60 years ago: Botvinnik wins return match against Tal

5/12/2021 – 60 years ago today, on 12 May 1961, the return World Championship match between Mihail Tal and Mikhail Botvinnik, which had started in Moscow on 15 March, came to an end. Tal had won the first match in 1960 with 12.5-8.5, but in the return match Botvinnik regained the world championship title and defeated Tal 13-8 (+10, -5, =6). But despite the clear result Botvinnik's victory still failed to convince.
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Game of the Week: A. Esipenko vs M. Kobalia

5/12/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at the Russian Team Championships, in which the 19-year Russian talent Andrey Esipenko showed a fine performance and played a number of impressive games. The focus will be on his win against M. Kobalia. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Historical riddle: M. Tal vs O. Panno

5/12/2021 – Mihail Tal played many mind-boggling and beautiful games full of stunning tactics and surprising sacrifices. Modern engines may find out that Tal's sacrifices might not always have been correct but it is still fun to play through and analyse his games. Now, Karsten Müller invites the ChessBase readers to take a close look at one of Tal's classics.

Chinese Chess Championships in Xinghua Jiangsu

5/12/2021 – The Chinese Chess Championships are being played on May 7-15 in Xinghua Jiangsu, a county-level city in eastern China. After seven rounds, three players are sharing the lead in the open event while rating favourite Tan Zhongyi has grabbed the sole lead in the women’s tournament. | Pictured: Tan Zhongyi during the 2018 Women’s World Championship | Photo: Gu Xiaobang

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Episode 3

5/12/2021 – Svitlana Demchenko is a 17-year-old, Canadian WIM, and chess coach. Here and now, she will teach us plenty of smart moves on the board, ranging from tactics, strategies, openings, and anything else chess related. In the process, I'm happy to be available as a student at club player level, and pester the female international master with questions. Anyone who wants to strengthen their chess skills is welcome to watch, and actively replay the positions from the video, on our chessboard.

Arjun Erigaisi wins Indian Qualifier to the Champions Chess Tour

5/11/2021 – Arjun Erigaisi pulled a massive upset in the finals of the Indian Qualifier to the Champions Chess Tour by handing Adhiban his first defeat of the event. Nonetheless, by reaching the finals, Adhiban had already qualified to the elite online tour. Aravindh beat Gukesh in the match for third place. Gukesh should be happy with his performance, as he was the only player to beat eventual champion Arjun Erigaisi in the very first game of the semifinals.

The Weekly Show: The Russian Team Championships

5/11/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will take a look at the Russian Team Championships, with a focus on the game Rublevsky vs Askerov. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Second GM norm for Abhimanyu

5/11/2021 – 12-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra scored his 2nd GM norm at the First Saturday GM Round Robin May 2021 with a round to spare. This is the second consecutive event in which Abhimanyu has scored a GM norm, with a dominating 2700+ performance. He is now just 29 Elo points and one GM norm away from becoming the world's youngest grandmaster. Abhi has annotated his eighth round game for us, and will play against ChessBase Premium Members tomorrow.

FIDE Trainer Awards 2020-2021

5/11/2021 – Training is important to become better at chess and a good coach helps to develop your talent. To recognize and celebrate the achievements of the chess training community, the FIDE Trainers Commission recently announced the winners of the 14th FIDE Trainer Awards for 2020-21.

Esipenko impresses as Mednyi Vsadnik dominates the Russian Premier League

5/11/2021 – There was no stopping the favourites at the Premier League and the Women’s Tournament of the Russian Team Championships. Mednyi Vsadnik and the Moscow Chess Team won their final matches despite having secured first places with a round to spare. In the open section, the winning team had an inspired Andrey Esipenko on board 4 — the 19-year-old scored 6½/7 points. | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

Bishop stops bishop sacrifice

5/11/2021 – In the diagram position White just attacked the bishop on f6 which is a prelude to a bishop sacrifice on e7 which will allow the white pawns to run. But with correct play the black bishop can stop the pawns. How?

Reflecting on the 2020-2021 Candidates – Part 2

5/10/2021 – The Candidates Tournament 2020/2021 brought a wealth of interesting games and interesting novelties. After all, the players had more than one year to prepare for seven games. In his two-part reflection on the Candidates the Canadian FM Joshua Doknjas takes a close look at the most important theoretical developments in the Candidates and discusses various strategies of preparation. | Photo: Tournament winner Ian Nepomniachtchi | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Russian Premier League, Round 9 - Live!

5/10/2021 – The Russian Team Championships were decided in the penultimate round: The Iron Horsemen of St. Petersburg win the Open Championship, the Moscow Chess Team wins the Women's Tournament. However, there is still one round to play in which the other teams fight for the places. It starts at 14:00 CEST (8:00 am EDT, 1 pm BST). Follow the games live.

Winners decided with a round to spare at the Russian Team Championships

5/10/2021 – Already one round before the end of the event, the Russian team champions in the Premier League as well as in the women’s competition have been decided. In the Premier League, the Mednyi Vsadnik from St. Petersburg secured their fourth consecutive title after winning seven out of seven matches. The women’s tournament was similarly won by the Moscow Chess Team, which also has a perfect score. | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

Learning from Sultan Khan

5/9/2021 – Reading seems to have become a dying habit. With the advent of gadgets, distraction lurks around every corner and resisting the temptations has become increasingly difficult. A true bibliophile knows the essence of reading from a physical book — the smell of a newly printed one cannot be replaced by a digital version. Four-time Indian women’s champion, Asian continental champion and Olympic individual gold medallist IM Padmini Rout reflects on Daniel King’s book about Sultan Khan. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Understanding before Moving 26: Cooperation between queen and bishop

5/9/2021 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 26th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows examples of a good cooperation between queen and bishop. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Favourites top the standings in Russian Team Championships

5/9/2021 – The Russian Team Championships are being played on May 1-10 at the Hotel Zhemchuzhina in Sochi. Besides the Premier League, a 9-team round robin, the Women’s League and the Higher League are taking place as Swiss tournaments. Both in the Premier League and the Women’s Tournament, the clear favourites have managed to win all of their matches — the Mednyi Vsadnik (Iron Horsemen) led by Nikita Vitiugov and the Moscow Chess Team led by Kateryna Lagno. | Pictured: Aleksandra Goryachkina | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

Will he break the world record?

5/8/2021 – He learnt the rules of chess when he was two and a half years old. He became the youngest national expert at the age of seven, and the youngest National Master in the US at the age of nine. In late 2019, he beat R. Praggnanandhaa's record of becoming the youngest IM ever. Meet Abhimanyu Mishra, a youngster who lives in New Jersey, USA. Abhimanyu is an amazing talent and is now going after the record of becoming the youngest GM in history. In spite of the Covid pandemic. And you can help him achieve his goal!

Wojtaszek and Kulon prevail at the Polish Championships

5/8/2021 – Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Klaudia Kulon prevailed in the open and women’s sections of the 2021 Polish Championships, played over the board in Bydgoszcz. This was Wojtaszek’s fourth victory in the national championship, while Kulon won the women’s title for the first time in her career. | Photos: Official site
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