Havanur on ChessBase Magazine #166

7/12/2015 – The current issue carries trademark sections on tactics, strategy and the endgame. In all there are 2543 games of which 128 are annotated. "That’s a miniscule number, did you say? I spent a whole month worrying about just one position." Prof. Nagesh Havanur gives us a mystery puzzle to solve, one aimed to test your positional judgement.

Karpov defeats Sveshnikov in match

7/12/2015 – Two chess legends met in a rapid chess match in Riga, Latvia from July 7 to July 9. Twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov faced the renowned chess theoretician Evgeny Sveshnikov in a six-game match that played over three days. The match enjoyed top-notch conditions with a beautiful locale, live video transmission, and GM commentary. Karpov won the match, though not before a minor upset.

Damljanovic wins Open Serbian Championship

7/12/2015 – Chess is a young man's game? Not necessarily so, if you ask Branko Damljanovic. The 54-year old Serbian Grandmaster just won the International Championship of Central Serbia with a score of 7.5/9, leaving a number of young and old masters behind. Second place went to GM Nikola Sedlak, third place to young British IM Fernandez. Report, games, tactics.

Pal Benko: Variations on a Kubbel study (2)

7/12/2015 – Our good and faithful friend, GM Pal Benko, recently explained to us why one of the most famous studies of all time, composed in 1922 by Leonid Kubbel, was not completely flawless – and indeed worthy of improvement. He showed us how the process works, and in today's second part you can watch one of the greatest composers of our generation polishing flawed studies.

Chinese poetry in Danzhou

7/11/2015 – In the morning of the rest day at the Danzhou International Chess tournament, all ten of the players came to the Danzhou First Middle school, to give a simul to the local chess kids. There they answered question by the young chess fans, after which they proceeded to the Dongpo Institute, named after one of China's most famous poets. One of the highlights was Wei Yi's recitation on video.

The Najdorf Memorial 2015 begins

7/10/2015 – Miguel Najdorf was a true chess legend. Born in Warsaw in 1910 he later lived in Argentina where he became a successful businessman. In his prime he was one of the world's strongest players. The annual Miguel Najdorf Festival, which starts on Friday in Warsaw, celebrates the memory of this true chess lover. 500 players take part, among them many strong GMs.

Pan American Championships in Cali

7/10/2015 – The Pan American Championships took place in Cali, Colombia. It was a tournament with a tough schedule - nine rounds in six days - that was not made any easier by heat and humidity. But for GM Dejan Bojkov and his long-time students Ashritha and Aksithi Eswaran and Chenyi Zhao it was a success. They won three medals and won one of the three won gold with 9.0/9.

Leitmotif

7/10/2015 – 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.

The World Open: An experience

7/10/2015 – The World Open is one of the oldest and most prestigious tournaments in American history. One reason for GM Alexander Ipatov, World Junior Chess Champion 2012, to visit the USA and take part. He shared first prize with seven other players, won $ 5.000, and made a lot of experiences. Some good, some less pleasant, but all remarkable. Big illustrated report.

Brilliant Start of Chess Summer

7/9/2015 – Fabiano Caruana's outstanding victory at the Dortmund tournament, a U.S. rating record and a magnificent king's hunt by the Chinese wizard Wei Yi marked the first days of summer. Huffington chess columnist Lubomir Kavalek walks us through the 1.5-point Caruana triumph in Germany and Wei Yi's incredible king hunt, as always with an eye to historical predecessors.

Fighting social inequality and prejudice with chess

7/9/2015 – How do you fight social inequality as well as prejudice with chess? Meet Kevin Cripe, a chess coach who has done precisely that for the last decades in an impoverished community of the US, using chess to teach children to fight against apathy, and the evils of prejudice. Read his tale, plus the help received from Anne Frank's childhood friend, and donate to a worthy cause.

A cornucopia of Chess: ChessBase Magazine

7/8/2015 – What to do if the summer is hot and you had to spend days with boring assignments and now want to train some chess and feel the wish to catch up on recent chess events? Have a look at the ChessBase Magazine 166! Indian IM Narayanan Srinath decided to to so and with a wealth of diverse and high-class chess material he treated himself to a wonderful Sunday full of chess.

Danzhou: Wang Yue and Ni Hua going strong

7/8/2015 – The 6th Hainan Danzhou tournament began with a spectacular second round "game of the decade" by 16-year-old Wei Yi. The Chinese phenom has settled down to 50% after six rounds, while his experienced colleagues Wang Yue and Ni Hua are in the lead with 5.0 and 4.5 points – and performances of 2968 and 2837. We have a big report with analysis and interesting positions to study.

"Grace-Time" Controversy – the real story

7/8/2015 – "As you aware, in an unfortunate incident GM Koneru Humpy withdrew from the Commonwealth Chess Championship 2015," wrote A.K. Verma, Secretary of the Delhi Chess Association. "Too much has been written about this. As Organising Secretary of Championship it's my responsibility to clear the air." Attached was a document relating the DCA's stand and view on the issue.

Huffington Post: Topalov on Top in Norway

7/7/2015 – In the first round of the Norway Chess 2015 in Stavanger Magnus Carlsen lost on time in a winning position against Veselin Topalov. The 40-year-old Bulgarian turned this lucky break into first place with a string of victories – in the last round Topalov holding Vishy Anand, 45, to a draw. Looking back at the event Huffington columnist Lubomir Kavalek analyses games by Carlsen and Anand.

Rooks belong behind passed pawns

7/7/2015 – 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!

Wang Yue leads in Hainan

7/6/2015 – Eight players from the World's Top 50 are from China, five of them play in the 6th Hainan Danzhou tournament: Ding Liren, Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi, Wang Yue, and Bu Xiangzhi. In round two Wei Yi, the world's best junior, played an impressive brilliancy against GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista. But in round three Wei Yi lost to Wang Yue who after five rounds leads with 4.0/5.

Dortmund Rd7: Caruana first, So second

7/6/2015 – All things considered, it was longer coming than we had expected, but Caruana’s fans can sigh with a smile as he is back to his winning ways with a fantastic streak of five wins to take Dortmund a full 1.5 points ahead of his rivals. Wesley So managed to nab second over Nisipeanu on tiebreak after a dramatic last round win over Kramnik. Report with analysis.

AICF seeks to punish Humpy

7/6/2015 – Recently the third-best female player in history, GM Koneru Humpy, forfeited a game and withdrew from a tournament – and explained it to us in a critical interview. Now the Indian Chess Federation is calling on FIDE to sanction Humpy. This could be in the form of a warning or reprimand, a fine up to $25,000, revocations of her GM title and a ban from chess for up to 15 years.

Harikrishna wins Edmonton International

7/5/2015 – The 10th Edmonton International was held from the 19-28 June 2015 in Edmonton, Canada. The closed round robin event with ten players is into its tenth year. First organized in 2006, the main intention was to provide the local players with an opportunity to make IM and GM norms. This year the tournament was won by Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna, whom we interview in this report.

Dortmund 06: More Caruana!

7/5/2015 – He seems unstoppable now, Caruana converted yet another win, this time against Hou Yifan in a sort of Nimzo-Indian defense. The Chinese sacrificed a pawn, but Caruana gobbled it up and defended precisely, eventually pushing Yifan back and taking over the initiative. Kramnik pushed hard against Nisipeanu but couldn't break the German, while Nepo did beat Naiditsch. Caruana is clear first.

Hainan Danzhou and Wei Yi’s immortal game

7/4/2015 – The 6th Hainan Danzhou tournament is being held in Danzhou, with top Chinese players. The event will be remembered for a game that is already being labelled "Game of the Decade" and was played by a 16-year-old youngster rated 2724. We asked Garry Kasparov to comment for us, and he did so with one word: "Impressive!" We have annotated it for you in somewhat greater detail.

Dortmund 05: Caruana ties for lead!

7/4/2015 – Caruana is now on a roll in Dortmund! He toppled Kramnik, and with the black pieces, to take over the lead in Dortmund. Only Nisipeanu still has the same amount of points as him. It was a bit of a topsy-turvy and complicated game, but at the end Kramnik was unable to keep up with Caruana in the complications. So also beat Nepomniachtchi, and gains ground. Sagar Shah analyzes today!

Muzychuk-Hou match set in Lviv, Ukraine

7/3/2015 – It was a heroic victory by Mariya Muzychuk, who overcame match after match in a grueling knockout tournament that had the world on the edge of its seat. The newly crowned Women's World Champion must now face her next challenger, Hou Yifan, who has the right to challenge her in a match by virtue of winning the FIDE Grand Prix. The match is now set in Lviv, Ukraine in March 2016.