Van Wely News Today

On December 9, marking Human Rights Day and the introduction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the National Council of Resistance of Iran held

The new ChessBase Magazine #214 offers various updates for your repertoire with eleven opening articles from the Dutch to King's Indian. 1.e4 players can be curious about Martin Lorenzini's article on the Scandinavian with 3...Qa5. For the GM from Argentina sees Black in great trouble in the line 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Bd2 e6 7.Ne5!: "The positions that the second player gets are passive, difficult to handle and practically aspire to only a draw". Take a look!

The following survey lists all chess players who have reached a top five or top ten status at least once in their career, ranked by their highest position, then in chronological order. Of course, the start of the FIDE Elo list and the current date are arbitrary, but the chess world has now had an established rating and ranking publication for more than fifty consecutive years. How many different TOP FIVE players would you expect? Well, there are only 55 luminaries in the last 55 years or so! Che...

In football, the area around the center line is usually a hazard-free space. But in chess, when a knight crosses the centre line – i.e. if it jumps from his own half of the playing field to that of the opponent – then it "usually sends a clear attack signal", writes Oliver Reeh in his tactics section in ChessBase Magazin #211. His collection of tasks in the new edition includes 38 games, which are peppered with many training questions. Attacking knights play an important role in al...

The traditional Tata Steel international invitation tournament series, annually ongoing since the year 1938, held in Wijk aan Zee and earlier in Beverwijk, is a highlight in the calendar of classical chess. Eduard Frey presents funny Trivia from the rich history of this remarkable tournament. | Photo: Playing Hall, Organiser

After Dorian Rogozenco had concluded his "Classics" series in ChessBase Magazine in summer last year, he started his new column "Modern Classics" in CBM #210 with a game Fischer-Petrosian from the 1971 Candidates Match. In CBM #211 he takes up the "Special" of the new issue and presents a brilliant game by Mikhail Tal. On the programme is the sixth game of the World Championship match from 1960 against Mikhail Botvinnik. You can watch an excerpt from Rogozenco's...

Mikhail Tal's meteoric rise shook the chess world in the late 1950s, taking him straight to the very top. His victory over Botvinnik in the 1960 match won him the world title. In the process, the 'Wizard from Riga' thrilled fans with his unprecedented combination style – “There are two kinds of sacrifices - correct ones and mine!” For CBM 211 we invited our authors to comment on their favourite Mikhail Tal games. The total of 21 encounters, the last played in 1991, show the eig...

With ChessBase Magazine #211 Karsten Mueller starts a new training series, which is not about endgame finesse on grandmaster level, but about basic techniques, which are worth learning for every ambitious chess player. And without them you won't get far at a higher level. The topic of the first article is the endgame rook vs. pawn. As clear as the balance of power is in this endgame, you have to know a few rules of thumb and techniques in order to always be able to treat the position correct...

October saw the start of the new Bundesliga season. In ChessBase Magazine #211 participants from various teams comment on their games from the first rounds, including the stars from the cover - Pavel Eljanov, Loek van Wely and Luke McShane - as well as Nils Grandelius, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Ivan Saric, Ivan Cheparinov, Gawain Jones, Nikita Vitiugov, Erwin L'Ami, Dennis Wagner, Daniil Yuffa, Georg Meier, Jan-Christian Schröder, Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Michael Prusikin. In addition, David ...

Online chess with its short time controls has also led to a renaissance of romantic openings like the King's Gambit. After the moves 1.e4 e5 2.f4 gxf4 3.Nf3 Black is faced with a fundamental decision. Should one try to hold the extra pawn on f4 with g7-g5 at all costs? With little time on the clock and against a potential theory expert, this involves some risks. So should one instead focus less on the material but on development and good piece play? With 3...Ne7!? Sergey Grigoriants recommen...