1/5/2019 – Sixty years ago, on January 4th 1959, 15-year-old Bobby Fischer won his second US Championship with a draw against Robert Byrne. A year before, Fischer had won his first US championship at the age of 14. In defending the title, the eventual world champion showed excellent opening knowledge and endgame skills, but above all, fighting spirit. | Photo: Bobby Fischer in Portoroz 1958, tournament book

12/17/2018 – Robert Byrne was born on April 20th, 1928. Although he only became a chess professional after the age of 40, Byrne was one of the best players in the United States in the 1950s to 1970s. He died in 2013 at the age of 84 years. (Photo: Robert Byrne, 1969 against Boris Ivkov, source: Dutch National Archives)

11/8/2018 – In a day or two, Fabiano Caruana will challenge Magnus Carlsen. Will there be the new World Chess Champion by the end of the month? Commentator STEPHAN OLIVER PLATZ examines some history of the sixth World Champion, chess legend Mikhail Botvinnik, including select games against Capablanca, Alekhine, Reshevsky and Portisch. | Photo: J.D. Noske, Nationaal Archief, von li: Max Euwe, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, Mikhail Botvinnik and Samuel Reshevsky.

11/5/2018 – Featuring archive photos of Fischer and his co-competitors never before published online, GM ALOJZIJE JANKOVIC takes you through the highlights and the history and previews the 2018 edition. In April 1965, the first Tournament of Peace took place in Zagreb, organised by the representatives of the city together with leading local players. It was a very strong field of 20 players, including reigning World Champion at that time, Tigran Petrosian, competing in a round-robin tournament. Bobby Fischer played in the second tournament of 1970, but after the fourth edition in 1985, the tournament went dark...until now. | Pictured: Bobby Fischer looks towards Teodor Boch (a sponsor) in Zagreb, 1970 | Photo: Erwin Sindik / Croatian Chess Federation

11/3/2018 – In the USA, chess fans are eagerly awaiting the World Championship match to see how Caruana fares as the first American to challenge the undisputed World Champion since 1972. But what about that other eagerly awaited contest that never was: Fischer-Karpov, 1975. It was a match that the whole chess world would have loved to see. Who can say what beautiful ideas the players would have shown us in their games? And who would have won? With statistical modelling, we can at least talk about the likely outcome of the match. Dr. MATTHEW WILSON, economics professor at Truman State University, takes a crack at it. | Artwork: Unknown (via Quora)

10/29/2018 – Chess is a beautiful game, but sometimes the beauty is not so obvious to an untrained eye. When an experienced grandmaster like SUNDARARJAN KIDAMBI carefully studies a game between two world-class players, you know that you are in for a treat. Kidambi doesn't do a superficial job. He puts himself into the shoes of Wesley So and tries to understand the logic behind his every move. When studied carefully, this can seriously help you improve your chess understanding as well as appreciate the art of the game.

8/23/2018 – For more than three decades Wolfgang Uhlmann was East Germany's number one player and in the 60s and 70s he was one of the world's best players. Uhlmann is particularly famous for his handling of the French Defense. After 1.e4 he invariably played 1...e6, no matter how well-prepared the opponent might be. Of course, he contributed a lot of ideas to the French. Conrad Schormann takes a look at one particularly useful and important defensive concept Uhlmann introduced into practice. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

7/18/2018 – Today is the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1978 World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio, the Philippines. To mark the occasion we bring you an epic interview from DAVID LLADA, who spoke to the 12th World Champion following his 184th tournament win in Plato d'Aro, outside of Barcelona, Spain. | Photo: David Llada

6/22/2018 – If Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik could learn from the great Patriarch of chess Mikhail Botvinnik, we are sure you can also learn a great deal from this great master. Hence, ChessBase has launched its tenth DVD in the Master Class series in which capable tutors like GMsYannick Pelletier, Mihail Marin, Karsten Mueller and IM Oliver Reeh dissect the play of the fifth World Champion. In this article IM SAGAR SHAH explains how studying the classics helped him to become a stronger chess player. He shows you one of his favourite games of Botvinnik and how he applied what he learnt in his own game at the under-19 nationals back in 2007!

4/8/2018 – 75 years ago, March 9, 1943, Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago. He was genius and madman. In 1972 he became World Champion after winning a dramatic match against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, and he is still considered as one of the greatest players of all time. Vlastimil Hort knew the 11th World Champion personally and shares memories of "Bobby". If you haven't already, read Part 1 and Part 2...

3/26/2018 – Looking back on the beauty and grandeur of Iceland's flagship event, the Reykjavik Open, with photos from International Master Alina l'Ami, annotated game highlights, and comments from the eventual winner Baskaran Adhiban.

