Alejandro Ramirez teaches the Benkö Gambit

5/26/2015 – Most of our readers know GM Alejandro Ramirez very well, as he is a very prolific reporter and annotator on this site. And an international event commentator. "Having enjoyed his comments I expected an equally entertaining and instructive DVD," says Piotr Kaim, himself a regular Benkö player. "The things I heard and watched met the expectations." Review in Mat Magazine.

Khanty Rd10: Jakovenko!

5/26/2015 – And just like that, a new challenger has appeared! With Jakovenko's excellent win today against Karjakin, he has put his own fate into his hands. If he is able to defeat Nakamura, with the black pieces, he will qualify for the 2015 Candidates. Anything less than that will leave him out of the competition. Three tie for first, but what everyone cares about is who will qualify?

Lucopen Lille: secret of scoring a GM norm

5/25/2015 – In Part I of our report we told you how 20-year-old French IM Quentin Loiseau won the event, and we brought for you three wonderfully annotated games by the top three finishers. Meanwhile our reporter IM Sagar Shah made his second GM norm in this tournament. In part two he reveals some of the secrets that helped him achieve this 2600+ performance. Sound advice.

Am. Continental Rd10: Mareco and 'mate'

5/25/2015 – It was a huge match between the two players who showed the best form until now: Sandro Mareco and Jorge Cori. The gloves were off and the Argentine grandmaster took the day. For Brazilians, it was a black day as all chances for norms or more were dashed by a disastrous slew of defeats. Learn more about the Montevideoan people and their love affair with 'mate'

John Forbes Nash, 1928–2015

5/24/2015 – In 1950 the 21-year-old mathematician John Nash submitted a Ph.D. dissertation on non-cooperative games – a concept that found use in economics, computing, evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, and other fields. A week ago the Nobel laureate, in Norway to receive a special award, was introduced to Magnus Carlsen. On his return to New Jersey he was tragically killed in a car accident.

Khanty Rd9: Clearer and Clearer

5/24/2015 – Despite Tomashevsky's victory over Svidler, it looks as the noose is tightening and that Nakamura and Caruana are by far the favorites to qualify into the Candidates. They continue to lead the Khanty-Mansiysk Grand Prix, together with Domingnuez, as all three of them drew their game. The only other decisive result was Giri's easy victory over the ever eccentric Jobava.

Rabat Blitz Marathon won by L'Ami (2/2)

5/24/2015 – Concluding the report on the Rabat Blitz Marathon, Alina L'Ami brings more impressions of a place and people so colorful, they practically demand to be photographed. The tournament was a huge success, and is now a major fixture on the international blitz calendar. This year included even live commentary by Nigel Short and Dirk Jan ten Gezeundam. Large pictorial and analysis.

Sandu leads European Women's Championship

5/24/2015 – The 16th European Women's Individual championship is taking place in Chakvi, Georgia, from 19th to 30th May 2015. Sensationally the 45th seed, Romanian WGM Mihaela Sandu, rated 2300, is leading with 5.0/5 points. Our resident endgame expert GM Karsten Müller has been looking at the games with a special eye on the way they ended. He presents four instructive examples.

ChessBase Magazine #165

5/24/2015 – When Davide Nastasio had a first look at the new ChessBase Magazine #165 he was overwhelmed. So much material to choose from: tactics training, high class analyses of top level games, tournament reports from top tournaments, videos, annotated games, endgame lessons, opening articles, etc., etc. No wonder the passionate chessplayer felt like a kid in a candy store.

Am. Continental Rd9: The final stretch and football

5/24/2015 – Once again the lead changed hands, and once again it was the Peruvian Jorge Cori strutting his stuff, beating Eric Hansen this time in an intense battle. Things are not simple though, since four players, including Cori, already qualified for the World Cup before coming, so the four spots are very much up for grabs. In the meantime, check out the pictorial visit to the Museum of Football.

Rabat Blitz Marathon won by L'Ami (1/2)

5/23/2015 – The Rabat Blitz Marathon has stuck to its guns and been able to perpetuate a fantastic tradition much appreciated by top pros and aficionados of the modality. This year the 21-round blitz bonanza, held in a single monumental stretch, saw the presences of top names such as Mamedyarov and Shirov, but the player to stand on the top was Dutch GM Erwin L'Ami. A large pictorial with analysis.

