3/28/2024 – It is quite difficult to find the right trainer for a chess player. More so when there are so many lucrative options available. While some prefer to work on their own, others need a chess coach to guide and help them improve their game. Peter Long shares his experiences and thoughts as a trainer. Instead of focusing on gaining more knowledge, attending camps and playing tournaments incessantly, creating a structure will help students to fix their gaps and become stronger players.

3/12/2024 – It is quite a difficult task to find the right trainer for a chess player. More so when there are so many lucrative options available. While some prefer to work on their own, others need a chess coach to guide and help them improve their game. FM Peter Long shares his experiences as a trainer, including the most frequent challenges he had to face. Chess has evolved as a sport over time, which means the training aspect of the game has also changed. | Photo: European Chess Union - Education Commission

10/21/2022 – When Lawrence and Arne began their weekly show, they started with news, and then went over to tactics. The formats fused, and now we give birth to "Trent's Ta(l)ctics". We discuss the latest chess news, and add some tactics in the end. Did anything interesting happen in the last weeks? Besides the Magnus vs. Hans feud, we also dive into the US Women's championship Armageddon match, between Yu and Krush. Finally, our road to 3000 with our good ol' tactics training continues, with the help of birthday boy Maxime-Vachier Lagrave, who thinks the tactics we struggle with are a piece of cake. How fitting.

10/7/2022 – Evgeni Vasiukov was considered one of the strongest players in the world, but never represented the Soviet team in the Olympiads. Remarkable was also, that he learned to play chess at the age of 15! Over decades, he won several tournaments from 1960 to 1991. In this time, he played some remarkable games with tough tactics. Lawrence found two jawbreakers.

9/23/2022 – In the women's chess world, certainly Judit Polgar is the absolute legend. Not only was she among the top ten of the chess world for quite a while, she also played powerful attacking chess, with stunning tactics. Lawrence found four of them, which are instructional, and lovely to solve.

9/2/2022 – Grigori Jakowlewitsch Löwenfisch was born in the 19th century, and advanced to one of the strongest chess players in the world in 1939. The Grandmaster was an avid writer for several chess books, and magazines. Loewenfisch had some venomous tactics up his sleeve, which Lawrence Trent is presenting to us.

9/1/2022 – From now on buyers of Fritztrainer DVDs can unlock and install a download version! So if you don't have a DVD drive (anymore), you can still buy a Fritztrainer on DVD-ROM. You can also install your previously purchased Fritztrainer DVDs on your new computer with the unlocked download. And you can give away a DVD with a clear conscience, because the download is always included. In addition, the stream is unlocked in the ChessBase video portal for iPads & Co! And of course you can buy the download directly in the ChessBase Shop and get it immediately!

8/31/2022 – There are many ways to train tactics, from methodical themes, to deep positions, and while all have their place in a player's arsenal of training tools, there is one that specifically targets speed of recognition and play: the Tactics Sprint. If you feel like you want a method to improve your ability to see and play tactics in minimal time see this intro with video!

8/26/2022 – The Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Simagin was considered a tactical genius. His game against Bronstein is famous, and his move to win the game takes some time to be discovered. Furthermore, Lawrence shows us his tactical brilliance, talks about Frederic Svane, and shows us the power of solving tactical puzzles, to recognize patterns better, and quicker. Also, the final tactic which Lawrence and Arne try to solve, ends terribly.

8/19/2022 – Viktor Kupreichik was a top chess player. The Grandmaster won the Belarusian Championship in 1972, and 31 years later as well, in 2003. His four tactics, which Lawrence has found for us to solve, are fun puzzles. Furthermore, when Lawrence and Arne try to solve the ChessBase tactics, you can witness their worst fail ever! It is painful to watch, but the questions remains: Can you find the mistake they made in their calculation?

8/12/2022 – Lawrence has prepared some stunning tactics, played by the German legend Wolfgang Uhlmann. The French Defence expert was a masterful chess player for ages, and beat Bobby Fischer in 1960, with this very opening. We continue with our journey to reach a rating of 3000. Meanwhile, we are comfortably sitting around 2550.

