Reykjavik Open 2017: Anish Giri takes sole first

4/29/2017 – It is always a risky affair for a top GM to play in an open such as the Reykjavik Open, simply because his rating alone is the level usually attained by the winners in the end. In other words, he is unlikely to leave earning more, but Giri showed he was up to the task, winning the event, and even downed Jobava in a Najdorf Poisoned Pawn with black! The unexpected second place was 17-year-old Dutchman Jorden Van Foreest. Final report.

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #50

4/28/2017 – After his request he has been receiving a steady trickle of games, and this time in his half-century column Jon Speelman looks at an Agony and an Ecstasy by Mike Healey, a 2360 player and "a total hacker", which is a big compliment coming from Jon. In the first game Mike's brain was "evidently totally sizzled," while in the second he pulled off a "beautiful finish to a splendidly violent game." Enjoy and learn.

Check the check

4/28/2017 – 27.Qc3+ in the diagram position offers itself. If White gains control over the long diagonal, he will be clearly winning - two additional attackers (knight d5 and pawn g5), and the black king is just too exposed. But wait a minute: doesn't 27...Re5 throw a spanner in the works?

Gashimov Memorial 2017: Three wins and Shak widens his lead

4/28/2017 – Though not quite as bloodthirsty as Grenke, the Gashimov Memorial has been very entertaining with good fighting chess overall. Round six epitomized this with three impressive wins, all in different conditions. Mamedyarov secured his lead as he defeated Kramnik in a key game, while Topalov beat Eljanov in a trademark attack, and So beat Karjakin in a fascinating technical bout explained in detailed instructive notes by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

New - Fritztrainer Masterclass Vol 08: Magnus Carlsen

4/27/2017 – Magnus Carlsen was born in 1990, in 2010 he became the youngest number one in the history of chess, in 2013 he was World Champion, and in May 2014 he reached an Elo-rating of 2882, the highest Elo-rating of all time. The new Fritztrainer Master Class DVD invites you to study and to enjoy Carlsen's chess. It contains all games of the World Champions and on videos with a total running time of 7 hours and 39 minutes experts explain the characteristics of Carlsen's play.

ChessBase Opening Encyclopedia 2017

4/27/2017 – In chess, braving the gap often leads to disaster after a few moves. We should be able to avoid things going so far. The ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia offers you an effective remedy against all sorts of semi-digested knowledge and a means of building up a comprehensive and powerful repertoire. The Opening Encyclopedia 2017 has 5.9 million games, of which more than 85,000 are annotated. There are 6,250 opening surveys by the finest opening specialists, and 1004 specialised theory databases. Don't miss it.

Ranking chess players according to the quality of their moves

4/27/2017 – How do you rate players from different periods? An AI researcher has undertaken to do it based not on the results of the games, but on the quality of the moves played. Jean-Marc Alliot used a strong chess engine running on a 640 processor cluster to analyse over two million positions that occurred in 26,000 games of World Champions since Steinitz. From this he produced a table of probable results between players of different eras. Example: Carlsen would have beaten Smyslov 57:43.

Karsten Müller's “Endgame Magic“ - Review

4/27/2017 – How to improve your chess? By studying the endgame! And how to study the endgame? Go to Karsten Müller. The German grandmaster is considered to be the world's leading endgame expert and he has published numerous books and DVDs about the endgame. In his "Endgame Magic Show", which runs on the ChessBase server, he regularly shows instructive and interesting endgames. The shows are archived. A treasure.

Martinique c'est magnifique (1/2)

4/27/2017 – Sun, sand, coconut trees, crystal clear turquoise waters, fruity drinks and epic cocktails are just some of the things that come to mind when imagining that postcard-perfect-laid-back beach bliss. Ahhh, the Caribbean and its tropical light which seems to promise blue morning after blue morning forever after... Such is the backdrop of the 6th Martinique Open, reported here with plenty of photos by Alina L'Ami.

Praggnanandhaa – yet another Indian super-talent

4/26/2017 – During the last weeks you were comprehensively briefed on Nihal Sarin, twelve years old and on his way to the GM title. Nihal is playing at the Reykjavik Open, where a compatriot is stunning the crowd. Pragga, as he is known to friends, is making life tense for experienced grandmasters, in fact beating the winner of the recent Dubai Open, GM Gawain Jones, rated 2671. And: a fifteen-year-old girl has joined the ranks of young GM killers: Vaishali, who is Pragga's sister.

Roadtrip to Reno

4/26/2017 – Celebrating 20 years of participation in tournaments in Reno, Nevada, GM Alex Yermolinksy made the trip this year to play in the 6th Larry Evans Memorial, where he met other grandmasters such as Nick De Firmian and Elshan Moradiabadi. Caissa smiled warmly at the author as he took clear first. In this report/travelogue by Alex Yermolinsky, you will read what brings him back year after year to the 'Biggest Little City in the World'. Enjoy!

Gashimov Memorial 2017: Crushing wins

4/26/2017 – It seems as if everyone will enjoy the taste of victory at the Gashimov Memorial, and round five saw two new names added to the list of victors. Wesley So’s fans will be heaving a big sigh of relief as he breaks from his funk and scores a powerful win over Vladimir Kramnik. Sergey Karjakin showed he is not just the ‘Minister of Defense’ as he completely demolished Topalov’s king in the center. Here is the illustrated report with extensive analysis by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson.

