Qatar Masters Open begins on Wednesday

11/26/2014 – Which is the strongest open in the world? Not Aeroflot, Moscow or Millionaire Chess. It is the 2014 Qatar Masters Open, organised by GM Mohamed Al-Medaihki, with 92 grandmasters participating, 56 of them over 2600, and 14 over 2700. Our reporter in Qatar, Akshat Chandra, worked out that if only the top twenty were participating it would be a Category 19 tournament.

STL Showdown goes to the blitz!

11/25/2014 – After a close call for Nakamura in game four, where his risky but precise defense yielded him a draw, the winner of the match will be determined in a blitz match! Sixteen games of chess, a true marathon, will pitch two of the top blitz players of the world. The difference between losing and winning the match is a very sweet $20,000! A great finish for spectators from Saint Louis.

Kasparov: The quality of the games was not so high

11/25/2014 – The match between Carlsen and Anand got enormous public attention – not just in the usual chess outlets, but also in the straight press. For instance Der Spiegel, Europe's most influential news magazine, broadcast the moves live on their Internet portal, and after the match asked Garry Kasparov (and Women's World Champion Hou Yifan) to summarize the action in Sochi.

London Chess Classic: Join the Champions

11/25/2014 – Business and chess - how well do they go together? Do top grandmasters and business people think alike? The 6th London Chess Classic, which takes place from 6-14 December, might not bring a definite answer to that question but provides entertaining chess by partnering the world's best grandmasters with successful businessmen. And you can join in!

The last stumbling stone

11/25/2014 – 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!

Playing what you preach

11/24/2014 – Did you ever wonder how honest grandmasters are when making opening recommendations? Do they really believe in the lines they advertise? GM Mihail Marin does. In fact, after publishing two DVDs on "his perennial" love, the Pirc, he felt that he did not play the opening often enough. He soon had a chance to rekindle his passion - and scored a fine victory.

Asian Youth Championship

11/24/2014 – In 1988 Vishy Anand became the first Indian grandmaster. 26 years later Anand is a chess legend and India has 35 more grandmasters. And more will follow. India now has a wealth of promising talents. No wonder they dominated the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2014 - together with players from the Iran. Illustrated report with lots of games.

New ChessBase program – Lucky Number 13?

11/24/2014 – "If you are an ambitious chess player, no matter your age or rating, you should be using ChessBase," says John Hartmann, award-winning chess book reviewer, teacher, organizer and tournament director. He takes a critical look at the latest ChessBase 13, released this week, describing all the new features he encountered, with screen shots and explanations..

Saint Louis 03: Entertaining Draw

11/24/2014 – The Nakamura-Aronian Showdown in Saint Louis keeps providing us with entertaining games! This time Aronian stayed away from his more normal openings and "threatened" to play a Grunfeld. The resulting position seemed risky for Aronian, with pressure quickly mounting against his king, but alas it seemed that tactics worked for him and he got the better end of a draw.

Sochi G11: In dramatic finale, Carlsen retains title

11/23/2014 – The game was all the fans could hope with dramatic play throughout. Vishy Anand played the Berlin to groans but after a critical 23...b5! the situation looked very promising. Whether due to nerves or fatigue, he followed this up with a dubious plan that gave up the exchange with no obvious counterplay. This was the death knell as Magnus Carlsen capitalized. Full report.

Wolf Encounter in the Arctic

11/23/2014 – During the recent Chess Olympiad in Tromsø the top board of the US women's team, Irina Krush, decided to undertake a 185 km trip to a polar wildlife park, to meet some of the furrier creatures of the region. Her photographic report includes bears, Arctic foxes and a touching romance that unfolded between an Armenian grandmaster and an Arctic she-wolf. You have to see this.

Saint Louis 02: Aronian strikes back

11/23/2014 – In a beautiful and strategical endgame that is reminiscent of the the great Jose Raul Capablanca, Aronian was able to transform his slight edge in the finale into a winning zugzwang that destroyed Nakamura's defenses. In the GM norm section America has a good reason to celebrate: by winning his first four games Samuel Sevian has become America's youngest grandmaster in history.

