Endgame Riddle: Alekhine vs Capablanca

10/17/2022 – The 1927 World Championship match in Buenos Aires between challenger Alexander Alekhine and World Champion José Raúl Capablanca ended with a surprise: Capablanca had gone into the match as the clear favourite, but after 34 games he had lost 3-6 (draws did not count). The decisive and interesting 34th game featured a theoretically and practically important endgame. Karsten Müller took a closer look at the game and the endgame and invites readers to analyze both. | Photo: Capablanca (right) and Alekhine at the World Championship 1927, the man in the middle is the arbiter Carlos Augusto Querencio | Source: Wikipedia

Let's Check: the elite are better than you know

10/17/2022 – There are several ways to check a player's performance using an engine. One is to simply ask an engine to analyze every move and highlight every disagreement however small. Another is to use the tool in ChessBase and Fritz known as Let's Check. Here are the results from the recent Sinquefield Cup including a 100% match and the curiously high results by...

Aimchess Rapid: Gukesh youngest-ever to beat Carlsen, Duda leads

10/16/2022 – A day after Arjun Erigaisi beat Magnus Carlsen for the first time in his career, another (even younger) Indian prodigy managed to beat the world number one at the Aimchess Rapid online event. Gukesh Dommaraju defeated Carlsen with white to become the youngest-ever player to beat the Norwegian during his reign as world champion. Meanwhile, Jan-Krzysztof Duda had a great day and climbed to the sole lead. | Photo: Niki Riga / Gibraltar Chess Festival
More...
 8

Opening catastrophes

10/16/2022 – Leinier Dominguez won his round-7 game in the U.S. Championship after only ten moves. The opening debacle prompted Jon Speelman to locate similar examples both in a book by Yakov Neishtadt and in the database of his own games. And he also remembered to give the solution of the proof game from last week!

U.S. Championships: Niemann plays ‘psychotic chess’, wins

10/16/2022 – The one decisive result in round 10 of the U.S. Championship saw Hans Niemann beating Elshan Moradiabadi with the black pieces. Fabiano Caruana continues to be the sole leader going into the second rest day of the 13-round tournament. In the women’s section, Thalia Cervantes and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova both scored with the black pieces. Jennifer Yu is still topping the standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 9

Understanding before Moving 95: Queen's Gambit Declined

10/16/2022 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 95th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman discusses structures that are typical for the Queen's Gambit Declined. | Photo: Pascal Simon
More...
 2

Lilit Mkrtchian (2) - How to prepare against your first tournament opponent and succeed

10/16/2022 – Today we want to know from Lilit what is happening one day before a tournament. When should you arrive? What happens if you had a bad sleep? Once you know your first opponent, how to prepare? The Armenian IM shows us the steps on how to do so, of course. We end the episode with a full analysis of her first game against the young, talented Filipa Pipiras, and how Lilit's plan to surprise her nicely succeeded.
More...
 4

Aimchess Rapid: Arjun beats Carlsen, Abdusattorov leads

10/16/2022 – Arjun Erigaisi was the top scorer on day 2 of the Aimchess Rapid. The Indian prodigy collected three wins and a draw and, in round 7, achieved his first-ever victory over world champion Magnus Carlsen. Thanks to his performance on Saturday, Arjun climbed to shared fourth place, two points behind sole leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov are sharing second place a point behind the young Uzbek. | Photo: Amruta Mokal / 2022 Chess Olympiad
More...
 5

U.S. Championships: Yu retakes the sole lead

10/15/2022 – After nine rounds, Fabiano Caruana and Jennifer Yu are the sole leaders at the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship, respectively. Caruana drew with Awonder Liang after the latter continued the trend of playing offbeat openings in Saint Louis, while Jennifer Yu defeated Ashritha Eswaran in what was her sixth victory of the event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 2

Finding happiness

10/15/2022 – When you find the winning move White played in the diagrammed position, the rest will be be easy - enjoy!
More...
 8

Aimchess Rapid: Abdusattorov gets off to a winning start

10/15/2022 – The first four rounds of the Aimchess Rapid online tournament were played on Friday. Nodirbek Abdusattorov was the top scorer, as he collected three wins and a draw for a 10/12 score (wins are worth 3 points, draws are worth 1 point). Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov are sharing second place on 7/12.
More...
 1

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Two centuries old, but still fresh

10/14/2022 – In his Power Play Show, Daniel King analyses a game from the US Championship between Awonder Liang and Levon Aronian. The origins of the opening go back 200 years, but something fresh was still created on the board. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Alejandro Ramirez: "It does seem very likely that Hans cheated over-the-board."

