Interview with Viktor Bologan

11/26/2015 – Viktor Bologan is a strong and successful grandmaster who currently mainly works as a coach. But at the European Team Championship he still was the player with the best Elo-performance. When Bologan was in Hamburg to record his new DVD about the King's Indian Defense he talked about his career, his approach to chess, his training methods and when chess is fun.

Kings and Queens in China

11/26/2015 – The Chinese chess players like to practice and often play against each other. From 24. November to 1. December eight of the country's best men and eight of the best women players meet in Taizhou to play the 1st China Chess Kings and Queens Matches, a short knock-out tournament. The first round led to interesting games and brought some surprises.

US Sanctions against FIDE President

11/26/2015 – It comes at a bad time: on the eve of a visit to the USA, to negotiate the venue of the 2016 World Chess Championship (Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York), FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been hit by sanctions of the US Treasury. This is mainly because of dealings with Syria and it President Assad. Currently US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with him.

Come and get it – Fritz 15 released!

11/25/2015 – As you may have noticed – if you pay attention to the info screen that appears the first time you come to our news page – the latest 64 bit multiprocessor version of our flagship program is now available. Not only is it stronger than any Fritz we have previously released, it also has some amazing new training features. And it gives you access to the great new ChessBase Account World.

Four new Senior World Champions

11/25/2015 – In 2014 FIDE decided to make chess seniors ten years younger and since then the entry fee for a senior tournament is a possible 50-year birthday present. Since then the World Championships have also become stronger and have attracted more participants. New World Champions are Predrag Nikolic, Vladimir Okhotnik, Galina Strutinskaia and Nona Gaprindashvili.

Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor and chess enthusiast

11/24/2015 – He was one of the best-loved leaders of the German government, the hero of the devastating 1962 floods and the 1977 rescue of 86 passengers from a hijacked plane in Mogadishu. Two weeks ago Helmut Schmidt passed, at the age of 96. The countless newspaper tributes to this great leader did not neglect to mention one of his great passions: Helmut Schmidt loved chess.

Permanent threats

11/24/2015 – 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. Today on the playchess server, 4 pm: Endgame Magic with Karsten Müller and Sagar Shah!

ETCC R09: Russia triumphs with double gold

11/24/2015 – In the ninth and final round Russia convincingly won gold in the open section and in the women’s section. The Russian men drew without much trouble 2-2 against Hungary and won the tournament with 15/18, and in the women’s tournament Russia beat Germany to secure gold with 17/18. Here is the final illustrated report.

Welcome to ChessBase India

11/23/2015 – Chess in India is booming. With Vishy Anand at the helm and many talents behind him, the country has a bright future in the game – in fact it is, with China, the major emerging chess superpower. But the infarstructure of information and reporting has been somewhat lacking. That is all set to change, with a new web portal exclusively dedicated to Indian tournaments and players.

ETCC R09: Carlsen vs Wojtaszek

11/23/2015 – Russia won the ETCC in front of Armenia und Hungary. Norway played no role for the top places but had the World Champion on board one. His overall performance wasn't satisfactory for him, but in his last round game against Wojtaszek he showed a usual brilliance. Daniel King analysed the game for us...

ETCC R08: Highlights

11/22/2015 – Russia leads after the 8th round of the ETCC two points ahead of their nearest rival Hungary. With one round to go, Russsia only needs a draw to be the clear winner. English Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at interesting games from round 8. Click here for more...

ETCC R08: Hungry Hungarians!

11/22/2015 – In the penultimate round Russia drew its match against Armenia, but they still lead the field by two points. Hungary simply crushed Azerbaijan 3.5:0.5, and is now in the sole second spot, and it’s Hungary versus Russia in the final round. In the women’s section all the favourites – Russia, Georgia and Ukraine – won their matches. We have some highly interesting games.

ETCC R07: Daniel King analyses Grischuk-Fressinet

11/21/2015 – In the top pairing of round 7 Russia faced France. In a very tense match everything was possible. The board 2 pairing Grischuk vs Fressinet decided the match whilst all other games were drawn. English Grandmaster Daniel King looks at this game in detail. Click here for more...

ETCC R07: Russians forge further ahead!

11/21/2015 – There is no stopping the Russian teams in both the sections of the European Team Championships 2015. Alexander Grischuk scored a crucial win over France to give the men a 2.5:1.5 victory. Latvia held Azerbaijan to a draw, and Georgia beat Ukraine! In the women’s section Russia sailed through against Hungary. Serbia managed to hold Georgia. We have pictures and loads of analysis.

Eric Hansen leads in Wijk aan Zee

11/20/2015 – In January 2016 the world's best players will meet in Wijk aan Zee to play one of the strongest grandmaster tournaments of the year. The winner of the Challengers in Wijk qualifies for next year's edition of this tournament. The winner of the Cultural Village tournament that currently takes place in Wijk qualifies for the Challengers in January.

The right approach

11/20/2015 – 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.

ChessBase Account: videos for phones, computers

11/19/2015 – Last week, ChessBase announced a new suite of tools for Premium and Starter subscribers. Previously, these subscribers already enjoyed Playchess perks such as rated play, live grandmaster commentary, and more. Now they can also benefit from these new tools. Among the most exciting are the video/audio courses that can even be streamed on your smartphone!

ETCC R06: Things heating up in Reykjavik

11/19/2015 – The most important match in the women’s section between Russia and Ukraine was drawn 2:2, and the Russian women team continues to lead by a full point. In the open section Russia beat Georgia and leads with 11.0/12 match points. France beat Ukraine and are in the sole second spot. Good news for Carlsen fans: he beat Leko with black. Extensive analysis, pictures and videos.

ACP Masters Rapid to be held in Ashdod, Israel

11/19/2015 – The strongest invitational tournament ever to be held in Israel will be hosted by the city of Ashdod, in collaboration with the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) on December 7-10 during the Chanukah holiday. Twelve players will fight three stages of rapid games, in what promises to be a thrilling and intriguing event.

ETCC R05: Magnus goes down to 2832!

11/19/2015 – The Russian team maintained their lead in both the sections. The women team is in great form and have a perfect 10.0/10 score, while the men were held to a draw by Azerbaijan - yet with a score of 9.0/10 they have a point’s lead over the field. The biggest news was definitely Carlsen’s loss to Yannick Pelletier. The Norwegian is now down to 2832 on the live rating list. Round five report.

Victor Bologan: The Berlin Wall explained

11/18/2015 – As you can see in yesterday's European Team Championship report, it was raining Berlins in Reykjavik. For IM Nisha Mohota that used to be a problem: "I never understood what went on in these ‘boring’ positions." That all changed when she got hold of a Fritztrainer by GM Victor Bologan. Now she understands the ideas and plans – and has also generally become a better player!

European Team Championship R3+4: Russia!

11/17/2015 – The biggest news of round three was Aronian beating Carlsen. Eljanov played a sublime Catalan against Mamedyarov. In the fourth round top two seeds in both the open and women section faced off against each other. It was Russia who came out victorious! In the open they beat Ukraine 3:1, and in the women they thrashed Georgia 3.5:0.5. Lots of interesting games and analysis.

The story of a picture

11/17/2015 – One of the most famous chess photos is the picture "Duchamp Playing Chess with a Nude (Eve Babitz)". It was made in 1963 by Time photographer Julian Wasser in Pasadena and shows Dada artist and chessplayer Marcel Duchamp playing chess with a naked woman. The picture was supposed to celebrate Marcel Duchamp but in the end it made Eve Babitz an icon.

Rooks on the hunt

11/17/2015 – 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!