2/5/2017 – Manuel Infante, an American in his early sixties. He survived childhood cancer, grew up an Air Force brat, became a mathematics teacher and coach. At the Western Heights Public Schools in Oklahoma he was the chess club sponsor, and after early retirement from teaching he renewed his chess studies and began once again to participate in chess tournaments. Manny submitted two games, an feature “agonising” loss in which he played an inventive pawn sacrifice, and a crushing win. They are analysed by our columnist Jon Speelman.

2/5/2017 – Tata Steel is without question one of the highlights of the year thanks to its great diversity of events and of course the Masters with its host of elite players. One other thing that has helped keep it such a pleasurable event is the attention made to have great videos and photography. Alina L'Ami has been the official photographer for the last few years, and enriched the reports by all with her lovely imagery. Here is a large pictorial of photos she chose with her comments and tips.

2/4/2017 – The ChessBase Mega Database 2017 lists 35 casual games Adolf Anderssen (photo) played from 1851 to 1859 against Louis Eichborn. Eichborn won 32 of these games, lost 2 and only one game ended in a draw. Now Anderssen is considered as one of the best if not the best player of that time while Eichborn is relatively unknown. How then to explain his overwhelming plus against Anderssen?

2/4/2017 – In our previous monthly study column we saw how powerful pawns are. The subject is amplified this time with three positions, two from games and one a study by two prolific chess composers from Georgia. In that study White would like to move his pawn backwards, which of course the rules of chess do not allow. So he has to promote it, very carefully, and then move the queen or rook to the square the pawn could not occupy. A remarkable idea and an amazing study.

2/3/2017 – As usual, the new ChessBase magazine offers a wealth of material: Fabiano Caruana and Daniel King analyze highlights of the Carlsen vs Karjakin World Championship match in New York, Simon Williams, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller invite you to some training, Wesley So takes a look at one of his game from the London Chess Class and a whole range of opening recommendations help you to sharpen and to improve your repertoire.

2/3/2017 – 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.

1/30/2017 – The ChessBase Account is a useful tool for every chess player, whether solving tactics, analysing games, preparing against the next opponent or playing chess online. To show you everything we will be live on air with a Q&A on Youtube tomorrow, January 31. Join us at 4.30 CET to ask Matthias Wüllenweber, the developer of the web apps and creator of the ChessBase program, any questions you might have and let us show you how to get the most out of ChessBase Account.

1/30/2017 – Recently, the National Scholastic Chess Foundation, an organization specializing in chess education in the New York area, collaborated with European composer Jason Kouchak to create an event that would celebrate girls and chess. Entitled The Queen’s Journey: An Exploration of Music, Dance and Chess, the event featured a collaborative game played by girls from Executive Director Sunil Weeramantry’s programs in the region as well as original compositions, a ballet, and some chess history.

1/30/2017 – At the end of five rounds of play, six players led the standings with 4.5/5. After a trio of bloody battles at the top boards in the sixth round, three players are left in the lead. Early leaders Emil Sutovsky and Ju Wenjun were 'punished' by the goddess Caissa according to Nigel Short, who was also the highlight of the day as he defeated the world number two Fabiano Caruana. John Saunders reports from Gibraltar.

1/29/2017 – It is a 56 non-losing streak. It is his second super-tournament victory in two months. He is the new #2 player in the World. Wesley So has rocked the chess world, and he finished Tata Steel on a brilliant note. His rival, Ian Nepomniachtchi, threw the kitchen sink against him, but the American crushed his opponent and won the tournament. In the Challengers Gawain Jones emerges winner.

1/29/2017 – It was a suiting end to a superb tournament. Wesley So staved off the would-be-thiefs of his gold with a win over Nepomniachtchi to take first a full point ahead of the field, also taking his rating to a staggering 2822 FIDE. While Carlsen was held to a draw by Karjakin, thus taking silver, other contenders Wei Yi and Aronian lost, thus opening the way to a Cinderella ending to bottom-seed Adhiban who took bronze. Gawain Jones won the Challengers after a nail-biting round. Express report.

1/29/2017 – Emil Sutovsky and Ju Wenjun were leading the tournament with 4.0/4. Behind them were a pack of super elite grandmasters on 3.5/4. The top board clash between Sutovsky and Wenjun ended in a tame draw. However, that was the only peaceful result of the round. All the top players including Caruana, Nakamura, Adams were able to win their games. Gelfand, however, lost to David Anton Guijarro. We have an illustrated report withpictures, videos and analysis.