1/16/2024 – Defending champion Anish Giri joined Alireza Firouzja in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters after beating Alexander Donchenko with the black pieces. Full points were also scored by Ding Liren, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Jorden van Foreest — all three grabbed their first wins of the event. In the Challengers, six players are sharing first place with 2/3 points following a round that saw five out of seven games ending decisively. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/15/2024 – On 15 January 1930 one of the strongest chess tournaments of the time began in the Italian resort of San Remo. 16 players took part, including the reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine and chess legends such as Aron Nimzowitsch, Akiba Rubinstein and Efim Bogoljubow. Alekhine won comfortably with 14 points from 15 games, achieving one of the greatest successes of his career. His third wife, Nadasha Vasilyev, probably played a major role in this and other Alekhine successes. | Photo: Alekhine and Nadascha in San Remo 1930 | Photo: https://audiovis.nac.gov.pl/

1/15/2024 – ChessBase Magazine is breaking new ground. The new CBM #217 (January 2024) is the first issue to include full mobile access, so you can download it directly via the web browser on your iPad or tablet, enjoy world-class games with analyses by the players, learn about new opening ideas, solve training tasks or replay selected master games move by move in interactive video format. Also this week we offer you a complete CBM article from the current issue free of charge. "A promising structure against Sveshnikov" is the title of Krisztian Szabo's opening article. His recommendation: After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Sd5!? Nxd5 8.exd5 secures White a space advantage and a very good starting position. Have a look!

1/15/2024 – The term was first used by Fred Reinfeld and Irving Chernev, in 1933. It is a chess tactic in which a player, instead of playing the expected move (commonly a recapture), first interposes another move posing an immediate threat that the opponent must answer, and only then plays the expected move. Leading chess trainer and analyst, GM Efstratios Grivas, tells us how this tactical manoeuvre works.

1/15/2024 – Every chess player likes to attack. Every chess player likes to put pressure on their opponent. But when the tables are turned, and we become the target of an attack, we may feel uncomfortable, anxious, and insecure. Yet, we can save an incredible number of defensive positions if we know the techniques and rules-of-thumb.

1/15/2024 – Alireza Firouzja became the first sole leader in this year’s Tata Steel Masters after beating Parham Maghsoodloo with white in the second round — the Frenchman is the only player who started the event with back-to-back victories. Gukesh D. and Max Warmerdam also grabbed wins on Sunday. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, five players are sharing first place with 1½/2 points. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

1/14/2024 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 160th episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and talks about the David Bronstein and his famous book about the Candidates Tournament Zurich 1953. | Photo: Pascal Simon

1/14/2024 – Chess legend Vlastimil Hort turned 80 on Friday. In a short interview, he talks about when and how he learned to play chess, which player he admired the most, why he left the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and what he thinks of online chess tournaments. | See also: Vlastimil Hort, the great chess entertainer, turns 80! by Eduard Frey

1/14/2024 – For organisational reasons, the 2023 edition of the European Women’s Rapid and Blitz Championship is being held in 2024: the blitz tournament on Friday (12 January) and the rapid tournament on Saturday and Sunday (13 and 14 January). The venue is the Novotel Hotel in Monaco. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 10.00 CET (4.00 ET, 14.30 IST)

1/14/2024 – In the second Fast & Furious episode of 2024, Robert Ris once again explores complex lines in the Caro-Kann. To do so, he goes over games played by two Chinese stars: Wei Yi and Ding Liren. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

1/14/2024 – The much-anticipated Tata Steel Masters kicked off on Saturday in Wijk aan Zee. A lively first round saw four players scoring full points, all with the black pieces — Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri and Wei Yi are sharing the lead after the first day of action. The Challengers also saw four players grabbing wins right off the bat. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

1/13/2024 – The new Champions Chess Tour (CCT) season kicks off this month with the return of the Chessable Masters and a faster format. Chess.com’s premier year-long event now consists of four main online tournaments, increasing the intensity leading up to the live season-ending Tour Finals.