Sinquefield Rd5: Topalov takes lead midway

8/10/2016 – A topsy-turvy round started with belliggerent intentions on all boards, but as the round progressed, it began to seem as if we would have another full set of draws. Anand and So played out a striking novelty well past theory and prepared by both, so that in the end, the draw was just. Caruana managed to outfox MVL in the opening and middlegame, but right at the finish line he faltered and let the Frenchman escape. Finally, Topalov took the least obvious route possible to beat Ding and become the leader. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

Michael Adams crushes British Ch. with 10.0/11

8/9/2016 – Michael Adams, the long-time highest rated English player on the FIDE rating list, has won the British Chess Championships 2016 in Bournemouth to add to his 4 previous British titles. His score of 10.0/11 equaled the record set by Julian Hodgson in 1992 and, given that future championships are planned to be run over nine rounds, this was probably the last opportunity for the record to be equaled or exceeded. Illustrated report with commented games.

Sinquefield Rd4: An encore of draws

8/9/2016 – It was another uneventful round, and while several games seemed to hold promise for more than a draw, the wind seemed to peter and die out in the players' sails. The most dynamic game of the round was unsurprisingly between Nakamura and Topalov, players for who the word dynamic seems a weak term, but despite the material imbalance at the end, neither seemed willing to press the issue. Giri pressed hard in an endgame against So, but the American neutralized his attempts and they also drew. Full report with GM analysis.

World Championship 2016 in New York confirmed

8/9/2016 – For a couple of months now the meme has been that the 2016 World Championship is not, as originally stated, going to be staged in New York, but moved to Moscow. Not true. AGON, is the official partner of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and owner the World Chess brand as well as commercial rights holder to the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle, has now definitely announced that it will take place from November 11th to 30th in the Fulton Market Building, a five minute walk from Wall Street. Press release.

Matthew Lunn: Dealing with the Englund

8/9/2016 – The author writes: "The Englund Gambit, 1.d4 e5, is in my opinion the second worst opening in the whole of chess (top position belongs to 1.e4 f5, the glorious Fred). This is not something that is likely to crop up in too many standard play games, although it is a common enough customer in blitz chess – its awfulness is mediated by a the presence of a few funny ideas (and one big trap) that White may struggle to get to grips with in the course of a few minutes." In CHESS Magazine Matthew provides extensive analysis that will serve you well.

A good team: king and knight together

8/9/2016 – 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.

Sinquefield Rd3: The Return of the Draw

8/8/2016 – In round two, an analogy was made about movies and their sequels, and the title is a reference to it. To be fair to the players, all the games were dynamic affairs with fascinating tussles that just seemed to culminate in draws in spite of the players’ efforts, not because of them. Examples to be seen are Topalov’s oversight that all thought meant a sure loss, or Aronian’s opening piece sacrifice. Full report with analysis by GM Moradiabadi.

12th Asian Schools Chess Championships 2016

8/7/2016 – Iran is a beautiful and mysterious country and Tehran is more so. A combination of factors makes Tehran a pleasant place to visit: The province's geographical features, great museums, parks, restaurants, and a warm friendly people. However, sometimes a big chess event is a better reason to visit Tehran. This year, among the many chess tournaments held there, the 12th Asian Schools Chess Championships were held in Tehran. Illustrated report.

Sinquefield Rd2: Thrills and drama in all games

8/7/2016 – After the excitement of round one, round two, if anything, it was even more thrilling with every game having a story to tell. Topalov seemed poised to play a masterpiece after a beautiful attack on Caruana, but somehow botched it and let Fabiano escape, while Anand came back from a bad position to outplay MVL and score his first win. The last game to finish was Nakamura's superb win over Giri, and that was not all that happened. Here is the detailed report with analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

Turkish League: great games, great organization

8/6/2016 – Amidst rave reviews by players on the quality of organization, the Turkish Is Bank Super Chess League ended with a resounding victory by top team Hatay Municipality, followed by Kayseri Sports Club. While Hatay’s result was no surprise considering its five GMs including Ivanchuk on board one, but Kayseri was certainly a surprise with only two GMs. Here is the final report with numerous entertaining positions to test yourself.

Sinquefield Rd1: An excellent start

8/6/2016 – Fans got it all in what was a thrilling start to the Sinquefield Cup. Almost all boards saw vicious battles. MVL seemed like his star would fall as he was in big trouble against Giri, but saved it after Anish blundered. However, the biggest blunder was Svidler's terrible oversight, losing a piece to Topalov. Nakamura suffered an off-day and lost to So, while Anand and Caruana drew a very complicated battle. Here is the illustrated report with analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi.

