A question of sport

8/25/2015 – With chess missing out on the shortlist for inclusion at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, John Foley, Non-Executive Director of the English Chess Federation, takes a look at why chess isn't recognised as a sport in the UK, as it is in over 100 countries – and the case for change. After all even the English Bridge Union is going to court to have their card game recognised as a sport.

The Ladies ask for a dance

8/25/2015 – 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!

How Sutovsky won the Biel Masters 2015

8/25/2015 – The main focus of the Biel Chess festival was on the Grandmaster tournament, won by GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. But this was not the only strong chess event held. The Master tournament which had 78 participants, 26 of whom were grandmasters, was won by GM Emil Sutovsky with 8.0/11. An illustrated report with pictures, interview with the winner and deep annotations by the runner-up.

Sinquefield 02: Topalov new leader

8/25/2015 – It started relatively dull, but boy did today's round pick up quickly! Two draws between MVL vs. Aronian and Giri vs. So were rather boring, but it was more than offset by the other three games! Grischuk beat Anand in tough struggle, while the Caruana and Carlsen game went literally down to the last seconds. Finally, in a long and beautiful positional game, Topalov became the new leader.

Tromsø 2014 - One Year later

8/24/2015 – About one year ago the Chess Olympiad 2014 took place in Tromsø, Norway. After some troubles the olympiad turned into a real chess festival. With a surprising winner: in the open section the Chinese team won their first olympic gold. Norwegian Thomas Robertsen enjoyed the marvellous days of the olympiad and remembers intense and happy moments.

The 2015 Abu Dhabi Masters begins

8/24/2015 – This event is being held from the 23rd to 31st of August 2015 in the capital city of UAE. 120 players from 35 countries, with 44 grandmasters, are participating. 22 players have a rating of more than 2600. The winner takes home US $12,000. It’s nine round Swiss tournament with the rate of play being one hour 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move. Round one report.

Salem Saleh wins Asian Continental 2015

8/24/2015 – The Asian Continental Championships 2015 were held from the 2nd to the 10th of August 2015 in Al Ain, UAE. Five qualifications spots from the open section for World Cup 2015 and one for the women for World Cup 2016 were at stake along with a total of US $75,000 (50,000 for open and $25,000 for women) in prize money. It was won by host nation's only grandmaster.

CNN interviews Hikaru Nakamura

8/24/2015 – Although mainstream news does occasionally carry chess, it is uncommon unless to report on the World Championship or some incident. CNN recently caught up with America’s top chess player, Hikaru Nakamura for a fairly in-depth interview that spanned no fewer than 40 questions. In it he talks about how he started, other interests, and chess and life today.

Sinquefield 01: Five decisives games!

8/24/2015 – What a scintillating start to the 2015 Sinquefield Cup! We could not have asked for more: a round full of brilliancies, attacks, and many confusing moves! Topalov beat Carlsen again, and it was not the only repeat performance... Giri also beat Grischuk, like in Norway! Anand was unable to hold against Nakamura, while So commited suicide against MVL while Aronian played a brilliancy.

Sinquefield Cup starts Sunday

8/23/2015 – It is time! The second leg of the Grand Chess Tour, and the strongest tournament of the year, is starting tomorrow! Today there was an autograph session with the players at the Saint Louis Chess Club, as well as a brief opening ceremony to determine the drawing of lots. As fate would have it, there are two repeats from Norway's first round: Giri-Grischuk, and Carlsen-Topalov!

2015 World Cup pairings posted and updated

8/22/2015 – FIDE had published the pairings for the forthcoming mega-event that runs from September 10 through October 5. The massive competition for which players have been qualifying since last year, brings no fewer than 128 players, with some fascinating pairings. Speaking of which, you should know that since they were first published a few days ago, the pairings have already been changed.

Besiktas wins 2015 Turkish Super League

8/22/2015 – After seven rounds, Wesley So’s team, Deniz Su Aquamatch led with a perfect 7.0/7, until round eight when it faced its rival, Besiktas. It was the match of the event, as Besiktas defeated the leaders, and from there on, never let go of the lead. The top players all had good days and bad, and in round twelve Wesley So lost to Cheparinov, but bounced back with a win over Zhigalko.

