12/1/2023 – With a final-round win over Richard Rapport, Fabiano Caruana secured tournament victory at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis. This was Caruana’s third victory in this event, as he had previously won it in 2014 (when he famously grabbed seven wins in a row) and in 2018. Sole second place went to Leinier Dominguez, who drew Levon Aronian with the black pieces on Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/1/2023 – On October 7th, in their brutal attack, Hamas took 240 hostages from Israel. After tough negotiations some of them are being currently released. In world-wide actions people showed their support – including in chess circles. In Savion, Hungarian-Israeli IM Sofia Polgar held a simultaneous exhibition in order to show concern and solidarity. Sofia has sent us a report with some very moving pictures.

12/1/2023 – From 9 to 16 February 2024, the Weissenhaus Private Nature Luxury Resort on the Baltic Sea in Germany will be the venue for a super tournament in "Freestyle Chess", also known as Chess960. Seven world-class players, including world champion Ding Liren and Vincent Keymer, will challenge the G.O.A.T (Greatest of all Times), Magnus Carlsen, in a Chess960 tournament with classical time control.

11/30/2023 – Hans Niemann won the Tournament of Peace in spectacular fashion. The US grandmaster secured tournament victory with a round to spare, but nonetheless checkmated rating favourite Anton Korobov in the final round. Korobov, Ante Brkic and Vasyl Ivanchuk finished in shared second place, a whole 3 points behind the winner. | Photo: Official website

11/30/2023 – The Sinquefield Cup is taking place on November 21-30 at the World Chess Hall of Fame in Saint Louis. The 9-round classical tournament is the last event in this year’s Grand Chess Tour. It also plays a key role in the fight for the last two spots still up for grabs in the 2024 Candidates Tournament. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 20.00 CET (14.00 ET, 0.30 IST)

11/30/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #595, Merijn Van Delft takes a closer look at the marquee matchup between Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So from the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/27/2023 – Sofia Polgar's new book is instructive and informative. It is also generously illustrated, with acrylic on canvas paintings by the author. It is published by Russell Enterprises, and makes for an ideal Christmas gift. We have known Sofia since she was a very young girl, and tell you about that in part two of our review 0150 which also includes some of the paintings from the book.

11/26/2023 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. The latest issue, CBM 216, is out. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look. Included are 968 games (34 annotated), decisive encounters from the World Cup deeply annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Peter Heine Nielsen, Nijat Abasov, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, among others. The icing on the cake is a feature on Hou Yifan with 22 annotated games. She has just won the Julius Baer Women’s Speed Championship for the second consecutive time. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

11/26/2023 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 153rd episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and takes a look at the play of Mikhail Botvinnik. | Photo: Pascal Simon

11/26/2023 – Levon Aronian became the second player to grab a win in the Sinquefield Cup, as he beat Alireza Firouzja with the white pieces in round 5. This result allowed Wesley So to overtake Firouzja in the live ratings list, while it also reduced the rating gap between Firouzja and Anish Giri. The three players are fighting to get one of the two remaining spots in the 2024 Candidates — one will be granted via the ratings list and the second via the FIDE Circuit. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/26/2023 – Carissa Yip (pictured) grabbed her second U.S. women’s title last month — at 20 years of age! The youngster scored an incredible 8½/11, leaving the over-performing Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova a half point behind in the final standings. As ever, GM Karsten Müller followed the games closely, looking for interesting setups to analyse. Find here instructive analyses of six outstanding endgame positions! | Photo: Crystal Fuller

11/26/2023 – After eleven exciting rounds, the World Youth Championships — under 14, 16 and 18 — in the open and girls categories concluded in Montesilvano, Italy. A number of honorary guests delivered awards to the newly crowned world champions and the top-finishers. | Photos: Przemek Nikiel