Gibraltar 07: Anand loses, Anton leads

2/2/2016 – In round seven of the Tradewise Gibraltar Open all games at the top boards were drawn, except one: David Anton won against Richard Rapport to become sole leader with 6.0/7. Half a point behind follows a group of 15 players with 5.5/7 each. Viswanathan Anand played against the Hungarian talent Benjamin Gledura and suffered his second loss in the tournament.

Levon Aronian: the 'David Beckham' of chess

2/1/2016 – It isn’t every day that a chess player is compared to a sports star of David Beckham’s stature, yet that is precisely what CNN did in a recent portrayal of Levon Aronian. Of course, the comment must be put in context before any ado. It is his home and country, Armenia, that have elevated him to such heights, by virtue of their singular love of chess, and where he reigns supreme.

Gibraltar 06: Ten players lead with 5.0/6

2/1/2016 – In round six of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival two Indians played on top board - but Vishy Anand was not one of them. The former World Champion scored a smooth win on board 28 while Pentala Harikrishna and Abijheet Gupta (photo) drew on board one. On board two Markus Ragger and Hikaru Nakamura discussed the King's Indian and showed deep preparation.

Tata Steel R12: Analyzing Caruana vs Van Wely

1/31/2016 – It was round twelve, and Magnus Carlsen had just drawn against Wesley So. Two players saw this as their chance: Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren, and they led the day with great wins and fascinating games. Daniel King brings his grandmaster magnifying glass and looks at Caruana's win over Dutch player Loek Van Wely. Here is the video with his GM analysis.

February 2016 ratings: Rodshtein, Hammer make 2700

1/31/2016 – Although there was little action at the very top, since events like Tata Steel will only be rated in the next list, some payers managed special results of their own. Among them were Norwegian Jon Hammer and Israeli Maxim Rodshtein, who broke 2700 for their first time. Also of note was American Jeffery Xiong who is now the top US Junior. Lists, stats, and tables.

Master Class by Vishy Anand: amazing analysis

1/31/2016 – On January 29, Vishy Anand gave a Master Class which lasted one hour 25 minutes. This was filled with high quality analysis and some brilliant ideas shared by the five-time World Champion, and this video is now available to you. IM Nisha Mohota, who attended this Master Class, gives us first hand experience of what it felt like learning from the Indian legend.

Gibraltar 05: Nakamura shines, Anand falters

1/31/2016 – While Markus Ragger and Etienne Bacrot, who shared the lead with 4.0/4 each, both did not mind a quick and peaceful draw, Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand tried to regain ground. Nakamura managed to do so by winning against Women's World Champion Mariya Muzychuk with a smashing piece sacrifice but Anand pressed too hard and lost against Adrien Demuth from France (Elo 2535).

Tata Steel Rd12: the race to the finish

1/30/2016 – All will be decided in the last round. After draw with So, Carlsen ensured at least a half point advantage in the last round, but a win by Caruana against Van Wely kept his chances alive for an 11th hour surprise. As if that were not enough, Ding won himself and is right behind Caruana, and could even steal gold if he beats Carlsen in the last round. Report, photos and games.

Tata Steel R11: GM King looks at highlights

1/30/2016 – After a long and grueling competition, the players begin showing signs of fatigue, leading to missed chances, and unexpected saves. Round eleven saw this in the spades, with a significant impact on the standings. GM King analyzes the ending between Carlsen and Hou, as well as the cliffhanger between Caruana and Mamedyarov, and the miracle save by Giri vs Adams. Enjoy the video analysis.

Gibraltar 04: Ragger and Bacrot take the lead

1/30/2016 – After three rounds eleven players shared the lead with 3.0/3 at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2016, after four rounds only two remain at the top: Markus Ragger from Austria and Etienne Bacrot from France. Ragger won with White against Anna Muzychuk while Bacrot beat Aleksandra Goryachkina with Black. The other top boards all drew.

Tata Steel Rd11: Carlsen beats Hou, Ding in third

1/29/2016 – Magnus Carlsen beat Hou Yifan doing what he does best: grinding an endgame until his opponent cracks. This helped him open a one point lead after Caruana failed to make the most of his edge against Mamedyarov. Ding Liren moved into clear third after beating Tomaeshevsky with black. The Challengers is wide open after Dreev leveled with Adhiban. Large illustrated report.

