Sinquefield 08: Carlsen forgives Nakamura

9/1/2015 – Today's round featured three solid draws, after which two very long games were the only ones left in the playing hall. Giri suffered slightly against Caruana as he lost a pawn and had to defend, but it wasn't too hard. Nakamura, however, is the one that was lucky. Carlsen's prep basically gave him a winning position, but the World Champion was careless, and Naka found a way to survive!

September 2015 ratings: Burke youngest 2600 ever

8/31/2015 – It was certainly a month for remarkable results, and the foremost will be untitled John M. Burke, born in 2001, who rises to 2601, breaking Wei Yi's record as youngest 2600 player ever, and is now the no.2 US Junior. Ding Liren continues to rise, and is now world no.7, the highest ranked Chinese ever, though none can beat Battsooj Amina, who went from beginner to master in four months.

Hans Olav Lahlum: historian, organiser, novelist

8/31/2015 – The Norwegian Hans Olav Lahlum is a historian who published political biographies but also a series of successful and critically acclaimed crime novels. He is also a passionate chess player, organiser, and television commentator. In a detailed interview he talks about his chess career, crime writing and reveals why he loves to do the things he does.

Sinquefield 07: Aronian's day

8/31/2015 – What a day for the Armenian celebrity, former number two in the world: Levon Aronian was the biggest winner today with a fine positional victory against Hikaru Nakamura. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen saw his dreams of a comeback hamstrung as he lost a dramatic game against Alexander Grischuk in a long endgame that went down to the final seconds!

Sinquefield 06: Nakamura Brilliant!

8/30/2015 – In a showing of excellent attacking chess, Nakamura took So's deep preparation, shredded it over the board and won a brilliant game with multiple sacrifices. So simply seemed to have no clue where the ball was rolling today and was properly punished for it. It was not the only important win today, as MVL and Grischuk also won their games. This puts MVL, Naka and Giri 0.5 from the leaders.

World Solving Championship – solutions (2)

8/29/2015 – Are you interested in chess problems? Many-movers, help and selfmate? In the solutions to the second part of his series John Nunn explains how these problems work and how the mind of an world-class problemist goes about finding the solution. You should replay John's wonderfully lucid explanations to get a taste of the bizarre beauty of chess problems.

Five leaders in Abu Dhabi

8/28/2015 – Going into the rest day after six rounds we have five players in the lead at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2015 – Grandelius, Rapport, Areshchenko, Gupta and Kravtsiv. A horde of nine players are just half a point behind the leaders. With three rounds to go this promises to be a very exciting finish. We have an illustrated report with lots of pictures, videos and analysis right from the venue.

Smooth shortcut

8/28/2015 – 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.

Nagesh Havanur on ChessBase Magazine #167

8/28/2015 – 1586 OTB games, 107 annotated, and 12,450 CC games, 33 games annotated. Apart from this basic supply you have 14 topical opening surveys, exercises in opening traps, middle game tactics and endgame technique. In ChessWorld review Prof. Nagesh Havanur rates this CBM issue as "Recommended" and illustrates his opinion with a dramatic example from its contents.

Sinquefield 05: Topalov loses, Carlsen resurges

8/28/2015 – The tournament has become an even tighter race. Topalov had a fantastic start with 3.0/4 and played very strong chess, but Fabiano Caruana, who had a rough start with 0.0/2, has beaten the Bulgarian, escaped from the basement and Topalov is no longer leading. With Carlsen winning yet another game, the Norwegian is now tied for first with Aronian, who drew Grischuk.

Online Database: annotating openings like a pro

8/27/2015 – One of the somewhat innocuous looking tools of the latest generations of ChessBase is the ability to access the Online Database, but for any student or competitor, this is a tool of incomparable value. It has two manifestations in the program. The first, used by all ChessBase writers to annotate games, allows you to easily and instantly consult the openings and games linked to them.

Sinquefield 04: Aronian Brilliant Again!

8/27/2015 – An unusual day today, as we saw four (!) opposite colored bishops positions. It’s an unusual circumstance, which can make the game either extremely exciting or very dull. Unfortunately for us today there were four games in which, because of the opposite colored bishops, the game was simply drawn. To make up for it Aronian played a brilliant sacrifice against So, and ties for the lead.

Interview with Emil Sutovsky

8/26/2015 – After a superb win at the Biel Masters, Emil Sutovsky sat down for a talk with Dorsa Derakhshani for an in-depth interview, in which he described several memorable wins, earning him accolades such as 'best player in open positions' given by Levon Aronian himself. He also discusses his chess development, as well as his many responsibilities as president of the ACP.

World Solving Championship – solutions (1)

8/26/2015 – In a two-part article on the competition (where he finished second) John Nunn presented a selection of the problems and studies that had to be solved under ‘school exam’ conditions in two days of six sessions. Today he shows us the thought processes that go through a solver's mind and presents full and detailed solutions to the first three compositions in his unique didactic style.

Sinquefield 03: Carlsen recovering

8/26/2015 – Round three games were much slower paced than the ones we saw in the first two rounds but that doesn’t mean that it was a peaceful round at all. The winners of the round were Carlsen and So. Carlsen managed to make a comeback and now is tied for second in the tournament (behind Topalov, who is still leader). The other decisive game was So, who took advantage of Grischuk's time trouble.

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.