Am. Continental Rd8: Consistent unpredictability

5/23/2015 – The one thing that has held true is that no one is running away with the event. Each time a leader is declared, the next round he is challenged and the final rounds promise to be even more exciting than the first, if that is possible. Consider the game of the day by GM Flores who gave a queen for two pieces, and don't miss out on Eric Hansen's daily vlogs. A large illustrated report.

Khanty Rd8: More mistakes!

5/22/2015 – Big mistakes today changed the standings significantly. Caruana lost to Jakovenko: the Italian player was pushing for a significant amount of time and then out of nowhere he blundered heavily! Jakovenko took advantage of his chances and won. Grischuk beat Karjakin in a very complex game marked by a last-minute Karjakin blunder. Finally Nakamura's game was unpredictable!

The Shogi-Festival 2015

5/22/2015 – Let’s assume two super-grandmasters visit an amateur chess tournament, play an exhibition game against each other and simultaneous games against the participants of the tournament. Or two top-football players train an amateur club. Incredible! But something similar happened at the Shogi-Festival in Ludwigshafen/Germany when two top professionals visited.

The fine difference

5/22/2015 – 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.

Am. Continental Rd7: American Dream

5/22/2015 – In spite of fielding only six players in all, of which four are grandmasters, the US delegation had every reason to be preening after round seven. On the very top boards, Aleksander Lenderman and Alexander Shabalov both won their respective games, taking over a shared piece of the top spot. Alexander Yermolinsky also scored a strong win over Granda Zuñiga. Illustrated report with analysis.

Khanty Rd7: Three White Wins

5/21/2015 – Three important white victories in today's round change the standings of not only the tournament, but of the Grand Prix series. Nakamura grabs second, just behind Caruana, in the GP as he beat MVL (his fourth straight loss!) and Tomashevsky drops to fourth place after losing to Giri. Dominguez overtook Svidler to leapfrog him in the standings, and the Cuban is now tied for second.

"Chess During War" - an exhibition in Moscow

5/21/2015 – Historians estimate that the Soviet Union lost about 27 million people during World War II. To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Soviet victory in World War II the Russian Chess Federation organised an exhibition in Moscow that displays documents and materials showing how chess was played during the hard times of the war. Press Release.

Honorary doctorate for Garry Kasparov

5/21/2015 – On May 16, 2015 nearly 2,700 students graduated at the Saint Louis University in Missouri, USA. The speaker at this Spring Commencement ceremony was the thirteenth World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, who also received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University. It is well worth the 17 minutes it takes to watch this well-crafted and inspiring speech.

Khanty Rd6: Mistakes in Marathon Round

5/20/2015 – Today was a long day over the board in Khanty-Mansiysk. Three games last more than six hours, and at the end of an exhausting day many mistakes were made. Grischuk was losing, managed to find a draw against Caruana but blundered in the end and lost. Giri did basically the same against Svidler. Meanwhile, Dominguez let go of Gelfand, and falls back to fourth place.

Am. Continental Rd6: Savage chess and football

5/20/2015 – "The fight between the leaders in the sixth round was a savage opening fight with pieces hanging all over the board." This is how IM Rodi describes the very exciting battle between the two leaders who held nothing back. This was preceded by the traditional football game between the players held late at night. Dozens of players came for the fun. Report, analysis, and plenty of pics.

Loiseau wins the 6th Lucopen in Lille

5/20/2015 – There were players from 15 countries in this event in Lille, France, but it was national players who had the last laugh! IM Quentin Loiseau, GM Tigran Gharamian and IM Adrien Demuth took gold, silver and bronze. And in an extraordinary report we have beautifully annotated games by all three. Consider this big pictorial report a very pleasant way to improve your chess understanding.

Mihail Marin: Power Strategy 2

5/20/2015 – In the first part of his "Power Strategy" series Mihail Marin had a look at the transition from opening to middlegame, focusing on the necessity, the art and the pitfalls of development. In his second "Power Strategy" DVD the Romanian Grandmaster, who is renowned for his historical knowledge and his passion for chess, explains how to handle static positions.

FIDE World School Championships 2015

5/20/2015 – The FIDE World Schools Chess Championships were hosted by the ASEAN Chess Academy and took place in Pattaya, Thailand. About 500 children from 34 countries fought in their various age groups for medals, titles, and prestige. China was the most successful nation, winning five gold, five silver, and four bronze medals. Big illustrated report.