Russian Superfinals: Tomashevsky and Girya on top

8/18/2019 – Seven rounds of the open and women's Russian Superfinals have been completed before the second rest day in Izhevsk. Both tournaments have now sole leaders — Evgeny Tomashevsky is on an undefeated 4½ out of 7 score in the Open, while Olga Girya has taken more of a commanding lead amongst the women with 6 points after seven rounds. Four rounds are still left to go in the Republic of Udmurtia. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

NEW: The nasty Nimzowisch Defence

8/17/2019 – The Nimzowitsch Defence, 1.e4 Nc6, is a lesser-known and by far less popular branch of opening theory from the great strategist Aron Nimzowitsch. Unlike the Nimzo-Indian Defence, which has acquired a reputation as one of the soundest replies to 1.d4, 1...Nc6 as an answer to 1.e4 is generally thought to be one of the least sound replies. The main reason for that lies probably in the fact that Black wilfully blocks his c-pawn as soon as move 1, which more dogmatic players will regard as highly suspicious. There are, however, many other factors besides the mobility of the respective c-pawns, and this video series will explore rather rare, yet fully playable lines for Black.

Brothers in arms

8/17/2019 – Not just grandmasters, but brothers too! Dimitrios Mastrovasilis tied for first in the Francophone International in Paris this week, a half point ahead of his brother Athanasios. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR chatted with Dimitrios (pictured in jacket) and Athanasios (in the black t-shirt) during the tournament for a glimpse of life in a professional chess family. | Photo: D. Khadilkar

Sinquefield Cup 2019 begins

8/17/2019 – The Grand Chess Tour crossed its half way mark with the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz yesterday, and continues with the Sinquefield Cup – one of the only two events with classical time control – tomorrow. Apart from higher point scores up for grabs, this is also the only event where only the 12 players part of the Grand Chess Tour play together, without any wild cards. It also carries a total prize fund of $325000, with a first prize of $90000.

The Power Play Show: Anand and Jobava

8/16/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be looking through Anand's sublime endgame technique from the Levitov chess week and a spectacular finish from Baadur Jobava from the Abu Dhabi open. Power Play is live most Fridays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

Vladimir Kramnik training six Indian super-talents

8/16/2019 – It is a new development that will boost Indian chess beyond measure: Vladimir Kramnik, the 14th World Champion, has started to work with six talented Indian youngsters in a training camp that will be held in Chens-Sur-Leman, France. It is the first of four sessions and is sponsored by the Chennai-based company Microsense Private Limited. ChessBase India has played a pivotal role in bringing all of the elements of the camp together. IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal will be accompanying the youngsters.

26th time's the charm: Jiri Stocek takes Pardubice trophy

8/16/2019 – GM Jiri Stocek of Czech Republic scored an unbeaten 7½/9 to win Pardubice Open 2019. He finished a half point ahead of a group of nine players who scored 7.0/9. Top seed Czech no.3 Viktor Laznicka finished second due to a better tie-break score, followed by Sergei Movsesian of Armenia. The tournament was a big success as 16 norms were scored in total. RUPALI MULLICK reports from the venue with photos and interview of the champion.

Light summer mate VI

8/16/2019 – In the diagram position Black's king, though somewhat exposed, doesn't seem to be in mortal danger. Yet after 25.Qg4 Qg3, the game will last only three more moves. Can you imagine what followed?

Aronian wins Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz

8/16/2019 – Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2019 despite losing the first and last game on the final day. Aronian managed to score only 5 points out of the last nine rounds but that was enough to beat Vachier-Lagrave. MVL's only consolation is that he beat Aronian in both of their blitz encounters. Caruana got his much awaited revenge against Carlsen in round fourteen. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Pictured: Aronian on being just informed by fellow Armenian GM Manuel Petrosyan that he has won the tournament. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

Fast and Furious: Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation

8/15/2019 – In this episode IM Robert Ris will examine the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 6...♝d6. The live show at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 1 PM EDT) is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. In the diagram, it's White to play and win!

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Chris Ward

8/15/2019 – English Grandmaster Chris Ward is Karsten's guest today. Live at 14:30 UTC (16:30 CEST; 10:30 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Russian Superfinals: Girya sole leader in the Women's

8/15/2019 – The participants of the 2019 Russian Championships travelled west, as the venue of the Superfinals moved from Votkinsk to Izhevsk, the capital of the Republic of Udmurtia. After four rounds, three players share the lead in the open section — Vladislav Artemiev, Maxim Matlakov and Alexandr Predke — while, amongst the women, Olga Girya is alone on top, as she has so far scored three wins and a draw. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Deal of the Week: Chess Expertise Step by Step Vol. 1 to 4 for under €10!

