Recommended: ChessBase Magazine #163

12/29/2014 – In his review of ChessBase Magazine 163 Prof. Nagesh Havanur draws attention to a critical Najdorf encounter between the 2800+ star Fabiano Caruana and Israeli GM Boris Gelfand, who was playing this opening before Fabiano was born. The review also provides and overview of the contents of CBM 163. You can check out if there are anything that you play or are interested to learn.

52nd Indian National Premier Championship

12/29/2014 – India’s 52nd National Premier Chess Championship was held from 4th December to 18th December, 2014 at Kottayam, Kerala. The tournament was organised by the CMS College and the Kottayam Chess Academy under the aegis of Chess Association of Kerala on behalf of the All India Chess Federation (AICF). It was won by GM Sethuraman, in a competition replete with fascinating games and positions.

Christmas Puzzles 2014 – My Favourite Studies

12/29/2014 – Chess endgame studies used to be great fun, especially the creative and artistic variety that brought hours of solving pleasure. These days you simply enter the position in a computer and hit "Go". The solution usually appears in milliseconds, giving you milliseconds of enjoyment. Why don't you try to work with a chessboard and pieces. Here are two studies with solving instructions.

European Blitz and Rapid Championships

12/29/2014 – The European Rapid and Blitz Championships were held in Wroclaw, Poland. A marathon of chess was contained in only three days, despite the players displaying their skills in 33 games (22 of them blitz and 11 rapids)! At the end of the day David Navara from the Czech Republic took gold in the blitz, while in the rapid it was local wunderkind Jan-Krzysztof Duda that took gold.

Nigalidze is Al Ain Classic champion!

12/28/2014 – It is not every day that you see the 28th seed of a tournament winning it. And even rarer when there are 17 players rated above 2600. For many it might seem like an impossible dream, but not for a player who is ambitious and dedicates eight hours of his day religiously to perfecting his art. GM Gaioz Nigalidze is the man of the moment. Final report from Al Ain by Sagar Shah.

Vishy Anand: a passionate portrait (2)

12/27/2014 – In the second part of his passionate portrait of the 15th World Champion, Priyadarshan Banjan describes how Vishy Anand made his first steps to the master title, how he stunned the Indian and soon after the international chess world - through his uncanny talent, his strong moves and the speed of his play. Illustrated by little known games and rare photos.

Fifteen years of ChessBase Christmas Puzzles

12/27/2014 – For the fifteenth time we end the year with our traditional Christmas puzzles. To celebrate we bring you a retrospective of some of the best puzzles from the early years. Remember some of our readers were not born when we started, for others it may bring back nostalgic memories. Looking back at 2001 today we have added two "retro" problems by Raymond Smullyan.

Komodo 8: Deep Blue revisited (part one)

12/26/2014 – When Garry Kasparov faced IBM's super computer Deep Blue, there was not a player alive who did not secretly dream of having their own private Deep Blue to consult on demand. That day has already come and passed as today's engines such as Komodo 8 can outperform the famous computer even on a smartphone. Here we take a look at the famous match and key moments.

The Chess Phoenix and New Year's books

12/26/2014 – Lubomir Kavalek calls former World Champion Viswanathan Anand the "Phoenix of Chess" – many times down, but never out. For New Year's gifts the Huffington Post columnist recommends a book that gives the impression the players played games while they were drunk. Two more books by Judit Polgar and about Bent Larsen caught his attention. Read his latest column.

Rook resources

12/26/2014 – 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.

26th Carlos Torre Repetto in Memoriam

12/25/2014 – Latin America has but a few strong tournaments that are held every year. One of the more important ones is the Carlos Torre in Memoriam, hosted every year in the city of Merida, Mexico. This year's edition was won by GM Lazaro Bruzon from Cuba with a fabulous performance. GM Alejandro Ramirez brings us his impressions of the tournament and the city of Merida.

'The Nutcracker': Kings and Princes trade punches

12/24/2014 – Although there has been no shortage of generations matches, whether one-on-one or a duel between teams, one thing that is certainly true, and behind their popularity: there is no shortage of hard fights. This particular flavor is no exception and the players and games have displayed great fighting spirit. Here is the report, and don’t miss Fedoseev’s spectacular queen sacrifice.