10/14/2022 – Under the name "C-Squared" Fabiano Caruana and Cristian Chirila recently launched a new chess podcast. Episode five featured Alejandro Ramirez, Costa Rica's first grandmaster, ChessBase author, trainer and popular commentator. The three talked about Ramirez's career, chess in Costa Rica, but above all about the Hans Niemann case. Asked whether he believes Niemann cheated when playing over-the-board, Ramirez said: "It does seem very likely."

U.S. Championships: Hat-tricks for Ray Robson and Megan Lee

10/14/2022 – Fabiano Caruana remains in pole position at the U.S. Championship, but his lead has narrowed to a half point after Ray Robson scored a third consecutive victory in Thursday’s eighth round. Robson defeated an out-of-form Elshan Moradiabadi and now stands in sole second place a full point ahead of a big pack sharing the third spot on 4½/8 points. Meanwhile, Megan Lee also scored a hat-trick and is now the sole leader in the women’s tournament. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: The good old Scotch Gambit

10/13/2022 – This week Robert Ris will have a look at the good old Scotch Gambit, which was seen in the games Liang-Aronian (US Championship) and Mamedov-Anand (European Club Cup). In both games, Black got into some serious trouble, with Aronian even getting blown off the board! | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
More...
 1

Maxim Dlugy talks to Der Spiegel

10/13/2022 – After Maxim Dlugy's recent statement on the actions that brought him into the spotlight, suggesting a connection with the accusations Magnus Carlsen had initially made against Hans Niemann. In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, Europe's most influential news magazine and portal, Max speaks of those accusations for the first time and discusses whether he will take legal action.

Konstantin Landa (1972-2022)

10/13/2022 – After a long illness, GM Konstantin Landa has passed away. Landa was born in Omsk, attended the Sveshnikov and Botvinnik chess schools. In 1995 he became a grandmaster. Konstantin Landasvec lived in Germany since 1999. As a FIDE Senior Trainer he supported many strong players and national teams. Konstantin Landa was only 50 years old. | Photo: Konstantin Landa’s personal archive

Indians dominate in Fagernes

10/13/2022 – A prominent open event is currently taking place in Fagernes. A strong Indian group is dominating the action. But the top group also includes 17-year-old Elham Abdrlauf, Norway’s biggest rising star. Report after round 5. | Photos: Tom Eriksen

U.S. Championships: Winning streaks

10/13/2022 – An exciting round in both sections of the U.S. Championships saw 9 out of 14 games ending decisively. In the open, Fabiano Caruana, Ray Robson (pictured) and Dariusz Swiercz grabbed second consecutive wins, while Leinier Dominguez scored his first full point after merely ten moves! In the women’s section, Megan Lee defeated Jennifer Yu and is now sharing the lead with Irina Krush. | Photo: Austin Fuller

Endgames from Mayrhofen

10/13/2022 – The European Club Cup was played last week, with no fewer than 70 teams in the open section and 17 women’s squads making their way to Mayrhofen, Austria. Our in-house expert Karsten Müller once again compiled a series of instructive endgames for us to learn from and enjoy! | Pictured: Anna Muzychuk (photo by Fiona Steil-Antoni)

Game of the Week #537: P. Harikrishna vs V. Anand

10/12/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show #537 Merijn van Delft presents a game Pentala Harikrishna and Vishy Anand played at the European Club Cup in Mayrhofen, Austria. Harikrishna won with impressive technique. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Manuel Aaron - The Trailblazer of Indian Chess

10/12/2022 – Manuel Aaron was India's first International Master. Manuel is a great champion who indulged in battles with players like Fischer, Botvinnik, and other world superstars in his prime. He laid the foundation for Indian chess, due to which India has now become a superpower in the chess world. In the fifth episode of Olympiad Stories with Saravanan, IM Saravanan shares some interesting stories about the first Indian Superstar, the grand old man of Indian chess. Photo: The Hindu archives.

Over 13,000 visitors worldwide at Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival

10/12/2022 – Chess took centre stage in Budapest last Saturday. Judit Polgar organised her Global Chess Festival. 3000 chess lovers attended the events at the National Gallery. Over 10,000 participated via the internet.

Turkey wins FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2022

10/12/2022 – On 10 October the FIDE World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2022 finished in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. The 9-round Swiss tournament with classical time control brought together 34 teams from 22 countries. The fifth-rated Turkiye-Red swept the field, winning the event with one round to spare. | Photos: Turkish Chess Federation