3/12/2017 – We recently reported that the "golden couple" GM Zhang Zhong and WGM Li Ruofan had been excluded from the Asian Zonals. The Singapore Chess Federation explained that it was not a “ban”, the players were "simply not selected and endorsed by the Federation to take part." In a detailed response to their federation the two players describe what it means when you are barred from practicing the profession you love.

3/12/2017 – The 2nd China - India Summit came to an end with a crushing victory for the Dragon. It is a four-round Scheveningen event where four players from India play against four from China. After three rounds, China led 7.5-4.5. The fourth round of the match was again won by the Chinese. Here is the illustrated report.

3/11/2017 – Zugzwang is a strong endgame weapon. Knowing how and when to use it can make the difference between winning and losing.

3/11/2017 – This week's games are by Andrew Sainsbury who is in his early thirties and lives in Bolton in Greater Manchester. Aside from chess, he enjoys playing the guitar, practicing Kung Fu, and learning languages. One of the games he sent is a Modern Defense that transposes to an Accelerated Dragon, and brings very detailed analysis by Jon Speelman.

3/10/2017 – ChessBase 14 has introduced a brand new way of analyzing chess positions with the help of the latest feature called Assisted Analysis. In this article we will be acquainting you with all the intricacies of Assisted Analysis and also show you how Grzegorz Gajewski's task of finding novelties for Vishy Anand is greatly simplified!

3/10/2017 – Watching Garry Kasparov playing chess is a treat. A rare treat since the arguably best player of all times stopped playing tournament chess in 2005. On the ChessBase Master Class DVD about Garry Kasparov grandmasters such as Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin and Karsten Müller take a look at the career of the 13th World Champion and analyse what made him play so well. Our reviewer Christian Höthe is happy to say: "Kasparov is back!"

3/10/2017 – The diagram position might seem confusing, but in fact White is just winning - once he finds the trick to maintain the hanging knight d5 in its central position. After that, not even ...fxe3 (activating the bishop h2!) can save Black anymore.

3/10/2017 – Dr. Chandramallika Basak is one of the leading researchers in the area of working memory and cognitive control, training strategies, cognitive and brain plasticity, aging, and biomarkers of complex skill learning (e.g., video games). She has now begun research on children and chess. Alexey Root attended Dr. Basak’s lecture “Cognitive Benefits of Learning to Play Chess and Other Strategy Games” and reports here.

3/9/2017 – Organized by Alexei Shirov together with the Riga Chess Federation, the Tal Memorial Rapid tournament was recently held in Jurmala, Latvia. The aim of the tournament was to pay tribute to the brightest representative of Latvian Chess ever, and players from all around the world came to enjoy this event. The tournament was won by Vladimir Onischuk, but the biggest surprise was the 6th place finish by veteran Evgeny Sveshnikov. Here is the illustrated report.

3/9/2017 – He is the oldest player in the world's top 100, and last December he won the British Knockout Championship, to the surprise of some. In the quaterfinals he was dragged into a tie-break by the lowest-rated player in the event, but he then went on to beat Luke McShane and David Howell to take the title. "I am very happy with my status as celebrity oldie – I suppose now that Viktor has gone, someone had to step up," says Nigel in this interview with Junior Tay.

3/8/2017 – The Chebanenko Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6!?) is a solid, strategically interesting system that has caused players with White a lot of problems. On his DVD "The Chebanenco - still improved" Viktor Bologan offers a complete Slav repertoire based on the Chebanenco and explains why the line is so attractive. FM Markus Hochgräfe is a Slav aficionado and took a close look at the DVD. He suggests some improvements but all in all he liked what Bologan offers.

3/8/2017 – Imagine one of those survival contest shows with a hefty $500 thousand prize at the end. Now imagine it is a team of two, with one survival pro such as a former military specialist, and one who has never even camped under the stars such as an etiquette coach or... a professional chess player like Sam Shankland! The humorous reality show premieres March 9 and is not to be missed!