European Senior Championships in Eretria

5/17/2015 – The place is almost too beautiful to allow for fighting chess. "You go for nice walks, enjoy the sunny, warm weather, the scenery, the sea, and then you tend to allow a tame draw in the afternoon," said John Nunn, who finished second behind Georgian GM Zurab Sturua. John, who recently turned sixty and was playing in the Over 50 section, has kindly annotated a game for us.

Khanty Rd3: Caruana beats Tomashevsky

5/16/2015 – A huge result for the Grand Prix standings. Evgeny Tomashevsky, who was leading the tournament and the GP series, lost to Fabiano Caruana who is now in the lead with Leinier Dominguez and Peter Svidler - the latter beat Dmitry Jakovenko today in an exchange Spanish. With this series of results Tomashevsky will have to step up his game to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

American Continental Rd1: Welcome to Montevideo

5/16/2015 – The X American Continental Championship has just started in Montevideo, Uruguay with a solid turnout and dozens of grandmasters and masters. Over eleven rounds they will fight for one of four qualifying spots to the next FIDE World Cup, as well as the privileged norm opportunities. Read on to see first impressions with many high-resolution photographs.

Lessons from a 2600+ grandmaster (2)

5/16/2015 – After his successes in three strong back to back tournaments, India GM (and Anand second) Surya Shekhar Gangul provided us with many interesting insights into key games – not just related to calculations and analysis but also to human psychology, preparation and playing under pressure in crucial games. Here's the final game, annotated with quiz questions and very instructive analysis.

Khanty Rd2: Missed Opportunities

5/15/2015 – The second round of the Grand Prix could have been much bloodier. Dominguez was the only one to win today, against Jakovenko, but many missed chances cost important half points. Most importantly Tomashevsky let Grischuk go from a position where the engines even announced forced mate (!). In several other games, one side had an extra pawn but was unable to convert.

Talents in Norway

5/15/2015 – Thanks to Carlsen chess is big in Norway. And Carlsen's teacher, GM Simen Agdestein, still supports young talents. Together with Olga Dolzhykova he founded the Stormester & Stormester Chess School in Oslo and they really teach. In a blitz-simul at a recent training camp the Grandmaster lost against his student Lykke-Merlot Helliesen - she is just six years old.

Automatism

5/15/2015 – 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.

Lessons from a 2600+ grandmaster

5/15/2015 – Recently one of India’s top players scored remarkable successes in strong back to back tournaments. Surya Shekhar Ganguly meticulously annotated some of the games for ChessBase readers. He reveals many interesting points not just related to calculations and analysis but also to human psychology, preparation and playing under pressure in crucial games. With interesting test positions.

Khanty Rd1: Jakovenko, Tomashevsky win

5/14/2015 – A good day for the Russian players, and specially for Evgeny Tomashevsky. The leader of the GP won his first game in Khanty-Mansiysk against Baadur Jobava, despite having a very shaky position from the opening. Dmitry Jakovenko defeated Anish Giri in the most classical of styles: with the pair of bishops into a double rook endgame. The rest of the games in Russia were all drawn.

FIDE threatens exclusion of Bulgaria

5/14/2015 – At the end of last year Bulgarian player Ivan Tetimov, rated 2047, won the Benidorm Open with a score of 8.0/9, gaining 78 rating points. Suspicions arose, the player did not permit a full check and was disqualified. FIDE appointed an Committee to investigate the matter, but the Bulgarian Chess Federation refused to cooperate. After the FIDE threat (update!) the BCF has now replied.

Final GP Begins Tomorrow

5/13/2015 – The final leg of the Grand Prix series is upon us. With two direct qualifying spots to the Candidates Tournament later this year, the Khanty-Mansiysk Grand Prix tournament promises to be an exciting one. Three players are clearly favorites for the spots, Tomashevsky, Caruana and Nakamura, however nothing is set in stone and realistically many players can earn their qualification.

Mihail Marin: Power Strategy 1

5/13/2015 – Did you ever wonder why Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov or Vishy Anand need only seconds to find the right plans? Maybe because they studied chess strategy and classical games. With his DVDs on "Power Strategy" Mihail Marin helps you to do the same "with the expertise of a university professor who patiently explains difficult material in an easily understandable manner".