8/5/2022 – Today, Lawrence and Arne are joined by German WIM Lara Schulze. She loves tactics, and we need help to reach the next chapter in our ChessBase tactics section - 2600. But sometimes, nightmares cross our path, and we have to think for much longer than expected. Join us in our Friday training, and sharpen your skills!

7/29/2022 – Anatoly Karpov was definitely not famous for his outrageous tactics, but when you have played hundreds, and thousands of games, you certainly have some tactical games up your sleeve. Lawrence found some interesting examples, and tough nuts to solve for you.

7/22/2022 – Years back, when the first iteration of the Fritz Online app came out, it was a barebones deal: Attractive, and good for a game, but not the most compelling option to train against. A bit problematic as this was its purpose, but it has undergone many revisions since, and revisiting it you will be surprised at how interesting and fun it can be.

7/8/2022 – Lawrence is sick, has no internet, is not even at home, but still commits to continuing "Trent's Tactics". Live from the beautiful Island of Corsica, The "soon-to-be" GM is trying to get back on track with his chess, by playing a tournament. One way to strengthen the current chess level is to train - Tactics! Danish Grandmaster Larsen knows this very well, and Lawrence shows us some of Bent Larsen's striking moves.

6/21/2022 – The Dutch GM was one of the strongest chess players in the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s. Timman never feared complicated games, which gave him many opportunities to discover some brilliant tactics against players like Kasparov, Kamsky, Karpov, and Anand. Lawrence dives right into the business, and gives us the chance to find the tactical moves ourselves. Furthermore, can we uphold the rating of 2500 in our tactics section, or will something unexpected mess things up?

6/10/2022 – As promised last episode, we wanted to display the beautiful queen sacrifice by Lawrence Trent from the HSK Gm Invitational open. But the main part of today, is the legendary GM Alexander Kotov, which Arne didn't even know about before. The "Kotov Syndrome" is named after the Soviet Grandmaster, and it describes a situation, where you think about an important position for too long, not finding the winning move, and with little time left, make a blunder instead. Probably all of us have been there.

6/3/2022 – Leon Mendonca recently won the HSK GM Invitational tournament, with 7 out of 9. Lawrence Trent played in the very same tournament, and reached the 50% mark, with 4.5 out of 9. Their game ended in a draw. Since Leon was still in Hamburg, we managed to have a Trent's Tactics show together. Maybe Lawrence, and Arne, thanks to Leon, finally went beyond the ChessBase tactics training rating of 2500? But, perhaps it was actually a huge challenge? Watch the video to find out how it went.

5/22/2022 – Another fantastic chess player, who was able to play defensive, aggressive, tactical, strategical, and creative. Boris Spassky has solved some juicy tactics in his games. Also, this is the very first time, that Lawrence and Arne have to face the so-called "nightmare" of the ChessBase tactics section. With limited amount of time, they have to solve this beast. Can you solve it?

5/13/2022 – The sixth World Chess Champion was certainly not known for his cunning tactical manoeuvres. He actually confessed that he was relatively weak with tactics. Nonetheless, he was one of the best chess players in the world, and had to face a fair amount of tactical challenges over the board, which he solved brilliantly. Lawrence shows us more!

5/6/2022 – Lawrence thought about showing us some tactics of one of the greatest chess players in the world. The world champion from the US was excellent with everything that chess has to offer. Obviously, Bobby Fischer played some tremendous tactical combinations during his career. We start with a game from 1961 against Mikhail Tal!

4/22/2022 – Today at Trent's Tactics, we are about to solve one of the hardest puzzles we ever had on the show. The three examples by GM Alexander G. Beliavsky are beautifully gathered, and have a twist!

4/1/2022 – Rashid Nezhmetdinov was largely considered to be one of the sharpest players in the chess world, although he never reached the Grandmaster title. Certainly, it is worth to spend a few days in the Mega Database browsing through his 500+ games.

3/29/2022 – Lawrence has found a position, which looks familiar to many of us. We just have to calculate, as good as we can, how to win the game. The important lesson is, that many variations can lead to a position which is slightly better, but not clearly won. A so-called insurance. We can put this variation in the back of our head, and keep on finding a better way to win. If everything fails, we use the variation with the small advantage.