New ChessBase program – Lucky Number 13?

11/24/2014 – "If you are an ambitious chess player, no matter your age or rating, you should be using ChessBase," says John Hartmann, award-winning chess book reviewer, teacher, organizer and tournament director. He takes a critical look at the latest ChessBase 13, released this week, describing all the new features he encountered, with screen shots and explanations..

Saint Louis 03: Entertaining Draw

11/24/2014 – The Nakamura-Aronian Showdown in Saint Louis keeps providing us with entertaining games! This time Aronian stayed away from his more normal openings and "threatened" to play a Grunfeld. The resulting position seemed risky for Aronian, with pressure quickly mounting against his king, but alas it seemed that tactics worked for him and he got the better end of a draw.

Sochi G11: In dramatic finale, Carlsen retains title

11/23/2014 – The game was all the fans could hope with dramatic play throughout. Vishy Anand played the Berlin to groans but after a critical 23...b5! the situation looked very promising. Whether due to nerves or fatigue, he followed this up with a dubious plan that gave up the exchange with no obvious counterplay. This was the death knell as Magnus Carlsen capitalized. Full report.

Wolf Encounter in the Arctic

11/23/2014 – During the recent Chess Olympiad in Tromsø the top board of the US women's team, Irina Krush, decided to undertake a 185 km trip to a polar wildlife park, to meet some of the furrier creatures of the region. Her photographic report includes bears, Arctic foxes and a touching romance that unfolded between an Armenian grandmaster and an Arctic she-wolf. You have to see this.

Saint Louis 02: Aronian strikes back

11/23/2014 – In a beautiful and strategical endgame that is reminiscent of the the great Jose Raul Capablanca, Aronian was able to transform his slight edge in the finale into a winning zugzwang that destroyed Nakamura's defenses. In the GM norm section America has a good reason to celebrate: by winning his first four games Samuel Sevian has become America's youngest grandmaster in history.

The London System – an opening for you?

11/22/2014 – "There is one opening that shines above all others when comparing reward payout to the input effort," says Zhigen Lin. "It is relatively quick to learn and obscure enough that even titled opponents may not have a proper antidote lined up." He is talking about the London System, popularised by the London BCF Congress Tournament of 1922. Here is some very useful advice by Zhigen.

ChessBase 13: everything you wanted to know

11/22/2014 – ChessBase 13 is one of the most significant steps forward in all the iterations, bringing a slew of refinements and usage improvements, as well as important new tools for the casual and pro user. These include Cloud databases, new repertoire tools, batch analysis tools for positions, new annotation tools, and many more. See what else you'll find in this detailed overview.

Showdown in Saint Louis!

11/22/2014 – The United States' Hikaru Nakamura is set to square off against Levon Aronian, the World No. 4, in the Showdown in Saint Louis, a five-round contest for the lion's share of a $100,000 purse. The special head-to-head exhibition will include four classical games of chess and a final round featuring 16 games of Blitz. Nakamura took an early lead with a nice round one victory!

Sochi G10: Unrealized opportunities

11/21/2014 – Although today's game was by no means winning for the challenger Vishy Anand, there is no question that he had considerable pressure on Magnus Carlsen with a passed d-pawn. The World Champion repeated his Grunfeld and somewhere along the line his preparation failed him and he got into trouble. Time and pressure led to Anand's edge dissipating. Round ten with GM analysis.

ChessBase 13 is here!

11/21/2014 – Most important novelties: ChessBase 13 makes handling your databases on several computers simultaneously very simple. Moreover, the ChessBase cloud allows you to send your training and team partners exercises, games, and lots of chess information in no time. The new packages are available for immediate delivery and the download version will be online on Friday. Order now!
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The scorpion's sting

11/21/2014 – 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.

Hunting norms in Budapest

11/21/2014 – The very first "First Saturday tournament" in Budapest was played in 1987. The idea behind this successful series is simple: make it easier for young players to get round robin norms you need for the title. Since 1987 countless ambitious talents, among them several future chess superstars, have made their norms in Budapest. But that is not always easy.

Sochi G9: A quick draw tightens the noose

11/20/2014 – While the fans will have been disappointed to see a quick draw in game nine with Carlsen playing white, it will have been much less surprising for the experts. At this point, match strategy is the reigning factor, and with three games left at most, and a one point lead, it is up to the challenger to find a way to make a fight of it with an uncooperative opponent. Report and commentary.

Simon Williams: Most amazing moves

11/19/2014 – Chess is often beautiful when you encounter unexpected, surprising, stunning, amazing moves, moves that seem hard to believe. The English Grandmaster Simon Williams has always enjoyed the beauty of the amazing in chess and on his new ChessBase DVD he now presents the "Most amazing moves" he came across in his career. Entertaining and instructive.

Intense fights at the Ukranian Championships

11/19/2014 – With 85 GMs and 198 IMs Ukraine is one of the strongest chess countries in the world. And this year a lot of the top players start in the National Championship, among them Vasily Ivanchuk, Ukraine's number one. He is one of five players in the category 17 tournament with an Elo of 2700+. However, after seven rounds another player emerged as sole leader.

Tal Memorial blitz won by Mamedyarov

11/19/2014 – After the Petrosian Memorial ended in Moscow, a number of the elite players who took part in it, came to Sochi on a double mission: the first was obviously to see first hand the World Championship match, but the second was to play in the Tal Memorial Blitz, a fitting tribute to one of its most passionate aficionados. Mamedyarov took clear first and is now world no.3.

Sochi G8: An easy draw for Carlsen

11/18/2014 – In a match the players usually tend to play for a win with white and for a draw with black. In this sense, game eight of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand was a success for Carlsen. He played with Black, repeated the Queens Gambit Declined from game three, but this time was excellently prepared and came to an easy draw.

The bishop and its passed pawns

11/18/2014 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. This week he chose the game Mamedyarov - Gelfand. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

Sochi G7: Unbreakable Anand

11/17/2014 – Today's game was truly a make-or-break deal for the challenger, with all the signs of a 'break' as he got into trouble in a Berlin and had to give up a piece for two pawns in a position many said was lost. There then followed a titanic struggle as Magnus tried in vain to break Vishy and his impenetrable fortress, but the Indian never gave ground. Report of round seven!

D’Costa: ABC of the English Opening

11/17/2014 – The English Opening is not played as often as 1.e4 or 1.d4. But it is an entertaining, solid opening which a lot of strong players employ regularly or occasionally. World Champion Magnus Carlsen is one of them. In his new ChessBase DVD International Master Lorin D’Costa shows why the best players of the world were and are attracted to this versatile opening.

Chess blindness of the Champions

11/16/2014 – Strange things happened in the sixth game of the World Championship in Sochi: Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand both suffered from an attack of chess blindness and overlooked a combination a lot of amateurs would have seen in a blitz game. In the end Carlsen was lucky and won the game. But has such a double blunder ever occurred in a World Championship match? Have a guess!

Sochi G6: Carlsen won, Anand missed big chance

11/15/2014 – In the sixth game of the World Championship match Magnus Carlsen won but could have lost. He got a good position from the opening but later overlooked a simple tactical trick with which Anand could have won. However, Anand missed his chance. Unable to put up much resistance afterwards he lost without much of a fight. As Carlsen said in the press conference: "I was very lucky."

Lisa: a chess novel

11/15/2014 – Jesse Kraai, 42, has a PhD in philosophy and is also a strong, active chess player who got his GM title in 2007. Jesse took three years off of the game to write his first novel about a female chess enthusiast with Asperger Syndrome and her Russian émigré chess coach. The book has been greeted very enthusiastically by American GMs and IMs. Review by Glenn Mitchell.

Sochi G5: A few palpitations, but no heart attack

11/14/2014 – Today we saw a very well-prepared Carlsen, in contrast to the round three rout, and he rattled off his Queen's Indian at lightning speed. Vishy Anand was unfazed with White and never backed down from the sharp decisions. It seemed like a sedate draw until Magnus took a risky pawn on b2, providing chances for Anand, but in the end it petered out. Report of a short and sweet game.