Attacking with the Benkö Gambit - Part 2

3/14/2016 – The Benkö is an attractive weapon against 1.d4. GM Alejandro Ramirez (photo) has used this opening successfully for years. In part 1 of his two volume series on the gambit he explains what Black should do if White enters Benkö lines. In part 2 of the series he shows how Black should react if White avoids the Benkö. Good to know - not only for Benkö players.

Women's WCh. G8: Hou Yifan half point from title

3/13/2016 – After battles with both players booked to the teeth, game eight steered away from hypertheoretical debates with an offbeat Catalan. The position culminated in a blocked center with a space advantage for White, and chances for a kingside buildup, but an inaccuracy allowed Black to gain a valuable tempo, and after the queens left the board, so had the fight. Illustrated report.

Candidates R03: Aronian beats Topalov

3/13/2016 – The tradition of one decisive game per day continues at the World Championship Candidates 2016 in Moscow: with a black win Levon Aronian joined the leaders at 2.0/3. It was by far the most interesting day so far – all the games had some or the other critical moment in them. Let’s take a closer look – we have extensive Elo-boosting analysis and some exclusive pictures from the venue in our Round Three report.

AlphaGo vs Lee Sedol: history in the making

3/13/2016 – It was history in the making, and considerably sooner than anyone expected, whether players or programmers. AlphaGo, the Go program by DeepMind, has effectively won a five-game match after a 3-0 start against one of the world’s best players, Lee Sedol. The match will be played out to the end, and in the meantime here is a look at the match, AlphaGo, and what makes it so special.

Candidates R02: Nakamura implodes, Karjakin strikes!

3/12/2016 – Svidler against Topalov was a sedate draw. Anand and Aronian played a theoretical battle where both of them were excellently prepared. Giri and Caruana’s game promised quite a bit, but in the end also finished in a draw. The game of the day was surely Sergey Karjakin’s victory over Hikaru Nakamura. The Russian put on the slow stove pressure and Nakamura simply self-destructed. Detailed game analysis.

Women's WCh. G7: Long fight, but no winner

3/11/2016 – Possibly the most apt description of the seventh game was a mutual war of attrition. For the third time an Open Spanish was the battlefield of choice, and the preparation of both players was suitably deep. A very long fight ensued in which chances appeared for both sides, but nothing decisive, and after 81 moves they called it a day. Report with analysis by GM Mikhalchishin.

Candidates R01: Anand the first to score

3/11/2016 – Today, the 2016 World Championship Candidates tournament finally took off in the Central Telegraph building in Moscow. And what a fighting round it was! Although there was only one decisive game, all the players tried really hard. Like in 2014, Vishy Anand is the only player to lead the event with 1.0/1 after he beat Veselin Topalov. We have extensive and Elo-boosting analysis of all four games.

The second diagonal

3/11/2016 – 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.

Remembering Bobby – Part 1

3/11/2016 – Eight years ago Bobby Fischer, American prodigy and World Champion passed away at the age of 64 (the significance of that number is not lost on our readers). Today he would now be 73, and to celebrate his birthday just passed on March 9th, we bring you a series of articles on the life and games of this legendary player. Let's start from the beginning.

Opening ceremony at the Candidates 2016

3/11/2016 – The biggest chess extravaganza of 2016, the World Championship Candidates Tournament, is just hours away. The first round will be played at 3 p.m. local time on the 11th of March in the Central Telegraph building in Moscow. After playing the Aeroflot Blitz in the afternoon, Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal made their way to the opening ceremony and sent us some exclusive material from the Russian capital.

Computer beating top human Go professional

3/10/2016 – Remember how in 1997 World Champion Garry Kasparov lost a match to IMB's Deep Blue? That was a watershed moment in computer history, but Artificial Intelligence has one last insurmountable barrier to cross: beat the best players in the world at the ancient Chinese game of Go. Played on a 19x19 grid the task seemed impossible – until today, when a five-game match has begun in Seoul, Korea. Watch it live.

Najer wins Aeroflot Open, Gelfand is silver

3/10/2016 – After a final hectic sprint in the final round, several players were content to secure their places in the standings, while others fought for more. Among the latter was top-seed Boris Gelfand, whose tie for first place with Evgeny Najer depended on a last-round win, which he pulled off, and a bit of luck. In third was Polish GM Bartel Mateusz. Express report.

Women's WCh. G6: Hou has two-point lead

3/9/2016 – The game started with Muzychuk on the white side of a Giuoco Piano, in which she seemed to have the clear upperhand, and her fans rubbed their hands in the hopes of an equalizing result. Things got complicated and then downright ugly as her knight found itself stranded on the rim, and Hou Yifan flipped the tables for a big win. Report with GM annotations.

Aeroflot, Rd. 8: Evgenyi Najer in sole lead again

3/9/2016 – Eight of nine rounds are played in the Aeroflot Tournament in Moscow and Evgenyi Najer has the best chances to win the tournament. He won in round eight after surviving a harmless opening and a not so harmless speculative piece sacrifice by Vladimir Fedoseev and now leads the field with 6.0/8. Half a point behind follow eight players with 5.5/8 each.

Computer simulates and predicts Candidates winner

3/9/2016 – Although everyone has an opinion on who will win the Candidates, whether as a pundit or a fan, what if you could enter everything you knew about the players into a computer, not just their ratings and recent results, but their playing tendencies, and more, and ask it to give an answer? Two experts did just that and here are the results of millions of simulations.

2016 IMSA Elite mindgames (2/2)

3/9/2016 – Following the Rapid tournaments won by Tan Zhongyi and Mamedyarov respectively, it was time for the Blitz events, which were 30-game marathons, followed by the Basque competitions in which the players play two games at the same time, one with white and one with black. All the modalities and time controls were chosen with public appeal in mind, and they certainly were fun to watch.

Reykjavik Open kicks off

3/9/2016 – The traditional Reykjavik Open is under way in Iceland! This traditional tournament is one of the strongest open in the year, third only to the mammoths of Gibraltar and Qatar. This year's event has a few 2700s, several 2600s and many GMs, but we will get to that later. But before we get into the chess, we bring you a small recap of some sightseeing views from Iceland!

Women's WCh. G5: Another quick draw

3/8/2016 – On Monday Mariya Muzychuk and Hou Yifan had a rest day which they probably mostly spent preparing for the remainder of the match. But in game five on Tuesday neither Hou Yifan who was playing with White nor Mariya Muyzchuk who defended with Black came up with anything exciting and the game quickly petered out to a draw. After five of ten games Hou Yifan now leads by 3-2.

Aeroflot R07: a fight for every point!

3/8/2016 – After seven rounds five players lead at the Aeroflot Open 2016 with 5.0/7 – a pack of 15 players on 4.5/5 follow them. Thanks to the long time control we see a lot of “correctly” played games. But that same time control is the reason why fatigue has started to set in and quite a few blunders took place in the seventh round. We have a collection of interesting positions and impressions from Moscow.

2016 IMSA Elite mindgames (1/2)

3/7/2016 – The IMSA Mindgames, is a bit of an in-between for FIDE, as far as chess is concerned, and the Olympics (the normal one, not the chess specific one). Each year it organizes a series of chess events, with a number of top players, offering medals as well as prizes. In this years event were rapid, blitz and basque chess. Here is a large illustrated report.

Pavel Eljanov: The Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation

3/7/2016 – Pavel Eljanov is one of the world's best players and if you ask him what to play against 1.e4 he will have a clear answer: the Breyer Variation - which also happens to be a favorite of Magnus Carlsen. This line of the Spanish leads to interesting, rich and varied positions, in which understanding is crucial. On a ChessBase DVD Eljanov shares his insights.

Women's WCh. G4: Short but sweet

3/7/2016 – Game four saw a repeat of the Open Spanish in game two with a slight difference. This time both players came armed to the teeth, in both preparation and disposition, and if the game ended in a draw in just 21 moves, there was nothing dull about it. Very sharp tactics dominated the final stages with a sacrificial attack that led to a forced draw. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

Aeroflot Open Rd6: Tough fights and great games

3/6/2016 – It has been a terrific series of fights with none able to break away from the pack for any length of time. At the top are Najer, Gelfand, Bartel and Matlakov with 4.5/6. The tournament has also been a boon to young talents, several of whom are found in the A and B events. In this report are two games with wonderfully instructive analysis by GM Moradiabadi.

Aeroflot, Rd. 5: Najer stays sole leader

3/6/2016 – Round five of the Aeroflot Open in Moscow was peaceful: nine of the ten games at the top boards ended with a draw. This allowed Evgeniy Najer to defend his lead. After round four he was sole leader with 3.5/4, after round five he is sole leader with 4.0/5. But despite the many draws at the top boards round five still saw some interesting chess in Moscow.