79 years ago: Capablanca beats Botvinnik

11/29/2015 – Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942), third World Champion, was a child prodigy and a legendary figure. The Cuban genius influenced many successors, from Botvinnik to Carlsen, with his positional understanding and endgame play. In this report by Prof. Nagesh Havanur we see him in a different role, as an astute chess psychologist. It includes some amazing analysis.

Magnus Carlsen homestory in The Telegraph

11/28/2015 – The London Chess Classic will start in about a week and English journalist Nigel Farndale used this opportunity to visit and to interview World Champion Magnus Carlsen at his new house in Norway. With dry humor the World Champion talked about his career, love and infatuation, his elo-rating, his passion for soccer and the pros and cons of being a super-star.

An interview with Dronavalli Harika (1/2)

11/28/2015 – With a rating of 2513 Dronavalli Harika is India’s number two woman player. The 24-year-old is well on her way to the top, and has climbed the ranking ladder steadily over the past couple of years and recently won the World Women's Online Blitz. She discusses her performance at the 2015 Women’s World Championship, where she won bronze, how she prepares for games and tournaments in this in-depth interview.

Top knockout at the London Chess Classic

11/27/2015 – A new high-level event is joining the extensive list of tournaments that make up the 7th London Chess Classic Festival: Eight of Britain’s best chess players, with the exception of Michael Adams, who plays in the Classic itself, will contest the inaugural British Knockout Championship. But not only the line-up is impressive. Press Release...

The right perspective

11/27/2015 – 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.

Vishy Anand: in pursuit of excellence (2)

11/27/2015 – Louis Philippe, a premier Indian men’s apparel brand, has a show hosted by an Indian tennis legend, Vijay Amritraj. In it famous personalities discuss their journey to reach the top of their profession. Last week we brought you part one of a very profound interview Vijay conducted with former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. Today you can enjoy the second part.

Interview with Viktor Bologan

11/26/2015 – Viktor Bologan is a strong and successful grandmaster who currently mainly works as a coach. But at the European Team Championship he still was the player with the best Elo-performance. When Bologan was in Hamburg to record his new DVD about the King's Indian Defense he talked about his career, his approach to chess, his training methods and when chess is fun.

Kings and Queens in China

11/26/2015 – The Chinese chess players like to practice and often play against each other. From 24. November to 1. December eight of the country's best men and eight of the best women players meet in Taizhou to play the 1st China Chess Kings and Queens Matches, a short knock-out tournament. The first round led to interesting games and brought some surprises.

US Sanctions against FIDE President

11/26/2015 – It comes at a bad time: on the eve of a visit to the USA, to negotiate the venue of the 2016 World Chess Championship (Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York), FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been hit by sanctions of the US Treasury. This is mainly because of dealings with Syria and it President Assad. Currently US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with him.

Come and get it – Fritz 15 released!

11/25/2015 – As you may have noticed – if you pay attention to the info screen that appears the first time you come to our news page – the latest 64 bit multiprocessor version of our flagship program is now available. Not only is it stronger than any Fritz we have previously released, it also has some amazing new training features. And it gives you access to the great new ChessBase Account World.

Four new Senior World Champions

11/25/2015 – In 2014 FIDE decided to make chess seniors ten years younger and since then the entry fee for a senior tournament is a possible 50-year birthday present. Since then the World Championships have also become stronger and have attracted more participants. New World Champions are Predrag Nikolic, Vladimir Okhotnik, Galina Strutinskaia and Nona Gaprindashvili.

Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor and chess enthusiast

11/24/2015 – He was one of the best-loved leaders of the German government, the hero of the devastating 1962 floods and the 1977 rescue of 86 passengers from a hijacked plane in Mogadishu. Two weeks ago Helmut Schmidt passed, at the age of 96. The countless newspaper tributes to this great leader did not neglect to mention one of his great passions: Helmut Schmidt loved chess.

Permanent threats

11/24/2015 – 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. Today on the playchess server, 4 pm: Endgame Magic with Karsten Müller and Sagar Shah!

ETCC R09: Russia triumphs with double gold

11/24/2015 – In the ninth and final round Russia convincingly won gold in the open section and in the women’s section. The Russian men drew without much trouble 2-2 against Hungary and won the tournament with 15/18, and in the women’s tournament Russia beat Germany to secure gold with 17/18. Here is the final illustrated report.

Welcome to ChessBase India

11/23/2015 – Chess in India is booming. With Vishy Anand at the helm and many talents behind him, the country has a bright future in the game – in fact it is, with China, the major emerging chess superpower. But the infarstructure of information and reporting has been somewhat lacking. That is all set to change, with a new web portal exclusively dedicated to Indian tournaments and players.

ETCC R09: Carlsen vs Wojtaszek

11/23/2015 – Russia won the ETCC in front of Armenia und Hungary. Norway played no role for the top places but had the World Champion on board one. His overall performance wasn't satisfactory for him, but in his last round game against Wojtaszek he showed a usual brilliance. Daniel King analysed the game for us...

ETCC R08: Highlights

11/22/2015 – Russia leads after the 8th round of the ETCC two points ahead of their nearest rival Hungary. With one round to go, Russsia only needs a draw to be the clear winner. English Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at interesting games from round 8. Click here for more...

ETCC R08: Hungry Hungarians!

11/22/2015 – In the penultimate round Russia drew its match against Armenia, but they still lead the field by two points. Hungary simply crushed Azerbaijan 3.5:0.5, and is now in the sole second spot, and it’s Hungary versus Russia in the final round. In the women’s section all the favourites – Russia, Georgia and Ukraine – won their matches. We have some highly interesting games.

ETCC R07: Daniel King analyses Grischuk-Fressinet

11/21/2015 – In the top pairing of round 7 Russia faced France. In a very tense match everything was possible. The board 2 pairing Grischuk vs Fressinet decided the match whilst all other games were drawn. English Grandmaster Daniel King looks at this game in detail. Click here for more...

ETCC R07: Russians forge further ahead!

11/21/2015 – There is no stopping the Russian teams in both the sections of the European Team Championships 2015. Alexander Grischuk scored a crucial win over France to give the men a 2.5:1.5 victory. Latvia held Azerbaijan to a draw, and Georgia beat Ukraine! In the women’s section Russia sailed through against Hungary. Serbia managed to hold Georgia. We have pictures and loads of analysis.

Eric Hansen leads in Wijk aan Zee

11/20/2015 – In January 2016 the world's best players will meet in Wijk aan Zee to play one of the strongest grandmaster tournaments of the year. The winner of the Challengers in Wijk qualifies for next year's edition of this tournament. The winner of the Cultural Village tournament that currently takes place in Wijk qualifies for the Challengers in January.

The right approach

11/20/2015 – 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.

ChessBase Account: videos for phones, computers

11/19/2015 – Last week, ChessBase announced a new suite of tools for Premium and Starter subscribers. Previously, these subscribers already enjoyed Playchess perks such as rated play, live grandmaster commentary, and more. Now they can also benefit from these new tools. Among the most exciting are the video/audio courses that can even be streamed on your smartphone!

ETCC R06: Things heating up in Reykjavik

11/19/2015 – The most important match in the women’s section between Russia and Ukraine was drawn 2:2, and the Russian women team continues to lead by a full point. In the open section Russia beat Georgia and leads with 11.0/12 match points. France beat Ukraine and are in the sole second spot. Good news for Carlsen fans: he beat Leko with black. Extensive analysis, pictures and videos.