2/21/2020 – The Power Play Show returns live this week. Grandmaster Daniel King looks back to a couple of games from Wang hao. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

2/21/2020 – The "2nd Prague Chess Festival" in the Czech capital ran from February 13th to February 22nd. After an exciting final round in which two key encounters finished decisively, five players ended up tied in first place on 5 out of 9. Vidit and Alireza Firouzja had the best tiebreak scores and decided the championship in a blitz playoff. 16-year-old Firouzja won both quick-play encounters to take the title. Jorden van Foreest got clear first place in the Challengers. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr / praguechessfestival.com

2/21/2020 – Just when it seemed like Vidit would coast to victory at the Prague Masters Tournament, a series of turnarounds left the fight for first place wide open. After getting a completely winning position, Vidit first reached a drawn rook endgame and then lost the thread and the game against David Navara. Meanwhile, David Anton defeated Nils Grandelius with Black and Nikita Vitiugov failed to find a win against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Going into last round, Vidit has a half-point lead over Anton, Vitiugov and Alireza Firouzja. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

2/21/2020 – 27...Kc7!! in the diagram is very cool, especially since the attempt to pin down the black knight on d7 with 28.Qh7 runs into an elegant refutation. Do you see it?

2/20/2020 – Easter is still a bit less than two months away, but it is already clear that the Easter holidays will be a boon for chess fans. From April 9th ​​to 13th the GRENKE Chess Open, the largest open tournament in Europe, takes place in Karlsruhe, Germany. And on Easter Saturday, April 11th, the GRENKE Chess Classic begins — with Carlsen and Caruana leading the field. To get in the mood for the tournament, the organizers have prepared a small video with the highlights of the past years.

2/20/2020 – The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian has been one of the most popular openings for decades. Players of every level like it and it also was an important part of the Black opening repertoire of two legendary World Champions: Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov. GM YANNICK PELLETIER explores the latest theoretical developments.

2/20/2020 – Vidit could not get his fourth straight win with White at the Masters section of the Prague Chess Festival, but nonetheless kept his one-point lead with two rounds to go. The winners of the day were Alireza Firouzja, who beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a swashbuckling tactical struggle, and Sam Shankland, who defeated Nils Grandelius to get his first win of the event. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/20/2020 – Many people aim for perfection in their chosen field. However, only a select few ever reach the pinnacle of achievement. As far as chess is concerned, Fabiano Caruana is one of the rare few who has, giving the chess world new ideas and beautiful games for years. TANMAY SRINATH reviews the second volume of Caruana’s FritzTrainer trilogy, and comes out amazed, yet again! | Photo: David Llada

2/19/2020 – The Prague Masters is in the crosshairs for this anniversary edition of Game of the Week. IM Merijn van Delft explores the third round win of the tournament leader Vidit Gujrathi. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

2/19/2020 – The Grand Chess Tour, which was announced one month ago, is a standard-bearer for world-class events. In the latest press release, the organizers have now announced dates, confirmed participants and venues for this year's tour. There will be two tournaments with classical time controls and three rapid and blitz tournaments. The three best players in the world — Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren — all take part. | Picture: Grand Chess Tour

2/19/2020 – Round six of the Prague Festival saw all games of the Masters finishing drawn, which means Vidit Gujrathi is still leading on 'plus three'. The one closest to get a win was Sam Shankland, who got an edge in the middlegame but could not convert it into a full point against Markus Ragger. During the rest day before round six, Boris Gelfand gave a simul and the Aero Cinema Film Festival kicked off, featuring documentaries about chess, among others. | Pictured: Jan Novak, Lubomir Kavalek and David Navara. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

2/18/2020 – IM Lawrence Trent looks to Prague for inspiration this week. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's White to move! How did he break through? | Lawrence is live this week from 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12 Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can always register a free 90-day account to watch.