Living life the Jobi way (1/2)

11/1/2015 – After the 2015 Abu Dhabi Open Sagar Shah had to travel to Dubai airport to catch his flight back home. In the 150 km bus journey to the airport in Dubai he spoke with a brilliant and creative mind in chess – Baadur Jobava. In the interview the Georgian GM not only sheds light on his chess beginnings, but also provides invaluable advice for hard working and ambitious players.

November 2015 ratings: Kramnik and ELOjanov

10/31/2015 – There was no shortage of results this month, from classical chess in which 34 out of the Top 100 saw swings of at least 10 Elo, to the Rapid and Blitz ratings thanks to the recent World Championships. In classical chess, one of the most visible details was not just Eljanov's gain of 36 Elo and Kramnik's climb back to world no. 4, but that three of the top four players are at least 40 years old.

Cap d'Agde: Karpov and Fressinet in final

10/31/2015 – Although his fans certainly wished for it, it was quite unclear whether Anatoly Karpov would manage to overcome Romain Edouard, high-rated now, and well over 30 years his junior, but the former World Champion fought hard and made it to the final. Laurent Fressinet continued his strong play by beating Tigran Gharamian. It promises to be a great showdown.

Rest in Power: Emory Tate, 1958-2015

10/31/2015 – International Master Emory Tate was a chess legend, feared and renowned for his creative play and his tactical imagination. He was also known for his self-confidence and his love of the game - a love he liked to share with joy. On 17. October Emory Tate died after a sudden collapse. His student and friend Todd Andrews pays tribute to a truely fascinating man.

WYCC 2015: the early leaders and surprises

10/30/2015 – After five rounds of competition, the World Youth championship has hit the midway point. Though many names deserve the highest praise, one of the surprises has been the numerous successes in the Boys events by the Iranians, with leaders in the Under-12, Under-18, and the top seed in the Under-14. Of note also is Egyptian Adham Fawzy, leading the Boys Under-16. A pictorial by Reint Dykema.

Sharing games via email, Skype, or WhatsApp

10/30/2015 – Sharing or sending a game with ChessBase is one of those things that is easy when you know how, but can leave you in doubt when you don't. Anyone will quickly see there are plenty of options, but which is the easiest and best? There is no one best choice, so here is a quick guide for three easy methods, with the last being the quickest and easiest of all.
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Alexey Smirnov wins World Disabled 2015

10/30/2015 – 63 players from 13 different countries participated in the World Disabled Championships 2015 which was won by the Russian IM Alexey Smirnov. The quality of the games played was pretty high and so was the level of organization. We have analysis, beautiful pictures by Karsten Wieland and videos by WGM Sabina Foisor, along with a suggestion which is worthy of consideration.

Karpov and Fressinet win Cap d'Agde qualifier

10/30/2015 – After a slow start in the first half of the fourteen-round qualifier, Anatloy Karpov stormed ahead in the second half with a Law of the Jungle attitude, racking up points against the women, and taking sole lead by round eleven. In round twelve Fressinet defeated the former world champion, to share the top spot. Edouard and Gharamian were the last to qualify for the semis.

Going back or going forward?

10/30/2015 – 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.

Bilbao: Chess drama on the theatre stage

10/29/2015 – In the Chess Masters Final in Bilbao a draw counts as 1-1. That was the result of both games in round three, So against Anand and Ding against Giri. However, one could not help to feel that Ding and Giri deserved more than a mere point for their impressive and dramatic performance. It lasted no less than 172 moves and developed into a drama in five acts.

Kirill Alekseenko wins Chigorin Memorial

10/29/2015 – The 18-year old Kirill Alekseenko is one of the most promising Russian talents. 2012 he already had three GM-norms but he did not manage to get the 2500 rating which he needed for the title. Until 2015. Once Alekseenko was GM he went from success to success. In October he won the strong Chigorin Memorial in St. Petersburg. Pictures, report, interview.

Strong lineup for Al Ain Classic in December

10/29/2015 – Open tournaments are getting stronger – and how! The Al Ain Chess Classic is to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 22nd to 31st December. There is still a lot of time for the registration deadline to end, but the tournament has already attracted the interest of fifty-two grandmasters. The top seed is none other than the legendary Latvian GM Alexei Shirov. Expect fire on the board.

