Evans Gambit News Today

Casablanca Chess made a strong impression on the first day of play in Morocco. The innovative format, where games start in positions selected from historical encounters, brought excitement to both participants and spectators. Following three rounds, Magnus Carlsen is leading with 2½ points after grabbing wins over Viswanathan Anand and Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Much like in the open section, the Women’s Candidates had one decisive game in Saturday’s third round. Vaishali R made it 2 out of 2 for the brother-sister duo in Toronto (Pragg defeated Vidit in the open) by beating Nurgyul Salimova with the white pieces. Vaishali thus bounced back from her round-2 loss against Tan Zhongyi. Tan held Humpy Koneru to a draw with the black pieces to remain as the sole leader. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

If you want to make progress in chess, sooner or later you will have to deal with your opening repertoire. It is better to approach this complex subject systematically than to get lost in a mass of videos, books and clever tips. To help with this, the Opening Encyclopaedia 2024 informs about the latest opening developments and provides basic knowledge.

This week's Tactics Tuesday returns to the Evans Gambit in anticipation of the August Chess Life Kids "In Session" column. All of this week's puzzles involve themes related to removing the defender, which is a crucial component in many attacks.  

News Flash! 2022 US Chess Absolute Championship! Correspondence Chess Master Tim Corkum (WI) is the 2022 US Chess Absolute co-champion. Corkum won on tiebreaks over CCM John Walton (WA). Both finished with a score of 7½ points, with 3 wins and 9 draws.  They split the point in their game. This is Corkum’s first Absolute championship. Play began March 1, 2022. The tournament continues but there are no others that can catch the champion.

Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 125th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell": This tiem, he talks about Paul Morphy and Bobby Fischer. | Photo: Pascal Simon

The "Special" of the current ChessBase Magazine is dedicated to Anthony Miles. In addition to a collection of 21 extensively analysed brilliant games of the first English grandmaster, you will also find a multifaceted contribution by Mihail Marin on Miles' chess understanding and playing style. Marin's database of 12 games from the years 1978 to 2000 is peppered with many training exercises. For the first time for ChessBase Magazine, our author also offers two interactive video...

In the current ChessBase Magazine #212 you will find new repertoire ideas for eleven different openings - from the English Opening to the King's Indian. In his search for a suitable weapon against the Scotch, Lars Schandorff has come across a fresh idea with which Black immediately seeks active play: After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 (Schandorff's favourite) 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 7.Qe2 he recommends 7...a5!?. In his analysis, this idea has proved so successful that he even sees Whit...

Four players qualified to play in Division I of the upcoming Chessable Masters in last week’s Play-In event. Le Quang Liem, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Fedoseev and Vladislav Artemiev will join Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana in the online tournament set to start on April 3. In a very competitive competition, the likes of Anish Giri and Nodirbek Abdusattorov could only make it to Division II.

What should you do if your opponent offers a draw at an early stage of the game? What aspects should you take into account when making your own decision? GM Jan Markos gives you a series of rules of thumb in the fifth part of his series "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" to help you go for the full point more often - or accept the offer if it is advisable. You can watch an excerpt from his video here!