4/18/2024 – An exciting round of chess saw Ian Nepomniachtchi winning a rollercoaster game against Vidit Gujrathi to regain the sole lead at the Candidates Tournament in Toronto. Nepo stands a half point ahead of Gukesh D, the former co-leader, and Hikaru Nakamura, who obtained a remarkable victory over direct contender Praggnanandhaa R. With three rounds to go, we can expect more thrilling games in the fierce fight to become the challenger in the next match for the World Championship. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/17/2024 – Defending champions Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova won the 55th edition of the Italian Team Championship, but had to work hard to do so. They only won the final against ASD Pedone Isolano in the second tie-break. However, ASD Pedone Isolano won the women's title (photo). | Photos: Matteo Zoldan

4/17/2024 – "I am a big fan of Aron Nimzowitsch," writes IM Zoran Petronijevic, who works as a chess trainer and lives in Nis (Serbia). "In yesterday's game Firouzja-Nepo, I found some ideas by him. We can often read that the study of the classical heritage of chess is completely unnecessary for advancing in chess, that the games of the classics are outdated, and that there is no (or almost no) benefit from them. I deeply disagree with that."

4/17/2024 – Lei Tingjie scored a fourth win in five rounds to join Tan Zhongyi in the lead of the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Toronto. Lei defeated direct contender Aleksandra Goryachkina with the black pieces. With four rounds to go, the Chinese leading duo stands a full point ahead of Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno. Meanwhile, one more game ended decisively on Monday, with Vaishali R first surviving a losing position and then managing to beat Nurgyul Salimova. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/16/2024 – Jan Markos is a Slovakian grandmaster and successful author. In addition to several books, he has now recorded a much acclaimed Fritztrainer course. Stefan Liebig spoke to the author and trainer about the secrets of effective chess training.

4/16/2024 – We have seen them, haven’t we? The howlers? Amateurs and professionals alike in the aftermath of a game, trying to explain their blunder, shaking their heads in disbelief, scratching their brows, sighing while trying to come up with a rational explanation. Blunders happen because humans are fallible and ill-founded impulses prove stronger than the ability to abort them – as is explained in this scientific paper.

4/14/2024 – Two decisive games in Saturday’s eighth round had a big impact on the standings of the Candidates Tournament. Gukesh D beat Vidit Gujrathi to retake the shared lead (with Ian Nepomniachtchi), while Hikaru Nakamura defeated Fabiano Caruana to climb to shared third place, a half point behind the co-leaders. This was Nakamura’s fourth consecutive classical win with the white pieces over Caruana. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/13/2024 – The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) opened “Clash for the Crown: Celebrating Chess Champions”, an all-new exhibition on April 11, 2024. The exhibition explores the histories of the World Chess Championship and Women’s World Chess Championship through a display of artifacts from the collection of the WCHOF, FIDE and loans from world chess champions including World’s No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and private lenders.

4/13/2024 – In the diagram position White had very good reasons to play 26.Rh6! Do you see what White threatens with this move?

4/12/2024 – In Endgame Magic Show #262, Karsten Müller analyses games from the Bundesliga, the German team championship, a huge round-robin event with 16 teams of eight players each. Many of the teams are backed by sponsors, and thanks to good fees and the fact that there's no limit to the number of non-German players in each team, some of the world's best players regularly represent German teams in the Bundesliga. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

4/12/2024 – The frontrunners in the Women’s Candidates Tournament faced each other in round 7, with Tan Zhongyi keeping the lead after holding Aleksandra Goryachkina to a 40-move draw with the black pieces. The one decisive game of the day saw Lei Tingjie beating Vaishali R. This was Lei’s second win in a row, which leaves her tied for third place with 4/7 points. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/12/2024 – Arne recently played in a chess tournament, and one of his opponents played the unusual 1.f4, which was quite a surprise. Sadly, he didn't film this Smart Moves episode before the tournament, to get to know the surprising answer Nh6!? The so called - Horsefly Defence in the Bird Opening. Even the engines think that this counter is absolutely legit, and the Mega Database shows excellent results as well. Svitlana shows, why it is a powerful move!