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

11/25/2023 – At first glance, Fritz 19 is all about fun, with its quirky opponents and trophies. But there's also highly useful new functionality for serious opening training. Now, any database, opening article, or your own opening analysis can be loaded directly as an opening book to play against.

11/25/2023 – In the new episode of his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris analyses the amazing game between Nikolas Theodorou and Teimour Radjabov. The Greek grandmaster was incredibly well-prepared and crushed his opponent with the aid of some amazing sacrifices. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/22/2023 – Balanced, well-played games were seen on all five boards in the first round of the Sinquefield Cup. Leinier Dominguez was the one closest to getting a win on Tuesday, as he put pressure on top seed Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces. In the fight for the Candidates spots still up for grabs, a crucial encounter will be seen in round 2, when Alireza Firouzja will have the white pieces against Anish Giri. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

11/22/2023 – Every now and then, Svitlana talks about a new opening. This time, it is the suspicious Budapest Gambit. To Arne's disappointment - if you play the opening correctly, some variants seem to move to a very calm middle- and endgame, rather than setting the board on fire. It might be interesting to get to know the Gambit a bit better because it is actually quite sound.

11/22/2023 – Occasionally you come across a must-have chess book – here's one that we discovered that makes for an ideal 2023 Christmas present. It is written (and illustrated, with acrylic on canvas paintings!) by Sofia Polgar, the "middle sister" who in 1989 scored 8½ points out of 9 in a GM tournament with a performance rating of 2930 performance. Sofia's book, published by Russell Enterprises, was our pleasure to review.

11/22/2023 – Playing against Fritz is enjoyable because the program incorporates hidden errors. There could always be a tactical strike against it. However, Fritz 19 adds a new exciting dimension to your games: The hunt for "achievements". There's a competition for 136 different chess achievements, testing your tactical and strategic versatility. And there are rewards for it too.

11/21/2023 – The German team won 2½:1½ against Croatia in the final round, but it was not enough to win gold. Serbia had a slightly better tiebreak score after beating Greece. Bulgaria took the title in the women’s tournament, with Azerbaijan and France also reaching the podium. | Photo: European Chess Union

11/21/2023 – The renowned chess magazine "New in Chess" is published eight times a year and issue no. 7/2023 has just been delivered. With detailed tournament coverage, analyses by top players and interesting news from the world of chess. One of the highlights of the magazine is an interview by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam with businessman and chess patron Ilya Levitov about "24 Hours with Kasparov", a series of interviews Levitov conducted with Garry Kasparov and published on YouTube. Kasparov talks about his life with amazing openness, charm and even more energy, and comments on important games in his career. | Screenshot from "24 Hours with Kasparov"