10/9/2023 – Wins in rounds 3 and 4 allowed Fabiano Caruana to go into the first rest day as the sole leader at the U.S. Championship in Saint Louis. Three players are sharing second place with 2½/4 points: Sam Shankland, Hans Niemann and Abhimnayu Mishra. In the women’s championship, Carissa Yip and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova are sharing the lead with 3/4 points each. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

10/9/2023 – The Asian Games, held from 23 September to 8 October in Hangzhou, China, included individual and team chess tournaments for men and women. The winners of the team events were Iran (men) and China (women).

10/9/2023 – The renowned New York University has taken a scientific approach to the omnipresent question marks around the effects of gender bias in chess. It concludes: "This study provides the first large-scale investigation of bias against young female players and holds implications for the role of parents and mentors." | Logo: Courtesy of the New York University

10/9/2023 – Svitlana Demchenko celebrated her 20th birthday recently, marking this year's World Junior Championship in Mexico as her final appearance. She enjoyed the tournament atmosphere, and met many chess friends. In this episode, she shows us a well-prepared Italian Game.

10/9/2023 – In the new episode of his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris presents a fine attacking game Nihal Sarin played at the European Club Cup, which finished last weekend. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

10/8/2023 – The star-studded Levitov Chess Week rapid tournament saw Ian Nepomniachtchi grabbing the title ahead of Vishy Anand and Peter Svidler. GM Karsten Müller followed the games closely and found five remarkable endgame positions. Find here the compilation of his pragmatic, instructive and enjoyable analyses!

10/8/2023 – An exciting final round of the European Club Cup in Durrës saw Offerspill and Superchess grabbing gold medals in the open and women’s sections, respectively. In the open, the Norwegian team, led by Magnus Carlsen, beat Asnieres with wins by Pranav Venkatesh and Aryan Tari, while in the women’s tournament, Superchess beat Garuda Ajka in a close match, thanks to victories by Dinara Wagner and Marsel Efroimski. | Photo: Niki Riga

10/8/2023 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 146th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to take a look at the ideas and games of Alexander Alekhine. | Photo: Pascal Simon

10/7/2023 – In the second round of the US Championships in Saint Louis, Hans Niemann won with black against Sam Sevian, who had beaten Ray Robson one round earlier to take the lead. For the time being, Niemann is sharing the lead with Abhimanyu Mishra, who won against Andrew Tang. Niemann and Abhimanyu now both have a 1½/2 score. In the women’s section, a quartet consisting of Carissa Yip, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Nazi Paikidze and Tatev Abrahamyan (all on 1½/2 points) are topping the standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/7/2023 – Over 100 teams from 50 countries will take part in the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, a three-day event that starts on October 11. The championship is a part of the Chess for Freedom Program, launched two years ago to promote chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons worldwide.

10/7/2023 – The 2023 European Club Cup is taking place at a resort in Durrës, Albania, from 30 September to 7 October. Magnus Carlsen is playing for the Norwegian club Offerspill, while Superchess from Romania have the highest rating average, with Vishy Anand and Richard Rapport playing on the top boards. | Follow the games live with computer-assisted analysis starting daily at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST)

10/7/2023 – In the diagram position, Black's two centralized major pieces create a serious threat - which White did not see. He played 22.Ra4??, allowing Black to strike. How would you punish this rook move?