Dresden Open 2014 - the winner's account (part 2/2)

9/2/2014 – After a very unexpected win, ahead of fourteen grandmasters, IM Sagar Shah has detailed the entire experience for the readers, recounting the moments worth cheering, to the scares of his life. It wasn't all smooth sailing, as he recounts the harrowing experience of nearly losing a won game against top seed Ferenc Berkes due to a finger fehler! Find out what happened.

World University concludes in style

9/1/2014 – Held in Katowice, Poland, the World University Championship concluded after great showings by the competitors, with Sanan Sjugirov taking the men's title on tiebreak, while WIM Klaudia Kulon stormed her field with 8.5/9 and a 2699 performance. The organizers also held a Kids Challenge among the many activities, and GM Olszewski explains his revolutionary method of calculation.

September 2014 ratings: Chinese Gold

9/1/2014 – To describe August as having been a busy month for ratings would be a huge understatement. The Olympiads at Tromso ensured a massive amount of games for almost all the top players, and the few who were not representing their countries, kept busy otherwise. The Chinese Gold for the men was historic, and was thanks to incredible results by Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi. Read the summaries.

Sinquefield 05: Is he human!?

9/1/2014 – He must be, because Caruana finally made his first mistake of the tournament - but not one that mattered. His position was so crushing against Nakamura that the Italian won his fifth game in a row anyways and goes into half-time with a 2.5 point lead, +25 rating points, and an incalculable performance. Topalov beat MVL to join Carlsen in second as he beat Aronian.

Fressinet and Maisuradze win 2014 French Ch

8/31/2014 – After five rounds, it had been a dominating performance by Laurent Fressinet, followed closely by Etienne Bacrot trying to catch up. They met in the final round, but Bacrot could not break him, and Fressinet won his second title. Nino Maisuradze was neck-and-neck with rival Safranska, but defeated her and went on to win the title for a second consecutive year. Final report.

Sharjah 06: Chinese increase Lead

8/31/2014 – With two very clean games Ju Wenjun, who defeated l'Ami, and Hou Yifan, who did the same with Ushenina, have extended their share lead to a full point over clear third, Tuvshintugs. Also important is that Humpy lost against Zhao Xue, which means that the Indian player is a full three points behind Hou Yifan. This makes it almost certain that Hou Yifan will win the GP series.

Sinquefield 04: Fight for second already?

8/31/2014 – The leader of the tournament is not saying it, but it is in everybody's mind: has the Sinquefield Cup 2014 turned into a battle for second place? Caruana continues to crush the opposition, today playing a beautiful game against Aronian, inflicting the Armenian's second loss in a row. Second place is currently held by Vachier-Lagrave half a point ahead of the rest.

Abu Dhabi ends in dramatic flurry

8/30/2014 – After an astonishing mid-tournament lead by 15-year-old IM Karthikeyan with 5.0/6, the young Indian proceeded to compound his lead with a win over co-leader Sergey Volkov in round seven, but now he had new challengers from his home country, and the game was afoot. It all came down to the last round where drama took place at the top. Final report with videos and GM analysis.

Sharjah 05: Battles after the Penguins

8/30/2014 – The players were treated to a wonderful surprise in the rest day in Sharjah. Despite the blistering heat of UAE, with temperatures reaching well over 40 degrees, the participants were taken to see... penguins! Some of the players definitely gained some inspiration from these encounters. At the end of round five, Ju Wenjun and Hou Yifan again lead a Grand Prix. Pictorial report.

Dresden Open 2014 - the winner's account (part 1/2)

8/30/2014 – Usually reporters don't win tournaments. That is left to the strong grandmasters who spend their time studying deep opening novelties or extremely complicated endgames. The job of the writer is to contact them and interview them after the games. But sometimes the reporters themselves will actually win, and when they do you get an incomparable personalized report.

Sinquefield 03: Couldn't be better!

8/30/2014 – The Sinquefield Cup simply could not be better... at least this is true for both the spectators and for Fabiano Caruana! With three decisive and exciting games today the action over the board was thrilling in every board. MVL cleanly beat Aronian, Topalov's game against Nakamura could have swung either way at any point while Carlsen's piece sacrifice against Caruana backfired!

