11/18/2017 – Max Deutsch is an obsessive learner, a product builder, and guinea pig for a "Month to Master" project: the 24-year-old entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco has shown that he can train himself to memorize a deck of cards in two minutes, hold a 30-minutes conversation in Hebrew and develop perfect pitch, in each case after just 30 days of training. After eleven tasks he set himself for 2017 the twelfth was to beat World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a game of chess. The experiment, described in the Wall Street Journal, took place in Hamburg earlier this month. Tell us what you think.

11/14/2017 – Today, the Champions Showdown in St. Louis will end. Ding Liren and Magnus Carlsen will play 12 blitz games with a time-control of 5 minutes for the whole game. After three days Carlsen leads by 50-18 and thus secured the match. Even if Ding Liren won all 12 blitz games today he would not catch up. But no matter the result, 12 high-class blitz games are still worth watching. The games begin at 18:00 CET (11 am in Saint Louis) on Tuesday. You can follow the action live.

11/14/2017 – One match is still running at the Champions Showdown in St. Louis: Magnus Carlsen vs Ding Liren. In round three, on November 13, the World Champion and China's first World Championship Candidate had to play eight 10-minute games. Ding Liren started well but then suffered a debacle. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/14/2017 – Photos and video from Magnus Carlsen's two days in Hamburg last week. At the ChessBase office he gave a short interview, greeted the ChessBase team and received the first copy (made by hand) of Fritz 16 (on sale starting on November 14th!). On Thursday Magnus participated in a conference on the theme "digital health" organised by Die Zeit (we have the full interview) and in the evening he played a clock simultaneous exhibition at the Atlantic Kempinski hotel. Carlsen prevailed in all the games, but the 13 players gave him a decent challenge. The group itself was interesting, including German football star Marco Bode, a Norwegian politician, three very young but talented players, several self-proclaimed "addicts" of "Play Magnus" app, and an young Austrian woman who played her first serious game against the World Champion. | Photos: Nadja Wittmann

11/12/2017 – Day 4 featured impressive comebacks from both Caruana and So, who won their respective matches. Meanwhile Nakamura had locked up his $60,000 winner's prize already with nine games to spare! Carlsen put the the screws to Ding in the Game 20 portion of their match and has a sizeable lead. Three matches are in the books but the fourth continues Monday and Tuesday in Saint Louis, USA. Games begin at 20:00 CET (1 pm in Saint Louis) Monday, and at 18:00 CET (11 am in Saint Louis) on Tuesday.

11/10/2017 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! Friday at 3.30 pm CEST it's all about the Play Magnus event from Hamburg!

11/8/2017 – On Thursday at 19:00 CET (1 pm EST) ChessBase will webcast the Play Live Challenge, where World Champion Magnus Carlsen takes on twelve opponents in a 30 minutes per player clock simultaneous exhibition. The show will be live at the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski in downtown Hamburg, and will feature commentary by IM Lawrence Trent.

11/8/2017 – Want to ask Magnus Carlsen a question? The World Champion will be our guest today on a special live webcast, where he'll take questions and have a look at one of his best games from his most recent tournament in the Isle of Man. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

11/1/2017 – Never has the Top Ten looked so crowded with so little to separate one from the other. In fact, every single player has been world number two at least once, if only for a day. One constant has re-established itself, and that is Magnus Carlsen's domination, as he opened the gap to 36 Elo points after a win at the Isle of Man. Of note also is Egyptian GM Amin Bassem who became the first African to crack 2700. | Photo: Alina L'Ami

10/18/2017 – In February, 2018, there may be an unusual exhibition match held between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, playing Chess960 (also known as Fischer Random). The competition is planned for the Hening Onstad Art Center in Bærum, Norway. It's funding is not yet fully secured, but Carlsen's manager is confident. | Photos: Alina L'Ami

10/18/2017 – Occupying the center, developing pieces, opening lines, mating the enemy king: Paul Morphy knew how to win quickly. His most famous game also followed this pattern. Morphy played it November 2, 1858, against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard in the Duke's loge in the Paris Opera. Morphy's brilliancy is more than 150 years old but the strategic pattern is still relevant. As Magnus Carlsen knows. | Photo: (left) Engraving by Daniel John Pound, based off a photograph by a Parisian photographer named Thompson) was first published in "The Drawing-Room Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages," vol. II, London. 1859 | (right) Morphy in New York City, 1857 by Mathew Brady

10/17/2017 – A detailed review from Prof. Nagesh Havanur. Among other things this issue includes all games from super tournaments, Altibox Norway Chess and FIDE Grand Prix tournaments with winners, Levon Aronian and Ding Liren annotating decisive battles. Our reviewer re-examines the Aronian-Carlsen encounter and also sets up a little test for young readers. The magazine offers a bonanza for lovers of rapid play. There are games from Norway, Paris and Leuven blitz events. 1968 games with 11 opening surveys from Spanish to Semi-Slav. Not to be missed.

