NRK TV spectacular: Carlsen vs Norway

12/1/2014 – It was his 24th birthday, which Magnus Carlsen celebrated with a game of chess against the entire population of Norway. Using an app that people could download from Google Play or the Apple Store his opponents could play the World Champion, who was in the TV studios of NRK, the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company. Guess who won.

Qatar Masters: Super-Giri leads with 5.0/5

11/30/2014 – Looks like he is doing a Caruana: top Dutch GM Anish Giri has won his five games in the strongest Open of all time, crushing a 2620 GM in round four in just 18 moves, and then beating the number three seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, rated 2757, in the next round with the black pieces. His performance: 3431. We have a big illustrated report with lots of exiting chess to play through and enjoy.

Polgar: Playing Carlsen feels like you're drowning

11/29/2014 – The World Chess Championship in Sochi finished a week ago, but news reports of this achievement and result have not died down. Even the Financial Times has devoted space to analysing the result and interviews people like Judit Polgar on Carlsen's strength. Playing him feels like drowning,” she said. "It's frightening is to see him close to 2,900 points”. Judit thinks he can play even better.

Qatar Masters: four GMs with perfect scores

11/29/2014 – Three rounds have finished in the strongest Open ever held (92 GMs, 56 over 2600, 14 over 2700). Four players have won all three games, 19 are half a point behind. Before they start battering each other down the ladder we have annotated chess highlights from the first two rounds for you, and a big pictorial report that shows the joys and suffering of the game we love.

Kasparov vs Habu, Chess vs Shogi legend

11/29/2014 – Yohiharu Habu is a legend in Shogi, the Japanese version of chess. He is also a 2400+ Western chess player, one of the best in Japan. To promote an upcoming human vs computer event Habu played an exhibition two game rapid chess match against another legend – who plays the game we all know. In this encounter Garry Kasparov had, in his own words, 'everything to lose'.

Ukrainian Championships: Kuzubov, Muzychuk win

11/28/2014 – The Ukrainian Championship was a strong tournament with an Elo average of 2659 (category 17). Before the last round three players shared the lead and after a last-round win Yuriy Kuzubov won on tie-break. Things were much clearer in the women's tournament. Here Anna Muzychuk smoothly won with 7.0/9, not losing a single game. Report and games...

Carlsen interview after the match

11/28/2014 – A lot of people enjoyed our report on the closing ceremony of the World Championship in Sochi. Immediately after the celebrations, which were attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, FIDE's chief press officer, the enchanting Anastasiya Karlovich, sat down for a one-on-one interview with the new and old World Champion Magnus Carlsen. We have a full transcript.

Showdown

11/28/2014 – 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.

Showdown in Saint Louis goes to Nakamura

11/27/2014 – Nakamura fell back on his instincts Tuesday afternoon, peppering Armenian heavyweight GM Levon Aronian with 9.5 points across 16 games of Blitz chess in the fifth round. The speed attack tipped the Showdown’s scorecard just before its last bell, after the match had entered Tuesday’s final round tied after four Classical games of chess. Report of an exciting blitz match.

New: ChessBase Magazine#163

11/27/2014 – Highlights: Grand Prix tournaments in Baku and Tashkent, Grand Slam final and European Cup in Bilbao. Analyses by Anand, Adams, Andreikin and many more top grandmasters. Lots of training, for instance with Karsten Müller: „French Endgames“ including training questions and five videos. Plus 13 articles fon current openings from the Reti to the King's Indian Defence. Impressive!

World Championship Sochi: Closing Ceremony

11/27/2014 – The match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand ended after eleven games, and the closing ceremony had to be rescheduled from the 28th to the 25th of November. It was a lavish prize-giving with a truly VIP guest (guess who!). During his address FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov made a truly electrifying announcement: the 2016 World Championship will be held in the USA!

Kasimdzhanov: Trends in modern openings

11/26/2014 – Modern tournament practice has virtually surpassed the so-called "opening theory". Thanks to a wealth of tournament games, some openings and lines develop so rapidly that even the ambitious amateur has difficulties to keep his own repertoire updated. But experts can help, like Rustam Kasimdzhanov, former FIDE World Champion, with his latest Fritztrainer DVD.

