40th World Chess Solving Championship – solutions

8/27/2016 – During the first week of August the city of Belgrade, famous for many notable chess events in the past, hosted the 40th World Chess Solving Championship. The event was covered vigorously in the national media, and it was won by the Polish participants. John Nunn, who won the Seniors section, sent us a report with some very nice problems for our readers to solve. Today he presents the solutions, annotated in his wonderfully lucid style.

A real chess festival: the 91st French Championship in Agen

8/27/2016 – Some countries wonder how to make their national championships attractive. Maybe they should emulate the French chessplayers who crown their national champions in a real chess festival. This year it took place in the town of Agen and attracted a huge number of players who competed in various tournaments. In the strongest group, the National, the new French Champions were established. Matthieu Cornette and Sophie Milliet won the titles.

Begins next Thursday: 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku

8/26/2016 – This year's Olympiad will be held in Crystal Hall in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan (seating capacity: 25,000) and promises to be one of the finest in chess history. The budget is 13.3 million Euros and preparations reflect that commitment. ChessBase will be covering the event extensively. Here for starts is a preview of previous Chess Olympiads by someone who has attended them all since 1992. Enjoy a long interesting trip down memory lane.

Catch?

8/26/2016 – Tactics can seem deceptively simple, particularly when seeing an engine analysing grandmaster games. Strange, however, how difficult it is to find the right move and to calculate variations properly when playing yourself. It is easier if you solve tactical puzzles regularly. In the ChessBase Magazine and his tactics column Oliver Reeh helps you to do so.

Everything still open at the European Youth Championships in Prague

8/26/2016 – The European Youth Chess Championships are played from 17th to 28th of August in Prague. It is a huge tournament and young talents from all over Europe start in the age groups U8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18, boys and girls. In each group eight rounds are played and after five rounds everything is, of course, still open, but the blitz- and rapid tournaments played on the free day had a winner.

Gareyev: Trompowsky for the attacking player

8/25/2016 – "Tap into your creative mind and start the game on a fresh note," says GM Timur Gareyev. "The Trompowsky, 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5, is an opening outside of conventional wisdom. Create challenges and make your opponent solve problems early on." This DVD by the world renowned blindfold expert expresses his passion for active play where time prevails over matter and where you have to be prepared to play gambits. He deals with sacrificial openings and more solid, positional structures. A cool way to improve your results.

Michael Adams gets Wildcard for London Chess Classic 2016

8/24/2016 – The 10th and last player to join the line-up of the 8th London Chess Classic is none other than England’s number one, Michael Adams. The Cornishman has been the country’s leading player since 1999 and was once ranked number 4 in the world. Adams has consistently recorded outstanding performances and been a member of the world elite for the better part of 20 years. Recently Mickey was crowned British Champion in Bournemouth, posting an impressive score of 10.0/11. Press Release...

Erice: Playing chess with your head in the clouds

8/24/2016 – Each July the Sicilian chess organizers Alessandro Monaco and Salvatore Oddo organize the “Terre ‘degli Elimi di Erice’”, the Erice International Chess Festival. This year saw the seventh edition which again took place in the medieval town of Erice, an idyllic village on a mountain near the coastal town Trapani. Jan Werle sends a large illustrated report with lots of chess.

Tactics, tactics, tactics: Jon Speelman's Agony Column #16

8/24/2016 – Tactics dominate chessgames from beginning to end. Spotting hidden tactics in time and being able to calculate lines accurately often decides about win, draw or loss. Which Jon Speelman illustrates through the two interesting attacking games he presents in his Agony Column #16. He also gives advice how to deal with sacrifices and how to handle an attack.

Dejan Bojkov: Attacking with the Pirc - A Review

8/24/2016 – "This is the story of how I fell in love with the Pirc Defense" - this is how Moshe Rachmuth begins his review of Dejan Bojkov's DVD about the Pirc Defense. Rachmuth describes how he got to know the Pirc, how he came to like it and how he cherished it more and more when he got to know it better. All with the help of Dejan Bojkov's DVD "Attacking with the Pirc".

Markus Ragger wins Vienna Open

8/23/2016 – 310 players started in the A-group of the Vienna Open, top seed was Austria's number one, GM Markus Ragger. But in a tournament with 310 players there is not much room for error if you want to finish first. However, Ragger was more than up to the task. He started with 5.0/5 and then played a short pragmatic draw against second seed Rainer Buhmann in round six. In rounds seven and eight he won again. In the ninth and last round he then only needed a draw to finish clear first with 8.0/9.

Abu Dhabi: More than a 100 titled players in the Masters

8/23/2016 – From 21st to 29th August Abu Dhabi hosts a very strong Open. More than 100 titled players travelled to the capital of the United Arab Emirates, 40 of whom are grandmasters. The winner of the "Masters Open" will receive 13,000 dollar. Top seed is Dmitry Andreikin from Russia, second seed is Chinese grandmaster Wang Hao. However, both suffered slight setbacks in the first two rounds.

Impressions from this year's British Championships

8/23/2016 – Michael Adams has been a member of the world’s elite for twenty odd years. Like Anand, Gelfand, Ivanchuk, and others he is a player who has turned 40 but refuses to go away. These days he often has to face opponents half his age. In the recently concluded British Championship Adams scored a stunning 10.0/11 points to take his fifth title. Manuel Weeks shows us some of the highlights from the event with training questions for you to solve.

Dinara Saduakassova is Girls' World Junior Champion U20

8/22/2016 – At the start of the Girls' World Junior Championships in Bhubaneswar, India, Dinara Saduakassova from Kazakhstan had more than 60 rating-points more than her closest rival and was clear favorite to win the tournament. However, things did not go smoothly for Saduakassova. But in the end and with some luck she won the tournament with 9.5/13 to become World Junior Champion 2016!

Vienna Open: Markus Ragger leads with 6.5/7

8/22/2016 – After seven of nine rounds top seed GM Markus Ragger from Austria leads the A-group of the Vienna Open. 310 players started in the top group and with 6.5/7 Ragger is sole leader. Half-a-point behind follow seven players with 6.0/7, among them second seed GM Rainer Buhmann from Germany and 11-year old Vincent Keymer, the only untitled player at the top.

Stories, sights and studies from the Dutch Open

8/22/2016 – In Part I of our report from the Dutch Open in Dieren we mainly focused on the top three players of the tournament – Chanda, l’Ami and Khenkin. In the second part we shed light on participants who finished fourth to eleventh. And we take you on tour of the beautiful city as well as acquaint you with a few inspiring stories from the event. Not to be missed is the deep practical study composed by Yochanan Afek, which you are asked to rack your brain over.

Jeffery Xiong: World Junior Champion

8/21/2016 – It was a dominating performance from the American, as he secured his tournament win with a round to spare. Jeffery Xiong (pictured with his father) becomes the first player from the US to win this tournament in 19 years! We bring you an express report on his tournament, including annotations on his key and flashy victory against Aravindh, and will update with an extensive interview.

WJCC Round 12

8/20/2016 – 15-year old Jeffery Xiong from the USA became World Junior Champion 2016 with one round to spare. In round 12 of the World Junior U20 Championships in Bhubaneswar, India, Xiong won a smooth game with Black against Paolo Bersamina from the Philippines while his closest rivals Vladislav Artemiev and Gzregorz Nasuta drew against each other and now have 8.5/12. But with 10.0/12 Xiong is 1.5 points ahead of Artemiev and Nasuta and World Junior Champion 2016!

Introducing Diving Chess!

8/20/2016 – Chess variants come in all shapes and sizes. While most involve variations on the actual rules of chess, such as replacing pieces captured (crazyhouse), adding new pieces (Grand Chess), some try to include it under very unusual circumstances such as the famous Chess Boxing. One variant, already running for a few years now, is Diving Chess, played underwater, and in which your thinking time is determined by how long you can hold your breath!

Huffington: Greatest Chess Triumph of Wesley So

8/20/2016 – “I am living a dream,” exclaimed Wesley So after winning the 2016 Sinquefield Cup, the strongest tournament of his life and one of the year's best. With this victory he took the lead in the Grand Chess Tour. Huffington Post columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek shows us how Wesley handled a sharp Catalan against Hikaru Nakamura, Kavalek also looks at the best game of the event, Nakamura vs Ding, and a geometrical gem by Ulf Andersson from 2012. There's a lot to learn.

91e Championnat de France

8/20/2016 – L’apogée de l’année échiquéenne française est son Championnat de France. Il est rare qu’une fédération soit capable d’attirer une telle attention et de réunir autant de joueurs d’échecs dans les divers tournois qui accompagnent les Nationaux. Des tournois fermés des meilleurs joueurs et joueuses français. Voici les résultats de tous tournois 2016...

World Juniors: Jeffery Xiong comes closer to the title

8/19/2016 – In round eleven of the World Junior Championships tournament leader Jeffery Xiong played against top seed Vladislav Artemiev. Before the round Artemiev was trailing Xiong by one point and had to win to keep realistic chances for the title. However, Artemiev carefully avoided taking too many risks and after 40 moves the uneventful game ended in a draw. With two rounds to go Xiong now leads with 9.0/11 and is a full point ahead of his closest rivals Artemiev and Grzegorz Nasuta.

Vienna Open: 22 players lead with 3.0/3

8/19/2016 – The Vienna Open takes place from 16th to 23rd August and more than 500 players from over 50 countries start in the nine round swiss, among them 15 grandmasters. Elo-favorite is Markus Ragger, Austria's number one. But there are also a number of talents who want to shine. One of them is ten-year old Jarovir Sindarov from Uzbekistan who has an Elo of 2374. Ragger and Sindarov both had a perfect start and with 3.0/3 they share the lead with 20 other players.

Janelle May Frayna leads Girls' World Junior Championship U20

8/19/2016 – After ten from thirteen rounds WIM Janelle May Frayna from the Philippines, seeded as number nine, leads the Girls' World Junior Championship U20 with 8.0/10. Half-a-point behind follows Alina Bivol from Russia with 7.5/8. Five players with 7.0/10 share places three to seventh, among them top seed Dinara Saduakassova from Kazakhstan.