Shamkir Final Round: Undisputed Winner

4/26/2015 – Wesley So started crushing the field with 3.5/4. Viswanathan Anand had a wonderful performance, a fantastic near 2900 TPR that will put him on second place in the in the next rating list. However, at the end of the day, it is still all about Magnus Carlsen. A near 3000 performance, a full point ahead of second place, the best player in the World won again.

World Team Rd6: Ukraine and China lead

4/26/2015 – Round six of the World Team championship confirmed the swing in the balance of power, as both the earlier leaders Israel and Cuba, faced the new ones in a match that would either shower them in glory, and relegate them to fighting for a spot on the podium. Both Ukraine and China showed they were up to the task, setting up a decisive clash between the two.

Nagesh Havanur on ChessBase Magazine #165

4/26/2015 – The electronic magazine that appears every two months is a vital weapon in the arsenal of tournament players. The latest issue includes 1928 OTB games, of which 106 are annotated by leading experts, 9485 correspondence games (38 annotated), and twelve opening surveys which you should check. Professor Nagesh Havanur recommends CBM 165 warmly in his ChessWorld review.

Chengdu R6: Georgia, Russia keep winning

4/26/2015 – Both Russia and Georgia won their matches today, increasing their lead. Russia had no problems defeating Poland 3.5-0.5, and Georgia also had few difficulties in overcoming USA. Meanwhile it was the Chinese team that disappointed; they were unable to keep pace and drew every game in their match against Kazakhstan. It seems hard for them to win with only three rounds left.

Battle of the Legends (1/2)

4/26/2015 – Those pursed lips. The extended chin. That familiar furrowed brow. All of this recognizable before the clocks had even started. It was a match between two of the best players in history. Garry Kasparov took his seat and played as if time had not touched him. Nigel Short put up his best resistance, with a myriad of defensive resources in every game, but alas the Beast from Baku leads.

Shamkir R8: Anand #2 in World

4/25/2015 – It is only by a fraction, but after today's victory against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vishy Anand regains the post of second best player in the World, at least in the live rating lists. He surpasses Fabiano Caruana, who drew his game against Rauf Mamedov. Meanwhile Mickey Adams destroyed Anish Giri and Big Vlad ended his losing streak with a clean sweep of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

New million dollar Grand Chess Tour announced

4/25/2015 – Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short were on hand for a press conference that announced the launch of a "Grand Chess Tour" featuring Magnus Carlsen and seven more of the world's very best players. They will compete for a combined prize fund of $1,050,000. It was described as “the biggest announcement in professional international chess since 1988”. Watch the press conference on video.

Rest Day in Chengdu

4/25/2015 – We are a little over the half-way mark in the Women's World Team Championship in Chengdu. The players can take a breather and prepare for their last four rounds. Georgia current leads, but its a tenuous one as it is only a match point ahead of Russia and two ahead of China. The players recuperated their energies on their free day, mainly by visiting the pandas..

Shamkir Rd7: Three wins!

4/24/2015 – A bloody and exciting round seven. Fabiano Caruana won a very nice game against Wesley So, the second consecutive win for the Italian and the second consecutive loss for the American. Speaking of consecutive losses, Kramnik "long-castled" (0-0-0) with his loss against Carlsen. Meanwhile Adams lost to Anand, who gains in the ranking and currently sits in second place.

The helping pawn II

4/24/2015 – 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.

World Team Rd5: New leaders appear

4/24/2015 – A round earlier, and the Israel-Cuba match would have been the key match of the event, but time waits for no one. After losing in round four, and beating Cuba in round five with a key win by Maxim Rodshtein who has scored 4.0./4, the result was both teams relegated to 3rd-4th, while Ukraine and China took advantage to move into the lead.

New chess circuit to be announced in Saint Louis

4/24/2015 – Starting tomorrow two great chess legends, the Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, will play a ten-game match – two rapid and eight blitz – in the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Today at 3 p.m. local time, the CCSC will host a news press conference announce a new international chess circuit with the world's leading professional players. You can watch it live.

Chengdu R5: Georgia keeps pace

4/24/2015 – An important round, just before the rest day. Bela Khotenasvhili had a huge win against Anna Muzychuk and gave Georgia the victory over Ukraine 2.5-1.5 when all the other games were drawn. This keeps Goergia in the lead. Russia is trailing by only one match point after their victory against Egypt, while China tries to come back by defeating the Polish squad.

Shamkir Rd6: Caruana only winner

4/23/2015 – Fabiano Caruana was the only winner of today's round in Shamkir. Vladimir Kramnik was a little overeager with his position, and his breakthrough in the center backfired badly. Black sacrificed an exchange and won a pretty game. The other players seemed to want a solid day after the rest day, which resulted in draws on all the other boards. Carlsen still leads.

World Team Rd4: Cuba takes lead

4/23/2015 – After four rounds Cuba leads the field at the Men's World Team Championship. In the fourth round Cuba won 3-1 against Egypt and took the sole lead because Israel lost 1.5-2.5 against Ukraine. China won 3.5-0.5 against Armenia and Hungary narrowly defeated India 2.5-1.5. The match USA and Russia ended in a 2-2 draw - but not a peaceful one.

Just one of 17,823,400,766 positions

4/23/2015 – Last Tuesday we told you how difficult four-piece endings can be for humans, especially against a computer that understands them perfectly. Well, it's peanuts compared to five and six-piece endings where we sometimes have absolutely no idea what the program is doing and why. Still you can analyse them with your computer and recognize new ideas that can be used in other areas of the game.

Chengdu R4: Big Gift

4/22/2015 – In a series of tough match-ups, it was clear that the most important one would be India vs. Russia. The two powerhouses met and the score was 1.5-1.5, except for the Humpy-Gunina game. In deep time pressure, White had a completely winning position, but she blundered badly and Russia took the full match point. Georgia won against Kazakhstan and, at least for now, keep their lead.

Modern fairy tales

4/22/2015 – Playing in the Dubai Open is a bit like entering the world of the "Arabian Nights". However, today's fairy tales are different. The oil hidden under the desert allows the UAE to build gigantic skyscrapers, display fabulous water fountains, and to build hotel palaces on sand. Alexander Ipatov shares impressions of the modern version of "Arabian Nights".

Vive la Différence – the full story

4/22/2015 – Yesterday we reported on the extraordinary news storm that had broken out over an article, by Nigel Short, that appeared in the magazine New in Chess. Going through the follow-up stories and readers' reactions it became clear that many had not read the original article. So we asked the NIC publishers for permission to reproduce it in full. Now you can judge for yourself.

World Team Rd3: Cuba beats Armenia

4/22/2015 – The World Team Championship has been anything but a by-the-numbers event. If ratings always translated to results then Russia would be clear first, instead of tied for last with Egypt and the US. Instead, the early leaders after three rounds are the strongly overachieving teams of Israel and Cuba, with Armenia going down to the remarkable Cubans.

Chengdu R3: Russia beats China

4/21/2015 – It was the match of the day, and a hugely important one for the standings. China and Russia faced each other but it wasn't even close: Russia took a convincing 3-1 victory. Georgia edged out Poland by 2.5-1.5 and now leads the tournament by a match point, only one more than both Russia and USA. The American's tied with Kazakhstan to be on 4.0/6. Round three impression and an interview!

Shamkir R5: A day of beauty

4/21/2015 – What an amazing day in Shamkir! Three decisive games, all three absolutely beautiful. Carlsen played with unbelievable technique from start to end against MVL. Mamedyarov somehow tricked Kramnik in an equal position and then played perfectly to wrap up the endgame. Anand came with a brutal new idea in the Spanish, sacrificed a piece and won beautifully against So.

Chess gender debate in the international press

4/21/2015 – The latest issue of the Dutch magazine New in Chess carried an article entitled "Vive la Différence!". In it the former World Championship challenger Nigel Short provocatively claims that there are genetic reasons why men are more successful in chess than women. This two-page article went viral, was picked up by the international news services and generated a world-wide media storm.

Perfect endgame play – with tablebases

4/21/2015 – Can you win an endgame queen vs rook? Don't be so sure – even the best players on the planet can run into problems with it. Especially in rapid chess playoff games, with tens of thousands of dollars at stake. Computers, on the other hand, can handle engames with four, five and six pieces on the board with absolute perfection. And can be installed on your notebook computer.