Al Ain: Nigalidze leads with 5.5/6

12/24/2014 – He is the 28th seed, rated 2536, but he is on a rampage, beating three 2600+ GMs and conceding a single draw in six rounds of the Al Ain Chess Festival. Gaoiz Nigalidze has an amazing rating performance of 2889 and is already gaining 25 Elo points. Behind him are Yuriy Kryvoruchko, Vladimir Onischuk and Sergei Zhigalko with 5.0/6. Big pictorial report with game analysis.

Loek van Wely: An Anti-Sicilian repertoire

12/23/2014 – What to do against the Sicilian? In the sharp and highly theoretical main lines you have to spend hours to be well prepared. Why not play a dangerous system that offers White good chances and that is easy to learn? Loek van Wely shows you what to do. In 60 minutes the Dutch GM prepares you for the Sicilian and gives you a solid repertoire for White.

India wins U16 Olympiad in Gyor

12/23/2014 – The U16 Olympiad finished with drama. Before the last round the Iranians led the field and winning against Hungary would have given them gold. But they lost and finished third. Now India secured gold by beating Turkey convincingly. Russia won against Ukraine to take silver. Mihail Marin sends a final report with pictures and an interview with Judit Polgar.

Switchback

12/23/2014 – 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!

'The Nutcracker' Rd2: The Kings strike back

12/22/2014 – With the lineups favoring the 'Kings' in both experience and Elo, it was clear the 'Princes' could not be reasonably expected to hold onto their opening edge for long, and sure enough in round two, Morozevich avenged his round one loss by beating Vladimir Fedoseev in the second round. Artemiev once again emerged up material in an endgame, but could not ooutsmart Shirov. Round two report.

The future is here: Cloud Databases (2)

12/22/2014 – ChessBase is moving into the cloud. We showed you yesterday how you can keep your databases, preparation and even look after your repertoire on a remote server, ready for access from anywhere and in many different ways. Today we show you how you can share games and analysis with other users, in real time using browsers. Tournament players and trainers please take note!

Wesley So shooting for the stars (2/2)

12/22/2014 – In this second part of an in-depth look at Wesley So, the reasons for his surprising and somewhat controversial change to play for the United States are made clear. Many of his compatriots reacted emotionally to this announcement, accusing him of being 'unpatriotic', but he explains the reasons that led to the decision, and vows he will never lose sight of his Filipino heritage.

Final impressions of the Qatar Masters

12/21/2014 – "The best tournament I have ever played in," and "definitely the strongest of my life." These were some of the opinions of participants of the Qatar Masters 2014 – incidentally the first Open with Vladimir Kramnik in 22 years. Our reporter in Doha, 15-year-old IM Akshat Chandra, spoke with him and with the winner Yu Yangyi. The latter interview was conducted on a Google Translate page.

Master Class Vol. 3: Alexander Alekhine

12/21/2014 – Alexander Alekhine, World Champion from 1927 to 1935 and from 1937 to his death in 1946, is widely admired for his attacking games. Garry Kasparov, for instance, often said how much he gained from studying Alekhine's games and writings. The Master Class Series now offers a chance to take a new or first look at one of the classics of the game. Inspiring.

Ukrainians lead Al-Ain after three rounds

12/21/2014 – The Al-Ain Open is one of the strongest in the world, and with its first place prize of $11,000 has attracted 150 players from 27 nations of which 43 grandmasters fighting for the top spot on the podium. After three rounds, seven players are in the lead with a perfect score, including the top seeds. We bring you pictorial impressions and game annotations.

'The Nutcracker' to end year in style

12/21/2014 – After the match of generations between Dubov and Shirov last year, entrepreneur Oleg Skvortsov decided to improve on it with two full teams who will face each other in classical games and rapid. The teams promise action with names such as Morozevich, Shirov, Leko, Dreev for the seniors, and Fedoseev, Artemiev, Dubov and Oparin for the youngsters. An exciting first round.

Chess Eruption by Mount Etna (2/2)

12/20/2014 – Although Sicily is not famous for its chess culture, it does have a spectacular standout exceptions. For example, one of the first manuals on chess, an eight-volume treatise, was written by a Sicilian in 1617, and perhaps more impressively, the 25th World Correspondence Chess championship was won a couple of years ago by the octagenarian Fabio Finocchiaro.