3/8/2024 – Freestyle Chess, formerly known as Chess960 or Fischer-Random, has recently shot into spotlight after eight of the world’s top grandmasters played in a recent tournament conducted in Weissenhaus, Germany. But what made this so intriguing, and what parallels can be drawn between regular chess and Freestyle? And: how can I train Freestyle using my current ChessBase software?

3/8/2024 – Chess players have certainly heard of Daniel Fernandez, who has already published a couple of Fritztrainers for ChessBase. But recently, non-chess players also got to know him because of a YouTube video with the title - "We Used An Adult Toy To Beat A Chess Grandmaster". How did this video happen? Are chess players cheating more often nowadays? And why can Daniel speak at least five languages, and helped out in a koala sanctuary? This, and many more questions, you can see in the interview with the English Grandmaster.

3/7/2024 – The sixth edition of the Prague Chess Festival came to an end in the capital of the Czech Republic. Nodirbek Abdusattorov had already secured tournament victory in the Masters after the penultimate round. Meanwhile, the Challengers saw Ediz Gurel, aged 15, beating Anton Korobov to win the tournament outright. The prodigy also became the youngest-ever Turkish player to get the GM title. | Photo: Anezka Kruzikova

3/7/2024 – Magnus Carlsen has been the World #1, since 2011! Apart from his tremendous chess talent, he also has a relatively higher HRV: his heart rate is typically between 75 bpm – 95 bpm, which enables him to balance alertness (for tactical danger and opportunities) and calmness (to optimize logical thinking and decision-making)! Calm heartbeats during critical moments lead to better decisions!

3/7/2024 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the sixth champion of the prestigious chess festival. In the process the the 19-year-old Usbek grandmaster rose to the fourth position in the world live ranking, ahead of the reigning world champion Ding Liren. All games of the final round were drawn, and can be replayed, with engine commentary, in this report. You can also watch the live commentary by ChessBase India, if you missed it.

3/7/2024 – Greek grandmaster Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis is on the verge of victory at the Karel Janecek Open, which is being held as part of the Prague Chess Festival. With one round to go, he has 7.5 out of 8, and is one point ahead of six players with 6.5 out of 8. In round 8, Kourkoulos-Arditis scored an important win with Black in a theoretically interesting and tactically rich game. | Photo: Johannes Fischer

3/7/2024 – The Philidor Defence is celebrated for its historical significance and varied tactical approaches, including the aggressive early f5 push and the more dubious line involving an early d4 pawn exchange and fianchetto. This video course, by GM Christian Bauer, shows the Philidor Defence's main positions and White's significant deviations, highlighting the nuanced manoeuvres in a semi-closed middlegame that challenge White's comfort.

3/7/2024 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft delves into the depths of modern theory and looks at a Grünfeld line that Daniil Dubov and Anish Giri discussed at the Shenzhen tournament. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

3/7/2024 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov claimed overall victory at the Prague Masters with a round to spare after prevailing in a wild encounter against Parham Maghsoodloo. The Uzbek GM’s 6/8 score in the Czech capital allowed him to gain 15.5 Elo points and climb to fourth place in the live ratings list. Round 8 also saw Gukesh beating Vincent Keymer. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, Jaime Santos defeated Anton Korobov and is now sharing the lead with Ediz Gurel. Gurel’s draw with Erwin l’Ami secured him a third and final GM norm. | Photo: Anezka Kruzikova / Prague Chess Festival

3/6/2024 – Yevhenii Yelieiev is an International Master, German U25 Champion, and a short while ago he invited the public to join him on his "Journey to Grandmaster" on YouTube. As part of this journey he offers training and training advice and also checks training materials. In a recent video he wondered whether "Do you really need to buy ChessBase in 2024?" - and answered this question with a resounding "Yes".

3/6/2024 – Step into the world of chess brilliance with Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest chess grandmaster in history! At just twelve years old, Mishra captivated the chess world with his exceptional talent and unwavering dedication. In an exclusive interview at the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy, Abhimanyu shares insights into his remarkable journey, including his experience training with the legendary Garry Kasparov.

3/6/2024 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov bounced back from his round-6 loss by beating Vincent Keymer at the Masters section of the Prague Chess Festival. Thus, Abdusattorov continues to be the sole leader with two rounds to go. Parham Maghsoodloo got the better of Vidit and now stands in sole second place. In the all-Indian confrontation between Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh (pictured), the latter escaped with a draw in a 91-move game. Meanwhile, Anton Korobov caught Ediz Gurel in the lead of the Challengers. | Photo: Petr Vrabec