Interview with Ivan Sokolov (1/2)

1/8/2015 – Ivan Sokolov needs no introduction. He has been one of the elite players in the world for more than two decades now. In this exclusive interview for ChessBase Ivan reveals about his beginnings, his idols, his path breaking win against Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand, the 2014 World Championship match, why Magnus is the best and why Fabiano Caruana won't be Carlsen's next opponent in 2016!

Tata Steel 2015 Preview

1/8/2015 – The first Super-Tournamnet of the year is upon us! The 77th edition of the Wijk Aan Zee chess tournament, or the Tata Steel, begins with its first round this Saturday! The field is bolstered with super stars and upcoming powerhouses, both in the Masters and Challengers section. Leading the Masters are Carlsen, Caruana and Aronian, but they face very, very stiff competition!

Zhao Jun bulldozes Hastings Chess Congress

1/7/2015 – The Hastings Chess Congress – the oldest tournament on the planet - was held from 29th December 2014 to 6th January 2015 at the Horntye Park Sports Complex at Hastings. Top seeds Maxim Rodshtein and Romain Edouard led the field of 104 players with fourteen Grandmasters, but Chinese GM Zhao Jun bulldozed through the field with 8.0/9. Enjoy this report with attacks and combinations.

The dangerous "Zwischenzug"

1/7/2015 – 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!

Huffington Post: 40 Years of spectacular chess

1/7/2015 – This weekend sees the start of the 77th Wijk aan Zee Chess Tournament (9-25 Jan.). In 1975 the organizers inaugurated a prize for the most spectacular game – one that was won in recent years by the likes of Carlsen and Anand. But the very first brilliancy prize was won by Huffington Post correspondent Lubomir Kavalek, who provides us with extensive analysis of that forty-year-old game.

Hammer takes the Rilton Cup

1/6/2015 – It came down to the wire as the winner was defined by the Buchholz Tie-Break system, but at the end it was Jon Ludvig Hammer from Norway who narrowly bested Tiger Hillarp Persson to take first place. A big tie for third was also broken by Buchholz. We bring you the final games as well as the best game prizes, in which Shogi player Habu Yoshiharu was both a victim and an executor!

Ni Hua has perfect start at Australian Open

1/6/2015 – What happens when you invite a Chinese player who is rated 2689 to a tournament where he is the top seed and rated a hundred points above the next participant? Well, of course, he steamrolls through the field! Ni Hua is showing no mercy at the Australian Open 2015 and now leads the tournament with a perfect score of 6.0/6 a full point ahead of all the participants.

"Pushing Wood", an IndieGoGo project

1/6/2015 – The idea of turning chess into a grandiose spectacle, and players into household names with paychecks to match, is the Caissa version of the American Dream. A new documentary in the making, "Pushing Wood", is precisely on this topic. They are listed as the latest IndieGoGo project, and are seeking help to fund it. See what you can do, and don't miss the impressive trailer.

Naiditsch wins second Swiss at Basel

1/5/2015 – The fifth edition of the Basel Chess Festival took place from January 1st to 5th with top seeds Arkadij Naiditsch and Richard Rapport forming the cream of strong GMs and IMs in a field of 80 players in the Masters section. The traditional year opening Swiss tournament was held in the Hilton Hotel at Basel. The German grandmaster won his second back-to-back Swiss. An illustrated report.

Chennai Open attracts 937 players

1/5/2015 – The time has come for the 7th edition of the Chennai International Open in Chennai, India, held between Dec 30, 2014, to Jan 06, 2015. With a total prize fund of Rs.1.4 million ($22,135 approx), in three different groups – the Grandmaster Open, and two others. It is the proverbial 'bigger and better' with total entries all combined reaching a mammoth 937 players.

Best of 2014: Endgame wizardry

1/4/2015 – Asked to select a few of his favorite endgames from 2014, noted author and endgame expert, GM Karsten Mueller dug up five endgames, and commented "There were many fascinating endgames in 2014, so the following choice is not forced. Magnus Carlsen has such impressive technique that I mostly looked at his endgames, but I liked two others so much that I just had to include them."

The Knight that Jumps High Falls Prey to a Pawn (2)

1/4/2015 – In this second part on the world of shogi, you will see what the state of computer playing software is, and how they compare to chess engines, as well as online resources, and of course how they approach teaching the complex game to children. There is also a profile of Karolina Styczynska, who taught herself the game online, is now turning pro, after discovering the game in a comic.

South Africa's first Grandmaster

1/4/2015 – With an Elo-rating of 2399 (January 2015) Kenny Solomon is South Africa's number three but a few days ago he became the country's first grandmaster. In the Africa Chess Championship 2014 he finished with 7.0/9 and had a better tie-break than tournament favorite GM Ahmed Adly, World Junior Champion from 2007. This tie-break win made Solomon Grandmaster.

Hillarp Persson leads in Sweden

1/4/2015 – The Rilton Cup is Sweden's biggest and most famous international chess tournament. It was originally initiated by a donation from a doctor, Tore Rilton, and since 1985 the tournament is financially secure. A special challenge prize, donated by SEB Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, is the Rilton-medal in genuine gold. With two rounds to go local GM Hillar Persson leads with 6.0/7

New Zealand Open

1/4/2015 – As far as Chess Centres go, it must be one of the quaintest around – a 1916 Church, and adjacent Church Hall. Last March, Nigel Short played a simul to open the New Zealand National Chess Centre - and now it is the venue for the 2015 New Zealand Open Championship. A pictorial report from Devonport, Auckland, with comments by GM and chess philanthropist Murray Chandler.

A look back at 2014

1/3/2015 – 2014 was a remarkable year, with tales of woe and celebration, tales of rising young stars and comeback stories to warm your heart. Throughout all this, ChessBase was always at the fore, trying to bring you the highest quality reporting, images, and analysis so you the reader never missed a thing. Here is a quick look at some of the headlines and stories that defined the year.

The Knight that Jumps High Falls Prey to a Pawn (1)

1/3/2015 – In chess, a number of specialized proverbs exist to pass on wisdom, such as pawns never move backwards, with lessons in the game and in life. Shogi is no different, and this is how a gentle article sharing this and an overview of the shogi world begins. Here you will see how the games overlap or differ, the conditions of becoming a professional, and how women also fight prejudice in shogi.

Harika on chess, life and more

1/2/2015 – She wants to do her best in the upcoming Women’s World Championship and to enter the Top Five in the world rankings. She is one of the chess queens of India and one of the top players in women chess for quite some time now. Meet grandmaster Dronavalli Harika, who is famous in the chess world for the beautiful smile she always wears. Here is an illustrated interview.

Sergei Tiviakov: How to combat rare lines as Black

1/2/2015 – Rare lines can be annoying. After studying the critical lines of your favorite opening carefully and with joy you want to try them at the board only to see that your opponent plays a rare line. But there is a reason why rare lines are rare. They are often not particularly good and not even dangerous. If you know what to do. Sergei Tiviakov tells you...

Chess in the backwaters of Kerala

1/2/2015 – Imagine you wake up early to play a morning round and are greeted by a musky fragrance caused by the raindrops caressing the flora around you; summoning a feeling so powerfully evocative that it cleanses your body and purifies your mind. Blessed with such an environment, imagine playing your favourite game in this land referred in India as 'God’s own country'. A breathtaking pictorial.

Svensk springare

1/2/2015 – 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.

Naiditsch tops Zurich Christmas Open

1/2/2015 – Chess never takes a break, and especially not during the holidays! If anything, tournaments are more prolific during this season. The traditional Zurich Christmas Open celebrated its 38th edition this year and it attracted many grandmasters from around the World. At the end, there was one dominating performance, and that was of German grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch.

January 2015 ratings: a few extraordinary results

1/1/2015 – It would be easy to presume that with the last month of the year having just played through, with little in the way of Super GM tournaments to discuss, that the list ushering in the new year would have little to say, but as it is, not so. As you will see, this list contains not a few extraordinary results such as the boy who went from 1949 to 2517 in three months!

New Year 2015 Puzzle Contest

1/1/2015 – In the last week of 2014, as every year, we celebrated a week of chess puzzles, this year drawing from problems and studies we had published fifteen years ago. Today we give you four puzzles that are part of our New Year 2015 contest. You have three weeks to work on them, and there are valuable prizes to win. For today we wish all our readers a Happy New Year!