Dortmund: Giri and Meier join the chasing pack

7/22/2018 – With one round to go, no less than four players are half a point behind sole leader Ian Nepomniachtchi at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund. Giri and Meier beat Kramnik and Nisipeanu, respectively, to join Kovalev and Duda on 3½/6. LAWRENCE TRENT analysed both decisive games and the final stage of Duda-Nepomniachtchi, where the young Polish star missed his chance to defeat the leader. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

First GM norm event in Singapore since last century

7/21/2018 – The QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann Grandmasters Invitational can be regarded as a historic event for Singapore. JUNIOR TAY reports not only on the chess — won by Mongolian GM Batchuluun Tsegmed ahead of 2600 top-seeded Timur Gareyev — but also extensively on how this event came to pass, and all the people power that went along with it. | Photo: Cecilia Chong

Dortmund: Nepo leads after big win over Kramnik

7/21/2018 – The fifth round of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund had only one decisive result, but it was a big one: Ian Nepomniachtchi took down Vladimir Kramnik in the only match-up that faced two of the previous co-leaders. Nepo is now in front on 3½/5, half a point ahead of Vladislav Kovalev and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The final two rounds of the tournament will be played this weekend. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Pattern Recognition — Fact or Fiction?

7/20/2018 – Chess players, chess authors and chess psychologists attempt to teach and explain chess playing and development of chess skills with the concept of pattern and pattern recognition. However, the lack of a precise definition of pattern raises the question of what we are supposed to recognise and if chess may not be too diverse and too complex to be reduced to simplified didactic devices like 'patterns.' This is comprehensively considered in a paper by RUNE VIK-HANSEN.

48 hours to Biel

7/20/2018 – Get set for one of the summer's biggest events and one with a long tradition. The Biel Chess Festival is LIVE with World Champion Magnus Carlsen leading the GM tournament. ChessBase brings you live commentary from Biel with GM Daniel King and IM Anna Rudolf.

Open result

7/20/2018 – Not an easy situation for Black in the diagram position: the rook is hanging, and on top of that White threatens to promote his d-pawn. A good idea is required — or rather two. Your move, please!

30-minute training: Learn to play the Tartakower

7/19/2018 – Learn from GM DANIEL KING on a favourite variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Here's the deal: you invest a small amount of time, reading a few paragraphs about an interesting opening line, selected for you by one of the world's great chess trainers. After that, you try it out, right there in your browser, against an engine that matches the playing strength of you potential opponents. You can play any number of games and test different ideas, as far as possible following the instructions of an experienced chess trainer. We have a brand-new application to support this kind of learning. Take a look – and admit: it is great fun!

A fascinating memoir: Genna Sosonko's "Evil-Doer: Half a Century with Viktor Korchnoi"

7/19/2018 – 40 years ago this week, Karpov and Korchnoi started their fight for the world title in Baguio City on the Philippines. Yesterday we published a lengthy interview with Karpov, who won the match 6 : 5, but Korchnoi almost became world champion. A good occasion to take a look at Genna Sosonko's new book "Evil-Doer: Half a Century with Viktor Korchnoi", a fine memoir of one of the most interesting chess players of the 20th century. | Pictured: Korchnoi and Sosonko | Photo courtesy Elk and Ruby

Dortmund: Kramnik beats Duda

7/19/2018 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda had a great start at the Sparkassen ChessMeeting in Dortmund, but fell victim to Vladimir Kramnik in the fourth round. Anish Giri also got a full point on Wednesday, as he beat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. These results left four players tied in first place. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Karpov on his biggest pleasure in life

7/18/2018 – Today is the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1978 World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio, the Philippines. To mark the occasion we bring you an epic interview from DAVID LLADA, who spoke to the 12th World Champion following his 184th tournament win in Plato d'Aro, outside of Barcelona, Spain. | Photo: David Llada

The Power Play Show

7/18/2018 – Wednesday at 6pm UK time Daniel King will go on air 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...

Senior Team Champions: USA and Russia

7/18/2018 – The participants rave about a well-organized Senior World Team Championship of seniors in Radebeul, Germany. In the 65+ section, the Russian team won gold. The 50+ category was more competitive, but in the end, the favourites from the USA pulled ahead. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports. | Photo: Karsten Wieland

Dortmund: An exciting round leaves Duda in first place

7/18/2018 – All four games in Dortmund's third round could have easily finished with decisive results. Ian Nepomniacthchi and Vladislav Kovalev obtained their first victories, while Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat his compatriot Radek Wojtaszek to stay at the top of the standings. Vladimir Kramnik pushed for a win once again, but was stopped by Georg Meier's solid defence. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

7/17/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent goes on air on Playchess.com. In his show, Lawrence will be dealing with the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. This week features games from the ongoing U.S. Junior Closed Championship and the early rounds of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund!

Endgame Magic with guest GM Mihail Marin

7/17/2018 – Joining Karsten for a look some recent endgames from tournament practice today is GM Mihail Marin, who is in Hamburg again to record a DVD. Mihail also does the strategy column of the ChessBase Magazine. Watch live at 15:00 CEST (9:00 AM EDT) or later on-demand!

Fateful pawn moves

7/17/2018 – Pawn endings are tricky. Theoretically, you can often calculate them to the very end - if you can calculate them to the very end!

U.S. top juniors converge in St. Louis: Half-time report

7/17/2018 – The United States have become a chess epicentre thanks to the Sinquefield family and the club they created in Saint Louis. It seems like, if they continue to support the younger generations, American chess players have a bright future ahead. This year's U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls Junior Championships are taking place in Missouri's cultural centre, and have clear leaders after five rounds: Advait Patel in the open section and Carissa Yip in the girls section. | Photos: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

Torre: "Chess at that time was a mystery"

7/16/2018 – An interview with a living legend! IM SAGAR SHAH spoke with GM Eugenio Torre who reminisces about the years of his prime, talks about his struggles and reasons his failures. He also talks about the advents of Vishy Anand and Wesley So, his love for Chess960 and suggests an interesting scoring system to reduce the rampant draws in top level chess. | Photo: David Llada

U.S. Junior Championship LIVE

7/16/2018 – Live games and commentary by WGM Tatev Abrahamyan and GM Robert Hess at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. After four rounds, Advait Patel leads the Open with 3½ / 4, a full point ahead of four players. Carissa Yip has a half point edge in the Girls also with 3½ / 4.

ChessBase Magazine Extra 184

7/16/2018 – 35.855 games played between April and June 2018. Using his own game against Andrei Volokitin (Lvov 2016) Adrian Mikhalchishin explains a few ideas behind the English Variation with 6.a3 Bc5. It is only with best play that Black can equalise.

"Advice to parents: back off a bit"

7/16/2018 – The United States is experiencing a new chess renaissance. There are top tournaments every weekend, with big prizes. Chess centres are also flourishing, and more top players are moving to USA for teaching and playing opportunities. Here, DAVIDE NASTASIO reports on one great tournament already in its third edition, the Carolinas Classic, and interviews one of the organizers, FM Peter Giannatos.

Dortmund: Duda takes early lead

7/16/2018 – Seven out of eight games finished drawn in the first two rounds of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund. The only player who managed to win was Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who beat Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in Sunday's round and now is the sole leader of the tournament. Despite the big number of draws, we saw a lot of fighting spirit and some very long battles. | Photo: Macauley Peterson

Happy 90th Pal Benko and eleven twins solutions

7/15/2018 – On his 90th birthday, which we celebrated with a major biographical article earlier today, we add to the congratulations: Happy 90th, Pal, please stay with us as long as you can, and remain as incredibly creative as you still are. It is also appropriate to present our readers with the solutions to Benko's record-breaking twin problems, which turned out to be harder than expected.

Dortmund Round 1: Four fighting draws

7/15/2018 – At the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund the four games of the first round ended drawn. However, if you think about symmetrical structures and a lot of early exchanges, you are completely wrong, because all boards were struggling hard for the full point. The only player with significant chances to win probably was the birthday boy Ian Nepomniachtchi (against Giri), but the position was pretty tricky. There was also a draw between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vladislav Kovalev that went almost the full seven hours possible. The ceremonial first move was made by the mayor of Dortmund, Birgit Jörder. | Photo: sparkassen-chess-meeting.de