Tkachiev: How I became a cheater in chess

5/13/2015 – Grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev is a flamboyant character. His most recent escapade: to test how easy it is to cheat in chess. He spent an hour and a half researching the subject, $30 to rent some equipment and a hidden conspirator to wirelessly send him key moves. That was enough to thoroughly trash a colleague of similar strength. Tkachiev had it all recorded on video.

X American Continental Ch in Montevideo

5/13/2015 – The Continental Championship of the Americas will start in a couple of days, qualifying four players to the World Cup and thus to the World Championship cycle. This year, the competition is to be held in the beautiful city of Montevideo in Uruguay, and if that was not enough to attract players, there is also the two norms for one policy.

Caruana switching back to U.S.A.

5/12/2015 – It was a dance that lasted a couple of years. The U.S. Federation had been set on getting back the strongest American citizen for a while now, and they have finally achieved it. A press release issued only moments ago confirms that Fabiano Caruana will be rejoining the U.S. Chess Federation and will be playing under American flag as soon as September of this year.

Russian Rapid- and Blitz-Team Championships

5/12/2015 – After the Russian Team Championship in Sochi Russia's top players were not tired of chess but in the mood for some more fun and played the Russian team championships in rapid and blitz. SHSM Moscow won the rapid event, while "University" had the best blitz players. In the women's tournament Ugra won the rapid event and Moscow the blitz tournament.

Longest dual-free direct mate problem

5/12/2015 – Some days ago we gave you a five-piece endgame puzzle in which you had to find the only square for the white king that forced a win. In addition there was a direct mate in 203 moves to solve – one in which every single move was forced. Today John Nunn, in his inimitable style, explains the solution to this mind-boggling record chess problem. Take a deep breath.

Alejandro Ramirez: Attacking with the Benko

5/10/2015 – The Benko Gambit is a provocative opening, in which Black sacrifices a pawn for long-term compensation. Top players like Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov, and Veselin Topalov all tried this gambit occasionally or regularly. ChessBase editor Alejandro Ramirez also likes the Benko and a while ago revealed its secrets on a DVD. Which is still worth viewing.

Interview with Surya Shekhar Ganguly

5/10/2015 – It was a tour de force: recently one of India’s top players spent a month playing three very strong events, in India, Australia and Thailand, one after another. He finishing first, third and second. In an interview immediately afterwards Surya Ganguly reveals some trade secrets on how to manage such an arduous schedule, successfully. Enlightening, especially for tournament players.

Perfect endgame play, longest direct mate

5/9/2015 – With the advent of tablebases that know every legal position with a given material configuration, giving you a five-piece problem is fairly pointless. The temptation is too great to fire up your chess engine and wait the millisecond it requires to look up the solution. So we have a weekend puzzle for you that is slightly more devious – and tell you about the longest direct mate ever recorded.

Surprises in Nakhchivan

5/9/2015 – It must be something they put in the water, or maybe it is the nature of a conflict zone, but the Nakhchivan Open is unpredictable! None of the top seeds are leading, or even close to that, and even big names such as Hou Yifan and Rustam Kasimdzhanov are seriously struggling. Currently there is a three way tie for first between Pantsulaia, Idani and Safarli with two rounds to go.

Rus Team Champ: SHSM wins Women's section

5/8/2015 – The Open section of the Russian Team Champion had an unexciting last round: Novisibirsk squashed their opponents and easily won the event with a perfect score. Saint Petersburg and Univeristy of Belorechensk split the plit and finished third and second respectively. The Women's section, however, was far more exciting. SHSM was the favorite, but needed a miracle to win the event.

Team work

5/8/2015 – 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.

Erwin l'Ami: Two Knights Defence

5/7/2015 – "A couple of weeks after his brilliant result in Iceland, l’Ami launches his first instructional DVD," writes New in Chess Magazine. Erwin tackles the Two Knights Defence, which arises after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5. It is one of the oldest opening lines in chess history and has intrigued players for many decades! Order it today and get a signed copy.