ChessBase Magazine Online

Atatürk Istanbul: three players in the lead
14.03.2008 – Pia Cramling, the first women to to qualify for the "men's" world championship cycle, was lucky to survive the black piece attack of Hou Yifan, a player who was born two years after Pia had earned her GM title. Turkey's Ekatrina Atalik and India's Dronavalli Harika won their second games in a row. Drawing average still a very low 20%. Round three report.
 

Five stars for Davies' Accelerated Dragon
13.03.2008 – The Accelerated Dragon is a great choice for club players as well as for IM and GMs. It gives Black excellent practical chances not just against 1.e4 – it can also be used against 1.c4, 1.Nf3 or even 1.d4. FM Carsten Hansen, a reviewer for Chess Cafe, wrote a book on the opening. He gives Nigel Davies' ChessBase DVD the full five stars. Buy it now or read more.
 

Atatürk Istanbul: just one draw so far
13.03.2008 – After five decided games in round one, the second round saw Irina Krush pressure Ekaterina Atalik for 57 moves before conceding a draw. The other games were all decided, with three white and one black win. That's a total of one draw in ten games. Exciting aggressive chess again in the women's super-tournament in Istanbul. Illustrated report.
 

Kharkiv: Rebellion of the Youngsters
13.03.2008 – This year the international tournament “Rector Cup”, staged in Kharkiv, Ukraine, celebrated its tenth anniversary. During that time participants from more then 20 countries have taken part. This year it was won by 16-year-old IM Vladimir Onishuk – for the second time in a row! And the women's section by a 15-year-old, Irene Kharisma Sukandar of Indonesia. Big pictorial report (with video).
 

Threeway tie for first at Reykjavik Open 2008
12.03.2008 – The two Chinese GMs, Wang Hao, 2665 and Wang Yue, 2698, together with GM 7.0 GM Hannes Stefansson, all scored 7.0/9 at the Icelandic tournament. Wang Hao had the best tiebreak, the other two tied for 2nd-3rd. Longtime leader Fabiano Caruana was half a point behind. Boris Spassky and Pal Benkö were in Reykjavik to commemorate Bobby Fischer's 65th birthday.
 

Atatürk Istanbul: No draws in Women's Super-tournament
12.03.2008 – This is what people want to see. After hours of media attention, technical discussions and the opening ceremony, the participants of the İş Bankası Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament sat down to play aggressive, fighting chess. All games in round one were decided, not a single one drawn. We bring you a first big pictorial report from Istanbul.
 

The Master of the Nimzo-Indian
12.03.2008 – One of the most important openings in all of chess is the Nimzo-Indian Defense, and within it one of the most important approaches for White starts with 4.Qc2. But is there a downside to this opening? Our Playchess.com lecturer Dennis Monokroussos uses a game by an artist of the white side of the NI Defense, GM Mihail Gurevich, to explain the principles. Tune in and learn.
 

New and comprehensive: Opening Encyclopaedia 2008
11.03.2008 – Opening theory has seen lots of new trends, ideas, and tricks in the past twelve months, in areas like the Najdorf, Anti-Moscow Variation, Sveshnikov Sicilian, Marshall Attack, etc. The new ChessBase Opening Encyclopedia covers it all and provides at least one survey for every ECO code. There is no better start to build up your own opening repertoire. Read more, buy it now.
 

David Howell meets world champions in Barcelona
11.03.2008 – What a drag! The youngest grandmaster ever in the UK, David Wei Liang Howell, 17, was invited to Barcelona, Spain, to play in the Catalonian League. There he was forced to escort a bevy of bubbly young girls, most of them world junior champions (who probably also hero-worship him), on sightseeing tours through the city and the famous Parc Güell. His host IM Anna Matnadze reports.
 

International chess tournament in Fajr, Iran
11.03.2008 – It is not often that we can report from a chess event in this part of the world. Located in the north-western part of Iran, in spitting distance of Mosul and Kirkuk, the city of Urmia – Orumiyeh in Persian – played host to the sixteenth International Fajr Chess Tournament. It was in commemoration of the 29th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. FM Arash Akbarinia reports.
 

Dial M for Mate – mini-subscription to ChessBase Magazine
10.03.2008 – Feel unsure about the two-monthly delivery of comprehensive chess training on DVD? Well, here's a chance to try it out, for three issues. Our special mini-subscription brings you three issues, CBM 122 to 124, for the price of 49.85 Euros. With all the games and training sections that make you a better player. And as a bonus you get a short movie produced by film group in Berlin. Order now.
 

Women's Super-tournament in Istanbul
10.03.2008 – The Turkish Chess Federation, together with the country's largest bank, is staging a spectacular international women's event in the center of Istanbul. Round one is on Tuesday. The reason for this tournament: to promote women's chess in Turkey and prepare talented girls for a serious medal bid in future Chess Olympiads. An unrealistic goal? Well watch out, here come the Young Turks of tomorrow.