Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (14)

9/7/2017 – Back in 1972 it was no trivial task to produce a book very quickly. Especially not a chess book, which required special diagrams for which there were no fonts. When IM and author David Levy came up with the idea of producing a book on the Reykjavik Spassky-Fischer match, and deliver 100,000 copies in New York within 96 hours of the end of the match, that sounded quite outlandish. But he managed to pull it off. It is an interesting fact that Levy and the author Svetozar Gligoric actually knew the final move and result of the match before Fischer.

FIDE World Cup 2017: Magnus Carlsen having fun in Tbilisi

9/7/2017 – The first game of round two of the World Cup 2017 was a relatively sedate affair. We had seven decisive games out of 32. Magnus Carlsen outplayed Alexey Dreev with the black pieces. When asked whether he was happy with his decision of coming to the World Cup, he said, "For now I think it's a fun tournament!" However, the event was no longer fun for Vishy Anand who slumped to a shock defeat against Anton Kovalyov. We have analysis of many key encounters and video interviews. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

World Cup 2017 Round 2, Game 1 highlights

9/7/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Simon Williams showed the highlights and upsets so far in Round 2, including the surprise upset of Vishy Anand!

FIDE World Cup 2017 tiebreaks: Nail biting chess and true sportsmanship

9/6/2017 – Twenty-two tiebreak encounters were played on Tuesday at the World Cup 2017. Some matches witnessed a quick end, while some dragged on for hours and hours. A few of the biggest casualties were David Howell and Laurent Fressinet. The longest match was between Baadur Jobava and Ivan Salgado Lopez. It lasted for six games and over six hours. This battle was the epitome of sportsmanship and there is a lot that can be learned from the two grandmasters. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

World Cup 2017 Round 1 Tiebreaks Round-up show

9/5/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Simon Williams showed the highlights and upsets of the tiebreaks of round 1. Who did qualify and who goes has to take the flight home? Have a look...

Irene Sukandar: "Of course I sacrificed my childhood"

9/5/2017 – Irene Sukandar is not only an International Master, but she also has a Masters in International Relations. She recently returned home to her native Jakarta, after a long multi-country tour through Europe playing in tournaments. Along the way she spent a day in Hamburg, where she stopped by ChessBase HQ and shared some insights into her background and chess training. | Photo: Pascal Simon

Tricky bishops

9/5/2017 – Endgames with opposite coloured bishops are tricky. Sometimes they are a draw although one side is two or even three pawns up. Sometimes the bishop sacrifices itself to let his pawns queen and sometimes these endgames are a simple win. But you always have to be careful.

World Cup 2017 Round 1, Game 2 round-up show

9/5/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Yesterday Daniel King showed the highlights and upsets of round 1.2. Who did qualify and who goes into the tiebreak? Have a look...

Yermo's Travels: the Twin Ports Open

9/5/2017 – For many chess players, whether pros or amateurs, the summer offers that irresistible combination of relaxation, sun, and chess. The US is littered with opens and events around the country, and a player need only pick an area they want to visit, and see which event will be held there and when. Near Lake Superior, at Barker's Island, the Twin Ports Open was held with several grandmasters visiting. Here is Alex Yermolinsky's report. | Photos: Alex Yermolinsky and Camilla Baginskaite

FIDE World Cup 2017: Eljanov out; 22 tiebreaks!

9/5/2017 – The biggest news of day two was 2015 World Cup hero Pavel Eljanov bowing down to Aleksandr Lenderman with a score of 2-0. The next biggest casualty was former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. 42 players have qualified for the next round and the same number have been knocked out. 44 players will play in the tiebreaks on 5th of September. It is going to be exciting as we will see some big names like Karjakin, Yu Yangyi, Ivanchuk, Adams etc. in action. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

Spassky, Averbakh, Karjakin headline Moscow TV studio showcase

9/4/2017 – Boris Spassky, Yury Averbakh, Sergey Karjakin and four-year-old Mikhail Osipov, were the headliners at a glitzy day of chess in the Moscow TV studio Ostankino (www.ostankino.ru) on Tuesday, August 29th | Photo: Artur Terekulov

Solve a chess problem, win a million dollars

9/4/2017 – It is an old puzzle, proposed in 1848: place eight queens on a chessboard so that none are attacking another one. The solution was published two years later, but the problem of n queens on an n x n chessboard (e.g. 100 queens on a 100 x 100 board) ramains illusive. Modern computers would take thousands of years to solve the puzzle for large numbers. If you can write a program that is much faster you can win a cool million dollars. Go for it!

Simon says - Typical sacrifices/attacks in Isolated Pawn Positions

9/4/2017 – In this show Simon Williams will take a look at how to attack from isolated pawn positions. Tune in for some lively fun later! An example and more information...

FIDE World Cup 2017: 35 decisive games

9/4/2017 – It was the first day of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2017 and from the point of view of spectators things couldn't have got better. 35 out of the 64 games ended decisively. The biggest upset of the day was surely GM Bator Sambuev beating Chinese prodigy Wei Yi. But from the chess point of view it was Alex Lenderman's victory from a completely lost position against Pavel Eljanov that caught many eyeballs. We bring you analysis and video interviews of almost all the top players. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

Speelman's Agony #60

9/3/2017 – Rudy van Kemenade featured in Agony #1 sixteen months ago and this week becomes our first repeat. After a veritable tsunami of submissions when this column first appeared the water level has now fallen, so that our Grandmaster Agony columnist's lead time is quite short. Please send in your games if you'd like them to appear, and you are more than welcome to send games even if you've already done so before. | Photo: Dyfed Chess Association Publicity Gallery

World Cup 2017: A glorious opening ceremony

9/3/2017 – We are just hours away from the start of the World Cup 2017. The players have settled down in the Hualing hotel. The opening ceremony was held in the evening of 2nd of September at the Funicular restaurant. The players were treated to a spectacular view, sumptuous food, and entertaining Georgian dance and music. Our reporters at the venue not only bring some exciting pictures, but also videos of the opening ceremony and an interview with Magnus Carlsen's opponent who thinks it is his once in a lifetime opportunity! | Photos: Amruta Mokal

Study of the Month: September, 2017

9/2/2017 – The Ecclesiastes and the famous fictional rabbi Ben Akiba tell us, there is nothing new under the sun, everything has happened before. In a certain way this might hold true to chess — all the ideas might have been shown, but not in that particular setting or not in this particular combination. Looking at our first example, similarities to a previous selection are seen at the end, but the introduction is completely different.

Bobby Fischer in Iceland – 45 years ago (13)

9/1/2017 – The score was 11½-8½ for Challenger Bobby Fischer, who needed 12½ to win the title. In game 21 he had the black pieces and he played a Sicilian variation he had never before shown any liking for. He gained a distinct advantage, but then allowed Boris Spassky to sacrifice an exchange to get a drawn position. However, the still-reigning World Champion went on to blunder and finally lose his title.

Tbilisi loves you!

9/1/2017 – You know that the World Cup is one of the most anticipated events of the year when 19 out of the top 20 Elo rated grandmasters have confirmed their participation in this 128-player knockout tournament. From 3rd of September we will see the battles taking place on the chequered board. But before that our reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal reached the Capital of Georgia and take you on a tour of this beautiful city. Check out this pictorial report of the city nestled between the mountains. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

US Masters goes to Vladimir Belous

9/1/2017 – Twenty-four grandmasters turned out for the US Masters 2017, which took place from 23rd to 28th of August in Greensboro, North Carolina. This 6th edition was a very strong — one might say, “super Swiss” open — a gathering of titled players almost unheard of for a nine-round open tournament in the USA. Vladimir Belous took top honours winning a last round game that GM Elshan Moradiabadi calls, "just like Morphy!" | Photos: Davide Nastasio

Tune your tactics - The pinned f-pawn

9/1/2017 – 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! Friday at 3.30 pm CEST it's all about pinned f-pawns!

Quiet or loud

9/1/2017 – Playing 24.Nf3-g5 (diagram), White not only has parried the mate threat 24...Qxg2++ but also attacked the queen g3 (Rc3!). Not a bad one, right? Yet Black kept his nerves and found a cool winning continuation which actually was one of two alternatives. What would you have played?

September 2017 FIDE ratings: All hail the queen!

9/1/2017 – What a month it has been! Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was one of the most prominent names of the month, winning the Sinquefield Cup, and taking the no. 2 spot, and of course there was the return of Garry Kasparov, who joined the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, and with it, his first rapid and blitz rating. Then there was Indian prodigy IM Praggnanandhaa who became the youngest ever with 2500, but the one result that overshadowed them all was Hou Yifan's historic win at Biel. | Photo: Pascal Simon

Carlsen vs Aronian classic in CBM 178

8/31/2017 – This issue of ChessBase Magazine includes games from the Grenke Chess Classic, which marked the return of Levon Aronian. The Armenian finished 1½ points ahead of Carlsen and Caruana. In CBM 178 the tournament winner annotates his win over Arkadij Naiditsch. However, the pride of place belongs to the Carlsen-Aronian encounter from the second round, which has been annotated in depth by GM Aleksandr Lenderman. In his product review Prof. Nagesh Havanur advises readers to go through the game first without any analysis, and then match their wits with the players and the annotators.