World Team Rd4: Cuba takes lead

4/23/2015 – After four rounds Cuba leads the field at the Men's World Team Championship. In the fourth round Cuba won 3-1 against Egypt and took the sole lead because Israel lost 1.5-2.5 against Ukraine. China won 3.5-0.5 against Armenia and Hungary narrowly defeated India 2.5-1.5. The match USA and Russia ended in a 2-2 draw - but not a peaceful one.

Just one of 17,823,400,766 positions

4/23/2015 – Last Tuesday we told you how difficult four-piece endings can be for humans, especially against a computer that understands them perfectly. Well, it's peanuts compared to five and six-piece endings where we sometimes have absolutely no idea what the program is doing and why. Still you can analyse them with your computer and recognize new ideas that can be used in other areas of the game.

Chengdu R4: Big Gift

4/22/2015 – In a series of tough match-ups, it was clear that the most important one would be India vs. Russia. The two powerhouses met and the score was 1.5-1.5, except for the Humpy-Gunina game. In deep time pressure, White had a completely winning position, but she blundered badly and Russia took the full match point. Georgia won against Kazakhstan and, at least for now, keep their lead.

Modern fairy tales

4/22/2015 – Playing in the Dubai Open is a bit like entering the world of the "Arabian Nights". However, today's fairy tales are different. The oil hidden under the desert allows the UAE to build gigantic skyscrapers, display fabulous water fountains, and to build hotel palaces on sand. Alexander Ipatov shares impressions of the modern version of "Arabian Nights".

Vive la Différence – the full story

4/22/2015 – Yesterday we reported on the extraordinary news storm that had broken out over an article, by Nigel Short, that appeared in the magazine New in Chess. Going through the follow-up stories and readers' reactions it became clear that many had not read the original article. So we asked the NIC publishers for permission to reproduce it in full. Now you can judge for yourself.

World Team Rd3: Cuba beats Armenia

4/22/2015 – The World Team Championship has been anything but a by-the-numbers event. If ratings always translated to results then Russia would be clear first, instead of tied for last with Egypt and the US. Instead, the early leaders after three rounds are the strongly overachieving teams of Israel and Cuba, with Armenia going down to the remarkable Cubans.

Chengdu R3: Russia beats China

4/21/2015 – It was the match of the day, and a hugely important one for the standings. China and Russia faced each other but it wasn't even close: Russia took a convincing 3-1 victory. Georgia edged out Poland by 2.5-1.5 and now leads the tournament by a match point, only one more than both Russia and USA. The American's tied with Kazakhstan to be on 4.0/6. Round three impression and an interview!

Shamkir R5: A day of beauty

4/21/2015 – What an amazing day in Shamkir! Three decisive games, all three absolutely beautiful. Carlsen played with unbelievable technique from start to end against MVL. Mamedyarov somehow tricked Kramnik in an equal position and then played perfectly to wrap up the endgame. Anand came with a brutal new idea in the Spanish, sacrificed a piece and won beautifully against So.

Chess gender debate in the international press

4/21/2015 – The latest issue of the Dutch magazine New in Chess carried an article entitled "Vive la Différence!". In it the former World Championship challenger Nigel Short provocatively claims that there are genetic reasons why men are more successful in chess than women. This two-page article went viral, was picked up by the international news services and generated a world-wide media storm.

Perfect endgame play – with tablebases

4/21/2015 – Can you win an endgame queen vs rook? Don't be so sure – even the best players on the planet can run into problems with it. Especially in rapid chess playoff games, with tens of thousands of dollars at stake. Computers, on the other hand, can handle engames with four, five and six pieces on the board with absolute perfection. And can be installed on your notebook computer.

Dancing with knights

4/21/2015 – 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!

World Team CC: Russia loses two in a row

4/21/2015 – After losing against Ukraine in the first round of the World Team Championship Russia also lost its second match - against Cuba - and now trails the table. Egypt hold Israel to a draw, Ukraine lost against Armenia, India and China drew against the USA and Hungary. India now leads, followed by China, Israel, and Cuba. But all in all the round was peaceful.

