Jon Speelman's Agony Column #10

7/13/2016 – In this week's "Agony Column" Jon Speelman enters into an analytical dialogue with Aaron Demby Jones, an amateur player from the US. Jones sent in two attacking games, one in which he agonizingly failed to finish a strong attack in style, and one in which he unleashed a brilliant sacrificial to initiate an ecstatic and entertaining king hunt.

Vachier-Lagrave wins Cimannacce Blitz

7/13/2016 – Cimannacce, a village in the mountains of Corsica with a population of just 132 people (!), was host to a strong blitz tournament. World number four Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was the top seed of the event and was up against strong players like Bacrot, Laznicka, Areshchenko, Jones, Grandelius, Zhigalko, etc. The French number one scored 8.0/9 and won the event in style. In this report we have two games sent to us by MVL from the event. We also show you how a high class blitz tournament is organized.

Dortmund, Rd. 3: Kramnik in the style of Tal

7/12/2016 – Round three of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund was a delight for spectators. This was to a huge part due to Vladimir Kramnik, ten times winner in Dortmund, who really seems to be inspired by the flair of this tournament. The former World Champion played with White against Rainer Buhmann and initiated a brilliant sacrificial attack in the spirit of Mikhail Tal. But Buhmann defended well and saved a draw!

Hainan-Danzhou: Ian Nepomniachtchi continues to win

7/12/2016 – Ian Nepomniachtchi continues to dominate the Hainan-Danzhou tournament in China. In round five he played against Women's World Champion Hou Yifan, demonstrated good technique in a knight endgame four vs three on one wing and scored his fourth win. All other games were drawn. Nepomniachtchi now leads with 4.0/5, one point ahead of Yu Yangyi, Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Yue.

Bilbao Masters Final: Carlsen vs Karjakin

7/12/2016 – All players in the field of the "Masters Final" are tremendously strong and deserve attention but the limelight will definitely be on World Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Champion Challenger Sergey Karjakin. It is the last time these two will meet before their World Championship match in November. Follow the games live and with commentary on playchess.com.

Daniel King: Entertain and instruct

7/12/2016 – English Grandmaster Daniel King knows how to do both: to entertain and to instruct. He does it on many ChessBase DVDs and he does it on his PowerPlayChess YouTube channel. Here he recently reviewed "The Big Book of Chess World Championships" by ChessBase editor André Schulz, an entertaining book rich with stories. But if you prefer instruction to entertainment and happen to search for a good answer to 1.d4 you might want to have a look at King's latest DVDs.

Jonathan Speelman pays tribute to Viktor Korchnoi

7/12/2016 – He was arguably the strongest player never to become world champion. Viktor Korchnoi died just under a month ago, and a lot has been written about this super-grandmaster who had played against six generations of chess players. Jonathan Speelman, who faced him 18 times, has written an insightful eulogy in CHESS magazine, which includes a number of little-known pictures.

Barriers

7/12/2016 – 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. Today on the playchess server, 4 pm: Endgame Magic!

Ian Nepomniachtchi with strong start in Danzhou

7/12/2016 – Four games, three wins, one loss - Ian Nepomniachtchi began the 7. Hainan Danzhou tournament energetically. In round four he beat the very solid Peter Leko with Black in a Najdorf Sicilian and is now sole leader with 3.0/4. The other winners of the round were Ding Liren who won against Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Yue who decided the battle of the Wangs against Wang Hao in his favor.

Jeffrey Xiong leads in U.S. Juniors

7/11/2016 – From 7th to 18th July the U.S. Juniors Closed Championship take place in the Chess Club & Scholastic Center in St. Louis. It's a tournament of future U.S. stars and Elo-favorite and top seed is Jeffery Xiong who has a rating of 2624. The 15-year old no longer goes to school but his chess skills brought him an offer to study at the University of Texas. After three rounds he leads with 2.5/3.

Dortmund, Rd. 2: Ponomariov wins

7/11/2016 – In the second round of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund only one player managed to win: Ruslan Ponomariov. He beat Evgeniy Najer and with 1.5/2 he now leads together with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who played a bloodless draw against Vladimir Kramnik. Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu neutralized Fabiano Caruana's winning attempts and German GM Rainer Buhmann tried hard but in vain to win against Leinier Dominguez Perez.

Third Porticcio Open 2016 in Corsica (2)

7/11/2016 – In part one of our report on the Porticcio Open we showed how beautiful the venue is, and described the progress of the top three finishers Areshchenko, Naroditsky and Sengupta. In the second part we bring you details about the players from four to ten, with some lessons to improve your chess. We also tell you the reasons why you should seriously think about making space in your calendar for the fourth edition of the event in 2017. Report from Corsica by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

A Summer Chess Festivity in Jerusalem

7/11/2016 – The National Cup games in Israel are a traditional one-day rapid team competition. For the first time this popular event was hosted by the Israeli capital, Jerusalem. Alongside this massive team competition with 38 teams was a series of parallel activities for aficionados and children, with balloons, chess, arts and craft, chess, actors, and more chess! An illustrated report.

Bu Xiangzhi takes lead in Danzhou

7/10/2016 – After winning against Vassily Ivanchuk in round three of the category 20 grandmaster tournament in Danzhou, the Chinese Grandmaster Bu Xiangzhi took sole lead with 2.5/3. Ian Nepomniachtchi won in round three against Wang Yue while Pentala Harikrishna defeated Elo-favorite and Chinese number one Ding Liren, who is having a rough start and is last with 0.5/3.

Dortmund: Najer and Vachier-Lagrave start with a win

7/10/2016 – With four interesting games of which two had a winner the "Sparkassen Chess Meeting" in Dortmund is off to a promising start. Defending champion Fabiano Caruana wanted too much against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and lost, while German Grandmaster Rainer Buhmann did not want enough and also lost. Leinier Dominguez Perez drew a long endgame against Vladimir Kramnik and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu played a tactical draw against Ruslan Ponomariov.

Chengdu Rd. 6: Four draws, two wins

7/9/2016 – 24 of the 36 games that have been played by now in the Women's Grand Prix in Chengdu ended in a draw, a 66% drawing percentage, unusually high for a women's tournament. But round six followed the trend: four of the six games ended in a draw, two had a winner. Mariya Muzychuk won against Pia Cramling and Antoaneta Stefanova defeated Lela Javakhishvili. Tournament leader Humpy Koneru played a short draw against Ju Wenjun and now leads with 4.5/6.

Strong grandmaster tournament begins in Danzhou, China

7/9/2016 – The 7th grandmaster tournament in Danzhou on the Chinese island of Hainan has an attractive and strong line-up. Six top players from China, including Women's World Champion Hou Yifan, test their skills against each other and four international top players. In the first round Ian Nepomniachtchi won against Ding Liren, Bu Xiangzhi defeated Pentala Harikrishna and Wang Yue won against Hou Yifan. The other games ended in a draw.

Areshchenko wins the 3rd Porticcio Open 2016

7/8/2016 – Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea located to the south of mainland France. It was home to an extremely strong tournament – the 3rd Porticcio Open 2016. Ten players above the rating of 2600 participated in the event, which ended in a six way tie. The winner was Alexander Areshchenko who went back home richer by €3000. ChessBase authors Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal were in Porticcio and they bring us a beautiful report rich in pictures, videos and detailed analysis.

Kortschnoj Classic IV

7/8/2016 – 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.

Chengdu, Rd 5: Ju Wenjun and Olga Girya win

7/8/2016 – After a rest day, which the players used to get better acquainted with Chinese culture, play in the Women's Grand Prix in Chengdu resumed with round five. Olga Girya won against Bela Khotenashvili, Ju Wenjun defeated Anna Muzychuk, the other four games ended in a draw. Ju Wenjun now has 3.5/5 and shares second and third place with Harika Dronavalli. Humpy Koneru leads with 4.0/5.

ChessBase's powerful games replayer for *Free*

7/7/2016 – You may have noticed the new replayer that is now used in the news articles. This powerful new tool brings a number of great features never seen before. For example, you can annotate games, analyze with an engine, and more, all directly in the replayer. However, if you have a chess page or blog, you can use this replayer with all the features and embed it in your page for free!

The 44. Sparkassen Chess Meeting Dortmund starts on Saturday

7/7/2016 – On Saturday, the 44. Sparkassen Chess Meeting begins in Dortmund. From 9th to 17th July some of the world's best players compete against the best German players. Vladimir Kramnik will play his 22nd tournament in Dortmund and hopes to win his eleventh title. But he has strong rivals such as Fabiano Caruana, the winner of the two previous events, or Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, currently number four in the world.

Gustafsson: Black Repertoire against 1.e4

7/7/2016 – Jan Gustafsson’s ChessBase DVD Black Repertoire against 1.e4: Open Games covers everything in 1.e4 e5 except the main lines of the Spanish (though it covers Spanish sidelines). "I believe that a basic knowledge of 1.e4 e5 from Black’s perspective is a kind of foundational knowledge for any strong player," writes reviewer Zhigen Lin. "I have no problem in saying that this is hands down the best openings DVD I have ever seen."

Huffington: Carlsen leads and quits Grand Tour

7/6/2016 – Magnus Carlsen leads the Grand Chess Tour after the speed events in Paris and Leuven. But the world chess champion will not be around for the next two established classical events in Saint Louis and London. He is leaving the competition, mainly to prepare for the world championship match against Sergey Karjakin, scheduled for November in New York City. Carlsen’s exit gives other players a chance to win it all.