Bauer and Skripchenko are French Champions

8/21/2015 – It was an intense fight to the end, and neither the men’s nor women’s championships were decided before the very end. IM Almira Skripchenko made it a sixth title though was challenged hard by her rival Nino Maisuradze who came second. Christian Bauer defeated Tigran Gharamian in a thrilling tiebreak for his second title after a first 19 years ago!

Rubinstein Memorial in Polanica Zdrój

8/21/2015 – The International Chess Festival in Polanica Zdrój wants to keep the memory of Akiba Rubinstein alive. It once was one of the most popular tournaments in the world and players like Smysłow, Karpov, and Gelfand took part. Then the tournament fell into crisis. But it is still an attractive and strong tournament. The 51. edition begins today.

Vision test

8/21/2015 – 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.

Sun and Chess: The Erice Open in Sicily

8/21/2015 – It is pleasant to have a high rating but that is no need to forget the nice sides of playing chess tournaments: traveling, taking a holiday, enjoying the sun and relaxing on the beach to be well prepared for some serious thinking. The Erice Open in Sicily offers a good opportunity to combine holidays with a chess tournament. As Diana Mihajlova can confirm.

Superfinals: Tomashevsky and Goryachkina win

8/21/2015 – The final round of the Russian Superfinals brought no upsets: Evgeny Tomashevsky drew comfortably with White against Peter Svidler and became Russian Champion 2015 when his closest rival, Sergey Karjakin, could not win against Dmitry Jakovenko. Aleksandra Goryachkina followed a similar policy: she drew with Kateryna Lagno and that was enough to win the tournament.

How many points should you get for a draw?

8/20/2015 – Arno Nickel is chess fan and a GM of correspondence chess. But he is worried about the future of correspondence chess. In June he published an Open Letter, in which he proposed to change the scoring system to address the problem of the high number of draws in correspondence chess. With a survey he invited chessplayers to a discussion. Now he presents the answers.

Tomashevsky and Goryachkina close to the title

8/20/2015 – 10 of 11 rounds are played in the Superfinals and Evgeny Tomashevsky and Aleksandra Goryachkina have good chances to win. After a win in round nine and a draw against his closest rival, Sergey Karjakin, Tomashevsky now is half-a-point ahead of Karjakin. Goryachkina also fought off her rivals and is half-a-point ahead of the field. Games and analyses.

Watch Fischer enact his mental chess match

8/20/2015 – Pawn Sacrifice, the 2015 American biographical thriller film directed by Edward Zwick and starring Tobey Maguire (whom we remember as Spiderman, or more fondly from Seabiscuit) as Bobby Fischer, is set to be released in the US on September 18, 2015. Huffington Post has posted an exclusive featurette, to which we have added some clips from the past. Happy viewing.

Ostroda: 39th World Solving Championship (2)

8/20/2015 – After the first day of the 2015 Championship our reporter was in the lead, but faced a stiff challenge on the second day from the reigning champion Kacper Piorun. In the end the young Polish solver secured the title by just half a point, while John Nunn won silver medal and took gold in the Seniors category, thirty points clear of the field. We must remind you: John turned sixty this year.

CBM 167 and Bailet’s immortal combination

8/19/2015 – As we all know studying and practicing tactics is an important component in boosting your chess skill. An excellent way to keep yourself sharp is to solve the selection of tactical positions that have occurred in recent tournament play – selected and annotated by IM Oliver Reeh, who presents them as an interactive quiz with loads of instructive points. Here's a truly brilliant example.

Ostroda: 39th World Solving Championship (1)

8/19/2015 – The 2015 Championship was staged in a beautiful lakeside hotel in Poland, with the world's best chess problem solvers being tested to the utmost in six solving sessions spread over two days – with the problems to be solved under ‘school exam’ conditions. One of the top competitors is grandmaster John Nunn, who sent us a report with a selection of championship compositions.

Li Chao leads in Szeged

8/19/2015 – The City of Szeged and the Hungarian Chess Federation organize a six-game match between Leko Peter (Hungary) and Li Chao (China), aimed at helping Leko prepare for the upcoming World Cup at Baku. However it seems to be the Chinese player who is ready for the competition. After two solid draws, Li Chao won two in a row and currently leads by a comfortable. 3.0-1.0...