Visual presentation of world chess ratings

4/8/2014 – Mining the ratings section of the FIDE web site, and combining it with United Nations population statistics, reveals a lot about chess and its popularity in different parts of the world. However rows and columns of numbers are difficult to comprehend. Michal Paterek, a software engineer from Poland, presents the data with some really cool interactive maps. Prepare to be stunned!

Improve your chess with Tania Sachdev

4/7/2014 – If you google her images you might mistake her for a Hollywood actress or a fashion model. And IM Tania Sachdev has taken part in some fairly extravagent shows. But her greatest talent is chess, and specifically chess teaching. Which makes her latest ChessBase DVD we predict a surefire bestseller. Is there a more pleasant way to study chess? Review by Sagar Shah.

Children’s Grand Prix, Ambassador for Talent

4/7/2014 – The Spring Festival is a yearly event in Budapest, Hungary, with representations of all arts, whether they be performing arts, visual arts, or... chess! In this festival, there are many events for children and adults, all overseen by its Ambassador of Talent, Judit Polgar. It is not a figure of speech, as she is given this role for a five-year tenure. Here is an illustrated report.

World Champions – reclaiming a lost century

4/6/2014 – The players of Asian board games like Shogi and Go honor their champions at least as far back as the 1600s. Chess, on the other hand, crowned its first official World Champion in 1886, although the game has been around since the 6th century. The chess community recognizes sixteen title holders – too few for historian Paul Lillebo, who proposes we include five earlier champions.

Bad Königshofen German Champions

4/5/2014 – The German Bundesliga (team championships) is one of the strongest in the world, as is the women's section. In the 2013-2014 season two teams won all their matches – until they played against each other in round ten. SC 1957 Bad Königshofen beat OSG Baden Baden to take the title. One of their stars, Indian IM Tania Sachdev, sent us wonderfully insightful annotations of a key game.

Müller: Endgames from ChessBase Magazine

4/5/2014 – Ready for your weekend homework? As so often you can improve your endgame skills by going through practical examples from recent games, explained by our resident expert GM Karsten Müller. This time he start with a spectacular between Hikaru Nakamura and Vladimir Kramnik. Study the four endgames selected by Dr Müller and watch your ratings soar. Best of all: it's free of charge.

On an oil rig? You gotta be kidding!

4/4/2014 – Indeed we were, in the traditional spirit of April Fool (or "April Fish", as the French call it). The announcement that the Carlsen-Anand 2014 World Championship match would be held in the middle of the North Sea was a carefully faked hoax by a ChessBase editor. We've been perpetrating April pranks for at least thirteen years now, and provide you with links to all of them. Prepare to waste a lot of time.

Benko: Fun problems to celebrate the day

4/4/2014 – Our friend and world famous chess composer GM Pal Benko got into the spirit of the day and sent us three problems to solve. They look deceptively easy, but you must consider the day of publication and not be fooled by the guile of the composer. We will leave you to work things out for a few days, and then give you the answers which may come as a surprise to some. [Now with solutions!]

Candidates Khanty-Mansiysk – a pictorial retrospect

4/4/2014 – We reported extensively on the recently concluded Candidates Tournament, with summaries of all games, GM analysis and videos, and a large number of pictures. They were attributed to "the official web site", and a substantial number came from our regular, FIDE press officer WGM Anastasiya Karlovich. But there were many wonderful images by a talented new photographer, Kirill Merkuriev.

April 2014 ratings – Anand returns to third

4/2/2014 – The Candidates Tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk changed everything. Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand gained 15 rating points and climbed from eighth to third place, two points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, who lost just four points. Levon Aronian lost 18 but retained his clear second place in the world. Magnus Carlsen remain at the top of the list, 69 points ahead of Aronian. Here's the latest list.

Kavalek: Anand proved them wrong

4/1/2014 – After Anand had lost the world championship match to Magnus Carlsen last year, his critics were merciless: his play was too timid, he made too many draws, he was too old, he was done, he didn't have a chance, he shouldn't have even tried to play in the Candidates tournament. Anand proved them wrong, as Huffington Post columnist Lubomir Kavalek shows with a deeply annotated game.

Breaking news: World Championship 2014 in Norway

4/1/2014 – They waited to see who would be the challenger. When it became clear that it was Anand the Norwegian government made an express bid to FIDE to stage the event in World Champion Magnus Carlsen's home country. The dates are not fixed, but the venue is – and it is spectacular: the match will be played on oil rig in the North Sea! We have an interview with the Norwegian Oil and Energy minister.

Players and personalities at the Kolkata Open

4/1/2014 – In his first report Sagar Shah decribed the course of this very strong event, with 77 participants and a rating average of close to 2400 (!). The second part is dedicated to some of the other player who did not finish at the top but deserve their share of the limelight. Sagar also gives us some insight into the tournament, its organisation and the venue in this wonderful pictorial report.

Ivanchuk Express Steamrolls Latvia

3/31/2014 – The Riga Chess Federation organized the Latvian Railway Open, a rapid tournament held in the Latvian Railway Museum. The event attracted an amazing amount of stars, names such as Shirov, Malakhov, Alekseev, Zhigalko, Van Wely and countless others. But all they could do was fight for second place. Vassily Ivanchuk came in and crushed the event. He scored a staggering 13.0/14...

Oliver Barbosa conquers Kolkata 2014

3/30/2014 – It is one of the strongest Opens in Asia, sporting players from 13 countries – 27 GMs, 18 IMs and four WGMs – with an an astonishing rating average of 2394 for all 77 participants. The winner (on tiebreak points) is a very talented GM from the Philippines, and the outcome was decided in an exciting key game in the final round. Sagar Shah tells us about it in this big pictorial report.

Candidates Final: Karjakin grabs second

3/30/2014 – Two very hard fought games were played today to wrap the games up in Khanty-Mansiysk. Topalov tried as hard as he could to avoid finishing at the bottom of the scoreboard, but Andreikin proved to be too resourceful and the game ended in a draw. Aronian's opening backfired and Karjakin comfortably pressured him through the game, in a marathon that lasted nearly seven hours.

Yu Yangyi & Ju Wenjun Chinese Champs

3/29/2014 – The Chinese Chess Championships have come to a close and they ended in a dramatic finale. Yu Yangyi barely edged out Ding Liren on tiebreaks to claim the title, a tournament which could easily have gone to either one at the last moments. The women's section was just as exciting as the leader Ju Wenjun lost her game, but was lucky that the second place Lei Tingjie also lost!

Candidates Rd13: Anand-Carlsen rematch!

3/29/2014 – It's official. With 8.0/13 there is no way anyone in the big pack of 6.5/13 can catch Anand and the Indian player earns his right to fight for the World Championship title against Carlsen later this year. Today's round proved decisive as Karjakin had reasonable chances for a win against Anand, but it was to no avail, while Andreikin took down Aronian. Analysis and report.

Pal Benko on Richard Réti’s endgames (2)

3/29/2014 – 125 years ago a boy was born in the Austro-Hungarian part of what is today Slovakia. Richard Reti was a mathematician and world class chess master. Reti was also an endgame specialist who composed some of the most original endgame studies ever devised. Some were flawed, and now, almost a century later, his compatriot GM Pal Benko provides revisions to these studies.

Bring live chess action to your web site!

3/28/2014 – You will have noticed, on the top right side of our news page, there is a chess game in progress. It is one of the top games currently being played on our chess server. In the evenings, which is prime time on Playchess, you will be able to follow games by world class GMs – on your own web page, if you want. Embedding our Best Game board is remarkable simple and takes just a few seconds.

Candidates Rd12: Time is running out

3/27/2014 – Mamedyarov risked against Karjakin, and although it almost backfired neither side gained a full point. Topalov beat Svidler, but is far from the lead. Anand almost cemented his tournament win by playing an exciting attack against Andreikin who saw himself in the defensive early on. However the fireworks were too much for him and the draw was agreed in a winning position.

Candidates Rd11: All Null

3/26/2014 – Karjakin was the only player that had realistic winning chances in today's games, as Topalov overpressed against him and got very uncomfortable position. Anand is of course the clear winner of the round as he finishes tournament with two whites in the last three games. The tournament is not yet over, but things are looking good for the Indian. Report of today's round.

Pal Benko on Richard Réti’s endgames (1)

3/26/2014 – At the turn of the last century an Austro-Hungarian mathematician shook up the chess world with revolutionary new ideas ("hypermodernism"), and with some of the most original endgame studies ever devised. To celebrate his upcoming 125th birthday another great chessplayer and endgame specialist, GM Pal Benko, has sent us some examples of Reti's works.

Candidates Rd10: Kramnik's downfall

3/25/2014 – Anand inches round by round closer to his rematch with Carlsen. Psychologically he must be pleased about today's results, his opponent tomorrow, Kramnik, blundered badly in a slightly better position against Svidler after playing a great game and he suffered his second loss in a row. Mamedyarov and Topalov went for a fight with Black, but neither achieved a full point.