Norway Chess: Ambush in the Najdorf

4/20/2016 – After the very lively first round of the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger round two was more quiet. Four of the five games ended in a draw though three of them had a number of interesting moments. In the only decisive game of the round Anish Giri fell victim to an ambush Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had prepared in one of his pet lines in the Najdorf.

Magnus knows his classics!

4/20/2016 – It is always a joy to see Magnus Carlsen in action. His moves are accurate and there is a lot that we can learn from them. In his first round game against Harikrishna at the Norway Chess 2016, the World Champion made a move that reminded Sagar Shah about a game of Botvinnik played in 1941. Using this example as the base, the author delves into the topic of how studying classical games of great masters of the past can help you become a stronger chess player.

Norway Chess: Daniel King shows the hightlights

4/20/2016 – Lively start in Stavanger at the 4. Altibox Norway Chess tournament. Giri still knows how to win, Kramnik shows his superb strategic understanding and Carlsen steamrolls Pentala Harikrishna with a number of powerful moves. In the end the World Champion could even afford to miss a forced mate. Daniel King shows highlights of the first round.

Surya Ganguly wins Bangkok Open

4/20/2016 – Surya Shekhar Ganguly is the winner of the 16. Bangkok Chess Club Open. After beating Loek Van Wely in the final round Ganguly had 7.5/9 points and shared first place with Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons, who had won against Nigel Short in the final round. But Ganguly had the better tie-break and this helped him to win the tournament.

Barden's record-breaking chess column

4/20/2016 – According to our calculations Leonard Barden has been at it for sixty years and seven months – making him the longest running uninterrupted weekly chess column in the world and in history. At 86 Leonard remains hale and his columns are topical and refreshing. And they are always accompanied by a chess puzzle that is great fun to solve. Here are excerpts and links to his recent Guardian chess columns.

Norway Chess: Carlsen, Kramnik and Giri win

4/20/2016 – The Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger saw a lively first round and three players winning with the white pieces: Anish Giri used his tactical chances to win against Pavel Eljanov and Magnus Carlsen steamrolled Pentala Harikrishna. Vladimir Kramnik won against Nils Grandelius by showing patience and good technique. The other two games ended in a draw.

Saint Louis: Fireworks in round five

4/19/2016 – Tournament leader Fabiano Caruana drew in round five of the US Championship in St. Louis and this allowed Wesley So, who won a smooth and powerful attacking game against Varuzhan Akobian, to regain the shared lead. Hikaru Nakamura showed tactical acumen against Sam Shankland while Gata Kamsky boldly attacked Jeffrey Xiong but blundered in the end.

New: Pert: Repertoire against Offbeat Openings

4/19/2016 – A lot of people do have a solid repertoire against the main lines but do not know what to do when the opponent surprises them with an offbeat opening. On his new DVD the renowned English grandmaster and coach Nick Pert shows how Black can successfully counter openings such as the Pseudo-Trompowsky, the London Sstem, and other offbeat openings. More...

A very strong knight

4/19/2016 – 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!

Breaking fast in Skopje (2/2)

4/19/2016 – In this second part of her report on the Karpos Open in Macedonia, we are reminded that in spite of the fascinating walk through the city of Skopje through the camera's lens, it is nevertheless a tournament and a good one at that. In first place after nine rounds was the Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiev with 7.5/9 followed by eight with 7.0/9. Here is the illustrated report with analysis.

Norway Chess: Carlsen wins opening blitz

4/18/2016 – The Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger began with a blitz competition, in which Magnus Carlsen showed good form and ambitious chess. The World Champion started with 7.5/8, drawing only against Swedish GM Nils Grandelius. But in the final round Carlsen got a bit careless which helped Anish Giri to beat the winner of the blitz tournament.

US Championship: Big Point for Caruana

4/18/2016 – In round four of the US Championships in St. Louis Fabiano Caruana scored a big point in the fight for title and money: he won against Hikaru Nakamura to become sole leader with 3.5/4. Wesley So, who drew against Sam Shankland, is half a point behind. In the women's tournament Irina Krush, Tatev Abrahamyan and Nazi Paikidze share the lead with 3.0/4 each.

Norway Chess begins

4/18/2016 – Magnus Carlsen fans can be happy - only a few more hours and the World Champion will play again. Today, the Altibox Norway Tournament starts with a blitz tournament at 5.30 pm Central European time. Tomorrow, 4 pm CET, the first round of the 10-player round-robin with top players such as Anish Giri, Vladimir Kramnik, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave or Pavel Eljanov will begin..

Victor Bologan: The complex Najdorf

4/18/2016 – Victor Bologan is a strong grandmaster, a successful coach and a renowned author. And he likes classical opening. On his new Najdorf-DVD he offers Black an attacking repertoire based on the classical Najdorf set-up with ...e5. GM Hedinn Steingrimsson had a close look at the DVD, discovered a lot of interesting ideas, and liked what he saw.

Eduard Y. Gufeld – the ultimate chess romantic

4/18/2016 – Eduard Y. Gufeld is one of the more interesting personas of twentieth century world chess. His untimely demise in 2002 was a great loss to the chess world. Eduard would have turned eighty this March, and friend Elmer Sangalang honors him with and article aimed at the younger generation of ChessBase readers, who should not forget that chess is not all about winning but, more importantly, about creating a work of art.

No "Fischer prize" at US Championship 2016

4/17/2016 – 1963/64 Bobby Fischer won the US Championship with 11.0/11. A player winning the event 2016 with the same score was promised 64,000 USD. But no one will. After So and Caruana drew their game in round three and Robson split the point against Xiong, Caruana, So and Robson lead with 2.5/3. In the women's tournament Abrahamyan, Yip and Paikidze lead with 2.5/3 each.

FIDE suspends Ukrainian ratings

4/17/2016 – Shocker: after the Ukrainian Chess Federation failed to pay the full amount due to FIDE from the Women's World Championship last month, the FIDE Presidential Board, at its meeting in Moscow, decided to suspend its services for the UCF – temporarily suspended. The most visible consequence is that top GMs will be appearing as unrated in events – e.g. Pavel Eljanov at Norway Chess 2016 on Tuesday.

US Championship: So, Robson and Caruana with 2.0/2

4/16/2016 – After two rounds three players lead the US Championship 2016 with 2.0/2: Fabiano Caruana, who won convincingly against Sam Shankland, Wesley So, who won less convincingly against Akshat Chandra, and Ray Robson, who profited from Alexander Onishuk's errors. Hikaru Nakamura drew against Gata Kamsky. In the Women's tournament Tatev Abrahamyan and Carissa Yip keep a perfect score.

You cannot just play chess in Cannes!

4/16/2016 – At the end of February IM Nisha Mohota played in the Cannes open tournament in France. With 79 title-holders the event was extremely strong and perfect to fight for norms and rating points. However, there was one small problem. The former Indian National Champion just couldn't focus on chess! But why? Nisha Mohota's beautiful pictorial report gives an answer.

Breaking fast in Skopje (1/2)

4/16/2016 – After an unusually long period away from competition, Alina L'Ami explains she broke her fast from tournament play with a flurry of events one after the other, starting with the Karpos Open held in the charming and culturally rich city Skopje in Macedonia. Whether enjoying the unique partying on April 1st, or the many sites to see, there was never a dull moment.

Magnus Carlsen speaks with the "Deutsche Welle"

4/15/2016 – In three days, on 18th April, the Altibox Norway Chess tournament will begin. With World Champion Magnus Carlsen as favorite. Before the tournament Klaudia Prevezanos interviewed Carlsen for the "Deutsche Welle" and Carlsen talked about computers, his preparation for the Norway Chess tournament, the World Championship, and his relationship to Sergey Karjakin.

Understanding the Breyer

4/15/2016 – Wesley So won his game in 28 moves in the first round of the US Championships 2016 against Gata Kamsky. Was it some amazing bit of home preparation or poor opening play by Gata? After our analysis we have come to the conclusion that Kamsky was unprepared and would have fared much better if he would have had a look at ChessBase's DVD on the Breyer. Pavel Eljanov suggests two antidotes for Black which give the second player a fine position. High quality recommendations.

Favorites dominate first round of US Championship

4/15/2016 – With Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So three of the world's best player take part in the US Championship 2016. They all started well into the tournament and showed their class by beating their first round opponents in textbook fashion. In the women's tournament the favorites Krush and Zatonskih started less convincingly.

Van Wely and Gustafsson share lead in Bangkok

4/15/2016 – In round six of the Bangkok Open Dutch Grandmaster Loek Van Wely conceded his first half point by drawing against GM Francisco Vallejo Pons from Spain. This allowed German Grandmaster Jan Gustafsson, who won a fine game against Nie Xinyang from China, to catch up with Van Wely. After six rounds the Dutch and the German grandmaster share the lead with 5.5/6 each.