FIDE World Team Championship 2015

3/20/2015 – Tsaghkadzor, the "Valley of Flowers", is a small touristy town in Armenia, with barely 3000 people. But it is big on tourism and has beautiful hotels. In April the five-star Golden Palace will host teams from Armenia, China, Cuba, Egypt, Israel, Hungary, India, Russia, Ukraine, USA in what is sure to be a very enjoyable event. Visitors are welcome, and as a chess holiday the trip is a real bargain.

WWch Rd1 tiebreaks: Watch the clock!

3/20/2015 – It was a tense day for the players and thrilling for the spectators as 22 players fought for their lives in the tournament. Heart-wrenching for Argentina who saw two heroic players fall under the tiebreak sword, while Germany's Elizabeth Paetz also failed to make the cut. In the Armageddon, both Goryachkina and Kosintseva won their games on time. Report, pictures and more!

Bojkov: The true value of the pieces

3/19/2015 – Don't we know it already: nine points for the queen, five for the rook, etc.? But judging the relative value of pieces in situations with material imbalances is a very complex task. GM Dejan Bojkov helps you understand it with a whopping forty-one instructional videos. His latest DVD is both entertaining and instructional – a must buy says chess trainer Prathamesh Mokal.

WWch Rd1 G2: Easy wins and tough matches

3/19/2015 – After the second game of the first round, 21 matches were decided with 21 players going forward and 21 going home. In the meantime, eleven matches will need to be decided in the rapid game tiebreaks in the third day. Unusual pairings saw lopsided pairings and grueling battles, and while many of the big names are in the clear, some fell to heroic performances.

Man of the moment: Erwin L’Ami

3/19/2015 – The Reykjavik Open has established itself as one of the strongest open tournaments in the world today. And in the 2015 edition the 2605 rated Erwin L’Ami, only 11th in the starting list crushed the competition, winning the tournament with a round to spare! In between receiving the champion’s trophy and catching some much deserved sleep, he was kind enough to answer a few questions.

Last round in Reykjavik

3/18/2015 – With 8.5/9 Erwin l'Ami was certain to win the Open in Reykjavik before the last round. Perhaps it was the lack of tension that made him lose against Pavel Eljanov in the final round. With this win Eljanov became second with 8.0/10, while third place went to Fabien Libiszewski, who also had 8.0/10 but the worse tie-break. Final round report...

Bringing chess into the spotlight (1)

3/18/2015 – It is usual to come across celebrities who set the stage on fire and leave the audience awe-struck at their seemingly stellar performances. Chess players in contrast are often contrived to be socially awkward and are not particularly seen to be engaging with the audiences. But that is exactly what former World Champion Viswanathan Anand did in this must-watch India Today Conclave.

The Women's World Championship begins

3/18/2015 – It would be surprising not to see any surprises at the Women's World Championship. After all, it is a knock-out tournament. But the first round brought hardly any upsets, the favorites won or drew, hoping for better opportunities in the second game. With one exception: Yuan Yuanling used a lethal counter to win against Marya Muzychuk.

The middle of nowhere

3/18/2015 – 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.

Reykjavik has a winner

3/18/2015 – There is still one round left to go in Reykjavik, but that is irrelevant for the pole position. Erwin l'Ami triumphed yet againt, this time over Hrant Melkumyan, and since all his closest pursuers drew he is now in the lead by 1.5 points, with one round left no one will catch him. l'Ami played fantastic chess and it is clear that the stars, or the Northern Lights, aligned for him.

Women's World Championship ready to rumble

3/17/2015 – After uncertainty and concerns on the fate of the event last year, the FIDE Women's World Championship was announced and organized in a flurry, and is held in Sochi, Russia. All the brightest stars will be playing with the exception of Hou Yifan, who reserves the right to challenge the winner as a result of her Grand Prix victory. Complete info, pairings, and pictures.

L'Ami's rampage continues

3/17/2015 – He seems unstoppable! Even with a bad position today against Julio Granda, Erwin l'Ami was able to overcome the difficulties and emerge victorious. This win puts him a full point ahead of a large pack of players with 6.5/8. With only two rounds to go, things are looking good for l'Ami. In round 9 he plays Hrant Melkumyan, who still hopes to take the title. Update.

