Rafael Leitao wins sixth Brazilian title

1/2/2014 – In the last weeks of 2013, the 80th Brazilian Championship was held in the beautiful city of Joao Pessoa. The top-seed was GM Rafael Leitao, who was able to win his sixth title, ahead of Krikor Mekhitarian, and surprise third, FM Cesar 'Samurai' Umetsubo. Commenting the event, with personal impressions and select moments, is the champion himself. Here is Rafael Leitao's personal account.

A Happy New Year for all our readers

1/1/2014 – Yet another year has started, and as usual it was brought in with fireworks, some more spectacular than any in the past. There were general retrospects – at least one that had us proverbially ROTFL. And a lovely video look back at the year 2013 by Anna Burtasova. And finally you are able to send in solutions to our Christmas Chess Puzzles, with some interesting prizes to win.

Al Ain Open won by Abhijeet Gupta

12/31/2013 – In parallel to the World Youth Championship in Al Ain, U.A.E, two swiss opens were held. One for players rated 2000 FIDE or less, and one open to all. The top Open attracted dozens of grandmasters, the strongest being Georgian GM Baadur Jobava who was the only 2700 player. Jobava led until the end, when he fell ill and defaulted the last round. Abhijeet Gupta took first. Report and games.

ChessBase Chrismas Puzzles 2013

12/31/2013 – It's been a great year, with more chess than ever before – and more visitors than ever before flocking to our news site. We thank them for the wonderfully positive feedback we routinely receive, which makes our whole endeavour eminently worthwhile. As always we end the year with our traditional Christmas puzzles, and once again we have entrusted multiple world champion solver John Nunn with their selection. Now with all seven puzzles.

World Youth Championship: The champions

12/31/2013 – It was a grueling tournament, and hard fought by all, from chess’s youngest competitors, to those coming of age. A couple of players had secured their places on the topmost step of their pantheon, but for most it was all down to the last round, when the players decided their fates. Garry Kasparov showed up to inspire the children, and FIDE issued a statement on the Israeli flag issue.

Groningen Chess Festival

12/31/2013 – The Groningen Chess Festival has concluded. Attractions included several amateur tournaments, many scholastic events, simultaneous exhibitions and book signings. However the two obvious main events were the Open section and the rematch between Karpov and Timman, replaying the FIDE World Championship of 1993 in which the Russian convincingly won. See Karpov's repeat.

How about a Nixie chess set?

12/30/2013 – Cold-cathode or "Nixie" tubes, introduced in the 1950s, were among the first digital displays ever built. There are still small stockpiles left, and the tubes are experiencing a comeback in nostalgia driven displays, clocks and even watches. And now you can get a chess set as a DIY kit, or fully assembled, with pieces that glow on the squares. But hurry: the world is running out of Nixie tubes.

Carlsen – the nettlesome World Champion

12/29/2013 – "Carlsen won because he is the better athlete and not the better chess player," wrote a commentator after the Chennai match. In drawn positions the Norwegian plays on and on, sitting his opponent out, waiting for errors. That is profoundly misleading: Magnus Carlsen's success lies in his ability to play "consistently accurate moves that also maximise the chances of inaccuracies from the opponent," writes GM Jonathan Rowson.

Web publishing with ChessBase 12 (part 3/3)

12/29/2013 – In this final part on web publishing with ChessBase 12, you will learn how to publish several games for the javascript replayer with a drop-down menu, which can be published in your pages, or linked to, even from Facebook or any other social network. You will also be shown some tips on how to present just parts of games, combinations, studies, and more.

"Boringly Safe" in Kurdistani Iraq! Part 2

12/28/2013 – In part one of her report to Kurdistani Iraq, Alina l'Ami gave us a beautiful impression of the city of Erbil, a thriving zone full of kind people. In this second and final half she focuses on the events surrounding the tournament itself, which was eventually won by Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov, while of course bringing us a big pictorial report of a high publicized event.

CBM #156 – the resurgence of Vlad Kramnik

12/28/2013 – We have already reached ChessBase Magazine 157, but Nagesh Havanur, who was busy writing on the World Championship match in Chennai, has sent us his impressions of CBM 156, which celebrates Vladimir Kramnik's victory at the Tromsø World Cup. He has taken a special look at one particular opening survey: 9…Ne8!? against the King’s Indian Bayonet Attack. Review.

World Youth Championship: heroes and heartbreak

12/28/2013 – The 2013 World Youth Chess Championship is nearing the end, and interestingly only two gold medals have been decided: Indian Praggnanandhaa in the Open under-8 and FM Awonder Liang in the Open under-10. Several sections have four or more tied for first, with more a half point behind, and the last round promises to be extremely bloodthirsty. Heroes will be praised and hearts will be broken.

Chess Movies

12/27/2013 – In the recent article Chess in Movies, many readers clamored about the terrible omission of films actually about chess. This was deliberate, as it had been designed solely to be on films in which chess made a distinct appearance, but was not the star of the show. In this follow-up, the subject is precisely films where chess is central to the plot. Added to the list are reader recommendations.

Anand: will he, won't he join the dance?

12/27/2013 – "Viswanathan Anand shows cold feet for Candidates", said the Times of India headline on December 21. "Most likely I won't play," the newspaper quoted the deposed World Champion saying. Then, two days later, the tone changed to ""I haven't decided yet". And now one billion fans can take heart: "Most probably I will play," said Anand a few days ago. Press reports.

Jakovenko double gold in Khanty-Mansiysk

12/27/2013 – The Russian Cup finished with its rapid play in Khanty-Mansiysk. The knock-out was certainly hard fought, but at the end of the day it was Jakovenko that was able to take the win yet again. His win was far from easy as he barely survived his first game in the finals against Kovalenko and had to win in Armageddon in the quarter finals. Pictorial report of the event.

Web publishing with ChessBase 12 (part 2/3)

12/26/2013 – In this second part on publishing on the web, you learn how to make use of the powerful new javascript replayer, exactly as in the ChessBase News pages, with fancy pieces, figuring notation, highlighted squares and arrows, and more. You can also easily embed these into a personal blog or professional resources, and even publish a replayable game on Facebook in seconds.

Kasparov visits Singapore and Thailand

12/26/2013 – Garry Kasparov, currently the only candidate for FIDE presidency on the campaign trail, recently visited countries of the Far East, where it would seem he is being vigorously supported by the federations. In Singapore the former World Champion stressed the need for sponsorship, education and technology, while in Thailand he received instructions from the Deputy Prime Minister in the rules of Makruk or Thai chess. Big pictorial report.

"Boringly Safe" in Kurdistani Iraq! Part 1

12/25/2013 – The ever adventurous and fearless globetrotter Alina l'Ami has recently finished a tournament in... Kurdistani Iraq! Specifically the tournament was the second Kurdistan Chess Festival held in Erbil, Iraq. Several strong players were not put off by rumors of danger zones or by the unusual location and enjoyed a magnificent and unique experience. Alina brings us a beautiful report.

World Youth Championship: the leaders appear

12/24/2013 – A little over two thirds of the World Youth Chess Championships are done, and the leaders and potential winners are clearer now. As expected of these brutal youth events, the top seeds find it very hard to live up to their favoritism, the reason being that their opponents are quite often falsely represented with ratings that have little to do with their actual ability. A large beautiful pictorial.

2013 ChessBase Christmas party

12/24/2013 – On December 20th, the traditional ChessBase Christmas party was held at the ChessBase headquarters in Hamburg. While a merry-for-all, something different was organized this year in the form of a game between GM Vlastimil Hort and the second-best women in the Bundesliga, WGM Melanie Ohme. Our colleague Nadja Wittman, editor of the Spanish news page, brings a photo essay with video.

Category 23 tournament in Zurich!

12/24/2013 – It's not official yet, but it looks like that for the first time in chess history we are going to see a category 23 (average 2801) tournament. Six players – Carlsen, Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Gelfand and Anand – will play in the classical round robin Zurich Chess Challenge, from January 29 to February 4th 2014 – with a rapid tagged on. In related news due to health reasons chess legend Viktor Korchnoi's plan to return to tournament chess unfortunately failed.

"Meeting of Generations" handicap tournament

12/23/2013 – A new handicap tournament "Meeting of Generations" was held, in honor of Vladimir Dvorkovich. The system used allows elder players past their prime to still have an enjoyable game against strong grandmasters, and is the brainchild of GM Evgeny Vasiukov, chairman of the Commission of Veterans of the Russian Chess Federation. Here are explanations, a pictorial, and a pawn study.

Sasikirian, Lalith lead in India

12/23/2013 – The Indian Chess Championship has started in the Jain Hills in Jalgoan, a city 400 km from Mumbai. The tournament features some of the strongest chess players in India, with the exception of Harikrishna and Anand. The hopefuls to the throne include Negi, Sasikirian, Adhiban and other strong grandmasters. At the half way mark, the leaders are crushing the event with 5.5/6. Pictorial report.

Pal Benko: Secrets of Study Composition (2)

12/23/2013 – One of the greatest study composers – as well as a former world championship candidate – is our friend Pal Benko, who never fails to send us a special Christmas gift. This year it was an article that offers unique insight into the process of chess composition. We brought you the first part a week ago. Today it is about breaking the pin and avoiding stalemate. And there is a remarkable study for you to solve.