Vote: Player of the year 2018

12/26/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: Who was the best female player of 2018?

A Christmas story

12/25/2018 – ChessBase study expert Siegfried Hornecker highlights a study (and story!) by STEFFEN SLUMSTRUP NIELSEN which we are pleased to share to mark the Christmas holiday. The story begins: "It is the 1st of December. The White Family is slowly getting ready for the Holidays. The head of the family, Mrs Horsey White is in for a busy month, while the rest of the family is planning to just hang around lazily, waiting for the big day. Mrs White has to collect six presents from all over town to make for a happy Christmas."

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

12/25/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent brings you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. This week Lawrence looks at the Sunway International Chess Festival which just concluded in Sitges, near Barcelona.

Need some help, mate?

12/25/2018 – Looking for a hobby? How about composing some chess problems? Not the conventional kind, but a genre that is often overlooked by normal chess players. It is the wonderful and intriguing helpmate, where Black and White cooperate to achieve a mating position that nobody would believe is possible. We have done it before, but we would like to entreat you again. Try it – you cannot imagine how satisfying solving and composing helpmates is. Merry Christmas!

Hiding away

12/25/2018 – Knowing typical patterns and tricks makes you play better chess in general and rook endings in particular.

Vote: What is the best endgame of 2018?

12/25/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: what was the best endgame of 2018?

Alvar Alonso Rosell wins Sunway Open in Sitges

12/24/2018 – In Sitges, the Catalan seaside resort near Barcelona, ​the fifth edition of the ten-day "Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival" ended yesterday with the victory of local hero GM Alvar Alonso Rosell. The 26-year-old Spanish grandmaster, like his three toughest rivals, started the final round with 7.0 / 9, but was the only one to win his game to reach 8.0 / 10. A larger chasing group composed of well-known players ended with 7½ the top three of which contested a tiebreak for 2nd-4th place. Photos: sunwaychessfestival.com

Korobov and Buksa are the 2018 Ukrainian champions

12/24/2018 – Ukraine organised its national championships from December 10th to the 20th at the Hotel Raziotel in Kiev. Some big names were absent, but good fighting chess was in display anyway in both ten-player round robins. Rating favourite Anton Korobov got first place in the open section with 5½ points, while Nataliya Buksa managed a better score, 7 out of 9, to become the new Ukrainian champion in the women's category. Analyses and results from the seventh most populous city in Europe. | Photos: Ukrainian Chess Federation

Vote: What is the best combination of 2018?

12/24/2018 – The year 2018 is drawing to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year, we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: what was the best combination of 2018?

The new Lasker biography: an interview with editor Michael Negele

12/24/2018 – On December 24th, 1868 Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1894 to 1921, was born. To celebrate this 150-year jubilee the first volume of a monumental trilogy about Lasker recently appeared. In an interview with HARTMUT METZ, Dr Michael Negele, one of the editors and driving forces behind this trilogy, talked about Lasker, the trilogy, and the motivation to carry out such a monumental project. | Pictured: Dr Michael Negele and Dr Richard Forster signing the first volume | Photo: Archive Michael Negele

Karjakin's GM record still stands

12/23/2018 – Two Indians pre-teeners came very close to breaking Sergey Karjakin's record of the youngest GM in history. Sergey made his final norm back in 2002 at the age of 12 years and 7 months. Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh were the boys that were within a hair of bettering that. Pragg missed the target by three months, and yesterday Gukesh, who had a realistic chance to complete his third GM norm at the Sunway Sitges International 2018, narrowly missed it. In the meantime 11-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam made his first IM norm. | All photos: Rupali Mullick

Princes edge Kings in Nutcracker Tournament

12/22/2018 – Right before Christmas, it is now usual for the Nutracker Tournament to take place in Russia. A squad of young talented players from the largest country in the world (Princes) face a team composed by older stars from around the globe (Kings). This year's edition finished with a tie in points, but the Princes were declared winners due to the fact that they had won the classical portion of the Scheveningen match. In a parallel event, a team of even younger Russian boys defeated their female counterparts. | Photos: Vladimir Barsky / Russian Chess Federation

Chess to enjoy — the Banff Open

12/22/2018 – Playing in big open tournaments and watching top grandmasters in action is fine. But playing a small open for fun can also be a chess experience to enjoy. AGNIESZKA MATRAS-CLEMENT knows this and it is what attracts her to the Banff Open in Canada. | Photo: Banff National Park | www.pixabay.com

Vote! What is the best game of 2018?

12/22/2018 – The year 2018 comes to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: what was the best game of 2018?

How to use Blitz to prepare better

12/22/2018 – Playing blitz is a lot of fun. But is it useful? This is the question on the minds of many chess players, parents and trainers. The answer is a resounding "Yes!" We have a great instructional video by IM and chess trainer Sagar Shah, who shows how you can make the best use of your blitz games using the normal ChessBase tools. It's a 16-minute tutorial that you shouldn't miss. Follow his instructions and watch the rating points pour in.

FM Kurniawan tops Penang Chess Festival

12/22/2018 – The week-long Penang Chess Festival 2018 took place from December 3rd to the 9th in the Malaysian city of Penang. This was the tenth edition of the event, which included both an Open and a Challengers section, a blitz turnament and the Wah Seong Penang Chess League. Despite the presence of a GM and several IMs, FIDE Master Muhamad Agus Kurniawan took first place in the main section after scoring 7½ points in nine rounds. | Photos: Penang Chess Association

À la Tal

12/21/2018 – In the diagram position Black can snatch a pawn with 20...Bxf2. But why be so petty-minded... better start a mating attack instead! Can you play like the 8th world champion?

The Power Play Show - Christmas edition

12/21/2018 – Friday at 18:00 CET (17:00 UT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free, and on-demand free with a ChessBase Basic account for a limited time! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

Vasily Papin wins Lidums Australian Young Masters 2018

12/21/2018 – The Lidums Australian Young Masters tournament in Adelaide gives Australian talents an opportunity to gain experience against strong international players. This year the tournament took place from December 8 to December 14 but the international players proved to be too strong. Russian GM Vasily Papin won the GM tournament and GM Arvola Benjamin Notkevich won the IM tournament. | Photo Vasily Papin | Photo: Sabrina Koetsier

Quesada and Andriasian succeed in Saint Louis Winter Chess Classic

12/21/2018 – Each season the Saint Louis Chess Club organises two ten-player strong round robins that include players from all around the globe mixed with young American talents. This year's winter edition was won by Cuban Yuniesky Quesada and Armenian Zaven Andriasian. The mix of ambitious players and excellent playing conditions generated many interesting battles over the board. GM EUGENE PERELSHTEYN participated in the B group and sent us a report with highlights and analyses. | Photos: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

Cuban Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez now plays for the US

12/20/2018 – With top players such as Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura or Wesley So the national of the USA is one of the strongest in the world. But now it gets even stronger. In a press release the US Chess Federation announced that Cuban Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez will from now on play for the US. | Photo: Leinier Dominguez | Photo Lennart Ootes

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

12/20/2018 – To celebrate the festival we are offering you a €10 ChessBase voucher for the ChessBase online shop. It is valid for all product groups. One is of particular topical interest: the London System. We have started a new product series: Powerbase. It gives you high-quality edited games, many annotated — perfect for getting to know an opening system and the ideas behind it thoroughly. Take a look and get yourself the Christmas gift best suited to your needs. You have 48 hours to retrieve the voucher!

Asian Continental Championship: Wei Yi and Padmini Rout win

12/19/2018 – The Asian Continental Championship remained wide open until the very end. At the conclusion of the final round, all of the top three finishers — Wei Yi, Amin Tabatabaei and Le Quang Liem — were tied for first and it wasn't until the application of the tiebreaks that Wei Yi was declared the winner. In the women's group, too, Padmini Rout was caught in the lead after the final round by Gong Qianyun but clinched the title nonetheless as she had won the direct encounter against Gong in round 6. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Surya Shekhar Ganguly took the fourth and the fifth spots respectively to book their berth into the 2019 FIDE World Cup. | Photo: Peter Long

Game of the Week: Pawn structures

12/19/2018 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 20:00 CEST (19:00 UT, 2 pm EDT). On this week's show: Pawn structures. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders. To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows.