3/27/2024 – At the beginning of 2017 Siegfried Hornecker, who later wanted to be called Sarah, published his first "Study of the Month" on the ChessBase website, which has appeared regularly ever since. These were knowledgeable and entertaining columns in which Hornecker introduced a wide audience to the world of studies, compositions and problems. However, it has now been announced that Hornecker died on Saturday 22 March, shortly after his/her 38th birthday, as a result of sepsis. An obituary by Martin Minski. | Photo: Martin Minski

3/27/2024 – The first two rounds of the Grenke Chess Classic were played on Tuesday at the Congress Centre in Karlsruhe. Richard Rapport emerged as the sole leader after beating Magnus Carlsen and drawing Ding Liren. Carlsen bounced back from his loss in round 1 by beating the tournament’s underdog, Daniel Fridman. | Photos: Grenke Chess

3/26/2024 – The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 is set to take place in Toronto, Canada, on April 3-23. This event marks a historic occasion as it is the first time the Candidates and the Women’s Candidates are organized together under one roof and on the same dates. The opening ceremony will take place on the evening of April 3, while both tournaments will be set in motion on April 4 at 14.30 local time.

3/26/2024 – Want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire? The Opening Encyclopaedia is the ideal tool to get things started! Offering a collection of new and updated opening articles, annotated games and videos, the Encyclopaedia will help you to build your repertoire based on personal preferences and strategic goals. Find here three ways in which you can make the most of this irreplaceable product.

3/26/2024 – It is not always easy to coordinate rook and knight effectively. Which often offers possibilities for the defender. In the diagram position Black is a knight down, but he still has a way to draw the game. What should he do?

3/26/2024 – Yochanan Afek, International Grandmaster of chess composition, has been providing us with articles for decades. He lives in Amsterdam, where Sagar Shah caught up with him and conducted a 90-minute interview, discussing some of the great problem compositions that we have from him. We have the puzzles in a replay board, where you can follow the discussion, using the built-in engine to answer residual questions you might have. Very entertaining and instructive.

3/26/2024 – After it set off from India, the Chess Torch relay — which will travel the world celebrating the first centenary of FIDE — has reached the African continent. The torch arrived in Ghana’s capital, Accra. Highlighting the transformative power of chess in education, Seth Panwum, Chairman of Ghana’s National Sports Authority, remarked: “We want to develop the best versions of our young ones, and we see that chess in education can play a great role in it”. | Photos: Niki Riga

3/25/2024 – A young Chinese girl, Lu Miaoyi, made a big impression in the Reykjavík Open 2024. Her mother, Xu Yuanyuan, is also a Woman Grandmaster. It is already clear that her 14-year-old daughter will soon overtake her and win the IM title and then the title of grandmaster. | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir / Reykjavik Open

3/25/2024 – “Everyone has been waiting for this chess festival”, writes Alex Winkler in a press release from the organisation of the GRENKE Chess Classic and the GRENKE Chess Open. Six international stars, including Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer, will compete in the Classic, which starts tomorrow, Tuesday 26 March, while over 2500 players will take part in the Open. But last-minute entrants can still take part: the registration is still open!

3/25/2024 – Take a look at this picture. It is not a Hollywood star, but a chess celebrity. Can you recognize him? Capablanca, Nezhmetdinov, Frank Marshall? No, not any of them! The answer is Andor Lilienthal, an extraordinary chess grandmaster, born in Moscow, but moved to Hungary. In his career, he played against ten world champions, and defeated six of them. Retrospect by Himank Ghosh. | Photo: Edward Winter's Chess Notes archives.

3/25/2024 – We owe the vast majority of chess knowledge available to us today to the masters of the past, no matter whether it's about opening theory, strategic concepts or techniques in the endgame. Former German national coach Dorian Rogozenco honours the achievements by these masters in his "Modern Classics" series in ChessBase Magazine. In each issue he familiarises you with a selected brilliancy. This week we offer you Nezhmetdinov-Chernikov (1962) from the current CBM #218 as a free sample - you can even watch and enjoy the video analysis on your smartphone in ChessBase book format. Have fun!

3/25/2024 – Dutch IM Robert Ris is a much sought-after coach in his home country and is also a very prolific author. Mario Ziegler took a look at his latest FritzTrainer — one focused on tactics — for Glarean Magazine. “Calculation Training - Sharpen your Game” is a nice collection of new tactics exercises. The reviewer concluded: “Robert Ris has a pleasant style of presentation and responds to the reader’s probable solution suggestions”.