Wesley So shooting for the stars (1/2)

12/20/2014 – Wesley So is hardly a new name on the horizon as one of the youngest grandmasters ever, and a prodigy in every sense of the word. He went to the United States on a chess scholarship, where he has now transferred as a player, but after a series of successes in 2014, breaking into the world's Top 10, he has decided to go all out for chess after announcing his next goal of 2800.

Al Ain Chess Festival begins

12/19/2014 – The Middle East is currently becoming one of the hubs of world chess. Just a fortnight after the super-strong Qatar Open another powerful tournament begins on the 19th of December in Al Ain, UAE, with 44 GMs (17 above Elo 2600) and 19 IMs. The event was kicked off with a one-day rapid which was won by UAE GM Salem A. R. Saleh. Big pictorial report by Sagar Shah.

Fierce resistance

12/19/2014 – 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.

European Individual Championship Jerusalem 2015

12/19/2014 – It's an 11-round Swiss, open to players from the 54 European federations regardless of title or ratings. The prize fund is a minimum 100,000 Euros, and there are plenty of opportunities to obtain norms. The Championship runs from Feb. 23 to March 8th, 2015. On the free Saturdays there are special guided excursions in one of the most historically interesting places on the planet.

Chess Eruption by Mount Etna (1/2)

12/19/2014 – In the summer, a very successful tournament ‘Terre degli Elimi’ took place in Erice. Now, at the beginning of the winter, on the opposite side of the island, another successful tournament has just concluded. The First International Etna Chess Festival took place from 5 – 8 December, in Nicolosi, on the eastern side of Sicily, on the slopes of Etna volcano.

The future is here: Cloud Databases (1)

12/18/2014 – Are you perfectly happy with ChessBase 12? Do you feel that there is no need to upgrade to the latest version, ChessBase 13? Many people will reply with a resounding "yes" – until they find out the specifics of some very exciting new functions the program offers. One important item which is galvanizing many is the ability to store and share chess games in the Cloud.

Remembering Torre... and visiting Cancun!

12/18/2014 – The infamous Torre Attack is named after Mexico's best chess player ever: Carlos Torre. A talent that was unable to fulfill his potential, Torre remains a cherished memory in Mexico and especially in Yucatan. The Carlos Torre Memorial will begin tomorrow, as a warm-up we bring you a short bio by Zenon Franco and photographic impressions of the beaches in the Yucatan peninsula.

Basque in Beijing: Day Two

12/18/2014 – In the open, it was all about Nepomniachtchi, who won with a brilliant score of 7.5/10. Radjabov was able to beat Harikrishna 2-0 in the last round to take silver. In the women's Zhao Xue could only score half a point on the second day, but it was still good enough for bronze. Hou Yifan claimed gold, while Kosteniuk claimed silver. Alina l'Ami reports from Beijing.

Daniel King: The art of using your pawns

12/17/2014 – "Pawn play is a very important factor if you want to become good at endgames and a good chess player in general. So how do we go about improving our understanding of pawns? There are a lot of books out there, but there is one DVD which I would whole-heartedly recommend to each and every player below the Elo of 2200." This is the opinion of our reviewer Sagar Shah.

Profile of a Prodigy: Samuel Sevian

12/17/2014 – At age 13 years 10 months and 27 days, Samuel Sevian became the world's youngest grandmaster, and the youngest grandmaster in US history, beating Ray Robson's record. His course has been a list of 'youngest evers', and his determination in the recent Saint Louis Invitational, where he clinched the 2500 rating, showed in his games. Here is a look at his spectacular chess resume.

Basque in Beijing: Day One

12/16/2014 – The Basque portion of the World Mind Sport Games has started in China! This unique event pitches the players against each other in two simlutaneous games, one with white and one with black - eliminating the 'color' advantage of every round. We have new faces as the leaders in the events: Zhao Xue leads in the women's while in the open it is Ian Nepomniatchi that is ahead.

Carlsen and a Parade of Chess Champions (2)

12/16/2014 – In 1974 Bobby Fischer wanted his match against Karpov to go over ten wins, not counting draws. His reason for longer matches was to determine who is the better player and to eliminate accidental wins, for example by opening traps or unsuspected novelties. Bobby would never have agreed to a 12-game championship, says Huffington Post columnist Lubomir Kavalek and shows why.

Monster knights and ghosts

12/16/2014 – 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! And don't miss the next endgame magic show on Wednesday!

Having fun with the Mega (1)

12/16/2014 – Sure, with it's 6.1 million games the Mega Database invites work and research. You can prepare for opponents, find thousands of games played in the Najdorf or the Dragon, and check how 2700+ players treat the King's Indian, the Grünfeld, or the Sicilian. But you can also have a lot of fun. For instance, by enjoying the annotations of today's best players.

Similar Podiums in China

12/15/2014 – In the open section Grischuk and Vachier-Lagrave managed to win gold and silver, respectively, again! The bronze medal was taken by Radjabov after he finished the blitz tournament with an excellent 7.0/10. In the women's section Hou Yifan annihilated the field and won by a full three point advantage, while Gunina took silver from Muzychuk in the very last second.

LCC-R5: Two Londons and a Catalan

12/15/2014 – The tournament in London finished with former World Champion Viswanathan Anand scoring a win against Michael Adams to catch up with the leaders, Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri, who drew their games. Two of the games started with the ominous moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6, formerly known as the Berlin, but now renamed the London Defence by Anand. Round five (final) report.

LiveBook: the Opening Oracle

12/15/2014 – Among several groundbreaking technologies ChessBase has introduced in the last years, such as various cloud functions, possibly the most original of them all is the LiveBook. What is it? Imagine every position that was analyzed with an engine being stored in a single giant opening book that everyone could access. That is the LiveBook, and in it you will find a treasure trove of novelties.

U16 Olympiad began in Gyor

12/15/2014 – Judit Polgar promotes chess whenever she can. At the moment she supports the U16 Olympiad in Gyor, Hungary. 54 teams from more than 40 countries compete. In the past players such as Nigel Short, Wesley So or Kateryna Lahno showed their talent in U16 Olympiads. But future world class player or not, for all participants it will be a memorable chess event.

Blitz in Beijing: Day Two

12/14/2014 – How the standings have changed, at least in the open section! MVL took the day by storm and leads by a full point. Ivanchuk had a solid showing and is only a point behind, as is Grischuk. Aronian is tired for fourth while Leko's disastrous day lands him all the way down in twelfth! Gunina still trails Hou Yifan, though both ladies had a few gifts from their opponents...

LCC-R4: You've just been spacebarred

12/14/2014 – That means, in ChessBase-speak, ‘to play the analysis engine's first choice move’ by pressing the space bar. Anish Giri, who speaks fluent Russian, Dutch and English, used this expression to Hikaru Nakamura. The latter won the only decisive game of the day. Read about two Italian boys who travelled all the way to London to see their hero Fabiano Caruana in our round four report.

Daniel King: Test your Attacking Chess!

12/14/2014 – Mating the king ends the game, attacking the king is fun. And it is something you can learn. GM Daniel King shows you how. On his Powerplay 20 DVD he uses deeply annotated games to show how to conduct an attack, then he invites you to take over and find the moves of the masters. Priyadarshan Banjan looked at the DVD and liked that hard work promises fun.

Carlsen and a Parade of Chess Champions (1)

12/14/2014 – Every world championship evokes the names of previous champions. The most recent saw Anand better prepared, and posing more problems for his younger opponent. Game 2 revealed that the the Berlin Defense would be his main weapon with the black pieces – echoing Kramnik's strategy against Kasparov in 2000. Huffington Post columnist Lubomir Kavalek analyses the results.

Blitz in Bejing: Day One

12/13/2014 – The marathon has begun! The best of the best are battling it out in China and it is time for the blitz portion of the event. A massive 30 blitz games will be played per player in a span of three days. After day one there is a tie for the lead in the open section between Leko, Ivanchuk and Aronian. Meanwhile in the women's Hou Yifan took a little revenge on Gunina.

New York Times on cool young grandmasters

12/13/2014 – In the days of Fischer and Spassky chess stars had national celebrity. In the years since it has flourished in schools and clubs, but interest has languished at the highest levels. It is just a tough sell as a spectator sport, and champions are perceived as esoteric talents without much relevance in the real world. But that may be changing, because of two young GMs. Interesting read.