Gibraltar Rd8: One point lead

2/3/2015 – There are only two rounds left in Gibraltar, and today could not have gone better for Hikaru Nakamura. A nice win over Yu Yangyi combined with draws in the following six boards gives him a one point lead over three players and one and a half points over the main pack. A win tomorrow might seal the deal. Oh, and he also catapulted himself to his highest live rating ever.

Rafael Leitao ties record seventh Brazilian Ch.

2/3/2015 – The Brazilian Championship held its 81st edition in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, continuing a tradition that dates back to 1927, and even before that if one counts unofficial matches. The three foremost winners of the title are the legendary Joao de Souza Mendes, Jaime Sunye Neto, and Giovanni Vescovi, now equaled by top Brazilian player Rafael Leitao. Report with analysis by the winner.

GRENKE Rd2: Carlsen early leader

2/3/2015 – The second round of this tournament was certainly more exciting than the first one, despite the three draws. Caruana-Bacrot was certainly a bizarre game, as White won the queenside battle but his bishop got trapped on g5 (?!). Carlsen put his typical World Champion pressure on Adams, slowly poking at his opponent's pawns, until the Englishman simply collapsed.

Small army, big attack

2/3/2015 – 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.

Stunningly simple: One-click-training

2/3/2015 – Chess training has never been easier. Trainers can simply put a link to a virtual training room on playchess.com on a website of their choice, students, no matter where they are, simply click the link and will be directed to the playchess.com server. There coach and student meet and can choose from a whole range of training opportunities to get better.

Gibraltar Rd7: Finally Stopped

2/3/2015 – It came down to the wire, the last seconds of the game. David Howell was defending tenaciously the entire game against Hikaru Nakamura, but a last minute blunder... went unpunished! In a series of mistakes late in the game Howell finally held the draw against the tournament leader. Board two was a crazy duel between Yu Yangyi and Hou Yifan. Nakamura keeps his half point lead.

2015 Moscow Open starts with over 1500 players

2/2/2015 – The Moscow Open is somewhat of a misnomer and perhaps Moscow Festival or Bonanza would be more appropriate. Set in the capital of Russia, where chess has lived and breathed for over a century, this massive event is comprised of no fewer than eight separate tournaments, including dozens of grandmasters and over 1500 players in all. Illustrated report and video.

Master Class Vol.1: Bobby Fischer

2/2/2015 – "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess", a beginners book, is a bestseller. However, it is not clear how much Fischer is in this book. But the former World Champion still teaches chess. Through his games. The first volume of the ChessBase Master Class series shows how much you can learn from them. Diana Mihajlova had a look at the DVD which entertains and instructs.

GRENKE Chess Classic begins

2/2/2015 – Some top players apparently just enjoy playing. One week after the long tournament in Wijk aan Zee Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian meet again, this time in Baden-Baden, Germany, joining Anand, Adams, Naiditsch, Bacrot, and Baramidze for the GRENKE Chess Classic, an eight-player-round-robin. The first round brought entertaining games but four draws and no win. First round analysis.

Jeruchess – the revival of chess in Israel

2/2/2015 – Following what seemed to signal a serious crisis in the Israeli capital’s chess scene, the last decade witnessed unexpectedly a new spring. A new star from France appeared in the sky of Jerusalem: Alon Cohen-Revivo, who migrated to Israel from the French city of Lyon in 1996 and now runs Jeruchess, which has become a leading chess force in the country. Yochanan Afek reports.

ChessBase Online: 3D boards and Fritz 14

2/1/2015 – As you know, ChessBase has been hard at work developing web-based software to allow users to enjoy many of the wonderful functions they have in desktop software. Among those is the Online Database in which you can consult millions of games, and get full statistics and Let's Check engine data. Newly added to its functionality are great 3D boards and engine support!

Gibraltar Rd6: Naka 6-0

2/1/2015 – Streaks are in fashion! Caruana's 7-0 in the Sinquefield, Carlsen's 6-0 in the middle of Wijk, and now Nakamura starts 6-0 in Gibraltar! With this victory he keeps a half point lead over the competition and regains his spot as the #1 American over So. We bring you analysis of his victory over Topalov and a pictorial report of one of the most jovial events in Gibraltar.

