2/1/2026 – In this episode, Svitlana analyzes one of her own intense games from the Canadian University Championships, where she faced a 2400+ tactical rival in a long-awaited revenge match. The game began as a controlled strategic battle out of a Pirc structure, exploded into sharp complications, and transitioned into a wildly double-edged endgame where both players missed wins. Svitlana shows key defensive resources, creative practical decisions under time pressure, and two critical endgame “bluffs” that helped her hold a theoretically difficult position. After six exhausting hours and 113 moves, the roller-coaster fight finally ended in a hard-earned draw packed with lessons from opening to endgame.

2/1/2026 – Young FIDE Master Bahne Fuhrmann of the Hamburger SK has taken a close look at Harshit Raja’s new video course. In his review, he examines the Indian grandmaster’s 1.e4 course and explains why viewers who study the course can confidently open with 1.e4.

2/1/2026 – With one round remaining, the race for first place remains unresolved in both sections of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. In the Masters, Nodirbek Abdusattorov leads alone after defeating Matthias Bluebaum, while Javokhir Sindarov trails by half a point and three others still have outside chances. In the Challengers, Andy Woodward and Aydin Suleymanli share the lead, with Vasyl Ivanchuk close behind. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

1/31/2026 – Felix Blohberger set himself two ambitious goals in an interview with Arne Kähler last August: he wanted to reach 10,000 subscribers with his YouTube channel, launched a year and a half ago, and he set the magical 2600 Elo mark as the hurdle he aimed to clear as a player. He recently achieved the first goal and is therefore giving away five copies of his King’s Indian courses, published in December, to his fans. How to get the course—and how things stand with the second goal—see below …

1/31/2026 – Let's go: In part 1 of our new tutorial series, we will show you how to quickly enter and save your own games. Just follow the explanations and screenshots and gradually build up your own database of games.

1/31/2026 – With two rounds left, the race for first place remains closely contested in both sections of the Tata Steel Chess tournament. In the Masters, Javokhir Sindarov caught Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the lead after beating Arjun Erigaisi, while Hans Niemann scored a full point to join Matthias Bluebaum and Jorden van Foreest in the chasing pack. In the Challengers, Andy Woodward won and moved into sole first place after Vasyl Ivanchuk defeated former sole leader Aydin Suleymanli. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

1/30/2026 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Nagesh Havanur takes a look at the current issue, CBM 229. All games from the FIDE World Cup, 27 annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Sam Shankland, Wei Yi, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Gabriel Sargissian among others. The icing on the cake is the Special feature "Giri's Gems", offering the Dutch star's eight best games from the year 2025.

1/30/2026 – GM Chris Ward opens the Monthly Dragon with a sharp refresher on a classic Classical Dragon position, showing how certain White sidelines can be punished, especially with the key idea …Qb6 and the tactical “Zollner gambit” packed with pins, forks, and long-diagonal themes. He then moves to a second highlight: Arne’s very first Classical Dragon, played as a delayed Vietnamese Dragon to surprise a Dragon expert, with a practical discussion of move orders of h5 vs. e5. The game itself is a model attacking performance: Black builds dark-square pressure, opens lines, and finishes with a direct king hunt and checkmate. | Photo: John Upham

1/30/2026 – Matthias Blübaum is currently stunning the chess world with his performance at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. After ten rounds, he shares second to fourth place and is half a point behind leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov. In the last two rounds, Blübaum defeated Gukesh and Anish Giri, which helped him break the 2700 rating barrier for the first time in his career. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

1/30/2026 – With the final weekend of the Tata Steel Chess tournament still ahead of us, the tournament leader is Abdusattorov, followed by Sindarov, Van Foreest and Bluebaum. The latter has crossed the 2700 barrier for the first time and Van Foreest also set a new rating record. Our Game of the Week between Jorden van Foreest and Vincent Keymer is one of the most spectacular games of the tournament. Some opening inaccuracies by Black were punished in the most instructive manner.| Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

1/30/2026 – You are playing in a tournament, and have just seen who your opponent in the next round is. Do you go to your database and simply scan through to spot his strengths and weaknesses, to decide which opening to play? With ChessBase´26 you get a full dossier with recommendations in less than one minute. And you can immediately start with the actual preparation. Let GM Iniyan Pa tell you how this all works.

1/30/2026 – In the latest episode of his Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at tactics from the Tata Steel Masters, starting gently and moving up to more complex calculation. | Watch Power Play on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.