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.

World Cup 1.1: A few surprises in Tromsø

8/11/2013 – Gata Kamsky drew in 41 moves against Chinese IM Lou Yiping, 257 points below him on the rating scale; Chinese IM Liu Qingnan drew GM Wang Hao, 247 points above him; Canadian GM Bator Sambuev beat Alexander Morozevich, 215 point above him; Judit Polgar lost against Cuban GM Isan Reynaldo Ortiz, 90 points her inferior. Round one game one report with pictures and videos.

FIDE World Cup in Tromsø begins today

8/11/2013 – The players have arrived in the Arctic Circle, all of them, as far as we can tell. On Saturday there were chess public activities in Tromsø, and in the evening the opening ceremony. The games of round one begin at 15:00h CEST (17:00h Moscow, 9 a.m. NY) on Sunday. We start our coverage with some lovely pictures from Norway and the pairing of all 64 boards of the first round.

British Championships: Howell wins with 9.5/11

8/10/2013 – A 44-move draw against the other top seed, Gawain Jones, officially gave 22-year-old GM David Howell the title for 2013 British Champion, which had been clear after the penultimate round. He finished one and a half point clear of the field, with a 2768 performance. In equal second with 8.0/11 were Jones, Stephen Gordon and Mark Hebden. Here's our final report with special thanks to the organisers.

Kavalek in Huffington: Chess Feast in Norway

8/10/2013 – From August 10 till September 5, 128 chessplayers will descend on the Norwegian city of Tromsø to contest the FIDE World Cup. Only two of the best players will be missing: the world champion Vishy Anand of India and his challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Huffington Post columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek describes two of his encounters with Norwegian players. Highly entertaining.

British Championships: David Howell wins title

8/9/2013 – David Howell, playing with the black pieces, defeated IM Ameet Ghasi, to finish the round at 9.0/10 points (and a 2807 performance). That is one and a half more than his nearest rivals Gawain Jones and Mark Hebden. With one round to go they cannot catch him. In today's historical review we look at Stuart Conquest's 2008 win in a playoff between two 40-something GMs.

NEW: ChessBase Magazine 155 – download sample!

8/9/2013 – If 50% of all White players fail to find the best continuation on move four, everything indicates that Black chose a line with excellent practical chances. 3...Na5 against the Rossolimo-Variation in the Sicilian is such a line. In the new CBM 155 GM Leonid Kritz takes a close look at this move. And you can download his article for free! More...

Russian GM Igor Kurnosov dies in car accident

8/9/2013 – Tragic news: the chess grandmaster was crossing Komsomolsk Avenue in Chelyabinsk on the night of August 8, at 2:45 a.m. local time when he was hit by a Ford Fiesta car, driven by a 20-year-old girl. He died at the scene of the accident. Igor was an honest, kind, positive person; a great friend; and a chess professional who had a true passion for the game (Poginina web site). Rest in peace!