4/21/2026 – The power of the passed pawn: In an endgame a dangerous passed pawn often allows sacrificial combinations: White to move and win.

4/21/2026 – In the world of Indian chess, few stories are as cinematic as the rise of Vaishali Rameshbabu. While the world watches her exploits, the man who has spent a decade moulding her talent, GM R.B. Ramesh, provides an intimate look at the sacrifice, ethics and the psychological sides of India's newest Women's World Championship challenger. Read the article to know more about not just the professional but also the personal side of this amazing champion. | Photo: ChessBase India

4/20/2026 – As we reported, 14-year-old Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş has just become the the youngest player in history to surpass the 2700 rating mark. By beating former world champion Veselin Topalov 5-1 he reached a live Elo rating of 2709.4 and is clearly on his way to join the group of the top-ten players in the world. But will he be the youngest to do so? We checked.

4/20/2026 – In this episode, we'll have a look at one of his three spectacular victories which was played in the second game of match. Erdogmus didn't show any fear by entering the sharp Anti-Moscow Variation of the Slav. The Bulgarian superstar is an absolute top specialist in this field and contributed massively to the development of this line 20 years ago. It seemed like White got the upper hand out of the opening, but one mistake enabled Black to come back into the game. After the exchange of queens a razorsharp position ensued in which both sides tried to promote a passed pawn. By chosing the wrong square for his king, the Bulgarian committed the decisive blunder and soon lost. An absolutely incredible fight!

4/20/2026 – Were you able to handle the four rook endgame studies we showed you recently? They were a little bit harder to solve than they looked. We now bring you all the intricacies and subtleties in short videos by IM Gauri Shankar, who works as a chess trainer in Chicago. And of course we give you full analysis in a ChessBase replayer, where you can switch on an engine to help resolve any residual questions.

4/20/2026 – Roman Dehtiarov produced a huge surprise at the European Championship in Katowice by defeating David Anton in the final round to win the title outright with 9/11 points. The 17-year-old Ukrainian entered the tournament as the 126th seed and an international master rated 2452. He finished with eight wins, two draws and one loss, defeated six higher-rated opponents and earned the grandmaster title after a 2781 tournament performance rating. | Photo: Official website

4/19/2026 – The 2026 World Senior Team Championship has begun in Durrës, with 90 teams competing across the 50+ and 65+ sections. Top seeds include USA 1, England 1 and Kazakhstan in the younger category, while England I and Lasker SGK head the 65+ field. The event has attracted a number of leading veterans, among them Michael Adams, John Nunn and Artur Yusupov. | Photo: Georgia Grapsa

4/19/2026 – The Opening Encyclopedia 2026 has been released. Countless hours of detailed work have gone into creating the latest edition of this annual compendium. The encyclopedia is impressive and a must-have for effective tournament preparation. Further new releases come from experienced ChessBase authors: Elisabeth Pähtz on her speciality, the London System, and Andrew Martin, who focuses on the Vienna Game. Also included are the Fritz Powerbook 2026, a series of 60 Minutes courses, ChessBase Magazine 230, and more. | Photos: ChessBase

4/19/2026 – ChessBase´26 offers great possibilities for analysing with several menu windows at the same time. Having been introduced to the practical options in the last tutorial, today you will learn about options that will take your analysis to a new level.

4/19/2026 – The Polish Chess Federation is hosting the 2026 European Championship in Katowice. The tournament runs on 7-19 April with 501 players competing for the Continental title, prize money and one of the 20 qualifying places for the next edition of the World Cup. Igor Kovalenko (Ukraine), David Anton (Spain) and Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania) are the highest-rated participants. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST)

4/19/2026 – A major chess festival in Stockholm brought together 1,500 participants and several leading figures, including Magnus Carlsen, Judit Polgár and Levy Rozman. The two-day event combined lectures, simultaneous exhibitions, beginner competitions and youth activities, while organisers also attempted to set a record for the largest chess lecture ever held. | Photo: FIDE / Pavel Dvorkovich

4/18/2026 – Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus scored a convincing 5-1 victory over former world champion Veselin Topalov in their six-game classical match held in Monte Carlo from 12 to 17 April. After a tense draw in the opening game, the Turkish teenager won four of the next five encounters, showing strong tactical and positional play throughout the match. The result allowed Erdogmus to become the youngest-ever player to surpass the 2700 rating mark, breaking Wei Yi's record by a considerable margin. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza