2/19/2024 – The experiment of preparing to win a tournament as the lowest rated player in just 30 days is running, and the first week started. ChessBase content manager Arne has to start somewhere. But where? By writing a Masterplan! With this, he can concentrate on tactics, openings, middlegames, and endgames for the upcoming weeks. Furthermore, Arne chooses 40 Fritztrainers, fools around with ChessBase 17, and the Mega Database, to study all of his opponents in the tournament!

2/19/2024 – The Arabian Karpov Cup, as part of the 1st Jeddah International Youth Festival, successfully fulfilled its mission: to present a platform for young players from the Arab and African regions to play in an international tournament, so as to increase their rating or simply to gain experience. Emirati WCM Rouda Essa Al Sarkal, aged 15, won the event after obtaining 7½/9 points and outscoring Humaidan Mohamed Alzaabi on tie-break criteria. | Photos: Diana Mihajlova and the Jeddah Chess Festival

2/18/2024 – In the United States and Canada, February is Black History Month, a tradition that began in 1926 and seeks to commemorate important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. A good occasion for US Chess National Master and renowned coach Jerald Times to draw attention to the growing number of successful black chess players and the history of black chess players in the United States. | Photo: Rochelle Ballantyne | Source: YouTube, Stanford 125, Rochelle Ballantyne

2/18/2024 – Today’s column is about sacrifices and the exchange in particular. If you’re shown a chess position cold, then the first thing you do normally is to count the pieces just to check that the material is fairly balanced. But the relative activity is at least as important. The “joy of innumeracy” might turn out to be a valuable (in)ability in many chess positions! | Pictured: Lu Miaoyi at the 2023 Rapid and Blitz World Championships. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/18/2024 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 165th episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and has the pleasure to present the attacking skills of Mihail Tal. | Photo: Pascal Simon

2/18/2024 – The Saint Louis Chess Club, U.S. Chess and Kasparov Chess Foundation announced the Saint Louis Chess Conference, which will bring together the leading voices in chess with chess educators, researchers and enthusiasts. The Saint Louis Chess Conference will be held October 24-26 at the Chase Park Plaza in Saint Louis, Missouri, and will feature leading keynote speakers including Maurice Ashley, Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgár.

2/18/2024 – The FIDE Council awarded the title of Honorary Grandmaster to Andreas Dueckstein (Austria) and Iivo Nei (Estonia) for their consistently strong results in the 1950s-70s. Nei was an 8-time Estonian who tied for first with Paul Keres in Beverwijk (later Hoogovens). Dueckstein won the Austrian national championship three times and obtained victories over the likes of Mikhail Botvinnik and Bent Larsen. | Photos: Ron Kroon and Wim van Rossem / Anefo (Dutch National Archives)

2/17/2024 – The Jeddah Youth Chess Festival was held from 24 to 30 January in this Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia. It was a celebration of youth, chess and friendship. In the Young Masters tournament, a 10-players single round-robin for rising stars aged 18 or younger, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey finished first with 6½ points. Volodar Murzin (FIDE), Raunak Sadhwani (India) and Andy Woodward (United States) obtained 6 points each.

2/17/2024 – One of the most effective ways to improve your chess understanding is to know where your pieces belong and how to adapt when the board situation changes. When there’s no forced tactics, one must formulate a plan for what to do. Instead of looking for a win or advantage, it’s often easier to identify a piece that can improve its position and function. Even improving your worst piece is a simple concept that avoids assessment insecurity.

2/17/2024 – Would you be kind enough to save the precious white passed pawn d6 in the diagram position? Many thanks in advance!

2/17/2024 – Magnus Carlsen defeated Fabiano Caruana with the white pieces to claim overall victory at the first edition of the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Chess Challenge. The Norwegian took home the US$ 60,000 first prize for his efforts. Levon Aronian grabbed third place after beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov, while Alireza Firouzja secured an invitation to the next edition of the event by beating Gukesh D in the fight for fifth place. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase

2/16/2024 – The second World Corporate Chess Championship will consist of a series of online events that will conclude with an over-the-board final in New York in June. The event is open to teams representing legally recognized companies from all around the world. Every team has a right to include one invited player who is not directly employed at the company or is a member of the board.