WWch Final G1: At last

4/3/2015 – After over two weeks of relentless competition, the final match has arrived. It is hard to imagine the toll this has had on the players, since this is not like a two week tournament, each two games determined whether they would stay or go home. At last, only two warriors still stand, and both went through their own trials of fire. Report, game and player impressions.

U.S. Champ R2: Favorites perfect

4/3/2015 – One did with a very clean game, the other with a bit of luck. Hikaru Nakamura cleanly wiped Varuzhan Akobian off the board after Akobian sacrificed a pawn, got no compensation and lost. Wesley So had a win against Sam Shankland, missed it, and a huge blunder by White in that game gave So the win. The best game of the day, though, without a doubt, was played in the Women's section.

Karpos Open under way in Macedonia

4/2/2015 – With the so many events running, it would be easy to overlook the lovely Karpos Open, currently being held in Skopje, Macedonia, but it shouldn't considering the excellent conditions, held in a five-star hotel, and generous prize fund that has attracted 98 titled players of whom 33 are GMs ready to fight for their spot in the sun. An illustrated report by Diana Mihajlova

Interview with Boris Gelfand

4/2/2015 – Since the 1980s Boris Gelfand has been one of the world's best players. In 2012 he finally played a match for the World Championship title against Vishy Anand in Moscow and had good chances to win. In a 33-minute interview with Tania Kisilevski from the Russian TV station ETV he now revealed interesting things about his life as a chess professional.

Master Class - José Raúl Capablanca

4/2/2015 – How does one dissect a player such as José Raúl Capablanca, considered one of the greatest talents to ever live, and described as a "chess machine". Three grandmasters do exactly that, unveiling surprises about the champion's play. Add to that tons of training questions, plus hundreds of his games analyzed by Lasker, Alekhine and Capablanca himself, and you have a DVD you must not miss!

U.S. Champ R1: Comedy of Errors

4/2/2015 – At least you can say the games were exciting! Many of the games, in both sections, were decided by blunders or big mistakes. Nakamura won thanks to a blunder by Holt, So because of a blunder by Naroditsky, Onischuk blundered a pawn but managed to hold a draw, Robson beat Troff also because of a blunder. In the Women's section, something very similar happened.

Google Tooth – the latest in wearables

4/1/2015 – Everyone is doing it: after the iPhone and Android we are now confronted with Google Glass, Apple Watch, the Pebble. Computers are getting smaller and can be built to accompany you wherever you go. Now Google X, the semi-secret facility run by the search giant, is working on a dental computer. Why do we tell you this? Because Google Tooth comes bundled with a chess app.

April 2015 ratings: Youth on the rise

4/1/2015 – After an incredibly busy couple of months, the April ratings list was a fairly quiet one for the top players for the most part. It isn't that the players were all on vacation, hardly, considering David Navara logged in 29 games in just one month. On the other hand, the juniors and girls saw several incredible results, including the rise of 10-year-old Abdutassorov, now rated 2465.

Minor planet named after chess player

4/1/2015 – In 1988 an asteroid or minor planet was discovered, but remained unnamed for more than ten years. Michael Rudenko, committee member of the Minor Planet Center, a chess buff with a Playchess account, decided it was appropriate to name the object after Viswanathan Anand, himself an astronomy buff. It is now officially known as '(4538) Vishyanand'.
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A successful detour

4/1/2015 – 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. And don't miss the Endgame Magic Show, today at 4 pm. Special studio guest: Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

The Bremer Counter Attack

4/1/2015 – Can an opening be solved, can a line be thoroughly refuted and unplayable? How about the Anglo Scandinavian (1.c4 d5) being used to bust the English Opening? Timo Immonen has done some remarkable work towards this end, and the announcement of it comes in the unusual form of a chapter in a trilogy of fictional thrillers, presenting the main anti-English line.

WWch Semis TB: Oh the humanity!

3/31/2015 – The Women World Championship has been one of the most exciting on record, with drama, tension, front runners, and comebacks, and plain old fighting chess. The semifinal tiebreaks lived up to the billing, and it all came down to strong play and missed opportunities, the kind to leave a player awake at night. See what happened in this report illustrated by powerful images.

U.S. Chess Champ begins tomorrow

3/31/2015 – The United States Chess Championship is one of the strongest tournaments in the world. In terms of national championships it is only below Russia's in strength. Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So will be the favorites this year in the open section, but the fight will clearly be wild in the women's as well. We bring you a preview as well as a report from the opening ceremony.

