High profile tournaments coming in 2020!

11/23/2019 – Two major FIDE events will take place in Russia next year. On November 11th, representatives of the organizing bodies signed an agreement for the Candidates Tournament in the magnificent Central Chess Club in Moscow. They announced that the Candidates will be held in Yekaterinburg from March 15th to April 5th. Organizers of other anticipated events have released detailed information in recent weeks, including the Olympiad, the Tata Steel Masters and the TePe Sigeman tournament. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Spanish Championship LIVE

11/22/2019 – The 84th edition of the Spanish Championship is taking place in Marbella (province of Málaga) from the 16th until the 24th of November. Most of the strongest players from the Iberian country are participating. Five players are sharing the lead on 5 out of 6: Paco Vallejo, Alexei Shirov, Miguel Santos Ruiz, José Cuenca and Pedro Ginés. Rounds 1 to 8 start at 16:00 UTC (17:00 CET / 11:00 AM EST) | Photo: Diario Sur

The Power Play Show: King's Gambit madness!

11/22/2019 – Power Play plays on! On the show today: The King's Gambit. 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...

Spanish Championship: Tough to get ahead

11/22/2019 – After six rounds, five players share the lead at the Spanish Championship in Marbella, with top seed Paco Vallejo and former world number two Alexei Shirov included in the group that collected five points so far. José Cuenca, Miguel Santos Ruiz (pictured) and Pedro Ginés Esteo (b. 2004) are also co-leading. In the race for the women's trophy, four players are currently on top with 4 out of 6. | Photo: Spanish Chess Federation

Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz: Live

11/22/2019 – The penultimate tournament of the Grand Chess Tour, the Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz in Kolkata, features World Champion Magnus Carlsen and some of the world's best chess players. Live games and commentary from 8:30 UTC (9:30 CET / 3:30 EST). | Photos: Grand Chess Tour

Opening training with Fritz 17

11/22/2019 – Fritz 17 is a strong program with many useful (and entertaining) new functions. The following short tutorial shows you how Fritz 17 helps you to learn and to remember your opening repertoire.

Petrov queen sac

11/22/2019 – Following 27.Rg5+! in the diagram position, the weakness of the dark squares will soon prove fatal for Black's king. A queenless mate attack - enjoy!

Fast and Furious: The Sicilian Four Knights

11/21/2019 – IM Robert Ris is back from his own playing trip to the European Club Cup in Montenegro and shares one of his own games. Tune into the live show at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 1 PM EST) which is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. In the diagram, it's Black to play!

The life story of Vladimir Akopian (1/2)

11/21/2019 – Success is quite relative. For many chess players winning the Olympiad three times, World Teams once, becoming the national champion twice and reaching the finals of the FIDE World Cup would surely represent a successful chess career. Yet, in the case of Vladimir Akopian this was not enough. This is because Akopian was considered by many to be one of the greatest talents that the chess world had ever seen. Why didn't this GM from Armenia fulfill his promise? Why didn't he become the absolute best in the world. What is his life story? IM Sagar Shah sat down for a candid chat with the Armenian grandmaster.

Endgame Magic with David Howell

11/21/2019 – Today Karsten welcomes GM David Howell, who's visiting Hamburg and popped in for an impromptu visit. Live at 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET; 9:00 AM EST) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Senior World Championships in Bucharest

11/21/2019 – The 2019 Senior World Championships are taking place in Bucharest from November 12th to the 23rd. Parallel events for players over 50 and over 65, both in open and women's categories, are in full swing. After eight rounds, all four events have sole leaders, with Ukrainian grandmaster Vadim Shishkin heading the field at the 50+ Open. | Photos: Thorsten Cmiel and Tea Patatishvili

Game of the Week: Van Delft vs Schreiner

11/20/2019 – The European Club Cup presented IM Merijn van Delft with an opportunity to practice his craft, and this week he brings you a personal highlight. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is on-demand this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

Cheers galore as chessboxing kicks off in France

11/20/2019 – Chessboxing has spread to France. The hybrid sport which combines alternating rounds of blitz chess and boxing has been popular in London and Berlin, and now the first official bout has been held in Paris. Paris-based journalist DHANANJAY KHADILKAR was there and sent this report. | Pictured: Thomas Cazeneuve vs Xhemshid Vogliqi | Photos: Dhananjay Khadilkar