A favorable retreat

4/25/2017 – In an endgame pawn race every tempo counts. But rushing blindly forward is rarely a good strategy. Karsten Müller shows why.

Gashimov Memorial 2017: Kramnik sacs his rook

4/25/2017 – With a description such as “sacrificed the rook for some pawns and initiative”, a few players come to mind in the field at such as the current leader Mamedyarov, or Topalov, but Kramnik, in spite of his enormous ability, is not your usual choice. Yet in round four, in a dubious position against Harikrishna, the Russian took preemptive measures and turned the game on its head with a spectacular rook sacrifice. Illustrated report with enlightening analysis by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson.

On human and computer intelligence in chess (with solution!)

4/24/2017 – In March there was an international furore over a chess position, published by famous mathematics professor Sir Roger Penrose. It purported to show a key difference between human and computer thinking, and have general implications for our understanding of Artificial Intelligence. The example was unconvincing, but as a reaction a number of chess players and AI researchers have sent us papers we want to share with you. We start with a challenge to humans and machines issued by GM Miguel Illescas.

Alexei Shirov: How to crack the Berlin Wall with 5.Re1

4/24/2017 – The Berlin Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6) is a very solid line for Black - so solid that players dubbed it "The Berlin Wall". But Alexei Shirov has some ideas "how to crack the Berlin Wall". Hedinn Steingrimsson liked these ideas - and so did Hou Yifan who used Shirov's recommendations to beat Fabiano Caruana in round 1 of the Grenke Classic.

Gashimov Memorial 2017: Mamedyarov beats Eljanov and leads

4/24/2017 – Round three saw intriguing matchups, and two decisive results. The first matchup was the classic between Kramnik and Topalov, who always promise a game worth watching for the spectators, but no blood was spilled this time. The big one due to the standings, was between Mamdeyarov and Eljanov. It was an extremely complicated King's Indian that saw both players have winning edges, and the Azeri with the last word. See the game, and read the notes by Aleksander Lenderman!

Kasparov Chess Foundation promotes chess education in Asia

4/23/2017 – In conjunction with the Kasparov Chess Foundation's 15th Anniversary Celebration, the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific proposed five activities as its contribution and four of them came together with a tour of four countries in Asia with the common theme of Chess in Education. Here is an illustrated report by Peter Long

Gashimov Memorial 2017: Topalov wins brilliancy

4/23/2017 – The opening salvo of rounds at the Gashimov Memorial have certainly been with their fair share of surprises. Winning his second straight game, this time against Pentala Harikrishna, Ukrainian Pavel Eljanov has taken the early lead in round two with a perfect 2.0/2. Still, the crowd-pleaser of the round was unquestionably Veselin Topalov's spectacular win over Radoslaw Wojtaszek with his trademark sacrifices to win a beautiful game. Analysis by GM Aleks Lenderman.

Grenke Classic 2017: Aronian misses win in exciting finale

4/23/2017 – It was a thrilling end to a great tournament. In spite of the four draws that might suggest less than exhilarating chess, one game stood out far more than the others: Caruana vs Aronian. Any dreams he had of being the spoilsport, Caruana was forced to set aside as he found himself fighting for his life, a piece down in the endgame. There wouldn't be much to say if he didn't actually pull it off. See all, read all, in this final report with analysis by GM Moradiabadi.

Reykjavik Open 2017: For the love of chess

4/22/2017 – The Reykjavik Open is one of the highlights of the year's chess calendar with amazing scenery, top notch organization, and chess for all. It is now underway with hundreds of players, including names such as Anish Giri, Dmitry Andreikin, Jobava Baadur, as well as budding talents such as Liang Awonder, Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin. Enjoy this report with tactics to solve and gorgeous photos by Alina L'Ami.

Gashimov Memorial 2017: So falls to Mamedyarov

4/22/2017 – As the Grenke Chess Classic wraps up, another Super GM tournament has just started to fill the gap: The Gashimov Memorial, the 4th edition of the event in tribute to Vugar Gashimov, taken away at the much too young age of 27. Playing in it are players such as Wesley So, Kramnik, Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Topalov, and more. The first round already brought in the shocker as So lost with white to Mamedyarov. Here is the report with detailed analysis by GM Aleks Lenderman.

Grenke Classic 2017: Levon Aronian wins all the marbles!

4/22/2017 – What do you get when you ad one plus one plus one plus one? You get first place at Grenke! Levon Aronian has been unstoppable, and in round six he clinched clear first with a round to spare when his potential rivals Carlsen and Caruana drew their respective games, while he won his fourth in a row, beating Hou Yifan. This took his tally to 5.0/6, a full 1.5 points ahead. Read the report by GM Elshan Moradiabadi with analysis by GM Krikor Mekhitarian.

Backup idea

4/21/2017 – Major pieces love open files. That's why White has just played 13.g5! (diagram position) because he has seen a speedy way to line them up against the black king following 13...hxg5 14.hxg5 Qxg5 - all three of them! How this?