10/19/2016 – In his very substantial column GM Lubomir Kavalek compares World Champion Misha Tal (1936-1992) to saxophonist Charlie Parker, "both flying high with no barriers, no limits to their intuition, imagination and improvisation." In a review of October games Kavalek shares his thought on a study-like fininsh by Anand in the Tal Memorial, and compares it with masterpieces by Bent Larsen and Henry Bird. It is historically and didactically interesting.

10/18/2016 – Game two of the matches in Hoogeveen brought more of the same, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. The match between Hou Yifan and Nigel Short once more saw neither player able to get a leg up, for two draws now, but if experience prevailed in game one of the second match with a win by Ivan Sokolov, 17-year-old Jorden van Foreest struck back in game two with a powerful sacrificial attack.

10/18/2016 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

10/18/2016 – The Russian Championship Superfinal to determine the Russian Champion for both men and women is currently running in Novosibirsk, Russia, and as usual, is the strongest national championship there is, even with the absence of names such as Kramnik or Karjakin. Peter Svidler leads the men’s lineup with Grischuk, Tomashevsky and others, while Kosteniuk and Gunina top the women’s rankings. With exciting games from the start, this report includes detailed analysis by GM Jonathan Speelman.

10/17/2016 – The Hoogeveen Festival has started, and brings a number of fun events to watch. The eye-catcher is of course the match between Hou Yfan and ‘old git’ Nigel Short played over six games, with a second match between Dutch talent Jorden van Foreest and Ivan Sokolov. There is also a strong open with a large contingent of Dutch and Indian players. The first match games were fascinating struggles, and Sokolov was the first to draw blood.

10/17/2016 – The ChessBase Online Shop is constantly increasing the number of products in its repertoire. We have DVDs on practically every opening, with hours of video lessons provided by world-class experts. Today we bring you a list of hot items – absolute essentials – guiding you through the opening after playing 1.e4 or reacting to that move. Each product has a short description and a video sample. Our October shopping guide contains a useful 1.e4 overview in PGN.

10/17/2016 – Last week we did an interesting Q&A with Women's World Champion Hou Yifan, who was in Hamburg visiting the ChessBase HQ. It was an interactive session where visitors could ask questions in Playchess and on ChessBase’s Official Facebook and Twitter handles! The session lasted just over an hour, and Yifan came across as an intelligent and eminently likeable chess star. For those who missed it live we have a full YouTube video and excerpts from the Q&A.

10/16/2016 – The chess highlight of the Global Chess festival was the Highlander Cup which was an eight player knockout rapid event. The participants consisted of many of the top Hungarian players versus last year’s winner Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Boris Gelfand. There was the theme “There can only be one”, which was also reflected in the event’s single prize, US$15 thousand at stake so there was plenty of motivation among the players. Illustrated report with games.

10/16/2016 – "I have always been hooked on the game’s history," writes IM Craig Pritchett, a leading Steinitz authority, in the British magazine CHESS. In part one he took our readers through the history of the game’s so-called ‘Romantic Age’. In this second part Craig expands on Steinitz’s more nuanced, strategically based chess understanding and primacy, and the ways in which his greatest games and writings substantively helped move chess forward towards a radically new and long-lasting, early ‘modernity’.

10/15/2016 – On Oct 5, the "Blue Arrow Training Cup" 2016 Chinese Chess Master Mixed Pairs Tournament was held in the Shanghai Haiwan National Forest Park. Eight of China's chess stars, four female players and four male players, participated in the double round-robin competition, including former Women World Champion Xie Jun and Xu Yuhua, the first Asian WGM Liu Shilan, GM Ju Wenjun, GM Ye Jiangchuan, GM Xu Jun, GM Yu Shaoteng and GM Ni Hua. This fun event had teams of two alternating moves in a showdown of stars.

10/15/2016 – The first round of this prestigeous tournament begin on Sunday. It has a very stong Open, and two amateur groups. But of greatest interest are the Hoogeveen Matches that pit Women's World Champion Hou Yifan against former WCh Challenger Nigel Short, and young Dutch star Jorden van Foreest against Ivan Sokolov. Earlier this week, on her way to Holland, Yifan was in Hamburg and visited ChessBase. Big illustrated report by Frederic Friedel.

10/14/2016 – In the chess world, Dr. Kenneth A. “Ken” Kiewra was initially known as the father of IM Keaton Kiewra. He raised Keaton in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Keaton dominated chess, winning the Nebraska State Championship nine times in a row. As Keaton’s rating soared, Ken became interested in whether his parenting experience with Keaton was unique. His research into chess prodigies and their parents led to chapters in two books and an article in a peer-reviewed journal. Alexey Root asks Ken about his experience nurturing chess talent.