Biel Main Open: resounding victory for Shankland

8/5/2016 – The last piece of the Biel Chess Festival puzzle was finally completed: the prestigious Main Open. It saw the top spots fought over by dozens of grandmasters and masters hailing from all over the world. The top seed was Russian GM Nikita Vitiugov (2728), but the player in form who dominated it was US grandmaster Sam Shankland, scoring one of the best victories of his career.

Cunning

8/5/2016 – 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.

Does playing chess make children smarter?

8/5/2016 – The meme is clear: teach your kids chess and they will get better grades in school. Everyone has experience that supports this thesis – certainly we do , from two decades ago! But a systematic study of 3,000 primary school children, who took part in a trial to see if playing chess improved their maths results, seems to come to a sobering conclusion: no improvement compared to children who didn't receive chess lessons. What do you think?

Jon Speelman's Agony Column #13: 0x0D

8/4/2016 – This week marks three months of this column as we hit the controversial number 13. Effectively naked when we play and responsible only to ourselves, chess players, like competitors in other fields, tend to have at least a tinge of superstition. Garry Kasparov, who was born on April 13th 1963, thinks of 13 as a lucky number but any triskaidekaphobes are invited instead to view this column in hex as number 0x0D. This week you will also be tested on some of the positions.

Listen to Tania sing the National Anthem

8/4/2016 – The Thyagaraj Sports complex in New Delhi witnessed a jam packed crowd on 25th of July 2016. The reason? It was the game between Dabang Delhi and Patna Pirates at the Pro Kabaddi League 2016. But what on earth is the connection to chess? India's very own International Master Tania Sachdev was at the venue and sung the national anthem before the start of the game. A proud moment for every Indian chess player.

Russian Chess Federation proposal to FIDE

8/4/2016 – The FIDE office in Athens has received a proposal by the President of the RCF suggesting that World Champion should in the future be allowed to "accept the challenge of any player who can contribute to the prize fund and the costs of holding of the match." FIDE would get 50% of the prize fund. The proposal, which is to be discussed in September at the FIDE Congress in Baku, has met with immediate protest from the Association of Chess Professionals.

What grandmasters fear most – in simuls (2)

8/3/2016 – In this part two of this article – part one had grandmasters tell us what they fear most during simuls – two FIDE masters recall their most memorable games from playing in simuls. Normally, FMs give simuls rather than play in simuls. Long before he became an FM, Keith Hayward played in grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek’s simul. The second FM, William Schill, couldn’t pass up the chance to play the current World Champion. They describe the experience.

Kramnik at the Verbier Music Festival

8/3/2016 – We have seen many great chess events preceded by quality musical performances, and now the favor has been returned: during the great Verbier Music Festival, held in the heart of the Swiss Alps, chess activities were organized including a simul by Vladimir Kramnik to musicians and the director of the festival. With concerts broadcast online live, it is a must on your calendar. Read about it and enjoy some truly magnificent music.

Korobov brilliant at Poikovsky

8/2/2016 – The Karpov Poikovsky tournament celebrated its 17th edition this year in Nefteyugansk, Russia, and it must be said that it was a singularly exciting event to watch. This was not simply because many of the players are justifiably famed for their creativity, but because a number of the games were wild speculative affairs to leave spectators gaping at the players’ courage. The event was won by Anton Korobov who signed a brilliancy against Sutovsky.

Biel Juniors won by Bok and Rambaldi

8/2/2016 – Parallel to the Masters Challenge was the Juniors Challenge, following a similar format. There were two matches involving two Swiss juniors Noel Studer and Nico Georgiadis against guest youths Francesco Rambaldi and Benjamin Bok repsectively. In both cases they played four rapid games, followed by six classical games for a through workout and valuable experience gain in match play. The games were all hard-fought with dynamic play.

The knight surprises

8/2/2016 – 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.

A breath of fresh air – Leiden Open and the city!

8/2/2016 – In the first part of our report on the 10th Leiden Chess tournament we saw how Roeland Pruijssers played a superb tournament to emerge victorious. In the second part we describe some of the fresh and novel ideas introduced by the organizers and also take you on a trip through the beautiful city of Leiden – using the best mode of transport! Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal tell you everything you need to enjoy the 2017 edition of the tournament!

The joy of the Czech Open Games Festival

8/1/2016 – The Czech Open held in Pardubice is one of those events that is just a joy to follow and see unfold. Although chess is its greatest focus with a very strong open, followed by opens of all kinds for every variant there is such as Chess 960, bughouse, problem solving… you name it, it is a festival of games from classics such as bridge, go and backgammon, to Rubik’s cube, Mankala and Smoking Cat! Here is a huge pictorial with commented games.