Their proudest moment in Chess Olympiad history

8/29/2014 – China won Gold, India Bronze – who can doubt that these are the super-powers of chess in the coming decades? India, which started as 19th seed, won their first ever medal, which led to national celebrations. Niklesh Jain caught up with the players back home and did short interviews with each of them. You will enjoy his big pictorial report – appropriately in English and in Hindi.

Missing a chance?

8/29/2014 – Some people like the excitement of time trouble, most people do not. They simply do not enjoy spotting a good idea but lacking the time to calculate its consequences properly. There's always the feeling of a missed chance. Things look easier without the pressure of the clock. But still - can you find the right move in this complicated position?

Sinquefield 02: Exciting games all around

8/29/2014 – It's a good day in chess when the least shocking game of the day was the duel between Carlsen and Nakamura, a game that was hard-fought and ended in a perpetual check! Caruana wins his second game in a row with great preparation against an unlucky MVL, while Aronian's exchange 'sacrifice' was too much for Topalov to handle; without the initiative the Bulgarian simply collapsed.

Sharjah 04: And then there was one

8/28/2014 – The level of play varied widely in today's round. Impressive was Hou Yifan's game, as she meticulously nursed a tiny advantage against Koneru Humpy and ended up winning a very important game. On the other side of the spectrum, the game between Ju Wenjun and Danielian went from winning for White, to the contrary, back to a White win, and with this the Chinese is sole leader.

Sinquefield Cup starts with a Splash!

8/28/2014 – You could not have asked for more exciting games to kick off the Sinquefield Cup, the strongest chess tournament in history! One solid draw between Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura was more than compensated by a wild and indescribable game between MVL and Magnus Carlsen. However, the early leader is Caruana, after taking the Ice Bucket challenge and crushing Veselin Topalov!

Sharjah 03: Two at the Top

8/27/2014 – With round three over two early leaders have emerged. Harika keeps good pace by drawing Hou Yifan, though to be fair she should have pressed harder in the final position. Ju Wenjun had a lot of patience and defeated Zhao Xue in a long opposite colored bishop endgame. The other boards saw some nice fights, especially Tatiana Kosintseva's sacrificial win against Alina l'Ami.

Trouble brewing for World Championship 2014

8/27/2014 – The match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand is scheduled to start in a little more than ten weeks from today. The champion is unhappy with the venue and the financial arrangements and has requested a postponement – which FIDE has rejected. Now he has until Sunday to sign the contract, otherwise we may just see a title match between Anand and Karjakin.

Chess in the digital age

8/27/2014 – Using a single software package, Former US Correspondence Champion Edwards tells us, he is now able to accomplish in an hour more than he did as a chess youngster in ten. He should know: he has just published an ultimate guide to the program ChessBase, 356 pages long and illustrated with hundreds of screen shots. Don't miss it: this is the ultimate guide to ChessBase.

2014 Sinquefield Cup starts today

8/27/2014 – It is billed as the strongest chess tournament in history: the world's numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9 are playing a double round robin in Chess Club and Scholastic Center, Saint Louis, USA. Their average rating is 2801, making it a Category XXIII event. Total prize fund: US $315,000. The first round starts at 2 p.m. local time today. Playchess has live coverage and commentary.

Sharjah 02: Distances appear

8/26/2014 – Already after round two it is clear that some players are fighting to win the tournament and others are fighting to stay afloat. All of the Chinese players (the ones that still play for China, at least) are on 1.5/2, a strong score shared by Tuvshintugs and Ushenina. The race is being led by Harika with 2/2, and she faces an important game tomorrow against Hou Yifan.

15-year-old leads Abu Dhabi Masters

8/26/2014 – The Abu Dhabi Chess Festival is now in its 21st edition, and shows no sign of losing steam, with great conditions. The festival is comprised of a wide variety of tournaments for all strengths and groups, including tournaments for the military and police, or Media and Journalists. After six rounds, 15-year-old IM Murali leads over 32 grandmasters. Report, pictures and videos.

Good knight, bad bishop

8/26/2014 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. This week he chose the game Halkias-Tate. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

Last women's GP under way

8/26/2014 – The final Grand Prix in the 2013-14 series is now under way in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The tournament is a strong round robin and two players come into the tournament with chances of winning the series: Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan. It will all come down to who scores more points in this tournament to determine who wins the series, and a very, very nice trophy.