Biel: Three with chances

7/29/2020 – After yesterday's round, three players still have chances of overall victory in the Grandmaster Triathlon in Biel. In the Open it looks like a French one-two. Watch the final round live! Sebastian Siebrecht reports.

The Best In - Armenia

7/28/2020 – Russia, India, USA or China are big countries with extraordinary good chess players. "The Best In..." series takes a look at some of the best players of countries which are far smaller by size and population. Some places are exceptional though, like Armenia. We had the chance to interview one of Armenia's best female players - Lilit Mkrtchian. | Photos: Lilit Mkrtchian

The Weekly Show: Vasyl Ivanchuk, chess genius

7/28/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at a great win by Ukrainian star Vassily Ivanchuk, who defeated Ding Liren in style during the Legends of Chess tournament. Referring to Ivanchuk, Lawrence said: "He's one of the very true universal players in the world of chess, maybe the most universal player of all time — him and Spassky come to mind". | Lawrence' show is available at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST, 13:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / World Rapid Championship 2016

Biel: Fighting chess, four ways!

7/28/2020 – After the rest day, the grandmasters showed themselves to be in a fighting mood in the invitational tournament. Harikrishna won the top game of the day, while Vincent Keymer’s balance sheet reads like a binary code: 1 0 1 0 1. Sebastian Siebrecht reports. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust, Sebastian Siebrecht

Riddle solved: Flohr was winning!

7/28/2020 – Coming from taking first place at the Soviet Chess Championship, Mikhail Botvinnik faced Salomon Flohr in a 12-game match played in Moscow and Leningrad. In one of the games, Flohr showed the chess world how to force a win in the 2B vs 2N endgame. But did he really, or did Botvinnik simply misplay it? We asked our readers to help settle the historical debate. And they helped endgame expert GM Karsten Müller to settle the question. | Pictured: Flohr and Botvinnik in 1935

The key winning king move

7/28/2020 – Pawn endgames always must be calculated carefully. | Endgame theory constitutes the foundation of chess. You realize this in striking clarity once you obtain a won endgame but in the end have to be content with a draw in the end because of a lack of necessary know-how. Such accidents can only be prevented by building up a solid endgame technique.

Legends of Chess: Anand and Ivanchuk strike

7/28/2020 – With two rounds to go in the preliminary stage of the ‘Legends of Chess’ online tournament, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi have already secured their spots in the four-player knockout phase. Anish Giri climbed to third place with a 2½:½ victory over Ding Liren, while, among the veterans, Vishy Anand and Vasyl Ivanchuk played enterprising chess to defeat Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik respectively. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Simon Says: Learn from Ulf Andersson

7/27/2020 – In this "Simon Says", Simon leaves the sharp tactics aside and focuses on simplicity. In order to do so, he analyzes four games by Swedish endgame virtuoso Ulf Andersson! | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EST). | Pictured: Andersson playing Anatoly Karpov in 1983. | Photo: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo

Set up a coaching session on PlayChess!

7/27/2020 – Some might say chess is at its peak of popularity due to the coronavirus. People who have never played chess before are thinking, “There is no better time than now to learn how to play chess”. And they are right! I myself have been asked by a lot of friends if I could teach them how to play. Thanks to PlayChess.com I can teach more than one student at a time with ease. I quickly explain the steps needed to set up a coaching session in a short video!

Legends of Chess: Carlsen in charge

7/27/2020 – Magnus Carlsen leads the preliminary stage of the ‘Legends of Chess’ tournament after a smooth victory over Ding Liren. Ian Nepomniachtchi is in second place — the Russian defeated Viswanathan Anand in Armageddon on Sunday. Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler also won in the sudden-death decider, while Anish Giri got the better of Peter Leko 2½:1½. | Photo: Justin Kellar

Logic Riddles for Chess Players (6)

7/27/2020 – The main theme for this logic riddle is the world of Combinatorics. Although it requires some calculations, it is a lot of fun to try to correctly compare probabilities. Of course, we also have the solution for Logic Riddle #5 available!

Biel: Wojtaszek and Adams the strongest in Blitz

7/26/2020 – Blitz chess was played on Saturday at the Festival in Biel as part of the ‘Grandmaster Triathlon’. After 14 rounds, Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Michael Adams collected 11 points each. In this order, Wojtaszek ahead of Adams, are placed atop the overall standings of the triathlon — the Polish GM has a comfortable four-point lead. Vincent Keymer only scored 4½ points, which prompted him to drop from third to fourth place. Sebastian Siebrecht reports from Biel. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust

The Chess Handshake Challenge: Winners

7/26/2020 – How far away are you from the World Champion, in terms of handshakes? Have you shaken hands with someone who has shaken hands with him? How far from Boris Spassky? Capablanca? Morphy? We asked about this a couple of weeks ago, and it led to some fascinating historical research, all the way back to European experts/authors who lived in the 1500s and 1600s. And we have a winner!

Legends of Chess: Twists and turns

7/26/2020 – Ian Nepomniachtchi caught up with Magnus Carlsen in the standings table of the ‘Legends of Chess’ online event by defeating Peter Svidler 3:1 while Carlsen managed a win in Armageddon over Vasyl Ivanchuk. Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko and Anish Giri also won in round 5. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Check Czech Chess: Father and son Josef Vančura

7/26/2020 – The creator of the famous Vančura position, Josef Vančura, had a son named after him. The younger Vančura sadly died at the age of 23, but nonetheless made at least two important contributions to endgame theory. Columnist Siegfried Hornecker tells us the story. | Pictured: Library hall of the former Jesuit College in the Old Town of Prague

Guess the movie: A chess movie film quiz (5)

7/25/2020 – The movies we are about to show in this quiz are crystal clear. Perhaps, because all of them have a chess scene with a chess set made of glass! Unfortunately, we had to cheat a bit and one of the scenes is from a film presented in one of our last quizzes. Nonetheless, this might be the hardest film quiz so far.

Biel: Harikrishna shines against Keymer

7/25/2020 – The fourth round of classical chess in Biel saw Vincent Keymer losig against Indian star Pentala Harikrishna. In the overall standings of the ‘Grandmaster Triathlon’, Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek has taken the lead after a win against Arkadij Naiditsch; Keymer is third, behind Harikrishna. Sebastian Siebrecht reports. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust

Legends of Chess: There’s no stopping Carlsen

7/25/2020 – World champion Magnus Carlsen is the sole leader of the Legends of Chess online tournament after four rounds with a perfect score. Ian Nepomniachtchi is trailing by a point, while Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik complete the top 4 in the standings table — let us not forget that the preliminary stage, being played at the moment, serves only to decide which four participants move on to the semifinals. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Power Play Show: The King’s Gambit is very much alive!

7/24/2020 – In this Power Play Show, grandmaster Daniel King uses all the knowledge he gathered to prepare his latest DVD to analyze the King’s Gambit played by Vasyl Ivanchuk against Peter Leko at the start of the week. Unmissable! | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photos: Nugzar Kereselidze

Riddle: Was Flohr vs Botvinnik sound?

7/24/2020 – 1933, Moscow. Michael Botvinnik had just won the USSR Chess Championship. A match was arranged between him and one of the top players at the time, Czechoslovakian Champion Salomon Flohr. The 12-game match was drawn, after Flohr took an early lead. In one of his games he showed the chess world how to force a win in the 2B vs 2N endgame. But did he really, or did Botvinnik simply misplay it? Can you help endgame specialist GM Karsten Müller answer this question?

“Best by test: 1.e4” (Bobby Fischer)

7/24/2020 – Bobby Fischer exclusively opened his games with 1.e4 as White. 1.e4 gives White a dynamic structure and is the main weapon in several of the top player's arsenals, including Vishy Anand's. When preparing an opening, it is always important to learn theory, main themes and concepts. Let us help you do exactly that.

Biel: Keymer beats Naiditsch

7/24/2020 – Vincent Keymer has put his defeat against Michael Adams behind him, and showed his other side against Arkadij Naiditsch — as an uncompromising attacking player. David Anton defeated Romain Edouard. In the Open, Gerlef Meins is in the shared lead, while Sebastian Siebrecht — the author of these articles — is a point behind him in the standings. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust

Ten-day online training course with Chuchelov and Vidit

7/24/2020 – Are you a moderately strong chess player? More importantly: someone with real ambitions to go for the top? Well, here's a chance to do an online course with one of the best trainers in the world (he has worked with Caruana, Giri, Radjabov and Hou Yifan), together with on of the world's top grandmasters (Elo 2726). Normally a ten-day 50-hour course would cost a fortune, and involve travelling to Belgium. But in pandemic online times things are much more reasonable. Anyone in the world who is rated 2300 or higher can take part.

Legends of Chess: Carlsen and Svidler still perfect

7/24/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Peter Svidler have won all three matches they have played so far in the ‘Legends of Chess’ tournament without ever going to tiebreaks. On Thursday, Carlsen was repeatedly in trouble against Peter Leko but managed to win nonetheless, while Svidler defeated former co-leader Boris Gelfand. In the clash of former world champions, Vladimir Kramnik beat Vishy Anand after winning a memorable first game with black. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vasyl Ivanchuk also obtained victories. | Photo: Crystal Fuller