Tbilisi Rd6: Poisoned Pawn

2/21/2015 – Two decisive games in Tbilisi, but very different ones! The highlight of the day was Radjabov's demolition of his opponent... using an extremely sharp line of the Poisoned Pawn Najdorf. Svidler on the other hand took advantage of a tactical mistake from Andreikin to win a pawn and a long endgame. This is Svidler's first win of the event, while Andreikin falls to last place.

"Le Tournoi", French movie on chess coming soon

2/21/2015 – Chess is clearly in fashion, and you had better put a note in your calendars, since on April 29, a new film based on chess will be released in France and then worldwide. The French film “Le Tournoi” or “The Tournament” will depict a young champion who enjoys playing games even off the board, until he meets a player untouched by them. Here are pictures, the synopsis, and teasers.

European Championship about to begin

2/21/2015 – The European Championship is an important tournament and part of the World Championship cycle. It offers aspiring players the chance to join the world's best players by getting one of the 23 tickets for the World Cup which will be played later this year. The European Championship will start on Monday, February 23rd, in Jerusalem. Press release.

Tbilisi Rd5: Three wins

2/20/2015 – Three decisive games today in Tbilisi. Both Jobava and Dominguez earned their first scalps today in very different methods. Jobava wildly sacrificed a piece, which didn't quite work, but it confused Mamedyarov enough to give the Georgian a winning attack. A blunder gave Mamedyarov a draw, but it was blundered right back! Kasimdzhanov also won against a luckless Peter Svidler.

Vladimir Kramnik: My Path to the Top

2/20/2015 – Watching Vladimir Kramnik analyse his games is pure pleasure. The former World Champion eloquently reveals his thoughts during the game, showing a blend of deep and sophisticated variations with acute positional assessments. A few years back Kramnik recorded a ChessBase DVD in which he describes his "Path to the Top". It is still worth viewing - every minute of it.

Hanging on

2/20/2015 – 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.

Deep Blue's cheating move

2/19/2015 – It is a sign of just how impactful the famous Deep Blue match against Kasparov was in 1997, that 18 years later, books come out citing it still, and magazines such as Time cast their eye on it even today. Here we take a close look at the most controversial move from game two, that prompted Kasparov to accuse the Deep Blue team of cheating. The results may surprise you.

Zurich Rapid and playoff: Nakamura clinches!

2/19/2015 – What an interesting rapid! It was incredibly cutthroat, with advantages being wasted and counterattacks sprouting out of nowhere. Anand kept is advantage until the decisive game against Nakamura in the fourth round leaving them tied. A late change in rules left the title to be decided by Armageddon, which Nakamura took to win the 2015 Zurich Challenge. Pictures, analysis and results!

Vishy Anand: a passionate portrait - part three

2/19/2015 – Throughout his career Vishy Anand has shown an ability to recover from setbacks. His excellent performance in the Zürich Chess Challenge after a disappointing result at the GRENKE Chess Classic is just one example. This resilience also helped him to become World Junior Champion in 1987. Priyadarshan Banjan tells the story and shows historical pictures.

MyGames: free Cloud Database on the web (2/2)

2/18/2015 – When presented with powerful new tools such as the Cloud Database, or notably the free MyGames web application that combines with it, it is often difficult to fully appreciate the new options they offer. Here is a step-by-step guide to use both tools and methods so that players, teachers and organizers can leverage them to improve workflow and productivity.

Tbilisi Rd4: Tomashevsky extends lead

2/18/2015 – Tomashevsky won again, this time with black against Mamedyarov (in an unusual note, Black has won in all of the Azerbaijani's games in this tournament!). This puts him a full point ahead of Giri, Jakovenko and now Grischuk. Grischuk was able to best Jobava, who only has 0.5/4 and seems to be in a free fall after an already disastrous Wijk aan Zee. Round four report.

Zurich Rd5: Anand wins Classical

2/18/2015 – A peaceful day in Zurich as the three games were drawn, and not in the most exciting of ways. The White players did not risk much and were not rewarded with any winning chances. Anand wins the Classical portion of the tournament by half a point under normal scoring systems; in Zurich this means he has a full point lead going into the defining phase: tomorrow's rapid portion.

