Norway Chess, Round 6: One-move blunders

6/11/2019 – The sixth round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament saw all match-ups decided on Armageddon, as all the "slow" encounters finished drawn. Magnus Carlsen was close to lost in both his games against Ding Liren, but eventually managed to defeat the Chinese nonetheless. Meanwhile, Yu Yangyi and Levon Aronian also won their match-ups, thus staying in sole second and third places, respectively. Round recap by GM ERWIN L'AMI. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

Simon Says — The Colle System

6/11/2019 – Grandmaster Simon Williams says give the Colle System the ole college try! He'll show you the main ideas to whet your appetite for his latest DVD on this popular opening for amateur tournament players. Watch it now from the archive.

Mate ends the game

6/11/2019 – "Mate ends the game!" Beginners know this simple truth but if you start to learn the intricacies of positional play you sometimes forget about the enemy king while trying to exploit weak pawns, weak squares, pawn majorities, etc. But mating attacks are often very powerful - even in the endgame.

Women's Candidates: A sixth win for Goryachkina!

6/11/2019 – Aleksandra Goryachkina has won six games and drawn three at the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. In round nine, she defeated Valentina Gunina for a second time in the event, thus getting 2½-point lead over second place with five rounds to go. Anna and Mariya Muzychuk also won and now share third place with 4½ out of 9 points. Kateryna Lagno is still in sole second place, after saving a draw against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Norway Chess, Round 5: Carlsen still on top, Yu Yangyi in second place

6/10/2019 – In the fifth round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, Magnus Carlsen has secured another 1½ points thanks to a couple of safe draws with Black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Given the fact that Wesley So only drew with White in his Armageddon match-up against Viswanathan Anand, Carlsen now has a 1½-point lead in the standings table. In second place is Yu Yangyi, who benefited from a mistake by Fabiano Caruana in a pawn endgame. Round-up show by YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The Fun of Chess Tactics

6/10/2019 – Why is it so much fun to solve tactical puzzles? The first reason has nothing to do with chess: Solving an interesting problem brings a sense of achievement. This releases a quantity of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a complex neurotransmitter and constitutes part of the brain’s neurochemical motivation and reward mechanism, often cited in pop culture as the “hormone of happiness”. It is the same substance your head gets overdosed with when you fall in love.
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Women's Candidates: Goryachkina keeps on winning

6/9/2019 – Things are still going Aleksandra Goryachkina's way at the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. The 20-year-old defeated former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in round eight, which means she is now two points ahead of second-placed Kateryna Lagno. Before Sunday's round, Lagno was sharing second place with Nana Dzagnidze, but the Georgian fell on the standings table after losing against Tan Zhongyi with Black. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

Norway Chess, Round 4: Carlsen ahead of So and Yu Yangyi

6/9/2019 – In the fourth round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament in Stavanger, only one of the five duels was decided in the classical phase: Yu Yangyi won with Black against Alexander Grischuk and is now in third place in the standings table. At the top is Magnus Carlsen — after a draw in classical chess, the world champion (with White) won his Armageddon encounter against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Wesley So is in sole second place, after drawing the Armageddon game against Caruana with Black, thus securing 1½ points for the overall standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

Women's Candidates: Gunina beats Tan Zhongyi

6/9/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament reached half-time on Saturday. In round seven, only Valentina Gunina managed to score a full point, as she defeated Tan Zhongyi with the white pieces. This means there were no changes on top of the standings — Aleksandra Goryachkina is still leading, while Nana Dzagnidze and Kateryna Lagno are sharing second place one and a half points behind the youngster. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

Norway Chess, Round 3: Carlsen leads

6/7/2019 – Magnus Carlsen was close to losing against Levon Aronian in round two of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament, but in round three he appeared to be well-recovered, and won a seemingly effortless game against Alexander Grischuk. With this win Carlsen now leads the field. Aronian also appeared to be well-recovered and defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with Black. Ding Liren won against Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So got the better of Yu Yangyi, and Vishy Anand defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the only match-up that went to Armageddon. Analyses by CONSTANTIN LUPULESCU. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

A chess holiday

6/7/2019 – S´Arenal in Mallorca. A place where others spend their holidays was the venue for the 8th edition of the Llucmajor Open. ChessBase author Georgios Souleidis travelled from Hamburg to Llucmajor, hoping to enjoy sunny days and win rating points. A travel report. | Photo: Tournament Organisation

The Power Play Show: Carlsen's favourite pawn structure

6/7/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be considering one of Magnus Carlsen's favourite pawn structures, focusing on two of his games from the Abidjan GCT tournament. 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...

