World Cup 4.1: Kamsky, Kramnik, Caruana victorious

8/20/2013 – The round of sixteen started with a bang as many games were wild and interesting. Kamsky played a dazzling piece sacrifice that shocked Mamedyarov, who didn't respond in the best way and lost. Ivanchuk cracked under Kramnik's pressure while Julio Granda simply blundered against Caruana. Gelfand and Vachier-Lagrave played a crazy game that ended in a perpetual. Round four day one report.

Magnus in Chennai – with 2000 screaming girls

8/20/2013 – "Among wizards and geeks, Magnus Carlsen is a pleasant variance. He is surreally cool, boyishly handsome, has sponsors queuing up for endorsements and smudgy eyed teens thronging for autographs. He is not your usual chess champion – nerdy and crusty, reluctant and aloof." The greeting he received at the venue of the World Championship left the challenger "humbled". Broadsheet reports and video.

Summer Chess Festival in the City of Fortune (2/2)

8/20/2013 – The international chess festival, ‘Mare di Fano’ took place from 29 July to 5 August. This chess festival at the peak of summer was a tournament with a splash in the sea, fresh fish, and a taste of famed wines of the region, not to mention a chess fighting company of several GMs and IMs, giving the term ‘chess tourists’ the most literal meaning. An in-depth report with annotated games.

World Cup 3.3: Grischuk and Giri out

8/19/2013 – The stakes are higher and the pressure is increasing - a fact that is noticeable especially in tiebreak situations. Many blunders decided the fate of today's matches, but at the end most of the favourites passed to the next round. Noticeable exceptions to that were Julio Granda Zuniga knocking out Anish Giri and Le Quang Liem doing the same to Alexander Grischuk. Big tiebreak report.

Summer Chess Festival in the City of Fortune (1/2)

8/19/2013 – In Italy, numerous smaller cities hide great beauty as well as historical and cultural treasures but remain obscured by the world fame of their grander counterparts like Rome, Florence or Venice. One such jewel is Fano, which hosted a lovely chess festival surrounded by a rich history dating back to the Romans, as reported by Diana Mihajlova.

ChessBase Magazine #155 – Never write off Gelfand

8/19/2013 – His form had reached its peak with his world championship duel with Anand last year, but missed his opportunity. Perhaps it’s time for the veteran to retire? Not yet. Boris Gelfand staged a triumphant return with a first prize in the Tal Memorial. CBM 155 rightly celebrates the outstanding event, with the tournament winner himself annotating. Review by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.

Magnus in Chennai, doing a 'recce'

8/19/2013 – That's WW2 military slang for reconnaissance. World Championship challenger Magnus Carlsen from Norway landed in Chennai on Sunday to get a feel for the venue of the November championship. It's a maiden visit to the city, and he's loving every bit of it, revealed his manager Espen Agdestein. Out of caution Magnus has brought his own chef. First reports in the Indian broadsheets.

The Chess Games of the 19th Maccabiah

8/18/2013 – The 19th Maccabiah, a sort of Jewish Olympics held in Israel every two years, was a resounding success, and to the envy of FIDE, reserves an important place for chess. Much like the Olympics, it is officially an amateur event, but despite a lack of monetary prizes, norms are regularly scored in hard-fought competition. Here is a large illustrated report by Ram Soffer.

World Cup 3.2: Aronian out, Grischuk equalises

8/18/2013 – Top seed Levon Aronian missed close to winning chances to eventually draw against Evgeny Tomashevsky and drop out of the World Cup. Vladimir Kramnik missed a number of wins in the endgame to draw Alexander Areshchenko, while Alexander Grischuk turned a drawn position against Le Quang Liem into a win and force a tiebreak. Full report with pictures.

An Iranian in Toronto

8/18/2013 – "As a professional chess player for over a decade, exploring new places has always been a part of my nature. I have always wanted to visit Canada." With these words, Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi, currently residing and studying in Lubbock, Texas, starts his report on a visit to Toronto where he gave simuls and lectures. Here is his illustrated report.

World Cup 3.1: Aronian, Grischuk shocked

8/17/2013 – Top seed Levon Aronian, playing white, was outplayed in a Dutch Defence by Evgeny Tomashevsky, who won the full point in 58 moves; Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem beat Alexander Grischuk in a K+6 pawns ending. Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Gelfand, Gata Kamsky and Peter Svidler all won their first games of the round. Round three game one report, with results and games.

2013 Czech Open - chess and games festival

8/17/2013 – The 24th edition of the international chess and games festival was held in Pardubice, Czech Republic, with a myriad of chess tournaments of all kinds and many other games as well. The main chess open was won by GM Nisipeanu, but the festival included tons of chess tournaments as well as games of all kinds. There really was something for everyone.

A play based on Kasparov vs Deep Blue

8/17/2013 – It's called The Machine and it played in July in Manchester. If you live in America you can catch it at the Park Avenue Armory in September. And maybe you are going to have to, since it appears to be a well-made, dramatically compelling stage production that captures the atmosphere of the monumental battle between man and machine. Allan Beardsworth caught it in Manchester – here's his review.

World Cup 2.3: Dubov, Hammer qualify in tiebreaks

8/16/2013 – 17-year-old Daniil Dubov went all the way against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, with eight draws and then a stunning victory in the Armageddon (Daniil actually played 1.b3??!). The Norwegians cheered as Jon Ludwig took down the much higher rated David Navara. The top seeds all went through in two rapid chess tiebreak games. Tiebreak report with pictures.

The infamous 1999 ChessBase Christmas Puzzle

8/16/2013 – Way back in the previous century – millennium actually – we started publishing a series of puzzles which gained a lot of popularity. They were set in static HTML and could not be incorporated into our new content management system. Rather than have them disappear forever we have decided to revive the best puzzles for our younger readers. We start with the most famous example.

World Cup 2.2: fifteen matches still undecided

8/15/2013 – Caruana, Grischuk, Nakamura and Gelfand are through to round three, while Alexei Shirov was sensationally taken out by 14-year-old Chinese GM Wei Yi, as was Peter Leko by the Peruvian GM Julio Granda Zuniga. Gata Kamsky lost a traumatic game against Alexandr Shimanov, who thus equalised the score. Almost half the matches go into the tiebreaks on Friday. Round two game two report.

Tromsø 2.1: World Cup Snapshots

8/15/2013 – There was plenty of high drama in the second round of the FIDE World Cup in Tromso – lots of points were missed and gained. This was pointed out in the Wednesday issue of Chess Today, a subscription-based online publication that is delivered daily to our mailbox. Its editor Alex Baburin provides highlights from four interesting games, and also illuminates the controversy surrounding draw claim.

Karsten Müller: endgames from Tromsø

8/15/2013 – Today's endgame lessons by GM Karsten Müller are taken from the first rounds of the Grand Prix that is taking place in Norway. It features instructive examples from games by Nakamura, Robson, Areshchenko and Jakovenko. Our ChessBase Magazine endgame expert uses them to teach you techniques that can prove invaluable in your tournament games. Don't miss it.

World Cup 2.1: A great day for White

8/14/2013 – The day came to a close with a fantastic score for the white players, including Dominguez's win over Onischuk and Julio Granda over Peter Leko. White won ten games to black's two, with the other twenty games ending in draws. Notable exceptions today were Ivanchuk's win over Robson and Vachier-Lagraeve's win over Isan Ortiz. Report of a fighting round.

A chess tournament in South Africa – part 2

8/14/2013 – The event had 14 participants, all of them with international titles: six GMs, four IMs and four FMs. It was duly won, a point ahead of the field, by our roving reporter GM Alexander Ipatov, the second seed. Alex used his time in Cape Town well: he gave a simul, held a lecture, went diving for great whites, met pro wrestlers and took flying lessons in a small plane. You know, just the usual stuff GMs do.

World Cup 1.3: tremendous action in the tiebreaks

8/13/2013 – Gata Kamsky struggled against Lou Yiping, but managed to beat him in one accelerated rapid game; Peter Svidler was given a run for his money by Anna Ushenina, but in the end won both rapid games; Adams and Morozevich went through; Shirov lost his first rapid game but then won three against Hou Yifan; and Ramirez went all the way to the Armageddon before losing to Tomashevsky. Tiebreak report.

Talking about the weather: Vlissingen in Summer

8/13/2013 – It's a beautiful seaside resort in the south-west of Holland, a fishermen's hamlet that came into existence in the seventh century. Bathed in bright sunshine it is an ideal location for a chess open. 250 players participated – it would have been more if the playing hall had been able to take them. Once again we bring you a beautiful pictorial report by our playing and roving reporter WGM Alina l'Ami.

World Cup 1.2: Polgar, Nepo out, Ushenina still in

8/12/2013 – The big upsets of this round: Judit Polgar drew her game against Cuban GM Isan Reynaldo Ortiz and was knocked out, while Anna Ushenina beat Peter Svidler to equalise and stay in the World Cup. Ian Nepomniachtchi was knocked out by 14-year-old Wei Yi. Alexander Morozevich fought back against Bator Sambuev and forced the Canadian GM into the tiebreaks. Round one game two report.

A chess tournament in South Africa

8/12/2013 – "I’m on my way from Cape Town to Istanbul," writes GM Alexander Ipatov. "There is a large selection of movies and songs on board the Turkish Airlines flight, but I have decided to open my laptop and write this article. Why now and not when I arrive home? Because Cape Town and people whom I met left a huge mark in my heart. I want to share my impressions while they are still fresh." Part one.