D'Costa/Murphy: The Giuoco Piano

10/2/2013 – The first chess opening he was taught as a child was the Giuoco Piano. And for decades Glenn Mitchell believed the common dogma: that it was a beginner's opening: dull and boring. Then he discovered a ChessBase DVD by GM Nigel Davies, and more recently "The Giuoco Piano" by Lorin D'Costa and Nick Murphy. That, to put it mildly, turned him around. Read this review by "Mitch" and see if it resonates.

Tashkent Final: Humpy clinches, leads GP series

10/1/2013 – Humpy drew against Girya to win the 3rd stage of the Women's Grand Prix series. She accumulated enough points to surpass Muzychuk and is now the leader of the Grand Prix. In other important results Harika lost, which paved the way for Lagno and Khotenashvili to tie for second after they both won their last round. Report of the final games and a beautiful pictorial of the closing ceremony.

New Playchess on the Web

10/1/2013 – We are proud to introduce our web-based Playchess client, which can run in any browser or operating system, to play games or watch top broadcasts. You can play blitz games, bullet games, or slow games, watch top players in live blitz action, or follow elite broadcasts on as many as nine boards at a time. Learn all about it in this illustrated tour.

Paris 08: Planet Ivanchuk

9/30/2013 – A bloody round in Paris! The most important results were clearly Caruana's clean and effective victory against Gelfand and Ivanchuk's loss on time in a drawn position against Nakamura. With this gift the American leads in clear first ahead of Gelfand and Caruana. Bacrot ground down Ponomariov in nice style while Grischuk crushed Giri in a superior rook endgame. Report of round eight.

Disney to produce film on Kasparov vs. Deep Blue

9/30/2013 – Recently we reviewed an extraordinary play, staged in Manchester, England. Its subject: the legendary 1997 chess match between Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue. This month "The Machine" moved to The Armory in New York, where it was a tremendous success. Now we learn that Walt Disney Studios has bought the movie rights and so Kasparov, chess and computers will soon be on the silver screen.

Tashkent 10: Humpy leads, one to go

9/30/2013 – Koneru Humpy easily dispatched Gulishkan Nakhbayeva and enters the last round of the tournament with a full point lead. The only player that has a chance to catch up with her is her compatriot Dronavalli Harika, who after some problems beat Nafisa Muminova. Both players are black in the last round but Humpy only needs a draw to clinch solo first. Round ten pictorial report

Tashkent 09: Leaders Lose

9/29/2013 – In an amazing round all of the leaders of this event lost! Zhao Xue beat Lagno by playing a beautiful game. Harika lost track of her opponent's activity and lost the compensation she had for her missing pawn, Kosteniuk then won convincingly. Humpy was too aggressive against Khotenashvili and her opponent countered effectively, but the Indian still leads by a point. Report and analysis.

Paris 07: Astounding Blunders

9/29/2013 – Two decisive games happened today. In the first one to finish, Nakamura took full advantage of an opening blunder by Caruana to win a queen for a rook and easily take a full point, the American surpasses his Italian rival and is now in second place. Gelfand and Grischuk, in heavy time pressure, blundered back and forth but ultimately the Israeli came ahead and leads. Report and analysis.

Endgames from the Sinquefield Cup

9/29/2013 – Three out of four examples in today's endgame session by our ChessBase Magazine expert GM Karsten Müller feature American GM Hikaru Nakamura. In one the "H-bomb" lost to Aronian, in two he defeated the Armenian and fellow American Gata Kamsky. But in every case his endgame technique – as that of Magnus Carlsen in the final example – is worth emulating. Learn and enjoy.

Paris 06: Caruana wins, ties for lead

9/28/2013 –  In today's large amount of draws, one person came out ahead. Fabiano Caruana kept pressuring Vassily Ivanchuk from the beginning. Black always had problems with activity and specially getting his bishops into play. In what was certainly a worse endgame for Black, but far from resignable, many spectators were surprised to see a sudden 1-0. Full report.

Rare video – Bobby Fischer analyses

9/28/2013 – Surely, we venture, you have not yet seen a video of the legendary American World Chess Champion analysing a game. Well, here is a rare example: Bobby Fischer explaining a miniature of Capablanca. We have reconstructed his analysis so you can watch the video and simultaneously replay the moves he is talking about on a JavaScript board. Historical footage.

Tashkent 08: Humpy increases lead

9/27/2013 – Humpy scored a very important victory today by beating the second seed Zhao Xue. This, coupled with the fact that both of her closest rivals drew, gives her a full point lead over Lagno and Harika. With only three rounds to go it seems that she is clearly in a pathway to taking the tournament, but of course it is not over yet. Pictorial report of round 8.

Paris 05: Two Black wins

9/27/2013 – The players used the rest day to visit the breath taking Palace of Versailles. During their visit, the Chapelle in which they are playing was used for a fascinating chess art exhibit by the famous French artist Zigou. The players came re-energized to the tournament, and Grischuk and Bacrot were able to win with Black. Gelfand is back to solo lead after his draw against Wang Hao. Full analysis and pictorial report.

2013 World Junior: Yangyi and Goryachkina are gold

9/27/2013 – Sometimes great is not enough. These are the only words of consolation one can offer Alexander Ipatov, whose great score of 10.5/13, the same by Kasparov and Mamedyarov in the past, was overshadowed by Yu Yangyi's amazing 11.0/13 and 2813 performance. In the Girl's section, 15-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina took gold and 13-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik was silver. Report, pictures and stats.

ChessBase Magazine #156 – download sample!

9/27/2013 – The King's Gambit does not have a good reputation according to opening theory but in a practical game the black player must remember lots of variations especially when he goes for the main line with 3...g5. In the new issue of CBM, German IM Martin Breutigam recommends a rare but highly successful sideline with 3...Ne7. You can download his article for free! More.

Colbert and Mayweather talk chess

9/26/2013 – In April 2012 American political satirist and television host Stephen Colbert interviewed Magnus Carlsen and even played some quick rock-paper-sissors games with him (Magnus won). Today Colbert did a another bit on chess – and introduced a world champion boxer as an expert on the subject. You can watch the hilarious Floyd Mayweather cameo and review the Carlsen interview. Enjoy.

Novy Bor Final: Topalov clinches

9/26/2013 – Topalov was able to very successfully wrap up his match against Laznicka. He was held easily to a draw in his last white game, he came back with a vengeance in the final round as he destroyed his opponent in a beautiful positional game. From the beginning it was clear that Laznicka's dark squares were going to be a problem, and the Bulgarian exploited it beautifully. Analysis of the last game.

World Championship: interview with Anand

9/26/2013 – The Russian Internet TV channel Chess TV has recorded two interview for the upcoming World Championship match. Last week we showed you the first with Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen; today we bring you a 23-minute interview with Viswanathan Anand in which the World Champion expresses his thoughts on the match, his chess career and life in general. Do not miss this one.

Tashkent 07: A Black day

9/26/2013 – Four players managed to win today with the black pieces, though one of the most important of these victories could easily have favored white. Muminova was very close to beating Humpy and she had a decisive advantage, but she faltered in the most important moment and the Indian player took the game and the lead, half a point of Harika and Lagno who drew each other. Report and analysis.

Paris 04: Dominguez, Ivanchuk win

9/25/2013 – Dominguez and Ivanchuk scored today against Giri and Fressinet. The Cuban was able to quickly dismantle Giri's defenses after the latter's pawn sacrifice from the opening failed to yield full equality. Fressinet had chances for an advantage against Ivanchuk but slowly the tides turned against him and it is now the Ukrainian that is tied for first with Gelfand at 3.0/4. Round four report

World Junior: Battle of the prodigies to decide gold

9/25/2013 – The 2013 World Junior Championship has now rounded the last turn for the final sprint to the finish. The Open section is seeing a dominant performance by Yu Yangyi, followed closely by defending champion Alexander Ipatov, while the Girl’s section has seen Russian prodigy Aleksandra Goryachkina take sole lead, followed closely by 13-year-old Kazakh phenom Zhansaya Abdumalik. Large pictorial.

After game five it could start from the beginning

9/25/2013 – Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina took a pounding in the World Championship match that ended in Taizhou, China, last week. Challenger Hou Yifan won four games – while three were drawn. That in spite of the fact that "Anya" had some top-class seconds. One of them, former FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman describes the ordeal in this indepth interview.

Tashkent 06: Lagno catches the Indians

9/25/2013 – Lagno was definitely the one that can be most satisfied from this round. While the duel of the leaders beteween Humpy and Harika ended in a hard-fought draw, Lagno was able to outplay Stefanova and catch up with them at 4.5/6. This leaves the tournament up for grabs for any of them, although Khotenashvili has also entered the fray as she beat Girya with the black pieces. Report of the 6th round.

Paris 03: Four white wins

9/24/2013 – Four important white victories where achieved today in Paris. Nakamura and Gelfand were able to defend their opponents initiative and cash in material, even though the latter's technique was a bit messy. Caruana outclassed Fressinet from a Spanish opening and lastly Ivanchuk won a game in which Wang Hao was too eager to push for a win Report of an exciting round three.