3/18/2018 – Our fascination with Bobby Fischer never ends. When ChessBase mentioned an unknown game that came to haunt him for decades, one of our readers was quick to identify the encounter and send us on a memorable journey into the past. In the first part of the article our columnist recreated the drama surrounding that game, and here he unravels the mystery with inputs from GM Michael Bezold and Leonard Barden. | Photo of Pyotr Romanovsky: chesspro.ru

3/14/2018 – 75 years ago last Friday, on March 9, 1943, Robert James Fischer was born. His chess was clear, logical and powerful, but his behaviour off the board was erratic and irrational and later in his life he was mentally ill. A lot has been written about Fischer but he still remains a mystery. Vlastimil Hort knew the American chess genius personally and shares memories of Bobby.

3/13/2018 – Candidates tournaments have always been special tournaments. After all, the winner of the candidates becomes the challenger the reigning world champion and, possibly, new world champion. The candidates tournament 1959 was won by a brilliant Tal, the candidates tournament in Curacao 1962 caused a scandal. | Photo: Mihail Tal

3/9/2018 – Robert James Fischer was born on March 9, 1943. He died January 17th, 2008, and today he would have celebrated his 75th birthday. He was madman and genius, full of contradictions, and though much has been written about his life and games he still remains a mystery. Vlastimil Hort knew Fischer personally and shares memories of "Bobby". | Photo: Marshall Chess Club collection

3/6/2018 – The Gamma Reykjavik Open 2018 is all about Robert Fischer, who would have turned 75 this year. In Reykjavik he celebrated his greatest success, and he's also buried in Iceland. Among the participants are over 30 grandmasters. Richard Rapport and Pavel Eljanov lead the ranking list. Live games and commentary, plus a preview and photos by Gerd Densing.

2/28/2018 – Two weeks ago there was a World Championship — in Chess960, a variant that symmetrically shuffles the position of the pieces behind the row of pawns. The game has gained some popularity since it eliminates the staggering amount of preparation that is required in regular chess. But Chess960 has a few problems that probably prevent it from really taking off. We discuss some possible solutions to these problems.

2/23/2018 – Openings sometimes have curious names. The King's Indian is called King's Indian because Black fianchettoes his king's bishop, the Queen's Indian is called Queen's Indian because Black fianchettoes the queen's bishop, and Nimzowitsch-Indian is called Nimzowitsch-Indian because...Nimzowitsch played it. But there's another move that Nimzowitsch hardly ever played which nevertheless also bears his name: 1.b3, the so-called Nimzowitsch-Larsen opening. | Pictured: (left) Aron Nimzowitsch (right) Bent Larsen | Photo: Hans Peter

2/18/2018 – In his book on Bobby Fischer the Icelandic author Garðar Sverrisson recalls how in his final years his friend shared his fascination for a little-known game with him, and sought an improvement on Black’s play. Fascinated by this reference our columnist Prof Nagesh Havanur retrieved the many decades old game and annotated it, wondering what Fischer would have found and how it would have enriched our understanding of the game.

1/17/2018 – Ten years ago, on January 17, 2008, Bobby Fischer died at the age of 64 in Reykjavik, Iceland. It is a strange coincidence that Fischer died on the same date that he played the first public game of his life. This was January 17, 1951, at a simul against American Master Max Pavey. | Photo: Fischer's grave in Iceland, © Gerd Densing

1/17/2018 – Today, ten years ago, one of the greatest chess players of all time, Robert James Fischer, passed away. He had spent three years in Iceland, two in relative comfort and harmony, but struck by horrendous illness at the end of 2007. He had one true friend who tended to him to the end: Gardar Sverrison, who eight years later wrote a remarkable book on the Fischer he knew and who became part of his family. Today, with Gardar's permission, we bring you very moving excerpts from the final section of his book.

1/9/2018 – 60 years ago this week, on January 7, 1958, to be precise, the tenth U.S. Championship came to an end with a sensation: the 14-year old Bobby Fischer won with 10½ / 13 ahead of a strong field. With this win Fischer qualified for the Interzonal tournament in Portoroz 1958, and won the first of his eight U.S. titles. | Pictured: Bobby Fischer in 1959 | Source: unknown (via D. Griffin)

1/7/2018 – More Vlastimil Hort stories from his time as a top grandmaster traveling the world to countless tournaments and matches. The living legend saw chess history in the making and share some of his memories. | Photo: André Schulz

10/31/2017 – The organisers of the annual Reykjavik Open have recently announced information on the March, 2018 edition, which will be extra special, as it will commemorate Bobby Fischer himself. Fischer would have turned 75 years old during the event, if not for his untimely death in 2008. They have sent us the key details.