1/21/2024 – The organisers in Stavanger have announced the participants of the upcoming Norway Chess Tournament. As a novelty, a women’s tournament will now be organised in parallel under the same conditions as the open event from 27 May to 7 June. Each tournament will feature six players, with both world champions included — Ju Wenjun and Ding Liren — besides local hero and world number one Magnus Carlsen.

1/9/2024 – An eventful chess year lies behind us. And an equally eventful chess year lies ahead of us. Many dates for the major and somewhat smaller international tournaments have already been announced. Here is a preview of the 2024 tournament calendar. | Photo: FIDE

9/30/2023 – The Isle of Man plays host once more to the chess world's crème de la crème, as the 3rd FIDE Grand Swiss and 2nd FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss tournaments are set to launch on 25 October. The return of these prestigious world championship qualifying competitions to the Isle of Man marks a momentous occasion. Over the course of 12 days, from 25 October to 5 November, the island in the Irish Sea will emerge as the epicentre of the chess world, hosting an elite assembly of top-tier players fighting for the prizes, prestige and a spot in the 2024 Candidates.

9/22/2023 – With eleven opening articles, ChessBase Magazine #215 covers the usual broad spectrum and provides new repertoire ideas for every tournament player. For example, a concept against the Alekhine Defence: Sergey Grigoriants presents the "sharpest and most principled approach against the Alekhine Defence" with 5.f4! and is convinced that he has "proved White's advantage in all variations". Alekhine expert Christian Bauer attests our author an "excellent job. I now know why the variation 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 Bf5 7.Nc3 e6 is bad for Black!". Take a look! You can find the complete article with all games and analyses in the current CBM #215.

9/19/2023 – An opening trap is particularly effective if it is built up with natural-looking development moves and is thus hardly recognisable for an uninformed opponent. Trap expert Rainer Knaak presents a collection of promising traps from tournament practice in every issue of ChessBase Magazine. In the current issue #215 there are eight examples - from Trompowsky via Sicilian and Ruy Lopez to King's Indian. Rainer Knaak also demonstrates three of his favourite traps in video in CBM #215; you can watch one of the videos here!

9/15/2023 – ChessBase Magazine #215 offers over an hour of video playing time with its three opening videos alone (the total playing time of all videos in CBM #215 is more than seven hours). Robert Ris uses three new games by Richard Rapport to examine what White can hope for in the Vienna Game after 5.Qf3. Ivan Sokolov examines the highly topical variation 11.h4!? in the Semi-Tarrasch, especially Giri's novelty 13.Rh3 against Praggnanandhaa. And Daniel King gives a recommendation for the side line 3...e5 against the Sicilian Rossolimo Variation which has already been tested at the highest level. You can watch an extract from Robert Ris' analysis here!

9/13/2023 – Thanks to his tournament wins in the American Cup and Norway Chess this year, Hikaru Nakamura moved up to second place in the FIDE world rankings (August 2023). In the "Special" of ChessBase Magazine #215 our authors analyse their favourite games of the top grandmaster - an exclusive collection of 19 great encounters from the period 2007 to 2023 awaits you! In addition, Mihail Marin sheds light on "Nakamura's strategy in practice" with videos + many training exercises. And Karsten Mueller presents a selection of the most beautiful endgames from "H-Bomb". As a sample from the "Special" you can watch Michal Krasenkow's analysis of his game against Nakamura from 2007 here. Have fun!

9/12/2023 – Holger Blauhut is a Norwegian Candidate Master who enjoys playing in tournaments himself and looks after his talented daughter Anna. In mid-August, he took part in the RTU Open in Riga with his daughter, and experienced the typical adventures of chess travellers.

9/10/2023 – Are chess players ice-cold creatures who always make their decisions at the board out of pure calculation? Of course not, even Magnus Carlsen is not emotionless, says GM Jan Markos in his contribution to the current ChessBase Magazine #215. In fact, very different emotions can influence decision-making in chess - often to one's own disadvantage. Markos presents three examples of this from his own practice and explores the question of how the influence of emotions can be counteracted. You can watch an excerpt from his video contribution here.

9/6/2023 – Out of the four players who were sharing the lead after the first day of action at Tata Steel India Rapid tournament, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave recorded the best score in rounds 4-6. The Frenchman is now the sole leader in Kolkata with 4½ out of 6 points. Teimour Radjabov stands in sole second place, a half point back. | Photo: ChessBase India

9/6/2023 – The new ChessBase Magazine #215 offers, among other things, 36 extensively annotated games. More than half of them build the "Special" of this issue: an exclusive collection of outstanding games by Hikaru Nakamura! In addition, Anish Giri, Grigoriy Oparin, Ivan Cheparinov, Thai Dai Van Nguyen et al. provide analyses from Norway Chess 2023 and Sharjah Masters 2023. Arjun Erigaisi played a brilliancy against Vladislav Kovalev in Sharjah - you can find an abridged version of his analysis here!

