Carlsen signs for Sochi; will defend title!

9/7/2014 – After a tumultuous process to decide if the World Championship was or was not happening, it is now official. Magnus Carlsen has finally signed his contract and is scheduled to defend his title against contender Viswanathan Anand. Today was the World Champion's final day to decide whether he was agreeing to FIDE's terms or not, and for the good of chess he officially has.

Interview with GM Chuchelov - Caruana's Coach

9/7/2014 – ChessBase conducts an exclusive interview with the World’s strongest chess trainer. GM Vladimir Chuchelov has coached top players such as Van Wely, Radjabov, Giri, and is currently seconding Fabiano Caruana in the Sinquefield Cup. Read on to discover the insights into Caruana’s preparation to the strongest tournament in history. Interview by Alisa Melekhina.

Sinquefield 10: Draws end magnificent event

9/7/2014 – Despite the three relatively short and event-less draws that we saw today in the Sinquefield Cup, the fans have nothing to complain about. The event provided amazing chess and one of the most impressive – if not the most impressive – streak seen in all of chess history. The fight for second was won by Carlsen, who drew Topalov, who clinched third. Final report.

Sharjah 10: Ju Wenjun one round away

9/6/2014 – The players took the time to visit different touristic parts of UAE in their rest day and prepared themselves for the penultimate round in Sharjah. Batchimeg Tuvshintugs continues with a fantastic tournament and held Hou Yifan to a draw. The Mongolian player only needs a draw for a GM norm. Ju Wenjun's draw with Humpy still keeps her in the lead by a mere half point.

Sinquefield 09: Lucky Breaks

9/6/2014 – Two players in this tournament have had difficulties holding acceptable positions and converting advantageous ones. However today finally both of these players received a little "break" and managed to draw their lost games. Aronian entered a complicated rook endgame against Carlsen, but White misplayed it and allowed a Vancura defense. Nakamura held on by the skin of his teeth.

Karsten Müller: Olympiad Endgames

9/5/2014 – Today we start a special course, brought to you by one of the world's leading endgame experts, Dr. Karsten Müller, whom you all know from ChessBase Magazine. Even the strongest players study his didactic analyses. This course shows you how the endgame was handled by great players during the recent Chess Olympiad in Tromsø. And best of all: it's completely free!

Step by step

9/5/2014 – Sometimes you just feel that you have a winning position, a winning move, a winning continuation. Chess intuition simply tells you that the win must be there, somewhere, even if it is well hidden and you cannot see it yet. But how to find the winning move, the winning continuation? Well, practice helps. And Oliver Reeh helps you to practice.

Sinquefield 08: Streak stopped, Event clinched.

9/5/2014 – Caruana's streak has been stopped by Carlsen, though barely. The Norwegian was lucky to survive the position against the tournament leader.... well, the tournament winner now that mathematically it is impossible for anyone to catch up to him despite there being two more rounds! Aronian forgave MVL's mistakes while Topalov was ruthless in a Berlin endgame against the local legend.

Sharjah 09: Ju Wenjun leads, Hou Yifan wins GP

9/4/2014 – With a fantastic and risky game Ju Wenjun was able to vanquish Harika with the Black pieces, leaving her as the sole leader of the Sharjah Grand Prix. Hou Yifan drew against Danielian, which puts her three points ahead of Humpy and with two rounds to go this means that the World Champion is now also the 2013-2014 Grand Prix series Winner. Report of a very well fought round.

Legal Moves: Melekhina on Chess & Law (Part 2)

9/4/2014 – Upon transitioning from the chess world into the law school world, Alisa Melekhina, one of the top female players in the US, noticed her chess results declining. In the second part of her article Alisa attempts to identify the unexpected cause of her descent, and describes her unique solution to remaining competitive and balancing her many pursuits. Read on.

Sinquefield 07: "He's not making a mistake"

9/4/2014 – Those were Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's words when describing Fabiano Caruana's play in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup. "I've never seen this. I've never even seen Carlsen play so well." The Italian player severely punished MVL's mistakes and moves to a jaw-dropping 7-0. Carlsen is in "hot pursuit" three points behind him after beating Nakamura. Aronian and Topalov drew their game.

Huffington: Chess in the Time of War

9/3/2014 – Chess has often flourished under totalitarian regimes and in the middle of wars. How do chess players deal with that? Do they raise their voices or did they keep silent? Huffington Post chess columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek, who fled his native Czechoslovakia in 1968, ten days after the Soviet invasion, was only able to go back after 21 years. He writes about the current minacious situation.

Sinquefield 06: He cannot be stopped

9/3/2014 – His attacks are well timed, his novelties uncomfortable to play against, his technique exquisite. Fabiano Caruana (picture from 1995!) moves to a gorgeous 6-0 after blowing Veselin Topalov off the board with a great tactical sacrifice that destroyed the Bulgarian's king position. The other games were interesting, but some players are imprecise and difficult to recognize. Round six report.

Sharjah 08: Not many changes

9/2/2014 – The two Chinese leaders sat at the board and played a chess game, though not the most thrilling one. After 30 moves they had wiped out most of the pieces and it was obvious that a draw would be agreed. Tuvshintugs continues in hard pursuit and today she took advantage of a blunder of l'Ami when the Mongolian had a worse position. She is currently one point behind the leaders.

Magnus' mighty knight

9/2/2014 – Bobby Fischer's favorite piece was the white-squared bishop. However, given the opportunity, he did not mind to win a game or two with the help of his knights. Magnus Carlsen sure likes winning but does not seem to have a favorite piece. He treats all of them and the pawns equally well. But in the following example he made the knight shine.

Legal Moves: Melekhina on Chess & Law (Part one)

9/2/2014 – “Sorry you’re having a tough tournament, but you’re in law school now – it must be difficult to balance.” That’s essentially the mantra that Alisa Melekhina, one of the top US female players, has been hearing since she began at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. "In a way it’s a compliment," she says, "but in more ways it’s prognosticating defeat." Read her inspiring story.

Sharjah 07: They're unstoppable!

9/2/2014 – Both Ju Wenjun and Hou Yifan won their games to continue their streak in Sharjah. Ju Wenjun won cleanly against Muminova, and although the World Champion's game was far rockier she achieved her goal regardless. Tuvshintugs drew her game and is the closest to the leaders, but at 1.5 points away she isn't a a serious threat. The Chinese meet tomorrow for a decisive match..

Dresden Open 2014 - the winner's account (part 2/2)

9/2/2014 – After a very unexpected win, ahead of fourteen grandmasters, IM Sagar Shah has detailed the entire experience for the readers, recounting the moments worth cheering, to the scares of his life. It wasn't all smooth sailing, as he recounts the harrowing experience of nearly losing a won game against top seed Ferenc Berkes due to a finger fehler! Find out what happened.

World University concludes in style

9/1/2014 – Held in Katowice, Poland, the World University Championship concluded after great showings by the competitors, with Sanan Sjugirov taking the men's title on tiebreak, while WIM Klaudia Kulon stormed her field with 8.5/9 and a 2699 performance. The organizers also held a Kids Challenge among the many activities, and GM Olszewski explains his revolutionary method of calculation.

September 2014 ratings: Chinese Gold

9/1/2014 – To describe August as having been a busy month for ratings would be a huge understatement. The Olympiads at Tromso ensured a massive amount of games for almost all the top players, and the few who were not representing their countries, kept busy otherwise. The Chinese Gold for the men was historic, and was thanks to incredible results by Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi. Read the summaries.

Sinquefield 05: Is he human!?

9/1/2014 – He must be, because Caruana finally made his first mistake of the tournament - but not one that mattered. His position was so crushing against Nakamura that the Italian won his fifth game in a row anyways and goes into half-time with a 2.5 point lead, +25 rating points, and an incalculable performance. Topalov beat MVL to join Carlsen in second as he beat Aronian.

Fressinet and Maisuradze win 2014 French Ch

8/31/2014 – After five rounds, it had been a dominating performance by Laurent Fressinet, followed closely by Etienne Bacrot trying to catch up. They met in the final round, but Bacrot could not break him, and Fressinet won his second title. Nino Maisuradze was neck-and-neck with rival Safranska, but defeated her and went on to win the title for a second consecutive year. Final report.

Sharjah 06: Chinese increase Lead

8/31/2014 – With two very clean games Ju Wenjun, who defeated l'Ami, and Hou Yifan, who did the same with Ushenina, have extended their share lead to a full point over clear third, Tuvshintugs. Also important is that Humpy lost against Zhao Xue, which means that the Indian player is a full three points behind Hou Yifan. This makes it almost certain that Hou Yifan will win the GP series.

Sinquefield 04: Fight for second already?

8/31/2014 – The leader of the tournament is not saying it, but it is in everybody's mind: has the Sinquefield Cup 2014 turned into a battle for second place? Caruana continues to crush the opposition, today playing a beautiful game against Aronian, inflicting the Armenian's second loss in a row. Second place is currently held by Vachier-Lagrave half a point ahead of the rest.