9/23/2020 – An 8x8 board with black & white pieces is water under the bridge. We take a step further and play on a 16x16 board with twelve different colours now - thanks to the beautiful "Sovereign Chess" by Mark Bates. Pretty much all the normal chess rules apply, which makes this game even easier to understand for chess lovers. But the most interesting difference is that you can take control of other colours by conquering the same coloured square! | Photos: Mark Bates

9/23/2020 – Who is better, the bishop or the knight? It depends. In the endgame, when both sides fight on both wings, the bishop is usually better than the knight. But not always. One such exception is the diagram position. Here, the knight is better than the bishop. But how does Black win?

9/23/2020 – In memory of chess legend Wolfgang Uhlmann, who sadly passed away a month ago, we translate the interview he gave to Dagobert Kohlmeyer earlier this year. In the 1960s and 1970s, the grandmaster from Dresden was one of the absolute top chess players in the world. | Photos: Dagobert Kohlmeyer

9/22/2020 – When was the first time in your life you played chess? Most probably at the age of six to eight years? Whatever the answer is, we have an adorable quiz about young titled chess masters for you. If chess is a big part in your life, which isn't a bad thing at all, you should be able to guess at least seven out of twelve correctly. Here is your challenge!

9/22/2020 – "Before you move, take a deep breath to calm down," might be good advice for nervous players, but it was definitely good advice for the 13 chess players who took part in the first "Diving Chess" tournament of the Austrian Company Sports Organisation. After all, in this discipline of chess, you can think about as long about your move as you can hold your breath. | Photo: ÖBSV

9/22/2020 – The Russian IM Semen Khanin started at the Panchenko Memorial in Chelyabinsk as number 26 on the seeding list, but after nine rounds he finished first on tiebreak. Anastasia Bodnaruk dominated the Women's Tournament and finished clear first with 8.0/9. | Photo: Galina Popova

9/22/2020 – In the last instalment of a seven-part series, Sergio Negri presents a list of the knowns and unknowns regarding the origins of chess. The Argentine researcher concludes, “For now, it might be better not to know everything yet. [...] A suggestive and primordial mystery continues to haunt us: when did the magical and millenary game of chess appeared on Earth”. | Pictured: Chess Set (Shatranj in Iranian), glazed fritware, 12th century. New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

9/21/2020 – Simon Says: Today, we look at some games the highly original and creative Richard Rapport played in the Bundesliga Team Championship that ended on Sunday. | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 14:00). | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

9/21/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a tense strategic battle from the recent Bundesliga Championship, Michael Adams (pictured) vs Vincent Keymer, that culminated in an explosion of tactics. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Ray Morris-Hill

9/21/2020 – In the last 15 years the OSG Baden-Baden has won the title of German Team Champion no less than 14 times, and in 2020 they won it again. Though it was close. In the dramatic seventh and decisive round of the Bundesliga Championship Baden-Baden only narrowly won the top match against the SC Viernheim 4½-3½. | Photo: Christian Bossert

9/21/2020 – Last week we gave you a series of chess problems which cannot be solved by computers, taken from a book called "Outrageous Chess" by Burt Hochberg. Were you able to find the out-of-the-box answers? And do you like this kind of problem? In any case, today we reveal the correct solutions and explain the ideas behind the problems.

9/20/2020 – Star columnist Jon Speelman reminisces on the days chess players indulged in a post-mortem discussion — across a table — after their game was over. Speelman also talks about the very strongest players never to become world champion, particularly two that he faced repeatedly during his career — Viktor Korchnoi (pictured) and Vassily Ivanchuk. | Photo: Mary Delaney Cooke/Corbis

9/20/2020 – Grandmaster Peter Svidler is an eight-time Russian chess champion. Svidler’s peak rating placed him fourth in the world. National Master Mike Walder annotates one of Svidler’s wins and has a recipe for a dish that Svidler likes. WIM Alexey Root tells why Svidler is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

9/20/2020 – In an appropriate turn of events, given how the tournament had developed, Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So tied for first place at the Saint Lous Rapid & Blitz online tournament. Carlsen beat the American in their direct encounter and had a one-point lead with three rounds to go, but So was not discouraged as he won his final three games to catch up with the world champion. Hikaru Nakamura was undefeated on day five and finihsed in clear third place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

9/20/2020 – The Bundesliga Championship Tournament was a round-robin, over-the-board(!) team event in which eight teams with eight players each played from September 16 to September 20 for the title of German Team Champion 2020. OSG Baden-Baden, the perennial favourites, won the event after beating second-placed SC Viernheim by the smallest of margins in an exciting final-round match. The immensely strong Baden-Baden included Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Richard Rapport in their lineup, just to name a few of their 2700+ players. | Photo: Georgious Souleidis

9/19/2020 – The Norwegian holiday resort Kragerø is a popular venue for Norwegian Grand Prix tournaments. Recently, another one of these tournaments was played, though this year under special conditions. Holger Blauhut reports about a live tournament in times of corona.| Photos: Tanja Cecilie Kveim (TCK), Holger Blauhut (HB)

9/19/2020 – The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is being held online and showcases some of the world’s top rapid and blitz players, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen and a few of the American favourites — Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez and Jeffery Xiong. The ten players are competing for a $250,000 prize fund in nine rapid games and eighteen blitz games on September 15-19. Games start daily at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CET, 14:00 ET). Express report. | Images: Saint Louis Chess Club

9/19/2020 – Zhansaya Abdumalik is one of the most promising young talents of our time. She is from Kazakhstan, a country which has experienced a huge boom in women's chess, especially in recent years. She is a multiple youth and junior world champion, known for a very aggressive and dynamic playing style. "With her lively and open manner it didn't take too long before I took her into my heart," writes IM Elisabeth Pähtz in this personal portrait. | Photo Kazinform