10/23/2021 – In the diagram position White's knight is about to occupy the blockade square in front of the pawn d5. How would you react with Black?

10/22/2021 – The Spanish Team Chess Championship ‘División de Honor’ took place on October 11-17 in Toledo. DuoBeniaján, a team from Murcia headed by David Antón and Parham Maghsoodloo, got first place after obtaining 12/14 match points in the 8-team single round robin. Bosch Serinsys (Anton Korobov, Alexei Shirov) and Andreu Paterna (Paco Vallejo, David Howell) finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Patricia Claros

10/22/2021 – In this week’s show, GM Daniel King, looks at tactical positions from the recent Bundesliga rounds. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

10/22/2021 – This was the question that a friend, grandmaster Alex Yermolinsky, posed after being inquired about a comment by another grandmaster. It was meant as irony, but was the logical result of a series of questions and comments that led to him posing this. He had explained with hard data how one could even ask this. If you want to know how we got to this point, read on!

10/22/2021 – Team Mongolia became the winner of the first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners after defeating Team Zimbabwe in the final of the biggest ever chess event among correctional facilities. In the women’s section, the Georgian team won all three matches and finished in clear first place.

10/21/2021 – In an exclusive interview with Tatiana Flores, Jovanka Houska talks about her career as a chess player, author and commentator. She also talks about some of her most important and memorable games and reveals how it feels to get free chess lessons from Judit Polgar. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

10/21/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at the improved Milner-Barry Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3!? cxd4 7.0-0, an interesting and aggressive way to fight the French Defense that has recently become more and more popular. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

10/21/2021 – Adding symbols, evaluations and comments may be important, but without variations and moves to depict the possibilities that could have taken place or should have taken place, describing chess as a science would have no meaning. Yet knowing how to organize and re-organize those variations and moves sensibly and efficiently is no less essential. Learn how to do it like a pro!

10/21/2021 – On Monday, 25 October, the Grand Swiss Tournament in Riga is scheduled to begin. 114 players have registered, the two best qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022. But due to a sharp rise in the numbers of COVID-19 cases, the Latvian authorities have introduced a strict four-week lockdown, from Thursday 21 October until 15 November. However, the Grand Swiss is exempt from these restrictions and the tournament can take place.

10/21/2021 – Recently, Svitlana came to Hamburg to record her new Fritztrainer: "Understanding Material Imbalances". The DVD will appear soon, probably in a couple of weeks. But this is a good opportunity for a preview, including some recent examples of the themes Svitlana presents, e.g. the entertaining topic of "Material Imbalances". At the US Championship 2021 that just ended in St. Louis Sam Shankland and Fabiano Caruana played a fascinating game with material imbalances - it ended in a draw when the queen was unable to win against two minor pieces.

10/20/2021 – All but one game in both sections of the Russian Superfinals finished drawn in Wednesday’s final round, and the one decisive game (which was played in the open section) did not alter the situation at the top of the standings table. Thus, Nikita Vitiugov and Valentina Gunina, who were the sole leaders after the penultimate round, were crowned as the 2021 Russian chess champions. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

10/20/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft takes another look at the US Championship and analyses the encounter between Alekandr Lenderman and Fabiano Caruana, a tactically and positionally rich battle, in which Caruana showed great fighting spirit. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.