9/3/2023 – 2...d6 is Black's favourite Sicilian. In the new CBM #215 Christian Braun presents a concept for White with 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5!? that is attractive in various respects: White immediately forces the pace, leads the game into terrain that is often unknown to the opponent and gets "dynamic and powerful play" with little risk of his own. You don't need to learn too many variations by heart in this straightforward system either. Take a look at the article in CBM #215 and then do a first practical test on the chess server right away!

8/31/2023 – World-class chess explained in video: Dorian Rogozenco shows two wins of Hikaru Nakamura from Norway Chess 2023, including the decisive last-round game against Fabiano Caruana – Sharjah Masters 2023: Analyses by tournament winner Arjun Erigaisi as well as Ivan Cheparinov, Grigoriy Oparin, Thai Dai Van Ngyuen and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan – “Special” on Hikaru Nakamura: exclusive collection of 19 encounters with detailed commentary from 2007 to 2023 – Action in the centre: Christian Braun's Anti-Sicilian recipe 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5!? - "Nakamura's strategy in practice": Mihail Marin sheds light on the US American's skills, incl. two interactive videos and a large collection of exercises – Rossolimo á la Carlsen: Daniel King recommends the cutting-edge 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e5!? for Black. - "Basic Knowledge" Part #5: Karsten Mueller reveals tips and tricks in the endgame with two pawns against one. incl. two interactive training videos and much more!

7/27/2023 – There is a new celebrity chess couple: Atousa Pourkashiyan and Hikaru Nakamura announced their wedding and now join the list of prominent chess couples. Given their playing level, they are surely near the top of the unofficial couples’ rating list. | Photo: Atousa Pourkashiyan’s Instagram profile

7/11/2023 – Professionals today have tight schedules. There are many more tournaments in the world, with the extra addition of online events. After Norway Chess, the Global Chess League in Dubai and the Grand Chess Tour event in Zagreb, Magnus Carlsen is now playing in the Aimchess Rapid — with no signs of fatigue. Carlsen beat Jorden van Foreest, and will face Fabiano Caruana next. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/14/2023 – Dommaraju Gukesh, who just turned 17, is the youngest player among the Top 20 in the world ranking, and he continues to climb up the rating ladder. Those who are keen to learn something from his great chess talent can get invaluable lessons from the master himself in the FritzTrainer ‘Attack like a Super Grandmaster’. A review by Harald Wagner.

6/10/2023 – A final-round win over long-time leader Fabiano Caruana gave Hikaru Nakamura outright victory at the 11th edition of the Norway Chess super-tournament. Nakamura scored three wins and no losses in his nine classical games, which allowed him to climb to the second spot in the live ratings list. Caruana finished second, while 17-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh impressed by grabbing third place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess

6/9/2023 – Hikaru Nakamura beat Fabiano Caruana in their last-round classical encounter to finish the tournament in sole first place. Nakamura climbed to the second spot in the live ratings list. Caruana got second place in Stavanger, while 17-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh impressed with his clear third place in the standings. | Replay the games with computer-assisted commentary.

6/9/2023 – D. Gukesh was the only player to win his classical game in the penultimate round of the Norway Chess Tournament by creating a veritable work of art against Aryan Tari. Hikaru Nakamura lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Armageddon, but still has a chance to win the tournament. Fabiano Caruana remains in the lead, and Magnus Carlsen won his seventh Armageddon game, but with 10.5/24 he is still in the lower part of the table. | Photos: Lenart Ootes/ Norway Chess

6/7/2023 – In round 7 of the Norway Chess Tournament, the duels between Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja and Hikaru Nakamura (photo) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov provided spectacular top chess - with ups and downs and many exciting moments. | Photos: Lennart Ootes/Norway Chess

6/6/2023 – Monday was Armageddon day in Stavanger. Caruana won his classical game against Abdusattorov, and Nakamura, Carlsen, Gukesh and So improved their scores with Armageddon wins after draws. Fabiano Caruana remains in the lead. | Photos: Lennart Ootes/ Norway Chess

6/2/2023 – In his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris takes a look at a modern line of the Taimanov Sicilian, which Anish Giri and Gukesh recently discussed at the Norway Chess Blitz tournament in Stavanger. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

6/1/2023 – The second round of the Norway Chess Tournament saw some very competitive games, which didn't always have a deserving winner. Nakamura was lucky to beat Gukesh, Firouzja scored against Mamedyarov and Abdusattorov had the better end against Aryan Tari. Carlsen and Caruana won in Armageddon against So and Giri. | Photos: Lennart Ootes/ Norway Chess

5/31/2023 – The spectators were treated to an entertaining opening round of the Norway chess tournament and saw two surprises. Carlsen was defeated by Caruana. And the duel of the young stars was won by Gukesh against Firouzja. | Photos: Lennart Ootes