Chengdu R2: No one perfect

4/20/2015 – It's only been two rounds, but already no team can claim a perfect 2.0/2 match points in Chengdu. Ukraine came back with a vengeance and destroyed Kazakhstan 3.5-0.5 Poland was stopped by USA and the teams split the point. The matches between powerhouse India vs. China and Russia vs. Armenia also ended in draws. Georgia leads thanks to their board point advantage after squashing Egypt.

Shamkir R4: 3.5/4!

4/20/2015 – Wesley So continues his rampage in Shamkir. What a recovery after the "worst tournament of his life"!. The American beat Rauf Mamedov, who had managed to hold all his games until round four. The other games were draws, some more interesting than others, with Magnus Carlsen pushing against Michael Adams and Vladimir Kramnik playing a crazy sacrificial line against Vishy Anand.

World Team CC, Rd 1: Ukraine beats Russia

4/20/2015 – On Sunday, 19th April 2015, the 10th World Team Championship began in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia - with a number of small surprises. Ukraine won 2.5-1.5 against Russia, and with the same result Israel, led by Boris Gelfand, won against Armenia, and China against the USA. India won 3-1 against Egypt while Hungary drew against Cuba. Impressions...

Nigel Short wins Thai Open

4/20/2015 – Nigel Short added another tournament win to his long list of successes. With focused play he won the last round of the Thai Open in Bangkok against Indian IM Diptayan Ghosh with Black to finish with 7.5/9 and win the tournament on tie-break. Second place went to Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, third place to Kamil Dragun from Poland. Both also scored 7.5/9.

Chengdu R1: Big Surprises!

4/20/2015 – Big results in Chengdu! The first surprise was that Kazakhstan upset India, despite the return of Humpy to the Indian squad. Georgia held Russia to a draw, but the big news of the day was Poland's absolute demolition of Ukraine. 3.5-0.5 was the final score after Ushenina flagged in a bad position. No one would have predicted this, but Poland is the early leader!

Shamkir R3: Carlsen, So win

4/19/2015 – Already we have two people that are clear leaders. With an amazing start with 2.5/3, both Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen won today, against Mickey Adams and Fabiano Caruana. Both players did it in pretty different styles, but in both games the ultimate winners were always in control. Kramnik is trailing them by only half a point. Anand almost joined him, but Giri survived.

World Women's Team Championship in Chengdu

4/18/2015 – The World Women's Team Championship will start tomorrow in Chengdu. The ten countries participating this year are China, Russia, Ukraine, USA, India, Poland, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt and Kazakhstan. As is traditional in Chengdu, the opening ceremony included the very important drawing of lots, and since its in Chengdu, the players had to pick their own pandas.

Shamkir R2: Carlsen, of course

4/18/2015 – Today's round was certainly duller than the one we started out with, and the day ended with four solid draws. None of the players seemed to be in any danger of losing, or even of falling a significantly worse position, and the results seemed like logical conclusions. The one decisive game went to Magnus Carlsen, who wiped Shakhriyar Mamedyarov off the board. Round two report.

Dragan Solak wins 17th Dubai Open

4/18/2015 – The 17th Dubai Open reached it’s pinnacle of exictement when after the penultimate round there were no less than five players in the lead with 6.5/8. They included the top seed David Howell, Vladimir Fedoseev, Eltaj Safarli, Dragan Solak and Alexander Shabalov. In the end six players had 7.0/9 points, with Dragan Solak edging out his rivals on tie-break. Giant report by Sagar Shah in Dubai.

Shamkir R1: Sweating Blood

4/17/2015 – An awesome way to start the 2015 Shamkir Tournament. It seemed as if most of the players with white today were pressuring their opponents from the get-go. Giri cracked soon and So devastated his position. Adams lasted longer, but also fell to Kramnik. Meanwhile Carlsen and Caruana had monumentally difficult problems set in front of them, but somehow they both managed to hold.

The helping pawn

4/17/2015 – 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.

Nakamura and Krush Captured U.S. Titles

4/16/2015 – The 2015 U.S. Chess Championships in Saint Louis, Missouri, ended last Sunday as expected: the top-rated grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura won his 4th U.S. title; on the women's side, Irina Krush defended the title, her seventh. But it was not that simple, as Huffington correspondent Lubomir Kavalek looks back at this dramatic championship.