5/15/2024 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave prevailed in an exciting pair of matches against Wesley So to win Division II of the Chess.com Classic. So reached the Grand Final by winning the losers’ bracket, which meant he needed to beat MVL twice to claim the title. The US grandmaster did win the first 4-game match in Armageddon, but was then defeated by his French colleague in the Grand Final Reset.

5/14/2024 – Two players from the leading quintet won their games in the final round of the Dubai Masters on Sunday: Aravindh Chithambaram (with Black against Alexander Donchenko) and Pranav V (with White against Abhimanyu Puranik). With 7.0/9 each, the Indians Aravindh and Pranav shared first place, but thanks to his better tiebreak Pranav V won the tournament. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

5/14/2024 – In his Endgame Magic Show #267 Karsten Müller has a prominent guest: Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin. They enjoy endgame highlights from Nihal's career! | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

5/14/2024 – Alireza Firouzja set up a showdown against Magnus Carlsen by winning the losers’ bracket of Division I in the Chess.com Classic. On Monday, Firouzja knocked out Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vincent Keymer to reach the Grand Final of the online tournament. The deciding match between Firouzja and Carlsen will take place on Wednesday. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

5/14/2024 – In queen endings king safety is often crucial. How can Black draw in the diagram position?

5/14/2024 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at an exciting and decisive game Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, two of the world's most promising young talents, recently played at the TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmö, Sweden. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

5/11/2024 – After scoring three wins in as many games on Thursday, Wei Yi grabbed two more consecutive wins (before signing a draw in round 9) to secure first place in the rapid section of the Superbet tournament in Poland. Going into the 18 rounds of blitz, set to take place on Saturday and Sunday, Wei leads Magnus Carlsen by a full point, while R Praggananandhaa stands at a 2-point distance from the world number one. Carlsen was the only player to remain unbeaten in the rapid. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

5/10/2024 – In their search for ways to throw their opponents off balance and create unusual positions, players such as the American GM Brandon Jacobson and Magnus Carlsen have recently tried out the so-called 'Meadow Hay Gambit' in blitz games: 1.a4 e5 2.Ra3!? An offer to win the exchange that Black cannot really refuse though White gets a surprising amount of compensation. Gambit expert Robert Ris has now made a 60-minute video course on this variation, and ChessBase readers who want to surprise their opponents with this sacrifice - or don't want to be surprised by it - can get this course for free now until Sunday.

5/10/2024 – With 5.0/6 each, the Indian Grandmasters Aravind Chithambaram and Visakh N R are still the leading duo at the Dubai Masters. Top seed Yu Yangyi, Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun and chess legend Vasyl Ivanchuk belong to the group of 11 pursuers with 4.5/6. | Photo: Aravind Chithambaram (right) at the start of his game against Vladislav Artemiev in round 6. | Photos: Aditya Sur Roy (ChessBase India)

5/10/2024 – On the second day of the Chess.com Classic the knockout rounds of the play-in were played to decide who would make it to Division I. After dramatic knockout matches Velimir Ivic (pictured), Denis Lazavik, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexey Sarana and Jan-Krzysztof Duda qualified, but co-favourites Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana will have to be content with playing in Division II.

5/10/2024 – Each issue of ChessBase Magazine honours an outstanding chess player with a portrait. The current issue is dedicated to Fabiano Caruana. Several authors shed light on the qualities of the 2018 World Championship runner-up. Stefan Liebig took a look at the issue. | Photo: FIDE

5/10/2024 – Magnus Carlsen and Wei Yi emerged as co-leaders after the second day of action at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament in Poland. Carlsen grabbed two wins and then failed to make the most of clear winning chances against D Gukesh, while Wei obtained three wins in a row to recover from his somewhat underwhelming performance on Wednesday. Former leader Kirill Shevchenko and R Praggnanandhaa stand a full point behind the leaders (wins are worth 2 points in the rapid section of the event). | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes