11/21/2023 – On 12 October IM Dinara Wagner sat down with international chess journalist Tatiana Flores to talk about her chess career and personal interests. Wagner also shared her impressions of the European Chess Club Cup and gave interesting insights into the support she receives from her surroundings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/21/2023 – In queen endings the better side often tries to find a hiding place for its king while the defending side tries to give checks. In the diagram position Black played 84...Qd6+? and lost. However, Black could have saved the game - how?

11/21/2023 – The FIDE Candidates tournament will be held in April 2024 in Canada. Leading up to this all-important event, one that will determine the World Championship challenger, the All India Chess Federation has announced a financial assistance to Vidit Gujrathi, R. Praggnanandhaa and R.Vaishali to the tune of Rs.20,000,000 (US$240,459). This amount will be used for their training, travel, building a team and much more. It is truly a fantastic move by the National federation to support the Candidates of India!

11/20/2023 – The 24th edition of the European Team Chess Championship is taking place on November 11-20 at the Conference Hall of Hotel Splendid in Budva, Montenegro. An open championship and a women’s championship are being played concurrently, with each event a 9-round Swiss tournament. | Follow the games live with expert commentary from 15.15 CET (9.15 ET, 19.45 IST)

11/20/2023 – With one round to go in Budva, Germany and Serbia are sharing the lead in the open section of the European Team Championship. On the penultimate day of play, Germany beat France thanks to a win by Rasmus Svane, while Serbia defeated England thanks to a win by Velimir Ivic. In the women’s championship, Bulgaria kept the sole lead by beating Poland by a 2½-1½ score. Azerbaijan defeated Greece to go into the last round a match point behind the leaders. | Photo: Paul Meyer-Dunker

11/20/2023 – For the Fritz 19 launch, we let six different players, ranging from elo 1839 up to 2614, battle the six engine player characters. Twice, the computer escaped with extraordinary swindle tactics, causing a stalemate for Elisabeth Paehtz, and Jan Jettel! The engine showed us beautiful tactical moves, to decide the outcome against Leon Mendonca, and Svitlana Demchenko. The two human victories were determined through hard fights in endgames, by Robert Ris, and Polina Karelina. Overall, the experiment was a success: We wanted fun, and entertaining games, and we got them. Now, it is your turn!

11/17/2023 – In the new episode of his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris looks at the games Robson-Xiong and Firouzja-So from the Saint Louis Rapid tournament. Both games featured a popular line in the Petroff Defence, in which Robson and Firouzja played aggressively, forcing Black to deal with a number of practical problems. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/17/2023 – Fritz 19 is in the lead again with 2.5 to 1.5. But maybe our strong club level player Jan Jettel, perhaps better known as Schachnotizen, can defeat the tricky engine opponent. You either love, or hate to play against an ultra-aggressive club player, who pushes pawns forward non-stop, and sacrifices pieces with delight. The Swindler is exactly this. In the dramatic battle with Jan Jettel, the fox character pulls off a couple of tricks in typical swindler fashion. A game, Jan will probably never forget!

11/17/2023 – Despite a last round loss Grandmaster Ray Robson ended up winning the rapid portion of the 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, with a score of 11.0/18 heading into the blitz tomorrow. Tied for second were GMs Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, both on 10.0/18, with several players (Firouzja, Nepomniachtchi, Giri, Liem) trailing closely behind with an even 9.0/18. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

11/16/2023 – Baskaran Adhiban had quite a rough start in the FIDE Grand Swiss, but that did not prevent him from returning to his trademark creative style in round six against Eduardo Iturrizaga. We don’t want to give too many spoilers, but Paul Morphy would have been proud! In Game of the Week #594, Merijn Van Delft takes a closer look at this encounter. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/16/2023 – At the age of 29 years, Vidit Gujrathi did something very special: he won the FIDE Grand Swiss outright and with it a spot in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024. In an personal conversation with Sagar Shah, Vidit speaks about what the title means to him, the role of his family and parents, and reveals his trainers. This Podcast gives an insight into the personal side of this world class GM.

11/16/2023 – The second day of rapid started off slow with ten straight draws, before an explosive final round left GM Ray Robson at the top of the standings after an important win over GM Alireza Firouzja. Heading into the final day of rapid, Robson leads with 8.0/12, while GMs Maxime Vachier Lagrave, Anish Giri, and Le Quang Liem trail closely behind with 7.0/12. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes