Pal Benko celebrates his 90th birthday

7/15/2018 – Today, July 15th, Pal Benko turns 90. As the progenitor of the Benko Gambit, chess theory will always remember him, but he also had an interesting life. He was a ladies man, spent a year and a half in a Soviet prison camp, fled from Hungary to the US, played in two Candidates tournaments, and is a renowned composer of endgame studies and problems. FRANK ZELLER offers more details. | Photo: (left) F.N. Broers / Anefo [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons | (right) Diana Mihajlova

Botvinnik the Patriarch!

7/14/2018 – Mikhail Botvinnik is the patriarch of the Soviet School of Chess. Knowing Botvinnik's games is fundamental for the development of every player, argues reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO, who takes you on a tour of the lasted addition to the Fritztrainer Master Class series. Try your skills at some study positions as you learn about Botvinnik and his games in this review. Whether or not one likes Botvinnik's style or personality, he is clearly a piece of chess history worth knowing and studying.

Where chess and football meet

7/14/2018 – Small local rivalries are a big part of club-level chess. In Spakenburg, a small Dutch village, two strong amateur teams are located next to each other and have frequent confrontations. The squads are known as "the red" and "the blue", much like Arsenal and Chelsea in England, or Inter and Milan in Italy. YOCHANAN AFEK sent a report describing the rapid tournament they organized: it took place in a football stadium and was won by a computer. | Pictured: Kevin van Brummelen | Photos: Frans Peeters

Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting with Kramnik and Giri

7/13/2018 – Starting Saturday, Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri top the field of players providing a nice mix of old and new this year. Since 1984, the tournament has been made possible by the commitment of the Dortmund Sparkasse regional bank. | Pictured (L to R): Gerd Kolbe, Klaus Steenweg, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladislav Kovalev, Georg Meier, Andreas Jagodzinsky, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Stefan Koth, Vladimir Kramnik, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Anish Giri, | Photos: Macauley Peterson

The 24th ICGA World Championship

7/13/2018 – The 24th World Computer Chess Championship will start in Stockholm on Friday. Three titles are at stake: the software world champion, the open computer chess world champion and a blitz world champion. The two-time defending champion is Komodo. | Photo: Komodo operator Erdogan Guenes

Tune your tactics - Beautiful winning moves

7/13/2018 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! (Normally) Friday's at 15:30 CET (9:00 AM EDT) it's all about Tactics!

Nyzhnyk nails it

7/13/2018 – At the annual World Open in Philadelphia, 21-year-old, Webster University student Illya Nyzhnyk from Ukraine scored one of the biggest wins of his young career, by taking clear first and the USD $20,500 first prize with an impressive tally of 7½ from 9 games in a field of 32 GMs and 24 IMs. Among the GMs was RUIFENG LI, who filed this report with games and photos from the massive 1,223 player open (over nine sections).

Light summer mate V

7/13/2018 – No time to waste! 36.Rc7!! in the diagram position is the only move to give White an advantage, although Black's counterplay on the back rank might send a shiver down one's spine. However, after 36...Ng3+ 37.Kh2 Nf1+ 38.Kh3 Qg1 you are to checkmate in 7 - enjoy!

Yermo's travels: Dresden, old and new

7/12/2018 – The United States sent a strong squad to the World Team Championship 50+. ALEX YERMOLINSKY is playing, spending time with good old friends and sending some pictures and stories for us to enjoy. The account until round six includes images of the team's trip to Dresden and, as Yermo calls it, the German Grand Canyon.

Tiviakov: "You have to work hard on chess"

7/12/2018 – A few days ago Sergei Tiviakov became Dutch Champion 2018 and added another victory to his impressive list of successes. In an interview with ChessBase the former World Junior Champion and successful coach talks about his career, his style, about training, and his series of 110 games without defeat. | Photo: Harry Gielen

Seniors triumph in a natural paradise

7/12/2018 – Grandmaster MIHAIL MARIN reflects on the attractive environs, inside and outside the playing hall, at the 10th Capo d'Orso International ACP Open. GM Karen Movsziszian took top honours with 7½ / 9. | Pictured: From left to right: International arbiter Laurent Freyd, Mihail Marin (2nd), Karen Movsziszian (1st), Vladislav Nevednichy (3rd) and organizer/the tournament's factotum Yuri Garrett | Photo: Caissa Italia

Chess on the move in Hong Kong

7/12/2018 – The 9th Annual Hong Kong Scholastic Championship took place on June 10 at Kellett School. The activity was a great success, as more than 150 children participated. Individual and team winners received awards after struggling during seven hours of rapid play. A big pictorial report shows that Hong Kong might have a bright future in chess, if these initiatives take root. | Photos: Official website

GM tutorial: Learn to play the Evans Gambit

7/11/2018 – Looking for something new to play in your next tournament? Or in your next club game, or against your traditional holiday opponent. Here's a recommendation by a world-class grandmaster and leading chess author. GM JOHN NUNN explains the ideas behind the daring Evans Gambit and the strategy you should use to play it successfully. Most importantly: you can try out everything right there in your browser against an engine that matches the playing strength of your opponent.

The Chess Train rolls again

7/11/2018 – The chess train continues this year, with the great route Prague-Ostrava-Warsaw-Krakow-Hradec Králové and back to Prague. During the ride, a rapid chess tournament is played. In the afternoon there is enough time to see the cities. Find out about this now-traditional and quickly-becoming-legendary tournament. | Photos: Pavel Matocha

Perpetual chess guests

7/11/2018 – ChessBase co-founder Frederic Friedel was cajoled into a conversation on Ben Johnson's Perpetual Chess podcast by summer guest-host Macauley Peterson. Here we bringing you some photos and other visual aids, video highlights and transcription of some of the stories and quotes for posterity. In this first part, Frederic talks about his introduction to chess players, meeting Nigel Short and Garry Kasparov, how he came to know his co-founder, ChessBase CEO Matthias Wullenweber, and got the project off the ground, with Kasparov's help.

Chess on the beach

7/11/2018 – Would you be able to sit in a dark quiet room for, say, two months, with nothing to read, nothing to do, nothing but your own thoughts? According to (I think it was) Goethe, that's the veritable test of a true man. But as a chess player, and under the influence of Stefan Zweig's "Schachnovelle", my surmise is that we could all do it! Philosophers should rebuild their furnace because the supreme test for a grandmaster — and an amateur alike — is to play (and play well!) at the Hersonissos Open. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

7/10/2018 – 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 featuresgames from the Porticcio Open and Dutch Championships!

A light-footed knight

7/10/2018 – Knights are generally unable to cover a lot of ground in a hurry, but sometimes they can get a boost from tactical stricks and hustle across the board.

Chess alive by the Dead Sea

7/10/2018 – The "Gideon Japhet Cup" ended in Jerusalem on Friday, July 6th. Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi slipped into the lead in the double-round rapid tournament finishing ahead by a full point over four other protagonists with equally well-known names: Peter Svidler (Russia), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Boris Gelfand (Israel) and Georg Meier (Germany) finished with 5 points each. The Ukrainian Anna Muzychuk came sixth with 4.0 / 10. In the parallel open Arkadij Naiditsch won with 6.0 / 7 in front of five players with 5½ points respectively. | Pictured: Gelfand and Ivanchuk relax after the tournament | Photo: Ritvo Photography

Review: A lifetime repertoire: play the Nimzo-Indian

7/10/2018 – Rustam Kasimdzhanov is not only a great player in his own right, he's also Fabiano Caruana's main coach, and therefore played a major role in the new World Championship challenger's success at the Berlin Candidates tournament. That's why, speculates reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO, the first customer for this recent DVD offering was Magnus Carlsen or one of his seconds, in preparation for November's match. When a possible World Champion is learning from a former one, shouldn't we all do the same?

Hans Tikkanen is Swedish Champion 2018

7/10/2018 – The Swedish championship ended Sunday, in Ronneby, a small town in the south of the country. The night before, Grandmasters Tiger Hillarp Persson had shared the lead with Tikkanen, but after Tiger made a tactical misjudgment against Nils Grandelius, the way was cleared for Tikkanen. The new (and old!) Swedish champions also won their last games with Black - the win against Oskar von Bahr was Tikkanen's sixth win in the nine-round tournament. The final score: Tikkanen 7.0 / 9, Hillarp Persson and Grandelius 6.0 / 9. | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

Simon Says — The Magic of Tal, part 2

7/9/2018 – In this Simon Says, Simon looks at "The Magic of Tal". The action is live most Mondays starting at 18:00 CEST (Noon EDT). Watch live or on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

The Power Play Show

7/9/2018 – Monday 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...

Wesley So prevails in Leon

7/9/2018 – In a very tense match, Wesley So defeated Paco Vallejo in the blitz tiebreak rounds despite the fact that the Spaniard obtained better positions in most of the games. So played offbeat openings that did not quite work out in his favour, but showed great tenacity in the ensuing positions. This was Wesley's second consecutive tournament victory in Leon. | Photo: Official website