8/7/2024 – IM Oliver Reeh continues to inspire with the third edition of his Master Class Tactics. Once again he has selected some real gems to put your brain to the test.

8/7/2024 – Alireza Firouzja obtained a clear 14½-8½ victory over Fabiano Caruana to reach the semifinals of the Speed Chess Championship, set to take place in Paris next month. In a lopsided match, Firouzja prevailed in all three segments (5+1, 3+1 and 1+1). The youngster will face the winner of the match between Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi in the semifinals.

8/6/2024 – Chris Ward gathered not one, not two, but three beautiful Dragon examples for us. The key features in this episode are the d5 break, the Rook on the c-file, and the explosive c4 square! In typical fashion, Chris explains his thoughts, plans, ideas and more about the most recent Sicilian games. | Photo: John Upham

8/6/2024 – During the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in Astana, a player from the all-Chinese team, Decade China, made headlines: Pang Bo! The 26-year-old dominated the amateur board, winning every single Rapid game and excelling in the Blitz section. His official FIDE rating is 1400, but he has yet to play an international tournament and is virtually unrated. However, he has successfully played strong tournaments and opponents in China and is much stronger than players with a real rating of 1400. No wonder, his pawn-pushing style gave his opponents in Astana a hard time. Robert Ris shows an interesting example of how Pang Bo tackles the London System!

8/6/2024 – On Saturday, the traditional Riga Tech University Chess Festival, organised to mark FIDE's 100 year anniversary, began in the Latvian capital Riga with a blitz tournament. Indian Grandmaster Iniyan Pa won with 10.0/11, half a point ahead of German IM Jakob Pajeken. The main tournament began on Monday with almost 300 players.

8/6/2024 – In the Endgame Magic Show #278 Karsten Müller presents two fascinating endgames by Indian star Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, currently the world's number 12. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

8/3/2024 – The World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships kicked off in Astana, with four rounds of rapid chess taking place on Friday. Chessy, the team led by Richard Rapport and Haik Martirosyan, grabbed 4 wins in 4 matches, with Rapport stunning Magnus Carlsen in round 4. Decade China, led by Ding Liren, and Al-Ain ACMG UAE, led by Daniil Dubov, are sharing second place with 7/8 match points. | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

8/2/2024 – Grandmaster Krum Ivanov Georgiev was born in Pazardzhik (Bulgaria), May 24th, 1958 and passed away in Sofia (Bulgaria), July 31st 2024, after a short illness, at the age of 66. GM Kiril Georgiev wrote: >"Today is a sad day for Bulgarian chess! We lost Grandmaster Krum Georgiev. He was best known for beating the future FIDE World Champion Garry Kasparov in a wild game in the Malta Olympiad, 1980." You can enjoy the annotated game that spread around the globe.

8/2/2024 – "I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody" is a famous quote by ex-boxer Terry Malloy - played by Marlon Brando - in Elia Kazan's film "On the Waterfront" from 1954. In the film, Malloy regrets having squandered his boxing career by agreeing to fix a fight. But cheating aside, how much potential is wasted in chess, how many players could have become grandmasters had they been persistent enough? Psychologist and author Robert Howard, PhD, took a closer, analytical look. | Photo: Marlon Brando in 1950 | Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

8/2/2024 – In his new Fast & Furious episode, Robert Ris takes a look at the Sicilian O'Kelly Variation (2...a6) which has recently become more popular again. Top theoretician GM Ivan Saric launched a new idea for White which seems to pose Black some serious problems. His opponent Icelandic GM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson didn't manage to come up with a good antidote and was blown off the board in only 26 moves. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

8/2/2024 – Matthew Wadsworth defeated 15-year-old prodigy Shreyas Royal to join Gawain Jones and Ameet Ghasi in the lead of the British Championship. With three rounds to go in Hull, eight players stand a half point behind the co-leaders, including top seeds David Howell and Michael Adams, who drew their direct encounter on Thursday. | Photo: Melinda Wilde

8/2/2024 – Not long ago, ChatGPT received another update. Time for Arne Kaehler to check the AI's opinions about chess related questions. Who is the greatest player of all time? Who will win the world championship? Which nation will dominate chess in 2030? And finally, Arne challenges ChatGPT for a chess game over the board. But maybe he should wait for the next major update.