9/1/2023 – In a wide-ranging interview, Casto Abundo talks about his lengthy career as a chess organiser, his work alongside Florencio Campomanes and the time he spent with Bobby Fischer in the Philippines. Abundo shares: “I had to play racquetball with Bobby, swim with him far into the open seas, go on long nightly walks discussing chess, arrange a date with a Filipina national chess team member he liked, drive him to the yacht of President Marcos, and watch as he replayed games from Chess Informant every night”.

9/1/2023 – In his new Power Play Show, GM Daniel King, an expert on the King’s Gambit, looks at the exciting opening by analysing Ian Nepomniachtchi’s recent victory over Peter Svidler from the World Rapid Team Championship in Düsseldorf. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

9/1/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #583, Merijn Van Delft analyses one of the wins that gave Magnus Carlsen his first-ever triumph in a World Cup. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

9/1/2023 – Two young Indian players outscored the rating favourites on the first day of action at the Tata Steel Rapid tournament in Kolkata. Divya Deshmukh (pictured) — who was included in the lineup as Vaishali Rameshbabu’s late replacement — and Vantika Agrawal are leading the standings with 2½/3 points each. Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun stands in sole third place, a half point behind. | Photo: Vivek Sohani

8/31/2023 – We talked a few times about Genrikh Kasparyan already, this time we delve a bit into his book “Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies”. At the time, the book served as a great anthology and also a small theoretical introduction to the theme. | Photo: Midjourney AI

8/31/2023 – Daringly, Ian Nepomniachtchi played the King’s Gambit against Peter Svidler at the World Rapid Team Championship — and he managed to score a full point! In his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris analyses Nepo’s crushing victory. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

8/31/2023 – The FIDE World Cup was a complete success, as top players fought for spots in the Candidates, both in the open and in the women’s section. Magnus Carlsen and Aleksandra Goryachkina were the winners. As ever, GM Karsten Müller compiled the most interesting positions from the tournaments. Find here five instructive endgames from the open category! | Pictured: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | Photo: Stev Bonhage

8/31/2023 – World-class chess explained in video: Dorian Rogozenco shows two wins of Hikaru Nakamura from Norway Chess 2023, including the decisive last-round game against Fabiano Caruana – Sharjah Masters 2023: Analyses by tournament winner Arjun Erigaisi as well as Ivan Cheparinov, Grigoriy Oparin, Thai Dai Van Ngyuen and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan – “Special” on Hikaru Nakamura: exclusive collection of 19 encounters with detailed commentary from 2007 to 2023 – Action in the centre: Christian Braun's Anti-Sicilian recipe 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5!? - "Nakamura's strategy in practice": Mihail Marin sheds light on the US American's skills, incl. two interactive videos and a large collection of exercises – Rossolimo á la Carlsen: Daniel King recommends the cutting-edge 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e5!? for Black. - "Basic Knowledge" Part #5: Karsten Mueller reveals tips and tricks in the endgame with two pawns against one. incl. two interactive training videos and much more!

8/30/2023 – Yannick Gozzoli and Mitra Hejazipour are the new champions of France. Both won their maiden national titles. The French Championships 2023, 16-player knockout tournaments held in open and women’s sections, took place on August 18-27 in Alpe d’Huez. Gozzoli beat Romain Edouard in the final of the open, while Iranian-born Hejazipour got the better of Deimante Daulyte-Cornette among the women.

8/30/2023 – The Chess Federation of Russia has lost another top player. Nikita Vitiugov, who played under the FIDE flag after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has transferred to the English Chess Federation, where he now occupies the first place in the federation’s ratings list.

8/30/2023 – In the last episode, Chris introduced the Hungarian Dragon. This time, the British GM will continue with some deviations of the popular variation. Beware, the following game is intense! It is definitely worth it to check out the full analysis. | Photo: John Upham

8/30/2023 – The Indian edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament returns for a much-anticipated fifth edition. Once again, a women’s event and a men’s event will take place one after the other. World champion Ju Wenjun will head the women’s field, while five international grandmasters will face the likes of Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa in the men’s tournament.