Blitz Championship in Berlin: Errors and emotions

10/16/2015 – After five intense days the chess world crowned an old and a new World Champion. Magnus Carlsen is the old and the new Rapid Champion, Alexander Grischuk is new Blitz Champion. The public saw spectacular, entertaining chess, and witnessed how even the very best players made mistakes and showed a lot of emotions. Impressions and missed chances...

File blockers

10/16/2015 – 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.

Pentala Harikrishna succeeds on Isle of Man

10/15/2015 – Pentala Harikrishna is the winner of the PokerStars Isle Of Man tournament 2015. In the last round Nigel Short tried hard to beat the Indian Grandmaster but finally had to content himself with a draw. The tournament had a strong field and a superb organisation. And the island itself made Alina l'Ami ask some fundamental questions. Report, pictures, analyses...

Showdown in St. Louis

10/15/2015 – American chess is getting stronger and is on the rise. This fall, Grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, the top two players in the United States, will visit the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) and compete in a series of games over four days: Thursday, November 12 through Sunday, November 15. Press release.

World Blitz 2015: Grischuk wins third title

10/14/2015 – After his crushing victory in the World Rapid championship, it seemed as if Magnus Carlsen was going to pull off a three-peat by securing all three titles a second straight year. However, during the last day of the World Blitz, the world no. 1 suffered a meltdown that opened the way for the others, and suddenly the title was wide open. It was pure excitement until the end.

Daniel Gormally: English Attack

10/14/2015 – Are you an 1.e4 player? And are you looking for an effective weapon against the Sicilian? English GM Daniel Gormally might help you. He recommends the English Attack, one of the strongest ways to fight the Najdorf and the Scheveningen. On his first ChessBase DVD Gormally teaches how to play against the Sicilian and entertains by showing famous and exciting games.

Millionaire Chess 2: Nakamura is supreme

10/13/2015 – Millionaire Monday was all that it was cracked up to be. Not only did the top stars fight it out for a grand $100 thousand, but dozens of amateurs also fought for unheard of prizes in the tens of thousand of dollars. For many, if not all, these were life-changing matches, everything the organizers Maurice Ashley and Amy Lee had dreamed the event could be. Fantastic games and magic moments.

World Rapid 2015: Magnus Carlsen retains his title

10/13/2015 – It was an exciting finish to the World Rapid championship, with many thrilling battles. For some, the event never really took off, while others rose and fell, but Magnus Carlsen gave a vintage performance as he scored a 11.5/15, a full point ahead of the field, and taking the no.1 spot to boot. In second was Ian Nepomniachtchi, and third was Dominguez. Report and analysis.

Chess in style on the Italian Riviera

10/13/2015 – Malcolm Pein is the organiser of the London Chess Classic but in his holidays he decided to switch sides and to play a tournament. He picked the open in Gabicce at the Italian Riviera in Gabicce - a tournament that had a lot to offer. Right after Gabicce players had a chance to play more chess at the Riviera - in Fano. Diana Mihajlova reports.

Hou Yifan leads Monaco Womens' Grand Prix

10/13/2015 – After eight rounds of the Monaco Grand Prix it is Hou Yifan who is in the lead with a score of 6.5/8. Half a point behind her is the current Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk. With three rounds to go it promises to be an exciting finish. In this report we have game analysis, a lot of very nice pictures, and interesting videos of the post game conferences.

A wandering knight

10/13/2015 – 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. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

Millionaire Chess 2: Fighting for a million

10/12/2015 – The Millionaire Open is in its second edition, and is the first serious open in history to bring three of the Top Ten players in the world. More than that, it offers unbelievable prizes for each and every category, with tens of thousands of dollars even for under-1200! The competition is well underway, with four lucky players fighting for the top prizes. Massive illustrated report.

Only two months away: 7th London Chess Classic

10/12/2015 – The World Championships in Rapid and Blitz take place in Berlin, one of the most popular European cities. Chess fans flock to watch the grandmasters live and the first two days the huge playing hall was packed. Soon there will be another opportunity to watch Carlsen & Co in one of the most popular European cities: at the London Chess Classic. Press Release...

