Dieter Meyer News Today

Playing chess is an immensely popular activity. Solving chess problems is also very enjoyable. But how about composing problems? During our revived Christmas Puzzle week, we want to discuss different methods of how to compose your very own chess problem! We ask you to give it a try yourself. Submit your own composition and win some great prizes!

It was a tiebreak that was worthy of the importance and drama that had led up to it. While Humpy Koneru and her fans will lament how it ended, the fact is the tiebreak was incredibly entertaining and had a bit of it all. Even the quiet start was crucial in setting up the very dramatic third and fourth games. Don't miss out on the report! | Photo: Michal Walusza

Some readers may have heard of this special tactics training regime, while others will wonder about the gimmicky sounding name. This is the name given to an intensive but very effective training method by the Finnish grandmaster Tikkanen, which just so happens to be a dream fit for the Replay Training feature in ChessBase 16. See how you can get this best of both worlds and watch the video to demonstrate!

With opening theory reaching insane depth and draws on the rise, there has been an increasing interest in chess variants such as Chess960 aka Fischer Random Chess, and the recent 'No-Castling' chess. Here is another variant that bears similarities to Chess960, but completely asymmetrical and no castling. One added plus is that you can even play it against Fritz Online!

"Surprisingly often I watch sequences of moves in games that do not remind me of anything from my previous chess memory," writes endgame study composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen. In such cases, he will rush over to his chessboard and start thinking about turning it into a study. One way to do this is to strip the position and present the main idea as economically as possible. Slumstrup Nielsen's description of the process appeared in The Macedonian Problemist.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won their round-7 classical encounters to climb to shared third place at the Norway Chess Tournament. Magnus Carlsen lost in Armageddon against Aryan Tari, but is still leading the standings table, albeit only by a half point — second-placed Vishy Anand won the sudden-death decider against Teimour Radjabov on Tuesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

After getting a clear victory on Friday and kicking off Saturday’s second set with a win, Magnus Carlsen seemed to be headed to a swift triumph in the final of the Charity Cup. However, Jan-Krzysztof Duda did not just give up, as he incredibly scored back-to-back wins to take the match to tiebreakers. In the blitz encounters, Carlsen regained his composure and won both games to claim his second consecutive title in the Champions Chess Tour.

Last week a chess festival took place in Mariánské Lázne (known as Marienbad in German), Czech Republic, as part of the Czech Chess Tour, with two GM tournaments, three IM tournaments and a number of open events. Among the stars of the festival were the winter landscape and the astounding architecture. | Photos: Arne Bracker / Official site

Last year you could open 24 calendar doors and guess the Fritztrainer correctly. This year it's all about magical endgames. Thanks to our endgame expert GM Dr. Karsten Müller, we have put together a potpourri of endgame riddles for you. If you can find the right answer, you automatically enter a raffle with plenty of prizes to be won. Among them, our big Christmas surprise packages!

BAYERN Munich’s annual general meeting ended in tumult with members yelling and booing the club’s directors for refusing to discuss its sponsorship arrangements with Qatar. “We are Bayern! You are not!” irate fans chanted at club president Herbert Hainer, chief executive Oliver Kahn and other presidium members late Thursday. “We…