8/14/2019 – Grandmaster Efstratios Grivas hosts a four-volume set of video series covering tactics ("Unexpected Tactics"), strategy ("Mastering Strategy"), using rooks ("Rook Handling") and endgames ("Endgame Magic"). The experienced FIDE Trainer provides a foundation for taking the next move higher. This week only you can get all four volumes as a package at an amazing Flash Sale price: a 90% discount!

St. Louis Rapid and Blitz: Aronian clinches, barely

8/14/2019 – Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament despite losing his last round game against former leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The French grandmaster ended up sharing second place with Yu Yangyi and Ding Liren — the Chinese duo had a strong showing at the blitz, as they got the best scores in the last two days of action (11½ out of 18, the same score obtained by Sergey Karjakin). World champion Magnus Carlsen finished in sixth place but still leads the overall GCT standings. Express report. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

Game of the Week: Vachier-Lagrave vs Rapport

8/14/2019 – IM Merijn van Delft is live this week and will examine Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's win over Richard Rapport from the St. Louis Rapid tournament. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. Merijn is on-demand this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

St. Louis Rapid analysis and highlights

8/14/2019 – IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reviews the highlights from the St. Louis Rapid in more depth, paired with video interview clips of the players with GM Maurice Ashley (pictured with Vachier-Lagrave) from the official webcast. | Photo: Austin Fuller

MVL takes sole lead at Saint Louis Blitz

8/14/2019 – Ding Liren and Sergey Karjakin were the heroes of the day as both of them scored 6½/9 on Day 1 of Blitz. Wild cards Richard Rapport and Yu Yangyi also had a fantastic start in the Blitz as they scored 6.0/9 and 5½/9 respectively. Magnus only managed to score 50% while Caruana scored a meagre 1½/9 in Blitz. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN brings you all action from Saint Louis. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

The Weekly Show: Carlsen's latest losses

8/13/2019 – Lawrence is LIVE this week talking about the surprising losses of World Champion Magnus Carlsen in St. Loius. Free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian finish Saint Louis Rapid at the top

8/13/2019 – Carlsen started Day 3 of Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz with a loss against Aronian. The World Champion defeated MVL in the final round of the rapid event, however it is MVL who overcame Carlsen in the FIDE rapid ranking according to live ratings. Vachier-Lagrave remained undefeated on the final rapid day by defeating the former World Championship challenger Caruana in the final round. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Qiyu Zhou

8/13/2019 – Canadian FM Qiyu Zhou is Karsten's guest today. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST; 9:00 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Tricky knights

8/13/2019 – Knights are tricky, and knight endings usually require precise calculation.

Chess is rocking among the Tyrrhenian Sea rocks

8/13/2019 – As summer begins to wane, fans of southern Italy can look forward to a September holiday destination. DIANA MIHAJLOVA offers a pictoral report with annotated games about the Amantea Chess Festival in Calabria, Italy, which was won last year by GM Pier Luigi Basso. It is meant to introduce a little known but rich chess destination that is Calabria. The actual Amantea Chess Festival will resume its activities, as usual, from the next year, but for now, during its traditional term, 9- 15 September, another Calabrese chess historical town, Cutro, in the Amantea’s vicinity, will celebrate a jubilee 25 year of the International Chess Festival ‘Leonardo di Bona’. | Pictured: The rocky Tyrrhenian coast at a sunset: On the outskirts of Amantea lie the enchanting Isca rocks, supposedly described by Homer in the ‘Odyssey’. All photos: Diana Mihajlova

Making a difference in Africa

8/13/2019 – A New York-based chess instructor and entrepreneur reports on teaching chess in Tanzania. After working in corporate America, doing enterprise sales for the likes of Oracle, EVAN RABIN rekindled his interest in teaching children and formed Premier Chess in September 2017, quickly expanding to 58 programs. | Photo: Paul Njau

Simon Says - Highlights and lowlights from my British Championship

8/12/2019 – GM Simon Williams is back from the British Championship, and naturally the tournament is still weighing heavily on his mind. This episode will look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. Watch live for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).