New In Chess review: Marin’s Power Strategy 2

10/12/2015 – The subject of Mihail Marin's DVD is playing with stable pieces, usually a knight, placed on well-protected squares – a theme he associates with the Soviet Chess School. NIC reviewer GM Matthew Sadler found the product a slightly mixed experience (he was struck by an error in a subvariation), "though the best stuff is really very good!" In the end he awards it four out of five stars.

2015 World Rapid Day 2: Carlsen rises to the top

10/11/2015 – Day two of the World Rapid Championship lived up to the expectations with action galore on all fronts. Sergey Karjakin fell from grace after a great start, while Magnus Carlsen rose steadily to the top, but to end the tale there would be to miss the surprises such as Sergei Zhigalko sharing first or Igor Kovalenko’s brilliant attack and miracle save.

King's Pawn movie celebrates National Chess Day

10/11/2015 – In 1997 Garry Kasparov went head-to-head with the computer Deep Blue – and lost. That led to a flurry of discussion surrounding computer intelligence – and the possibility of human intervention at key moments in the match. Director Jonah Bleicher's new film, The King's Pawn, explores these theories. In honor of National Chess Day (USA), the film is now premiering online for free.

2015 World Rapid Day 1: Karjakin early leader

10/10/2015 – The first day of the World Rapid championship was exciting from end to end, and while some may regret the absence of a few of the top players, playing concurrently in the Millionaire Open, it was more than made up by the non-stop action and more than a few surprises. Showing great confidence after his recent win at the World Cup, the sole leader is Sergey Karjakin.

The new ChessBase Magazine arrived!

10/10/2015 – Tournament reports from high class events, lots of training materials about tactics, middlegame and endgame play, training videos, up-to-date theory, detailed analyses by top commentators, opening surveys of old and new variations to build up, to spice up, and to enlarge your opening repertoire: ChessBase Magazine 168 has it all - and more!

Anand: Soviet players didn’t want to cheat

10/10/2015 – Pawn Sacrifice, the film about the 11th World Champion Bobby Fischer, is in the news everywhere. Indian Express journalist Shivani Naik recently conducted a very illuminating interview about it – with the 15th Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was three years old at the time of the Reykjavik match, but deeply influenced by it during his chess career. He even met Bobby Fischer.

Mariya Muzychuk leads in the Monaco GP

10/9/2015 – The first leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix cycle has begun in Monaco. This tournament is of immense importance as the series of Grand Prix tournaments will determine the challenger for Women’s World Championships in 2017. After four rounds, it’s the reigning World Champion Mariya Muzychuk who leads with a score of 3.5/4. Big illustrated report with pictures, videos and analysis.

Blitz- and Rapid WCC: List of participants

10/9/2015 – AGON now published the list of participants for the WCC in blitz and rapid which will begin on Saturday in Berlin. Top seed is Magnus Carlsen with a blitz rating of 2914. Ten participants can boast of a blitz rating of 2800+, more than 40 have 2700+ in blitz. They play for a prize fund of 200.000 USD, of which the winner will receive 40.000 USD. Here's the list.

A moment of shock

10/9/2015 – 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.

Isle of Man: Nigel Short wins brilliancy

10/8/2015 – Nigel Short, born 1. June 1965, is the oldest player in the World's top 100. And he is still tactically alert. Which he proved in round 5 of the Isle of Man PokerStars Open when he countered a dangerous piece sacrifice by Alon Greenfeld with a countersacrifice, which brought him a quick win. With 4.0/5 Short now shares the lead with ten other players.

Magnus at the Qatar Masters Open 2015

10/8/2015 – The Qatar Masters Open 2015 just got bigger, better and stronger. The reason: reigning World Champion and world number one Magnus Carlsen confirmed he'll play in what is going to be one of the most amazing open events in chess history. We have inputs from the tournament director Mohamed-Al-Modiahki, and also a brief recollection of the last open tournament played by Magnus Carlsen.