Viktor Korchnoi interview: true to himself

2/18/2015 – Three years ago, one could easily speak to Viktor Korchnoi face to face, but today this interview would have been impossible without assistance: the legendary grandmaster has difficulty with his speech. It's thanks to Genna Sosonko that Korchnoi's thoughts were conveyed. One thing is clear though, Korchnoi's sharp tongue and wit have not lost their edge.

Zurich Rd4: Anand topples Nakamura, leads!

2/17/2015 – Viswanathan Anand is here to show that he can still win tournaments! After a very bad Baden-Baden he is now leading the Zurich Chess Challenge with half a point over Hikaru Nakamura, who he defeated today in the same variation he used to beat Magnus Carlsen in last year's World Championship Match. With two draws on the other boards the Indian is comfortably in first place.

No prize-money in Casablanca

2/17/2015 – From 28. January to 4. February an international tournament was played in Casablanca, Morocco. The decent prize-fund attracted 100 players, among them several titleholders. Play took place in an old church, which was beautiful but cold. Sergey Tiviakov won on tie-break ahead of Vadim Malakhatko. However, the players still wait for their prize-money.

Tbilisi Rd3: Tomashevsky emerges leader

2/17/2015 – A nice round over all in Tbilisi, despite two games finishing in very dull draws. Tomashevsky was victorious against Grischuk after a series of minor mistakes from both sides in heavy time pressure. Mamedyarov scores his second win with black, putting him right behind Tomashevsky. Also with 2.0/3 are Giri and now Jakovenko, who received a nice gift from the eccentric Jobava.

Billionaire Richard Branson: chess is best

2/17/2015 – The idea of a self-made billionaire always fascinates not just because of the fabulous wealth that implies, but how they achieved it. Among the most fascinating is unquestionably Richard Branson, with businesses ranging from records, airlines, to even space travel. In his personal blog he says "chess may just be the best game in the world." and that he has played thousands of chess games.

Zurich Legends: A match of equals!

2/17/2015 – The final two games between Viktor Korchnoi and Wolfgang Uhlmann saw an exchange of blows, with Korchnoi winning the third with the black pieces. But just when it seemed sure he would win the match then he blundered a piece in game four and the match of the legends was drawn 2-2. The event brought particular pleasure to an eleven-year-old chess fan.

Passed pawns in the country of the bishops

2/17/2015 – 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!

Tbilisi Rd2: Kasimdzhanov only winner

2/17/2015 – It was certainly a strange round, as many players squandered relatively big advantages. Most notably Dominguez was up the exchange for most of the game against Svidler, but never found the win. Grischuk and Giri also seemed to be better against Andreikin and MVL. At the end of the day the only win was a flashy spectacle, involving a piece sacrifice, by Kasimdzhanov.

Zurich Rd3: The bluff pays off; Nakamura 2800!

2/16/2015 – It was only yesterday that the World saw its ninth 2800 as Giri crossed that magical barrier, but already Nakamura makes it old news by becoming the first player from the Americas to be 2800 by beating Karjakin. A gamble paid off handsomely as the Russian was unable to remember his opening preparation in a massively complicated position. The American wins, and leads!

Just Checking: Alejandro Ramirez

2/16/2015 – Each "New in Chess Magazine" contains 106 pages full of chess: portraits, interviews, chess history, tournament reports, book reviews, and lots of material to improve your chess. In the "Just Checking" questionnaire "New in Chess" asks chessplayers to reveal tastes, thoughts, fears, and convictions. ChessBase author and editor Alejandro Ramirez gave the answers.

Zurich Legends: All even at 1:1

2/16/2015 – These days chess is clearly a young man’s game. World Champion Magnus Carlsen is 24 years old, his future competitors for the title, like Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Wesley So, are all younger than him. In a time when chess is getting younger and younger it is a refreshing change to see two high-class octogenarians battle it out against each other. Big report with commentary.

MyGames: free Cloud Database on the web (1/2)

2/15/2015 – Among ChessBase's new free software designed for web browsers is the rather innocuous sounding 'MyGames', but the sheer power and possibilities of this particular service are not to be underestimated. It is intimately tied in with the new Cloud Database service in ChessBase 13, but allows a wide range of possibilities for players, teachers, and tournament organizers.