11/24/2021 – After 30 years, chess programs are now gradually reaching a level at which one can reasonably play against them. With Fritz 18 you have an unprecedented opportunity to train and learn sharp openings, helping you master the tactical motifs that are otherwise invisible in the 'perfect play' of normal computer games. Fritz 18 will even help you set up tactical tricks and sacrifices for you to deliver!

11/24/2021 – With the World Championship match in Dubai scheduled to kick off on Friday, we get ready for the showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi by recapping the four previous matches, which were all won by Carlsen. In the second instalment, we go over the second match between Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand. Few had predicted it, but the Tiger from Madras gained the right to have a rematch. It was a tense-packed confrontation, with a case of mutual blindness playing a big role in the result. | Photos: Anastasiya Karlovich

11/23/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent talks about Alireza Firouzja's historic performance at the European Team Championships, and looks at Firouzja's masterpiece game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov which secured him the record of the youngest player ever to reach a rating of 2800+ and made him the world's number two on the live-rating list. Lawrence will also cover the Tata Steel India Tournament and talk about the upcoming World Championship match. | Lawrence’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

11/23/2021 – On Friday, 26 November 2021, at 16:30 local time (13:30 CET, 7:30 ET, 12:30 UTC), the first game of the World Championship match between defending champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi will begin in Dubai. But who will win the match - World Champion Carlsen, since July 2011 the world's number one and with a current Elo rating of 2855 the nominal favourite, or challenger Nepomniachtchi, who currently has an Elo rating of 2782 and is the world's number five, but may not yet have realised his full potential? What do you think? | Photo: Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi at the Norway Chess Tournament 2021 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/23/2021 – In the diagram position White has a good knight against a bad bishop. But can he win? And if so, how?

11/23/2021 – After staging the highly successful man-vs-machine match Garry Kasparov vs X3D Fritz, the ever enterprising Armand Rousso launched a search engine, intended to challenge the supremacy of Google. The launch of "Accoona" in New York in 2004 had a glittering array of special guests (Kasparov, Bill Clinton). The next year Armand did a second publicity event, this time pitting the latest version of Fritz against the newly crowned FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

11/22/2021 – In the Endgame Magic Show #171 Karsten Müller invites the Austrian author, trainer, and organiser IM Harald Schneider-Zinner to show some of his most interesting endgames. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

11/22/2021 – The UK’s favourite chess festival, the London Chess Classic, organised by the charity Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC), is back for its 12th edition on December 3-12, 2021 at a brand new venue, the Cavendish Conference Centre in central London. Due to limitations on numbers imposed by Covid, the festival will look a little different this year – but the organisers are sure that chess fans will like the fantastic range of events on offer.

11/22/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris shows how the young Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi used the London System to win in only 19 moves against Sam Shankland at the Tata Steel India Tournament in Kolkata. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/22/2021 – As a chess player, Alexander Alekhine (pictured) was brilliant, but his biography contains a number of dark spots. In particular, his proximity to the Nazis has damaged the reputation of the fourth world champion. The Swiss historian and chess player Dr. Christian Rohrer wanted to find out how and to what extent Alekhine supported the Nazis, and he published his findings in an online article titled "World chess champion and favourite of Hans Frank?: assessing Alexander Alekhine’s closeness to the National Socialist regime". Detailed, fascinating and well worth reading.

11/22/2021 – Levon Aronian beat Arjun Erigaisi in the Armageddon Playoffs to win Tata Steel Chess India 2021 Blitz. The second day of the Blitz event saw several players at the top throughout the day, including Nihal, Gukesh, Levon, Parham and Arjun. However, in the end it was Aronian and Arjun who tied for the first place at 11½/18 each. Arjun was completely winning in both Playoff games, and Aronian admitted that he should have lost at least one of them. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/22/2021 – Thanks to a final-round victory over Armenia, Ukraine got their first gold medals at the open section of the European Team Championships. France came second after beating Azerbaijan, with Alireza Firouzja beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to climb to second place in the world ranking and become the youngest ever player to cross the 2800-rating barrier. Poland finished in third place. | Photos: ECU Press