Vachier-Lagrave wins Norway Chess opening Blitz

6/4/2019 – The 2019 Altibox Norway Chess Tournament officially kicked off Monday in Stavanger. The traditional Blitz Tournament, which takes place in lieu of the drawing of lots, was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman overpowered Magnus Carlsen in their final round deciding match-up and became the highest-rated player in the blitz ratings list. Levon Aronian and Carlsen shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

Chess calendar: June 2019

6/3/2019 – The Candidates tournament for the Women's World Championship technically began in May, but it's primarily a June affair. Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen is in action in Stavanger for the seventh time, and World Chess is trying a new format in Moscow that also involves Armageddon. You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage as well.

June ratings: Carlsen in striking distance of all-time peak

6/3/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for June 2019 starts with World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who has a chance to break his own all-time rating record this month. That would go a long way towards cementing a claim on the greatest-of-all-time honours. Pictured, however, is Cuban-born Leinier Dominguez, who now plays for the USA, and after a long hiatus is now knocking on the door of the Top 10 at 2760, just 8 points shy of his personal peak rating. That was set back in May 2014, when he briefly hit 2768. Do you know who else was at his peak that month five years ago? Magnus Carlsen! | Photo: Justin Kellar / Saint Louis Chess Club

Simon Says — The Torre Attack

6/3/2019 – Grandmaster Simon Williams says give the Torre Attack 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 live for free starting at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Women's Candidates: Four winners, all with White

6/3/2019 – All four games favoured White in round three of the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. Both co-leaders — Nana Dzagnidze and Aleksandra Goryachkina — were among the winners, which leaves them on top of the standings with a remarkable 2½/3 score before the first rest day of the event. Meanwhile, Valentina Gunina bounced back from her round two loss and Tan Zhongyi got her first win of the tournament. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Material, structure and energy

6/2/2019 – This week our columnist JON SPEELMAN shares his own agonizing loss from over 40 years ago as a fine example of the "tension between structure and energy". Plus, in this study from GM John Nunn (pictured) it's White to play and draw! | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Women's Candidates: Dzagnidze and Goryachkina strike first

6/2/2019 – An exciting round in Kazan resulted in two decisive games at the 2019 Women's Candidates. Nana Dzagnidze played bravely with Black and defeated Anna Muzychuk, while Aleksandra Goryachkina took down Valentina Gunina in 92 moves, after the latter stubbornly defended an inferior position for hours on end. Both co-leaders will have the white pieces on Sunday, when round three will be the last one before the first rest day. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Ready for Reti (part 2)

6/1/2019 – Many will know the Austro-Hungarian (and later Czechoslovakian) Richard Réti as a world-class player, but also as a great composer of endgame studies, so — in time for his 130th birthday — we continue our exploration of European chess composers with him. (Read part 1) | Photo: Ernst & Cesanek, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Women's Candidates: Gunina saves a half point

6/1/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament started on Friday in Kazan. All four games of round one were drawn, but a couple of them could have easily finished decisively. Valentina Gunina faltered in time trouble against Kateryna Lagno, but later showed great resourcefulness to save the half point, while Aleksandra Goryachkina missed a couple of chances against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Anastasya Karlovich

Elisabeth Paehtz announces her resignation from the German National Team

5/31/2019 – For years Elisabeth Paehtz (born January 8, 1985) has been the clear number one chess player among German women. Since 1998 the World Youth Champion U18-Girls and World Junior Girls Champion 2005 has been playing for the German National Women's team, but in a press release from May 29 she announced her decision to quit, citing the "unequal treatment of women" compared to men in German chess and in the German Chess Federation. One day later the German Chess Federation replied. | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

The Power Play Show: The Whisky Immortal

5/31/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King considers "study-like game" from the Lindores Abbey Chess Stars Tournament, held last weekend. 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...

Jones' jackpot

5/31/2019 – In the diagram White has just captured on d4. What do you make of this continuation — or rather the position arising 21...Nxd4 22.Bxd4 Bxd4 23.Rxd4 and now?

Informative and fun: the Online Playerbase

5/31/2019 – Who are the best players in the world? What ratings do they have? And what do they look like? The ChessBase Online Playerbase (players.chessbase.com) answers these and other questions. The database contains about 570,000 names and more than 40,000 pictures! You want to know the current Elo of an old friend or rival? Or find the best players of your age-group? Or games from the most promising juniors? Have a look! | Drawing: ChessBase
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Nabokov looks at chess as deception

5/31/2019 – Vladimir Nabokov was a fiction writer, a lepidopterist and a composer of chess problems, with his love for the royal game a transparent feature in his work. More than once, chess came up during his interviews and public appearances. With thanks to researcher Sergio Negri, we shed light on two of these appearances, when Nabokov gives some insights into his conceptualization of chess. | Picture: Graffiti of Vladimir Nabokov in Opatija, Croatia, via Wikimedia Commons. | Photo: Henry Kellner

Fast and Furious: Sicilian Taimanov with 5...a6

5/30/2019 – Today IM Robert Ris tackles an option in the Sicilian Taimanov on this Fast & Furious Thursday! The live show at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 2 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.

Start of the Women's Candidates Tournament

5/30/2019 – Today is the official start of the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. A press conference will be held and in the evening the opening ceremony will take place. The first round will be played on May 31st, starting at 2:00 pm CEST. With 200,000 euros, this is the most highly endowed women's tournament in history. | Image: Official site: fwct2019.com

Hort stories: Leonid Stein

5/30/2019 – During his peak the Ukrainian born Soviet Grandmaster Leonid Stein (November 12, 1934 – July 4, 1973) was one of the best players of the world. He had a fantastic flair for the attack and was famous for his ability to demolish his opponents quickly. But fortune did not smile on him. Vlastimil Hort knew Stein well and shares memories. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Nepomniachtchi wins Moscow Grand Prix

5/29/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the second tie-break game of the final match against Alexander Grischuk to claim first place at the Moscow leg of the 2019 Grand Prix Series. The tie-breaker began with a 37-move draw out of a Petroff Defence, while in the second 25'+10" encounter Nepomniachtchi got the upper hand from the white side of an Italian Opening and ended up winning the game — and the tournament — after 36 moves. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

Game of the Week: Grischuk vs Nakamura

5/29/2019 – The tiebreak of the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Moscow was played today between Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi. IM Merijn van Delft looks at how Grischuk reached the final — a key win over Hikaru Nakamura. 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).

Grand Prix Moscow Final: Nepomniachtchi wins Tiebreak

5/29/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi took the second game of the rapid tiebreak to win the final match over fellow-Russian Alexander Grischuk. Both classical games were drawn. Game two on Tuesday was a Ruy Lopez Berlin, which remained level until the players agreed to a draw on move 23. Game 1 of the all-Russian final was also drawn on Monday. The match will therefore be decided in a rapid and blitz tiebreak on Wednesday at 12:00 UTC (14:00 CEST / 8:00 EDT).

Bischwiller retain French club championship title

5/29/2019 – The defending champions led by Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein were undefeated and skated past powerhouse Asnières Le Grand Echiquier featuring Maxime Vachier-Lagrave en route to victory in the 11-round event that was held in the city of Brest in western France from May 18th to May 28th. | Photos: French Chess Federation

Moscow GP Final: Tie-breaks it is

5/28/2019 – The first leg of the 2019 Grand Prix series will be decided on tie-breaks after Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi signed a 23-move draw in the second game of the final match. The tie-breaks will be played on May 29th, starting at 15:00 local time, with two 25+10 rapid games set to initiate the battle. The champion will earn eight points in the overall GP (plus all the extra points gained by not going to tie-breaks). | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

The Weekly Show: Carlsen in Scotland

5/28/2019 – On the show today, the Lindores Abbey tournament was a fun little show up in Scotland and Lawrence will have a look at a key game plus review the important chess action of the past week. 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.

Pioneering national chess education in Armenia

5/28/2019 – Armenia has the most ambitious school chess programme in the world. It recently hosted its third international conference and the first meeting of FIDE´s new Education Commission in the ressort town Tsakhkadsor. STEFAN LOEFFLER attended. | Pictured: The final of the Armenian Championship of Primary Schools took place in parallel nearby. | Photos: Armenian Chess Academy