Aeroflot R5: Black victories

3/31/2015 – We are a little over the halfway mark in the Aeroflot Open, and the excitement continues. Sasikirian drew two of his games in a row, allowing three people to catch up with him. Van Foreest won by default against Salgado (who withdrew from the tournament), while Nepomniachtchi and Dubov won with Black to catch up with 4.0/5. Meanwhile Mamedyarov, the top seed is struggling with 50%.

Webster University wins President's Cup

3/31/2015 – For the third time in a row Webster University won the College Chess Final Four championship, also known as "President's Cup". With their strong team of Liem Le, Ray Robson, Illia Nyzhnyk, Vasif Durarbayli, Fidel Corrales Jimenez, and Andre Diamant Webster University was clear favorite. The team did not disappoint and won convincingly.

WWch Semis G2: the queen of must-wins

3/31/2015 – Three times Natalia Pogonina was faced with a must-win situation, a draw would see her in the spectators side of the cordoned area, and three times she pulled it off to press her claim to the Women World Championship. Harika Dronavalli drew her second game with Mariya Muzychuk, so both semifinals will be decided by tiebreaks. Report and interview with Pogonina.

Hawaii GM Challenge (Part 2/2)

3/30/2015 – The string of activities in Hawaii left the players with almost no time to do anything. Once the GM Challenge kicked off, it was clear that Waikiki Beach would have to wait until the tournament ended. Sam Shankland went into day two with a one point lead, but he was unable to keep it until the end, and someone took his place! We also bring you reports of the International Open and blitz.

Aeroflot R3: Brilliancies

3/30/2015 – The news of the day is that one player was able to move to a perfect 3.0/3: Krishnan Sasikirian from India showed excellent handling of the Black side of the Scotch to be the only player remaining with a perfect score. However, the true excitement came a couple of boards down: Adhiban might just have missed the chance to immortalize himself with a brilliant attack.

WWch Semis G1: Cramling scores first

3/30/2015 – After considerably nail-biting in the tiebreaks the previous day, in which three of the four players to qualify for the semifinals had to decide their fates in the rapids, only two matches remain to determine the champion. While Harika Dronavalli drew her game against Mariya Muzychuk, Pia Cramling played against Natalia Pogonina and drew first blood.

Hesse: Retreats of genius

3/30/2015 – In order to be victorious in a game of chess, generally speaking an element of offensive ‘up-and-at-’em’ is required. But in exceptional situations the strongest move by far can be a simple retreat. Good, unforced retreats by well-placed pieces are amongst the hardest manœuvres to find, and they are rare. In his book Joys of Chess Christian Hesse shows us some astounding examples.

Karsten Müller: Chess endgames

3/29/2015 – "In everything people do that is difficult enough to be interesting, there is a crunch time", the time of exercise and effort that decides about success or failure claims chess enthusiast Derek Grimmell. In chess he thinks this is the endgame. More than a good reason to practice this crucial phase of the game. Karsten Müller has excellent material to do so.

WWch Rd4 tiebreaks: The mighty fall

3/29/2015 – It was a day when expectations went one way, and reality the other. Not only were all three tiebreaks won by the lower-rated players, but four out of the eight games played were decided in Black's favor. The biggest surprise was M.Muzychuk's victory over Koneru after her perfect start, while her sister fell to Pia Cramling. Pogonina beat Zhao Xue once more with her Benko Gambit.

Aeroflot R2: Only four?!

3/29/2015 – Aeroflot is unique: what a slug-fest of the the World's best! Grandmaster against grandmaster at every corner, 2700s losing against underdogs... who are only a few points lower rated than they are! Mamedyarov was unable to keep his perfect score... he lost to Khairullin and is actually back at 50%! Four people remain with 2.0/2 and so far, it is none of the favorites...

WWch Rd4 G2: Harika first to semis

3/28/2015 – The level of tension and fight is best illustrated by the fact that of the four matches left, three will need to be decided in the tiebreaks. Harika Dronavalli was the only player to avoid that fate, as she defeated Meri Arabidze. Both Humpy Koneru and Natalia Pogonina pulled off their must-win missions, with the Russian winning her game after an entertaining Benko Gambit.