5/10/2026 – Today we have a special guest on Svitlana’s Smart Moves: Leon Mendonca. Since we all got to know each other well during the Biel Chess Festival 2024, we decided it was finally time to record a show together. In this episode, Svitlana Demchenko introduces the tricky Cowboy Attack in the Sicilian, and surprisingly, Leon turns out to be a genuine fan of the opening as well, making this an opening variation that is definitely worth a closer look.

5/10/2026 – When you are on the move, it is particularly important that your computer does not consume too much power when analysing. With ChessBase´26, you can conserve your battery and connect to top-quality hardware via a remote engine whenever you need it. This means that the engine installed on your computer can remain off and the computing power is provided by an Internet server. But there are advantages at home too: the wide selection is sure to include engines that are more powerful than the one on your own computer, and the fan stays quiet. In this tutorial series, you will learn how convenient and resource-efficient you can analyse with your engine of choice.

5/9/2026 – Fabiano Caruana scored 7/9 points on the final day of blitz action at the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament. In the end, he fell half a point short of catching Hans Niemann in the overall standings. Alireza Firouzja made a strong start in the blitz tournament on Friday, but his gap to Niemann in first place only grew on the final day of the blitz event. With this tournament victory, against world stars such as Fabiano Caruana, reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Candidates' winner Javokhir Sindarov, Niemann has reached a new milestone in his chess career. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/9/2026 – Winning against the reigning world champion is always difficult. The first German player to achieve this feat after the Second World War was Wolfgang Unzicker, for many years the number one player in the Federal Republic of Germany. At the 1961 European Team Championship, he outplayed the then world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. Wolfgang Uhlmann, for many years the number one player in the GDR, was not to be outdone. In 1962, at the Chess Olympiad in Varna, he defeated Botvinnik - though not quite as convincingly as Unzicker had done a year earlier. | Image: Wolfgang Uhlmann in 1970 | Photo: Rob Mieremet, Anefo

5/9/2026 – Kicking off the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, the first of three speed chess events, which is taking place on 5-9 May in Warsaw. Ahead of the final day of action, Hans Niemann is the sole leader, with Wesley So standing close behind, at a mere half-point distance. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 12.00 CEST (6.00 ET, 15.30 IST) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/9/2026 – In this episode of Monthly Dragon, Chris Ward presents three entertaining and highly tactical Dragon games, focusing on key themes such as the thematic d5-break, the power of the Dragon bishop and active king play in the endgame. Particularly impressive are the games featuring Havard Haug, Emre Can and Hikaru Nakamura, where Black repeatedly seizes the initiative through tactical motifs, loose pieces, and aggressive rook and queen activity. The main lesson throughout the episode is that in the Dragon, dynamic play, piece activity, and tactical awareness are often far more important than perfect pawn structure. | Photo: John Upham

5/9/2026 – The Advance Variation in the French Defence can be seen as the purest form of handling this opening, as White forms the thematic French pawn chain as early as move three and aims to rely on his advantage in space and minor pieces. In his review, Lukas Köpl examines Jan Werle's contribution to the "60 Minutes" series from the perspective of both player and trainer.

5/9/2026 – Alireza Firouzja scored 6½/9 to top the first day of blitz at the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament, but his difficult rapid section left him only eighth overall. Hans Niemann remains the sole leader despite scoring 3½/9 on Friday, with Wesley So half a point behind. Fabiano Caruana and Vladimir Fedoseev are tied for third, a full point behind So. The standings remain tightly packed before Saturday's final day of action. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/8/2026 – Recently we had the remarkable British rapid chess champion Bodhana Sivanandan, 11 years old, for a visit. Now we learn that English chess has found another primary school super-talent: nine-year-old Kayal Vijay, from Hertfordshire, triumphed at the 2026 European School Chess Championships in Croatia. The two London schoolgirls have something in common: Indian heritage.

5/8/2026 – What drama at the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament in Malmö: for a long time it looked as though there would be a three-way tiebreak. Surprisingly, Arjun Erigaisi had his back to the wall against Andy Woodward, while the game between long-time dominant force Magnus Carlsen and young star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus was drawn. But then Erigaisi escaped with a draw and Carlsen won in his inimitable style. So there was a playoff between Carlsen and Erigaisi - and Carlsen prevailed. | Photo: Peter Doggers / Official website

5/8/2026 – In the diagram position Black has just attacked the white queen with 40...Rd8, completely unimpressed by the strike 41.Rxg6+. A game with fire - who do you think will end up burning their fingers?

5/8/2026 – Bent Larsen was the strongest chess player in Danish history and, for many years, the leading Western challenger behind Bobby Fischer, winning the Danish Championship six times and achieving major international successes. This ChessBase training course explores his brilliant attacking style, creative positional ideas, and opening innovations such as 1.b3 and his contributions to the Accelerated Dragon, while also examining his middlegame, endgame, and tactical mastery. Renowned experts including Peter Heine Nielsen, Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller, and Oliver Reeh provide deep analysis, personal stories, and insights into Larsen’s unique chess legacy.