Qatar Masters Open begins on Wednesday

11/26/2014 – Which is the strongest open in the world? Not Aeroflot, Moscow or Millionaire Chess. It is the 2014 Qatar Masters Open, organised by GM Mohamed Al-Medaihki, with 92 grandmasters participating, 56 of them over 2600, and 14 over 2700. Our reporter in Qatar, Akshat Chandra, worked out that if only the top twenty were participating it would be a Category 19 tournament.

STL Showdown goes to the blitz!

11/25/2014 – After a close call for Nakamura in game four, where his risky but precise defense yielded him a draw, the winner of the match will be determined in a blitz match! Sixteen games of chess, a true marathon, will pitch two of the top blitz players of the world. The difference between losing and winning the match is a very sweet $20,000! A great finish for spectators from Saint Louis.

Kasparov: The quality of the games was not so high

11/25/2014 – The match between Carlsen and Anand got enormous public attention – not just in the usual chess outlets, but also in the straight press. For instance Der Spiegel, Europe's most influential news magazine, broadcast the moves live on their Internet portal, and after the match asked Garry Kasparov (and Women's World Champion Hou Yifan) to summarize the action in Sochi.

London Chess Classic: Join the Champions

11/25/2014 – Business and chess - how well do they go together? Do top grandmasters and business people think alike? The 6th London Chess Classic, which takes place from 6-14 December, might not bring a definite answer to that question but provides entertaining chess by partnering the world's best grandmasters with successful businessmen. And you can join in!

The last stumbling stone

11/25/2014 – 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!

Playing what you preach

11/24/2014 – Did you ever wonder how honest grandmasters are when making opening recommendations? Do they really believe in the lines they advertise? GM Mihail Marin does. In fact, after publishing two DVDs on "his perennial" love, the Pirc, he felt that he did not play the opening often enough. He soon had a chance to rekindle his passion - and scored a fine victory.

Asian Youth Championship

11/24/2014 – In 1988 Vishy Anand became the first Indian grandmaster. 26 years later Anand is a chess legend and India has 35 more grandmasters. And more will follow. India now has a wealth of promising talents. No wonder they dominated the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2014 - together with players from the Iran. Illustrated report with lots of games.

New ChessBase program – Lucky Number 13?

11/24/2014 – "If you are an ambitious chess player, no matter your age or rating, you should be using ChessBase," says John Hartmann, award-winning chess book reviewer, teacher, organizer and tournament director. He takes a critical look at the latest ChessBase 13, released this week, describing all the new features he encountered, with screen shots and explanations..

Saint Louis 03: Entertaining Draw

11/24/2014 – The Nakamura-Aronian Showdown in Saint Louis keeps providing us with entertaining games! This time Aronian stayed away from his more normal openings and "threatened" to play a Grunfeld. The resulting position seemed risky for Aronian, with pressure quickly mounting against his king, but alas it seemed that tactics worked for him and he got the better end of a draw.

Sochi G11: In dramatic finale, Carlsen retains title

11/23/2014 – The game was all the fans could hope with dramatic play throughout. Vishy Anand played the Berlin to groans but after a critical 23...b5! the situation looked very promising. Whether due to nerves or fatigue, he followed this up with a dubious plan that gave up the exchange with no obvious counterplay. This was the death knell as Magnus Carlsen capitalized. Full report.

Wolf Encounter in the Arctic

11/23/2014 – During the recent Chess Olympiad in Tromsø the top board of the US women's team, Irina Krush, decided to undertake a 185 km trip to a polar wildlife park, to meet some of the furrier creatures of the region. Her photographic report includes bears, Arctic foxes and a touching romance that unfolded between an Armenian grandmaster and an Arctic she-wolf. You have to see this.

Saint Louis 02: Aronian strikes back

11/23/2014 – In a beautiful and strategical endgame that is reminiscent of the the great Jose Raul Capablanca, Aronian was able to transform his slight edge in the finale into a winning zugzwang that destroyed Nakamura's defenses. In the GM norm section America has a good reason to celebrate: by winning his first four games Samuel Sevian has become America's youngest grandmaster in history.