ChessBase Magazine 177: Arsenal for the aspiring player

5/26/2017 – An issue packed with rich material. Four Great events, Women’s World Championship, Tata Steel (Carlsen overtaken by Wesley So) Gibralter and FIDE Grand Prix. 2284 OTB games, of which 149 are annotated. Commentators include Wesley So, Levon Aronian and Mihail Marin among others. Eleven opening surveys, ranging from the Sicilian to the Slav, to surprise your opponent! Exercises in opening traps, middle game tactics and endgame technique. DVD lessons by Rainer Knaak, Rogozenco, Simon Williams and Karsten Müller plus a live commentary by Danny King. CBM 177 offers both an armory and ongoing course for ambitious players. Review by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.

Blitz knockout

5/26/2017 – Sometimes a single well-placed piece can suffice to hold a game - like for example Black's magnificent knight in the diagram position. Yet here the case is different. White wins thanks to his space advantage on the kingside, marked by pawns on the 5th rank ...

Paul Morphy: how good was he really?

5/24/2017 – Did you ever wonder who was (or is) the best player of all time? Who would win if all 16 World Champions, plus Philidor, Labourdonnais, Anderssen and Morphy could play against each other in a tournament? How would Steinitz, Lasker or Capablanca cope against the best players from today? Such questions have no answer, of course, but are hotly debated.

Botvinnik and the Pirc/Modern

5/24/2017 – Continuing his look at how champions began to include new openings later in their careers, the tireless student of the game, GM Alex Yermolinsky, looks at Mikhail Botvinnik, 'The Patriarch', and his employment of the Pirc-Modern defense. He also shares his first encounter with the great player as a junior, speculates on what a Botvinnik-Fischer match would have looked like, and even mentions his secret match with Gata Kamsky when he was 14. Enjoy this great article!

Asian Continental Rd.7-9: Wang Hao is the Champion

5/24/2017 – The Asian Continental Championship 2017 came to an end in Chengdu, China with Wang Hao taking the first place on the tiebreak. Although the tournament began with Yu Yangyi and Wei Yi at the helm, it was Wang Hao and Bu Xiangzhi who took the first two places. In the women's section, former Asian Junior Girls Champion Vo Thi Kim Phung took the title. Illustrated Report.

An hour with Alina l'Ami!

5/24/2017 – Alina l'Ami is one of the most colourful personalities in the world of chess. She is not only a wonderful photographer and a great reporter, but also a strong International Master. IM Sagar Shah, who hosts the ChessBase India show had an hour long chat with Alina, trying to understand how is it that she excels in everything that she does. This was the 8th ChessBase India show! In this article we tell how you can watch this high quality chess content.

The Power Play Show

5/23/2017 – Tonight at 8pm UK time Daniel King goes on air on playchess.com. He will present a bunch of practical examples and show you how to handle different kinds of positions, which will help improve your practical results. An example and more information...

Going the extra mile

5/23/2017 – Sometimes you need patience - and zugzwang - to win a won endgame: The following interesting duel which Remy Heimers sent to me with annotations is an instructive example:

New in Chess Invincibility List

5/23/2017 – Who played the longest streak of games, in classical chess, without a single loss? Fischer? Kasparov? And how many games did the record holder survive? Well, we all know that José Raúl Capablanca did not suffer a single loss for eight years, from 1916 - 1924. But has his record been broken? The magazine New in Chess, which we greatly admire, produced a list in their 2017/2 issue. It was modified in 2017/3. Do our readers have further changes?

Asian Junior 2017: Iran sweeps Open, and India the Girls

5/22/2017 – When it comes to Iran, normally Shiraz comes to our mind. Shiraz is one of the oldest cities of ancient Persia and most likely more than 4,000 years old. In order to help foreigners familiarize themselves with this beautiful cultural city, the Iranian Chess Federation decided to organize the Asian Junior Chess Championship in Shiraz. Here is the illustrated report.

Zalakaros Rd. 1-4: Early upsets in Gyula Sax Memorial

5/22/2017 – The 36th Zalakaros Open is taking place from 18th May to 26th May in the Hotel Karos Spa in Zalakaros, a beautiful little spa town in the Balaton lake region of Hungary. Top seed Richard Rapport has already suffered a shock defeat at the hands of IM Abhimanyu Puranik. Meanwhile, Indian IM Praggnanandhaa R. is playing some sparkling chess. Report.

Moscow Grand Prix: Ding Liren wins it all

5/21/2017 – In an epic final round, the two leaders went in different directions. While Mamedyarov safely drew in just 16 moves with MVL, also ensuring a round 2800 on the next FIDE Ratings list, Ding Liren, playing black, faced down Boris Gelfand in a massive battle that ended in his victory and sole first place at the Moscow GP. Ex-Women's World Champion Hou Yifan defeated Super-GM Ernesto Inarkiev with black. Here is the illustrated report with analysis by GM Alex Lenderman.

Speelman's Agony #52

5/21/2017 – This week's single Agony game comes from Richard Bailey, an Englishman in his mid sixties. The British Boys Under 16 champion in 1968, he represented England at junior level in 1970 (Glorney Cup and Glasgow Junior International) and 1971 (Danish Junior Open). Richard sent in a game against Vernon Dilworth (1916-2004), the inventor of the famous Dilworth Variation of the Open Ruy Lopez. There is a lot to learn in this week's instructive column.

Moscow Grand Prix R08: All quiet on the western front

5/20/2017 – In terms of results, not a lot happened in round eight, aside from Pentala Harikrishna’s win over Ian Nepomniachtchi, bringing him to the 50% mark. There was indeed a long stream of draws, but not all were made alike. The leaders Ding Liren and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov both played interesting and dynamic games that fit their temperament. Here is the illustrated report with analysis by GM Alex Lenderman.

How chess saved a village

5/20/2017 – In a country as vast as India, peppered with villages all over, economic prosperity is often the difference between folding in on itself or survival. Many villages suffered from rampant illicit gambling and alcoholism. Marottichal was one such, until one day, a man opened a teashop and began teaching everyone chess, and now chess is seen everywhere. BBC reports.

Moscow Grand Prix R07: From sizzling to fizzling

5/19/2017 – After a period of genuinely exciting chess, the leaders are all playing extremely cagey now, unwilling to take risks, and many times demonstrably so with quick draws. The result is that while Ding and Mamedyarov lead still, they are followed just a half point behind by seven others. Completing the Fellowship's nine is Anish Giri, winning a fine game against Saleh Salem. Hou Yifan also played a gritty win, breaking down Jon Hammer's fortress. Report and analysis by Alex Yermolinsky.

50th anniversary tournament in Biel with Anatoly Karpov

5/19/2017 – It is the one of the oldest chess events in Europe, and the 50th edition starts on July 22. The ten-player Grandmaster tournament fields experienced players and young stars, the Rapid tournament includes former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and World Championship candidate Vlastimil Hort. You can participate in the Master Tournament. Full details in this press release.

Forkussed

5/19/2017 – 19...Rxc3!? in the diagram position is a typical Sicilian exchange sacrifice: Black splits up the white pawn structure and liquidates the defender of the point e4. Yet after 20.bxc3 he needs the right idea how to follow up. Have you got one?

Moscow Grand Prix R06: Two is company, eight is a crowd

5/18/2017 – Since the leaders failed to reassert their authority, even the new ones, this opened the way for more to close in and try to stake their claims. It was not for lack of trying as Ding Liren failed to convert a winning advantage against MVL. In the meantime, veteran Gelfand beat Harikrishna in his vintage style, while Nakamura played a fine piece of preparation changing Nepomniachtchi's Najdorf into a Classical Sicilian. Some fantastic analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

Nunn again! Victory after 38 years.

5/18/2017 – In 1979 the East Devon Congress was won, with a 4½/5 score, by a young student with long curly hair and a brown corduroy jacket. 38 years later it was won, again with a 4½/5 score, by the same player, now sporting shorter grey hair. We bring you an interesting report from the British chess magazine CHESS, which also contains a piece on a new variant of the game that is gaining popularity: Duck Chess.

Asian Continental Rd.1-6: China and Vietnam dominate in Chengdu

5/17/2017 – The Asian Continental Championship 2017 has begun in Chengdu, China with most of the brightest stars of Asia in contention for the five World Cup spots in the Open and the Women's section. China's Wang Hao has managed to edge ahead of the rest of the pack but has a tough task ahead if he plans to maintain the crown. Two Vietnamese players are leading the women's section. Illustrated Report.

Moscow Grand Prix R05: Six crowd the podium

5/17/2017 – For the fans hoping for a top board slugfest between Ding Liren and Mamedyarov, they will leave disappointed as a 15-move non-game was shook upon. However, this is not to say that was the tale of the day. Sharing 2nd and 3rd, Peter Svidler and Teimour Radjabov also drew, allowing Alexander Grischuk and MVL both winners in round five against Hou Yifan and Saleh Salem respectively, to draw level, leaving four players just half a point behind the leaders. Report with analysis by GM Tiger Hillarp Persson.

Moscow Grand Prix R04: Mamedyarov wins and is 2801

5/16/2017 – It was another great round with tons of fighting chess. No sarcasm or irony in that statement either. All the players came ready to fight, and though the day ended with three decisive games, it could easily have been more since Ding Liren and Grischuk were both winning but drew in the end. Radjabov had not shown much fight for a while beat Vallejo but the game of the day was Mamedyarov's big win over Salem. Illustrated report with analysis by GM TIger Hillarp Persson.

Oparin's surprise

5/16/2017 – Endings with opposite colored bishops often end in a draw even though one side is one or two pawns up. However, these endings often contain hidden tactical surprises. And don't miss: Today on the playchess server, 4 pm, Endgame Magic with Karsten Müller.