3/7/2020 – Welcome to Augsburg, the heart of Bavaria and one of Germany’s oldest cities. Words like cute and cosy come to mind, but for its modest size one could be quite amazed at the number of rush hour commuters: it is a town that has no inferiority complex towards its bigger brothers, the nearby Munich and capital Berlin. CARL STRUGNELL once again enjoyed a post-Christmas visit to Bavaria. PLUS try your combinative skills in Find the Winning Moves.

10/7/2019 – An editorial from CHESS Magazine's executive editor IM MALCOLM PEIN announcing the 11th London Chess Classic, the latest news from Chess in Schools and Communities, thoughts on the FIDE calendar, and the standings of the Grand Chess Tour.

3/24/2019 – Here's another opportunity to sharpen your tactical skills: twelve positions taken from recent tournaments. But we have a little surprise for you: on the diagram boards you can not only move the pieces around to analyse — there is also an embedded engine that will actually play out the position against you. Which means you can work things out directly on the diagrams in the browser. How neat is that?

10/17/2018 – “If you were going to write a movie script, you couldn’t have done it better,” says English GM Daniel King. A new feature documentary, Closing Gambit, is being released to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the 1978 World Championship and the start of the Carlsen versus Caruana match in November. The film was successfully screened to international buyers at the Cannes Festival earlier this year, and will become widely available on TV and digital platforms later this year.

9/5/2018 – Israeli psychologist AMATZIA AVNI, a FIDE Master in composition, describes the complex love-hate relationship between humans and their chess software. "They assist us in analysis and spare us effort in detecting our errors," he writes. "On the other hand, who likes smart alecs? Comparing ourselves with Fritz, we are bound to become demoralised." In just three examples he covers the whole range of human emotions toward chess software: anger, frustration, disgust, disappointment, joy, elation and gratitude.

8/2/2018 – 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 — have you ever used this defence, which acts as a very big nuisance in the white position? In his latest Fritztrainer Lawrence Trent calls this “one of the most underrated openings, gambits-wise” and considers it perfectly sound, since he has not been able to refute it with some of the strongest computers in the world. He promises dynamic play, with the “most in-depth analysis I’ve ever done.” Review by SEAN MARSH, with live Fritz-board for you to train on.

6/13/2018 – Here's another opportunity to sharpen your tactical skills: twelve positions taken from recent tournaments, for you to solve. As a special service, the diagram boards allow you not only to move the pieces around to analyse — there is also an embedded engine that will actually play the positions against you! That means you can work things out directly on the diagrams in the browser. Plus: you can get products from Chess & Bridge at a discount price!

5/30/2018 – The editor’s top ten features the deciding moment in the candidates tournament: Fabiano Caruana annotates his final round victory over Grischuk, plus “fresh and unexpected”: Vladimir Kramnik explains how he crushed Aronian with Black after innovating with 7…Rg8, and a new plan against the Najdorf? Peter Heine Nielsen annotates Carlsen's successful experiment with 5.Qd2!? in Shamkir. Plus much more...

5/9/2018 – Here's another opportunity to sharpen your tactical skills: twelve positions taken from recent tournament. But we have a little surprise for you: on the diagram boards you can not only move the pieces around to analyse — there is also an embedded engine that will actually play out the position against you. Which means you can work things out directly on the diagrams in the browser. How neat is that?

5/2/2018 – What's going to be the next twist in the race for FIDE President? The election is set for October and, for now, we have only two candidates — the controversial incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, and his long-time deputy, Georgios Makropoulos, who has now turned against him. MALCOLM PEIN weighs in on the situation following the recent FIDE Presidential Board meeting in Minsk, Belarus. After this article from CHESS Magazine went to press, rumours began circulating of a new potential third candidate soon throwing his hat into the ring. For that, we'll have to wait and see, but it's looking like things could get interesting, with the future of World Chess on the line. | Photo: FIDE

5/2/2018 – CHESS Magazine reviewer SEAN MARSH finds Andrew Martin's "surprising Sicilian" quite persuasive, and "rife with dangers for both sides". Find out why, along with a sample game and video from Martin's latest DVD video series.

4/14/2018 – Chess players are very practical, result-oriented. They do feel satisfaction when they manage to produce a stunning combination or an imaginative opening novelty, but beauty is not a goal per itself. They are looking for strong, practical moves, ones that lead to victory in the game. Beauty is an ancillary factor. But it is a major goal for composers of chess problems and studies, as the Israeli problemist explains in part two of his article.

4/11/2018 – A lot of chess writing is devoted to the thought process of players. Chess coaches direct their students to look for good, healthy, strong moves – not to search for beautiful ones. Problemists are quite different. For them beauty is a major goal. Composers search for extraordinary positions, which will bring the Aha! or OMG effect. In CHESS Magazine the well-known Israeli problemist examines some of the characteristics which separate those who play from those who compose and solve studies and problems.

3/19/2018 – Test your tactical ability with these positions grouped in rough order of difficulty. The games come from various recent events: Gibraltar, Moscow, Riyadh, etc.. Don’t forget that whilst sometimes the key move will force mate or the win of material, other times it will just win a pawn. Take your time analysing the positions, on our news page, assisted by a JavaScript chess engine.

3/12/2018 – Can you play rook and pawn vs rook? It is one of the most common endgames, and your ability to win it, when it is winnable, or draw it when that is possible, will bring you a fair number of rating points. The endgame expert André Chéron did pioneering work in this field, and Milos Pavlovic, grandmaster and chess trainer, gives us some vital tips, based on Chéron's work. It's all in the latest edition of the UK-based Chess Magazine.

1/30/2018 – Recently a World Championship blitz game between Magnus Carlsen and Ernesto Inarkiev ended in bizarre fashion: Inarkiev stopped the clock because his opponent had "made an illegal move" — and was awarded the point. But then it was ascertained that it was he who had moved illegally on the previous move, and the point was given to Carlsen. We reported extensively on the incident. Now International Arbiter Alex Holowczak weighs in, taking a closer look at the recently released revised rules of the game.

1/22/2018 – It is one of the most fascinating and at the same time difficult variations of all, and anyone playing it needs to put in hours of thorough preparation before using it in tournament games. The simplest way: sit back and listen to Erwin l'Ami, whose enthusiasm is clear throughout this ChessBase DVD. The Dutch GM offers a full repertoire against 5.Bg5, promising only the sharpest responses for Black and paying particular attention to the range of manoeuvres and sacrifices available to both sides. Review in Chess Magazine by Sean Marsh.

1/4/2018 – William James Joseph 'Bill' Lombardy, who died suddenly in mid-October at the age of 79, has to go down in the annals of U.S. chess — and arguably perhaps the world chess scene — as 'the one who got away', a huge teenage talent equally as gifted as Bobby Fischer, but who gave up the chance to become an elite chess professional at the peak of his career, opting instead to pursue a personal calling to his faith by becoming a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. | Photo: Macauley Peterson