New Year 2015 Puzzle Contest – results

2/1/2015 – On the first day of the year we give you four puzzles for a New Year 2015 think fest – and three weeks for you to work on them. As usual there was brisk participation with obvious enjoyment on the part of our readers. Today we present the solutions and announce the prize winners. They get ChessBase software with personalized dedications from some seriously strong players. Did you win?

February 2015 ratings: the fulfillment of promise

1/31/2015 – It should come as no surprise that the list of February is a celebration of youth fulfilling their promise. Though it was not a mere month that revealed it, it was nevertheless a month that seemed to punctuate a year of toil and resolve for stars Giri, So, MVL and Ding Liren. Still, their results were overshadowed by one who became world no.1 and gained 426 Elo in two weeks!

Gibraltar Rd5: Brilliant Nakamura

1/31/2015 – Hikaru Nakamura is the only person in Gibratar to keep his perfect score, and he did so with uncompromising and aggressive chess. Baskaran Adhiban simply was not up to the challenge: he got lost in the complications and by move 18 Naka's deadly pawns reached the 3rd rank (!). Tomorrow will be a showdown of monsters, as Nakamura takes on the top player with 4.5: Veselin Topalov.

Who's Who at the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2015»

1/31/2015 – Together with the six players of the leading elite, there will join in a group of legendary personalities from the world of chess at the 4th edition of the «Zurich Chess Challenge 2015» (February 13th-19th 2015). Recently added to the mouthwatering activities is a Legends Match in rapid games between Viktor Korchnoi and Wolfgang Uhlmann. The event just gets better and better.

Classical enigma

1/31/2015 – 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.

Gibraltar Rd4: And then there were four

1/31/2015 – Four people are tied for the lead in Gibraltar with a perfect 4.0/4. Hikaru Nakamura, Renier Vazquez, Baskaran Adhiban and the prodigy Wei Yi are all going forward. However their list of pursuers is admirable; Topalov, Svidler, Yu Yangyi, Harikrishna, only to name a few, are all half a point behind. Round four highlights and two impressive Master Classes you don't want to miss.

Grandmaster blunders: a statistical analysis

1/30/2015 – Everyone remembers the blunder from game six of the last world championship match, a move that caused shock and disbelief by fans and experts alike. Of course, grandmasters and even a world champion is only human, but how likely is such an oversight likely to occur. Using an engine and a database of millions of games, Joe Doliner set out to find the mathematical truth.

Huffington Post on the Dutch Chess Fest

1/30/2015 – Rising young stars, falling legends, deflated chess computers, clumsy soccer games, brilliant attacks, a commentator faux-pas, chess hungry spectators, windy beaches – all this was present during the Tata Steel traditional chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Huffington correspondent Lubomir Kavalek looks back at some of the critical encounters.

Wei Yi at Tata Steel Challengers (2)

1/30/2015 – The Challengers group of the Tata Steel Masters saw young talent Wei Yi fighting David Navara for the top spot right to the end, where the Chinese player edged out his Czech rival by a mere half point. With this win Wei Yi is just five Elo points away from breaking Magnus Carlsen's record of the youngest player to cross 2700 Elo. Detailed report with lots of interesting analysis.

Fedoseev wins 2015 Dvorkovich Memorial

1/29/2015 – With the rapid event of the Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial done, it was time for the standard time controls. The Dvorkovich Memorial is a stage of the Russian Chess Cup circuit, one of the most important series of events within the Russian chess calendar. The circuit awards the top performers throughout the year in all three time controls, and this time was a tribute to youth.

Two Days with Garry Kasparov

1/29/2015 – The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis has partnered with the Kasparov Chess Foundation on a five-year grant program to help develop chess prodigies from across the United States. Normally five young talents are invited for a two-day evaluation session with Garry Kasparov. How does that feel? Well ask our very own author Akshat Chandra, who was one of the candidates.

Magic of Chess Tactics 2: Advanced lessons

1/29/2015 – Although there are many works teaching fundamentals, themes such as advanced attacking techniques and more notably positional transformations are discussed much less often. In this second volume of Magic of Chess Tactics, C.D. Meyer and Karsten Mueller cover these topics in detail over six hours of lectures and hundreds of games, taking the student one step closer to mastery.