Gibraltar 03: Battle of the sexes

1/29/2016 – One of the many side events at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is the "Battle of the Sexes", a light-hearted, funny consultation game men against women that is scheduled for 30 January. However, some players used the third round as a warm-up, notably Harika Dronavalli, who crushed Nigel Short, and Anna Muzychuk, who outplayed Laurent Fressinet.

ChessBase India – a mountain of content

1/29/2016 – It has been around two months since the ChessBase India web portal came to life, dedicated to the Indian chess tournaments and news. The website is already making a big impact in Indian chess circles, with content that can only be termed humongous. We bring you a summary of all the important events and tournaments that ChessBase India covered in recent months, with links to the articles.

Mating nets

1/29/2016 – 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.

12-year-old Alireza Firouzja is Iranian Champion

1/28/2016 – Three youths took the top three spots in the Iranian Championship that just ended in Tehran, Iran, and all three will be playing on the national team at the Olympiad in Baku later this year. At the top was 12-year-old Alireza Firouzja, who dominated the event and took first a full point ahead. He also became the youngest champion in history.

Tata Steel R10: Game of the Day

1/28/2016 – After ten of thirteen rounds Magnus Carlsen leads the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee with 7.0/10. Half a point behind follows Fabiano Caruana who kept his chances to catch Carlsen in the last three rounds after the rest day on Thursday by winning a theoretically interesting game against Wei Yi in round ten. Daniel King takes a closer look.

Gibraltar 02: Smooth wins and a few upsets

1/28/2016 – Most favorites had no difficulties to win in round two of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2016. Top players such as Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave showed smooth chess and Viswanathan Anand easily defeated German FM Matthias Bach, who in round one was close to winning against Indian GM Ganguly. But not all favorites had such a good day.

CBM 169: Exciting games and fascinating analysis

1/28/2016 – ChessBase Magazine 169 has 1631 OTB games, of which are 97 are annotated. Particularly interesting for Prof. Nagesh Havanur was the final World Cup duel between Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler, who was leading 2-0 and then managed to lose – quite traumatically. The key positions are analysed by GM Mihail Marin, who explains the psychology behind such a turn of events. Review.

ChessBase Account: Teachers/coaches and the Cloud

1/28/2016 – Although all chess players gained enormously with the Internet, chess professionals who teach or coach, and their students, were easily among those who benefited the most, as it meant teachers and students could connect from all over the world. For those teachers and students, MyGames Cloud also offers a series of tools you can add to your arsenal. Here are some ideas and methods.
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Tata Steel Rd10: Caruana closes in on Carlsen

1/27/2016 – All eyes were on Giri vs Carlsen, since the young Dutch GM has a positive score against the World Champion, but a draw ensued. Caruana took advantage, closing the distance to half a point after completely dominating Wei Yi. The big game in the Challengers between the two leaders Adhiban and Safarli ended in an important win for the Indian. Large illustrated report with analysis by Carlsen.

Tata Steel R09: Wei Yi vs David Navara

1/27/2016 – In the first eight rounds of his first Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee Chinese Chinese prodigy Wei Yi drew all his games. But in round nine he threw caution to the winds and in a closed Spanish castled queenside to prepare for some violence. This soon led to sacrifices which culminated in a scintillating mating attack. Daniel King takes a closer look.

Gibraltar: Anand starts with a draw

1/27/2016 – The last time former World Champion Vishy Anand played in an open tournament with classical time control was back in 1986. After this long break he started the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival with a draw against Szidonia Lazarne Vajda. This was the biggest surprise of the first round in which most of the favorites won. But not all of them.

Iranian Championship: Youngster beats GM for lead

1/27/2016 – In the previous report, a couple of youngsters were in the lead together with the top-seed GM Maghami, well over 100 Elo above the pack. One would have expected a few more rounds would allow him to establish his authority, but instead, a huge win by Alireza Firouzja in round nine, has now placed the 12-year-old in sole first! Report, games, positions.

AI pioneer Marvin Minsky dies at 88

1/27/2016 – Marvin Minsky, born in 1927, was an American cognitive scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, co-founder of the MIT's AI laboratory, and author of several texts on AI and philosophy. Minsky, who died of cerebral hemorrhage last Sunday, considered the problem of intelligence "hopelessly profound” and "did not consider anything else worth doing.” Listen to him talk about computer chess.