2/1/2018 – Blitz playoffs with Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Richard Rapport. Live commentary of the playoff! | Photo: John Saunders
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
€49.90
Masters group live games and commentary
Aronian wins a nailbiter of a blitz tiebreak over Vachier-Lagrave!
At the airport, in the hotel or at home on your couch: with the new ChessBase you always have access to the whole ChessBase world: the new ChessBase video library, tactics server, opening training App, the live database with eight million games, Let’s Check and web access to playchess.com
The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is entering its 16th year and was recently voted the best open tournament by members of the Association of Chess Professionals. Numerous absolute world-class players dare to skate the the thin ice of a Swiss open tournament each year, battling against a pack of hungry non-or not-yet-world-class players eager to steal their Elo rating points. Even amateurs can sometimes land a lucky punch on a good day and beat a top player. Nobody is invulnerable in chess.
The organizers around Brian Callaghan and Stuart Conquest had a good idea years ago when they instituted special prizes for the female participants of the chess festival; this year there are 15 prizes with the top prize of GBP £ 15,000 (about USD $21,000). This has promoted the appeal of chess among the female professionals who flock to the city-state each year, and help create a festive and convivial social atmosphere.
While half of the world class is in Wijk aan Zee, the other half is in Gibraltar. Each tournament has its own format and appeal, with professional organization, attracting a large following. Although the tournament tradition of the Tradewise Chess Festival is not quite as old as the Tata Steel Festival, which is now in its 80th year, it is firmly established as a preminent chess destination gets more popular each year. In addition to the Masters, there are several Challenger and Amateur tournaments, each with 70 to 80 participants. 270 players registered for the Masters — the Caleta Hotel is bursting at the seams!
On the fringes of the tournaments there is an attractive supporting program, with team blitz events and such show bouts like the "Battle of the sexes," played on an oversized floor chess set.
World-class line-up
The top seed this year is 2017 "player of the year" Levon Aronian. Maxim Vachier-Lagrave and four-time champion Hikaru Nakamura are are back representing the world's top players as well. But in this open format, expect some surprises, as nine other grandmasters also sport an Elo rating of 2700 or more. In all there are 92 grandmasters playing. For the group as a whole, most players come from Spain (31) then India (28), England (24) and Germany (19). Among the best women in the starting field are Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lagno, and World Rapid Champion among women, Ju Wenjun.
The up and coming youth are out in force as well, particularly from India, the two "miracle children" Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa R but also the young German star IM Vincent Keymer. All three compete for the special prize for the best player under eighteen years of age (£ 1,000). The winner of the tournament receives £ 25,000.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
€34.90
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