The Komodo Files – working with a chess engine (2)

3/16/2015 – His initial foray into working with a chess engine ended in near total disaster, when he was forced to think for himself the old human frailties come to the surface. In round six GM Danny Gormally had worked out the position after move seven virtually to checkmate. "There’s no way in a million years I would have been able to find all the moves," he writes. The engine found them in seconds.

Erwin l'Ami now sole leader in Reykjavik

3/16/2015 – The seventh round of the Open in Reykjavik was heavily contested: on the first eleven boards not a single draw way played, while seven games were won by black and four by white. One of the winners with white was Erwin l'Ami, who defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in 21 moves. With 6.5/7 L'Ami now leads the field, followed by four players with 6.0/7.

Navara and Mamedyarov draw, three lead

3/15/2015 – All eyes were on the first board, of course, as the top two seeds duked it out. Alas, neither side was able to come out on top and the draw paved the way for two players to reach the summit with 5.5/6: Alexander Fier and Erwin l'Ami, both with huge wins with Black. We bring you an analysis of the top match as well as beautiful tactical instances on "lower boards".

Triangle Setup - A complete defense against 1.d4

3/15/2015 – What to do against 1.d4? A question that starts to get urgent when you lose game after game when your opponents moves the annoying d-pawn two squares ahead. Grandmaster Michal Krasenkow offers help. He recommends "The Triangle Setup: A complete defense against 1.d4. A DVD that for Davide Nastasio seemed to be like an answer to his prayers.

Mamedyarov perfect 5.0/5 in Reyk

3/15/2015 – A sole leader has emerged, but it is not by much. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won a fantastic game today, which is of course annotated by Sagar Shah, and leads in Reykjavik. However the pool of players following him with 4.5/5 is vicious, and includes the number two seed David Navara. We expect fabulous fights for the next round, and rumors are that a top GM will visit the event...

The Komodo Files – working with a chess engine

3/14/2015 – After an unsuccessful appearance at the London Chess Classic GM Danny Gormally decided that his chess was stuck in a rut. Perhaps it was time to jump on the gravy train and do what all the top players seem to be doing these days: work with an engine. He started his experiment with Komodo, one of the strongest engines around. Part one of his report in CHESS Magazine.

Six perfect in Reykjavik

3/13/2015 – After four rounds of chess in Reykjavik six players have kept their perfect score. The group is spearheaded by Mamedyarov, but Eljanov is not far behind. An impressive group of players only trails by half a point, so we will see some tough matches tomorrow on those boards trying to keep pace with the leaders. As usual Sagar Shah brings analysis, and Alina l'Ami gifts us impressive pictures.

Dark clouds

3/13/2015 – 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.

Barclaycard Yes2Chess tournament 2015

3/13/2015 – Like to play in an international chess tournament, via the Internet, as a school team? If you do you can win a fun-filled trip to London in June, to take part in Finals Weekend. The tournament is open to primary/ elementary school teams from eight countries. Participation is free. In this report we are going to tell you how to register and play. It's really quite simple!

Study of square utilization and occupancy

3/13/2015 – Inspired by the chess visualization study by Seth Kadish, featured at ChessBase last year, Devin Camenares, a professor in biology, created a suite of tools to analyze the square utilization and occupancy for any and all pieces and squares, across all moves and positions in all games in a database. He then applied this to the games of Fischer and Carlsen.

Reykjavik is heating up

3/12/2015 – Well, perhaps not in a literal sense, as the temperatures are quite low and gloves are not something that should be lost. However inside the Harpa concert hall, the venue of the Reykjavik Open, the boards are on fire. Many attacking games and decisive combinations were seen in rounds two and three. Sagar Shah brings us annotations, while Alina l'Ami brings us photographs!.

Europe turns a page: Partnership ECU-ChessBase

3/12/2015 – After some rocky years the new leadership of the European Chess Union has adopted a new media policy to better promote chess in the online community. ChessBase has become the Media Partner and will promote ECU events with special coverage. The Hamburg software company will also provide free or heavily discounted software for member nations. Press release.