The London System – an opening for you?

11/22/2014 – "There is one opening that shines above all others when comparing reward payout to the input effort," says Zhigen Lin. "It is relatively quick to learn and obscure enough that even titled opponents may not have a proper antidote lined up." He is talking about the London System, popularised by the London BCF Congress Tournament of 1922. Here is some very useful advice by Zhigen.

ChessBase 13: everything you wanted to know

11/22/2014 – ChessBase 13 is one of the most significant steps forward in all the iterations, bringing a slew of refinements and usage improvements, as well as important new tools for the casual and pro user. These include Cloud databases, new repertoire tools, batch analysis tools for positions, new annotation tools, and many more. See what else you'll find in this detailed overview.

Showdown in Saint Louis!

11/22/2014 – The United States' Hikaru Nakamura is set to square off against Levon Aronian, the World No. 4, in the Showdown in Saint Louis, a five-round contest for the lion's share of a $100,000 purse. The special head-to-head exhibition will include four classical games of chess and a final round featuring 16 games of Blitz. Nakamura took an early lead with a nice round one victory!

Sochi G10: Unrealized opportunities

11/21/2014 – Although today's game was by no means winning for the challenger Vishy Anand, there is no question that he had considerable pressure on Magnus Carlsen with a passed d-pawn. The World Champion repeated his Grunfeld and somewhere along the line his preparation failed him and he got into trouble. Time and pressure led to Anand's edge dissipating. Round ten with GM analysis.

ChessBase 13 is here!

11/21/2014 – Most important novelties: ChessBase 13 makes handling your databases on several computers simultaneously very simple. Moreover, the ChessBase cloud allows you to send your training and team partners exercises, games, and lots of chess information in no time. The new packages are available for immediate delivery and the download version will be online on Friday. Order now!
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The scorpion's sting

11/21/2014 – 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.

Hunting norms in Budapest

11/21/2014 – The very first "First Saturday tournament" in Budapest was played in 1987. The idea behind this successful series is simple: make it easier for young players to get round robin norms you need for the title. Since 1987 countless ambitious talents, among them several future chess superstars, have made their norms in Budapest. But that is not always easy.

Sochi G9: A quick draw tightens the noose

11/20/2014 – While the fans will have been disappointed to see a quick draw in game nine with Carlsen playing white, it will have been much less surprising for the experts. At this point, match strategy is the reigning factor, and with three games left at most, and a one point lead, it is up to the challenger to find a way to make a fight of it with an uncooperative opponent. Report and commentary.

Simon Williams: Most amazing moves

11/19/2014 – Chess is often beautiful when you encounter unexpected, surprising, stunning, amazing moves, moves that seem hard to believe. The English Grandmaster Simon Williams has always enjoyed the beauty of the amazing in chess and on his new ChessBase DVD he now presents the "Most amazing moves" he came across in his career. Entertaining and instructive.

Intense fights at the Ukranian Championships

11/19/2014 – With 85 GMs and 198 IMs Ukraine is one of the strongest chess countries in the world. And this year a lot of the top players start in the National Championship, among them Vasily Ivanchuk, Ukraine's number one. He is one of five players in the category 17 tournament with an Elo of 2700+. However, after seven rounds another player emerged as sole leader.

Tal Memorial blitz won by Mamedyarov

11/19/2014 – After the Petrosian Memorial ended in Moscow, a number of the elite players who took part in it, came to Sochi on a double mission: the first was obviously to see first hand the World Championship match, but the second was to play in the Tal Memorial Blitz, a fitting tribute to one of its most passionate aficionados. Mamedyarov took clear first and is now world no.3.

Sochi G8: An easy draw for Carlsen

11/18/2014 – In a match the players usually tend to play for a win with white and for a draw with black. In this sense, game eight of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand was a success for Carlsen. He played with Black, repeated the Queens Gambit Declined from game three, but this time was excellently prepared and came to an easy draw.