Paving the way

6/7/2019 – 26.Qe6! in the diagram position just feels right - the queen takes a threatening stance in front of Black's king which is stuck in the middle. However, after 26...Qc6 or 26...Bc6 White must walk the talk. Are you up to it?

Women's Candidates: A great day for Goryachkina

6/7/2019 – For a second time at the 2019 Women's Candidates, all four games of a round finished decisively. The results of round six all favoured sole leader Aleksandra Goryachkina, who was losing against her closest chaser, Nana Dzagnidze, but ended up getting the full point after the Georgian faltered by playing too passively. Both Muzychuk sisters won and left the cellar, as did Kateryna Lagno, who now shares second place with Dzagnidze. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Norway Chess, Round 2: Mamedyarov grabs the lead

6/6/2019 – Plenty of fighting chess was seen in (almost) all the classical games of round two at the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruana were the first ones to pick up two points by winning "slow" games in Stavanger. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen barely saved a draw against Levon Aronian in the Classical, but then went on to win in Armageddon. Wesley So and Yu Yangyi also got 1½ points after winning in sudden death. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

Women's Candidates: Goryachkina leapfrogs Dzagnidze

6/5/2019 – After winning three and drawing one in the first four rounds, Nana Dzagnidze lost for a first time at the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament — Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated the Georgian from the white side of an Alapin Sicilian. Aleksandra Goryachkina took this opportunity to leapfrog Dzagnidze atop the standings by taking down Tan Zhongyi. Meanwhile, Valentina Gunina and Kateryna Lagno missed winning chances against the Muzychuk sisters. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Game of the Week: Nico Zwirs vs Sipke Ernst

6/5/2019 – At the moment several interesting tournaments are played but IM Merijn van Delft prefers a little privacy and looks at a game between Nico Zwirs and Sipke Ernst, two of his friends. The live 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 live at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

Women's Candidates: Nana Dzagnidze alone on top

6/5/2019 – Nana Dzagnidze is having a dream tournament in Kazan, as she now leads the Candidates Tournament on 3½/4 points — her victim in round four was Valentina Gunina. The other winner of the day was Kateryna Lagno, who defeated Mariya Muzychuk and is now in fourth place on a 50% score. Alexandra Kosteniuk drew Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychukk split the point with Aleksandra Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Norway Chess, Round 1: Five draws, five times Armageddon

6/5/2019 – The experiment has started. If two players draw their classical game at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger they have to go into Armageddon-overtime: White has ten minutes, Black has seven, no increment before move 60, and White has to win. Round 1 of the Altibox tournament brought five fine draws in classical chess, five exciting Armageddon games and a wild blitz battle. | Picture: Alexander Grischuk | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A plan, a plan, my kingdom for a plan!

6/5/2019 – Has this ever happened to you? You have managed the opening pretty well, you have an interesting position, but you simply don't know how to proceed. What you need is a plan. Let IM Robert Ris help you with that. The internationally known trainer and teacher has produced a brand new Fritztrainer with instructive videos and many interactive examples that will improve your strategic skills. Don't miss this one!

Bassem Amin: "Reaching 2750 is my next goal"

6/4/2019 – Bassem Amin has many firsts to his name. The Egyptian Grandmaster is a five-time African chess champion and the only player from Africa to have ever crossed the 2700 Elo mark. He serves on FIDE's Global Strategy Commission. Besides being a top chess player, he is also a doctor. Amin recently played for the club Clichy Echecs 92 in the French Top 12 championship in Brest in western France. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR caught up with Amin to talk on a range of issues from his performance in the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour to juggling chess career with medical studies.

The Weekly Show: The pleasure of having two bishops

6/4/2019 – On the show today Lawrence will have a look at a class positional display in N. Dzagnidze vs M. Muzychuk - how to squeeze a positional advantage with the two bishops. Live beginning at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

Niclas Huschenbeth is new German Champion

6/4/2019 – The two grandmasters Niclas Huschenbeth (pictured) and Dmitrij Kollars were dominating the 90th German Championships which were part of the German Chess Congress 2019 in Magdeburg. Both players finished the tournament with 8/9 but Huschenbeth had the better tiebreak and became German Champion 2019. | Photos: German Chess Federation / Frank Hoppe

Zugzwang?

6/4/2019 – White is almost in zugzwang but the diagonal a2-g8 happens to be just long enough for White's bishop.