Massive WYCC starts in Porto Carras in Greece

10/28/2015 – The World Youth championship has begun in Porto Carras, Halkidiki in Greece, with world championship titles for both boys and girls in categories ranging from under-8 to under-18. As a result no fewer than 1596 competitors have come from 91 nations around the world to vie for a place in history. Here are some of the names to watch for and many beautiful photos by Reint Dykema.

Strong chess in Bilbao

10/28/2015 – On 26. October the VIII Grand Slam Masters Final began in Bilbao. Viswanathan Anand, Anish Giri, Ding Liren and Wesley So compete in a six-round all-play-all tournament. Parallel to this small but strong tournament the Ibero-American Championship takes place in Bilbao. The first days brought interesting chess including a surprising queen sacrifice.

The Global Chess Festival 2015 (2/2)

10/27/2015 – The first report about the Global Chess Festival in Budapest conveyed a general impression of the Festival and showed how visitors saw the 1000 faces of chess. The second part brings analyses of the games of the Highlander Cup and shows the many different ideas and ways Judit Polgar and her organizing team had to attract children to chess. Pictures, games, analyses .

The magic of the knight

10/27/2015 – 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 Andrew Martin!

4th Anatoly Karpov Trophy starts

10/26/2015 – The 4th Anatoly Karpov, started in Cap d'Agde, France, and promises a week and more of top-notch rapid game action for the fans. The preliminary is a double round robin between eight guests, four men, including Karpov himself, four ladies, of whom Mariya Muzychuk, the reigning World Woman Champion. The competition can be followed live on Playchess, and has daily videos.

Skopje: Siberia and Nona ECC 2015 champions

10/26/2015 – Team Siberia from Russia and Nona from Georgia won the European Club Cup open and women’s sections. Both dominated right from the start and gave no chances to others to wrest the lead from them. The event turned out to be quite horrible for some of the top players, but one guy must be extremely happy with his performance: Vladimir Kramnik who is now world number four!

Robert Ris: Fighting the Ruy Lopez Exchange

10/26/2015 – The Exchange Variation can be very boring – queens come off the board quickly and you find yourself defending a long endgame practically straight out of the opening. What to do, especially if you need to win your next game with the black pieces? IM Nisha Mohota has her own personal solution in this kind of an emergency: Listen to a 60-minutes course by IM Robert Ris.

Experience wins out at Hoogeveen

10/25/2015 – Hoogeveen ended in a success for experience, where Jan Timman defeated his much younger opponent Jorden Van Foreest in a fun match with dynamic games, while Sopiko Guaramishvili smashed Anna-Maja Kazarian with an unforgiving 5.5-0.5. The heavily disputed Open was won by top-seed Abhijeet Gupta. Report, pictures, games.

Megaranto, Ni Shiqun dominate Asian University Ch.

10/25/2015 – GM Susanto Megaranto from Gunadarma University and WGM Ni Shiqun from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics won the Men’s Individual Event and Women’s Individual Event in the 1st Asian University Chess Championship, which was held in the Capital University of Physical Education and Sports in Beijing, China. Here is the final report with video by Liang Ziming.

Playchess multi-board on the smartphone

10/24/2015 – In the last weeks, two of the web browser apps by ChessBase have finally been fully adapted to work on tablets and smartphones: Playchess and the Tactics Trainer. You can now use the browser version of Playchess to play games and view multiple broadcast boards at the same time on your smartphone. In this guide, learn also how to transform it into a one-click app.

ECC 2015 R5: Siberia and Nona lead

10/24/2015 – After five rounds at the European Club Cup the team from Siberia in the open section and Nona in the women’s are the only teams with a perfect score of 10.0/10. Vladimir Kramnik is giving us some wonderful lessons in the art of playing perfect chess. There are some more instructive game annotations and your chance to find a winning move against a 2740 opposition.

First Asian University Championship in Beijing

10/23/2015 – The First Asian University Chess Championship is ongoing during 18th-25th October in Beijing, China. It is comprised of an Open competition, a Women's competition and a Team event, and brings in teams from Mongolia, Vietnam, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Indonesia and China. Report by Liang Ziming.