10/15/2017 – We look back at IoM one more time, focusing on the many Indian players who performed admirably, first and foremost, Vishy Anand for his second place finish, scoring 7.0 / 9. The second was Vidit Gujrathi, who had a very solid +4 performance. However, his biggest achievement of the event was surely holding Magnus Carlsen to a draw. And the third, rather lesser known, was GM Swapnil Dhopade, with a rating of 2532, but who performed at an Elo of 2768. We got in touch with all the three high performers and try to understand the secrets of their success. Photos: | Alina l'Ami (Anand), Chess.com/Maria Emelianova (Vidit and Swapnil)

10/9/2017 – The October 6th, 2017, was a great day for Singapore chess. Thanks to the efforts of Norwegian Business Association Singapore, World Champion Magnus Carlsen visited the country for a simul against 16 players that was greatly enjoyed and appreciated by all the chess lovers of Singapore. The opposition that Magnus faced was not easy. Some players were rank amateurs, but there were also seasoned experts, with six-time National champion IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming (rated 2461!) being one of the participants. But Magnus showed absolutely no mercy; he cleaned up the field with a 16-0 score in little over an hour! | Pictured: Esther Koh (Business Development Director, Zenitant Holdings), Magnus Carlsen, and Michelle Tay (Director, Hauterobe Pte Ltd) | Photo: Junior Tay

10/2/2017 – It was a much awaited return to form for Magnus Carlsen, who dominated the Chess.com Isle of Man Open from start to finish, defeating his nearest challengers one after the other. His final game against Hikaru Nakamura was expected to be a quick draw, and it was. Among the challengers who might join Nakamura for a share of second was none other than Vishy Anand who played a superb game to beat Hou Yifan in the last round. | Photo: John Saunders

10/1/2017 – It was a much awaited clash, as Magnus Carlsen faced Fabiano Caruana in round eight of the Chess.com Isle of Man Open on the top board. Caruana unleashed the novelty, but then got cold feet and was soon swept away by the Carlsen tsunami. Hikaru Nakamura dispatched Emil Sutovsky and set up a final duel with the World Champion for gold. Hou Yifan scored her third straight win over GMs and is now tied for third. | Photo: Chess.com / Maria Emelianova

9/30/2017 – With so many great players, it is little wonder the tournament has had so many great clashes, and rounds six and seven were that in the spades. The sole leader is now Magnus Carlsen, after smashing Pavel Eljanov in round six, but only by the thinnest of margins, and will meet Fabiano Caruana in round eight. After Hou Yifan returned to action, she scored two convincing wins. Enjoy this report plush with GM analysis and great photos! | Analysis: Elshan Moradiabadi; Photo: Chess.com / Maria Emelianova

9/28/2017 – Thursday at 8pm UK time Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free. Daniel King will focus on the Chess.com Isle of Man International which is going on right now. Danny will take a look at Magnus Carlsen's games. Puzzle and the live video...

9/28/2017 – Through rain and snow.. or in this case controversy or duress, the competition proceeded, with few big surprises. Magnus Carlsen overcame Granda Zuniga as expected, and Fabiano Caruana also scored well. Meeting Carlsen next will be Pavel Eljanov, who defeated Rustam Kasimdzhanov and is the only other player with 4½/5. | Photo: Maria Emelianova / Chess.com

9/27/2017 – Since round four ended with the four leaders drawing their respective games, now seven share first with 3.5/4, from Magnus Carlsen to Alexander Lenderman. Hou Yifan, who faced her fourth consecutive female opponent, requested a half point bye in round 5, but contrary to rumour has no intention to withdraw for now. | Analysis by GM Elshan Moradiabadi; Photo: Alina L'Ami

9/26/2017 – James Tarjan is 65 years old and has an Elo rating of 2412, but he was clearly the story of the day at the Chess.com Isle of Man International after beating Vladimir Kramnik in round 3. While the former World Champion stumbled, the current one, Magnus Carlsen, remained in charge. He won against World Junior Champion Jeffrey Xiong and is now tied on a perfect 3.0 / 3 together with three other players. Annotations by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson | Lead Photo: Chess.com / Maria Emelianova | Other photos: Alina l'Ami

9/24/2017 – Right on the heels of the World Cup, which is now in the Finals, is the Chess.com Isle of Man International bringing a very impressive lineup with several of the world’s best, including Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, and more. Innovating from the Swiss pairings, the organisers decided that the first round would be entirely random, and this led to some very surprising round one match-ups. Report with analysis by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson. | Photo: John Saunders

9/19/2017 – With a staggering share of the world’s elite playing in the World Cup, vying for a spot in the forthcoming Candidates in Berlin, it was a surprise to see so many of the biggest names falling like flies by the midway point, such as Carlsen, Kramnik, Caruana and more. However, the truth is Magnus Carlsen only had a 36% chance to even make the final! Here are some eye-opening stats and numbers. | Photo: ChessBase India YouTube

9/11/2017 – Magnus Carlsen made the bold decision to play in this unpredictable knock out format of the World Cup, and on Sunday he was eliminated by world number 35 Bu Xiangzhi of China. Along with Magnus, also Kramnik and Nakamura have had to book their return tickets. Out of the top ten players in the world that were playing at this event, only one has qualified to round four. Five have been knocked out and four will play the tiebreaks. We have a huge round three, game two, report from Tbilisi. | Photos: Amruta Mokal