5/7/2024 – While the World Championship match of the 2024-2025 cycle is supposed to take place at the end of the year, players are already fighting for a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. As per the updated regulations, two places will be granted to the winners of the 2024 and 2025 FIDE Circuits (one per year). Currently, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is atop the leaderboard after winning the TePe Sigeman & Co. Tournament. A few top GMs, including Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri, have shared complaints regarding the scoring system.

5/7/2024 – It is the ability to mentally picture things. That seems the most natural thing in the world, but some people are unable to do it at all. They cannot imagine a sunset, see any vivid details, vibrant colours, in their minds. Or they may only produce a mental image that is blurry and lacks detail. Michael Bacon, the Armchair Warrior, is a USCF Expert with aphantasia. He has written about how the condition relates to chess. | Image Credit: Andrew Mason

5/7/2024 – Passed pawns can be powerful and in the endgame they are often very powerful. In the diagram position it is Black to move. How can he use the power of his passed a-pawn to win the game?

5/6/2024 – When it comes to manoeuvring, Anatoly Karpov in his best years was in a class of his own. The Slovakian GM Lubomir Ftacnik used to say: "Karpov just had to figure out where to put his pieces. Once he found the right squares, he always knew how to get them there". Manoeuvring is an important skill to master and Jan Markos helps you to master this skill. | Picture: freevector.com.

5/6/2024 – From 18-19 May 2024 the world’s top Grandmaster will play a rapid event, trying out the new Casablanca Chess Variant. Titans Carlsen, Nakamura, Anand, and Amin are set for epic showdown in a game that intends to bridge history and innovation. In this variant – not to be confused with Capablanca Chess – the game commences from equal positions inspired by historical gems. Could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship?

5/6/2024 – Why is the rook’s pawn called the "worst enemy of the knight"? How do you make best use of the "Knight Check Shadow" and when should you enter the "Karpov Distance"? In the new ChessBase Magazine #219, Karsten Mueller shows you the most important techniques in the endgame with knight against pawn(s) in part #9 of his series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge". Take the chance and test your technique in two interactive training videos in this week’s CBM reading sample. Have fun!

5/6/2024 – The Dubai Police Global Challenge Masters kicked off on Saturday with 135 participants, including three 2700+ rated players. After two rounds, 11 players are tied for first place with 2/2 points. Surprisingly, this group only includes two players belonging to the top-20 in the starting rank. The tournament is a 9-round Swiss open with a classical time control. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

5/5/2024 – One of the most interesting aspects of the Candidates Tournament was the superb opening preparation, and in particular how they managed to set each other problems which hadn’t been foreseen. This is a special skill that involves interacting with the fearsome engines not to find the “best” moves but ones which are almost as strong according to the silicon evaluation — but lower down the food chain! | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

5/5/2024 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 176th episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to take a look at the career and games of Bobby Fischer, World Champion from 1972 to 1975. | Photo: Pascal Simon

5/5/2024 – Leon Luke Mendonca was the surprise winner of the Tata Steel Challenger tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He started with 3 out of 6 points, and was lost in the lower part of the table, until he recovered with 6.5 points out of his last 7 games, to reach first place! The Indian Grandmaster and ChessBase Host, Arne Kaehler, started a video series in 2023, on how a typical day in a life of a professional chess player looks like. In the third episode, Leon talks about his own approach to learning tactics, and gives us some examples to solve! | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024

5/5/2024 – The main event of the Sardinia Chess Festival, a 9-round Swiss open featuring 11 players rated 2600 or above, took place from April 27 to May 4 on the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. An eventful final round saw former co-leaders Alan Pichot and Yair Parkhov both losing their games. The outcomes of the games on the top boards resulted in four players tied atop the standings with 7/9 points each. Daniel Dardha, who beat Pichot in the final round, had the best tiebreak score and thus claimed the title. | Photos: Davide Locatelli

5/4/2024 – Kicking off the 2024 Grand Chess Tour will be the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, the first of three speed chess events, which is set to take place on May 8-12 in Warsaw. The event starts with 9 rounds of rapid action, followed by 18 rounds of blitz. Included in the field are world number one Magnus Carlsen and the next challenger for the world crown, Dommaraju Gukesh. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes