my own mind," and tells us why he has decided to drop out of problem competitions.

Carlsen and Karjakin clash in Bilbao

6/15/2016 – In November Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin will play for the World Championship, in July they will clash in one of the strongest tournaments of the year: The Bilbao Grand Slam Masters Final, a six-player double round robin with a fantastic line-up. The four players who compete with Carlsen and Karjakin are Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Wesley So and Wei Yi. Press Release...

Johann Hjartarson is back

6/15/2016 – In the 1980s the Icelandic GM Johann Hjartarson was one of the best players in the world. He played in the candidate matches, where he won against Kortschnoi but then lost against Karpov. Later, however, he played less and less. But now he is back and just won the Icelandic Championships. One of the first to congratulate was Icelandic GM Fridrik Olafsson.

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #6

6/15/2016 – It is easy to suffer agonies in the opening, particularly so when your opponent surprises you on move five with a gambit that looks dubious but turns out to be surprisingly venomous. But what a delight it is to stick to one's favorite opening and convincingly counter attempts to overrun you. Jon Speelman presents both, the agony and the ecstasy.

IM Daniel Kopec dies at 62

6/14/2016 – He was a highly talented home-bred US player, New York High School Champion at 14, National Master at 17, Scottish Champion at 26. He was also a computer science professor at Brooklyn College, with a PhD in Machine Intelligence. In the chess world he is best known for the "Bratko-Kopec" test used to evaluate the positional understanding of chess programs. We bring you a video eulogy with analysis of his games.

Ivan Ivanisevic triumphs in Zalakaros

6/14/2016 – The open in Zalakaros has a long tradition and there are a number of good reasons why people like to visit the small Hungarian spa town to play chess. The surroundings are beautiful, the tournament is well organised and the field is strong. The 35th edition of the Zalakaros Open was won by the Serbian GM Ivan Ivanisevic with 7.0/9.

Rauser's drawing zone

6/14/2016 – 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 fun!

Can computers compose artistic problems? (1)

6/14/2016 – Some time ago Dr Azlan Iqbal presented a program, Chesthetica, that was composing chess problems. We published ten examples of three-movers by the machine. Now a leading expert in the subject, Pal Benko, who is one of the finest problem composers in the world, tells us what he thinks about the quality of the computer compositions – and also what are the criteria that make a chess problem valuable.

Russia vs China

6/13/2016 – Since 2001 Russia and China play friendship chess matches against each other. The tenth of these friendship matches takes place from 11th to 15 June in Moscow. Each team consists of five players and each player of one team plays against all players from the other team. After three rounds the score in the men's event is even but in the women's event Russia leads 8.5-6.5.

Anand continues to win "Ciudad de Leon"

6/13/2016 – Last weekend the Spanish town Leon invited to its traditional chess event, the "29th Ciuduad de Leon", a four-player k.o.tournament in rapid format. The favorite was Vishy Anand who had won the previous eight events. The former World Champion continued this series though he needed some luck to beat Chinese prodigy Wei Yi in the finals.

Hikaru Nakamura wins Grand Chess Tour Paris

6/12/2016 – Hikaru Nakamura convincingly won the Grand Chess Tour Paris. After a shaky start into the second day of the blitz tournament he started to win game after game. World Champion Magnus Carlsen, however, failed to find his form and lost one game after the other. After 16 of 18 rounds Nakamura was 2.5 points ahead and had won the tournament with two rounds to go.

Paris: Nakamura and Carlsen dominate

6/11/2016 – After the first day of the blitz tournament Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen continue to dominate the field. After 9 of 18 rounds Carlsen leads with 7.0/9, Nakamura follows with 6.5/9. But in the table with the combined results of rapid and blitz Nakamura is half a point ahead of Carlsen. He even could have had a dominating lead had he not lost a better position against Carlsen in the last round of the day.

Rapport wins match against Navara

6/11/2016 – David Navara, Czech’s number one, narrowly lost his four-game match against Hungarian talent Richard Rapport 1½-2½. The match was close, exciting, and decided in the fourth and final game. After three draws Navara opted for a sharp and double-edged attack in the fourth game but lost after an inaccurate move. Timur Gareyev reports. | Photo: Anežka Kružíková, Prague Chess Society

Paying homage to Viktor

6/11/2016 – All over the world, obituaries, eulogies, tributes and testimonies have been written on behalf of a legend whose longevity and passion were an inspiration even for world champions. Here are some of the words that have been said by players such as Anand, Short, and Nakamura, as well as special tributes sent by Judit Polgar, Kavalek, Speelman, Benko, and more...

MCL 2016: Where chess meets fun!

6/11/2016 – It is one of the most colourful events of our country. The Maharashtra Chess League, India's only chess league, is into its fourth year and is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. The most unique feature of the MCL is the auction! Six team owners bid their amount in order to get the best players in their team. Vishy Anand, the brand ambassador of the event, was present. In this article we take you through the auction and prepare you for the exciting tournament which begins today!