9/13/2025 – In the diagram position, White has to win back the piece without to simplify the position and without letting his development advantage evaporate. What would you suggest?

9/13/2025 – Round eight of the FIDE Grand Swiss tightened the race without changing the leaders, as Matthias Bluebaum and Nihal Sarin drew quickly to remain joint frontrunners. Vincent Keymer scored his fourth win of the event, this time against defending champion Vidit Gujrathi, while Jorden van Foreest claimed his first classical victory over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In the women's tournament, Vaishali Rameshbabu's first loss of the event allowed Kateryna Lagno (pictured) to take over the sole lead, with Bibisara Assaubayeva, Song Yuxin and Vaishali now in joint second. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

9/13/2025 – GM Felix Blohberger takes the road less traveled with his two-part video course on the Réti Opening. In nearly eight hours of material, he explains the ideas he has developed for the Réti – drawing on his own practical experience. Hannes Langrock, an International Master and literary editor at a fiction publishing house, lives in Leipzig and plays for ESV Nickelhütte-Aue. He took an in-depth look at the course and now shares his impressions. | Photos: ChessBase

9/13/2025 – On 9 September 2025, Jacob Murey passed away in a care home in Israel. Born in Moscow in 1941, Murey immigrated to Israel in 1976. In 1978, he worked as Viktor Korchnoi's second in the World Championship match against Anatoly Karpov. In 2001, he became the first European Senior Champion. At his peak, Murey was among the 50 best players in the world.

9/12/2025 – On Saturday, December 6, 2025, leading educators, academics, and chess professionals will share their experiences, research, and insights on the dynamic field of chess in education. Drawing broadly on the concept of mindsets, this conference will explore the role of chess in education–ranging from fundamental concerns about curriculum, educational policy, the positive uses of failure, and the nature of play, to practical questions about classrooms and other sites of learning.

9/12/2025 – Having to play Black against the Larsen Defence (1.b3) can be quite unpleasant. This is because the white bishops on b2 and b5 love to attack the opponent's centre. In the main line with 1...e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3, Petra Papp recommends the pawn sacrifice 3...d5 4.Bb5 Nge7!? in the current ChessBase Magazine #227. If White rejects the sacrifice with 5.Nf3, 5...e4 leads to an attractive position for Black. If White accepts the sacrifice with 5.Bxe5, they must part with their bishop pair after 5...a6... Papp: ‘There are many setups against the Larsen Defence, but I particularly like the pawn sacrifice 4...Nge7!?’ Take a look at the new CBM reading sample - on your iPad, tablet, smartphone or PC!

9/12/2025 – Round seven of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss saw a shake-up at the top as Parham Maghsoodloo suffered his first loss, falling to Nihal Sarin (pictured), who now shares the lead with Matthias Bluebaum after the German defeated Arjun Erigaisi. A large chasing pack on 5/7 includes Abhimanyu Mishra, who held Anish Giri to a draw to extend his unbeaten streak to 63 games, Hans Niemann, who defeated Yagiz Erdogmus in a wild 26-move Petroff, and defending champion Vidit Gujrathi, now back in contention. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

9/11/2025 – In his latest Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft goes over a highly memorable game from the Grand Swiss. Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, aged 14, beats Aditya Mittal in an encounter which featured a number of unusual tactics and an iconic finish. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

9/11/2025 – For the second time, Hamburg played host to a unique combined chess and tennis tournament. To manage the Swiss-system draw, a specially developed combined rating was introduced. Georgi Davidov once again proved his class, successfully defending his title from last year. | Pictured: Group photo at the close of the tournament – champion Georgi Davidov with the knight in the centre, flanked on his right by organisers Christian Kalla and Kai Schönwolf. | Fotos: Eva Maria Zickelbein and Anastasiia Agapitova

9/11/2025 – Hikaru Nakamura is working to meet the requirement of playing enough classical games in 2025 to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament by rating. The world number two recently entered two state-level events in the United States, scoring perfect results in both. He won all seven games at the Louisiana State Championship in New Orleans, before adding five more victories at the Iowa Chess Open in Iowa City. These results bring his total to 29 classical games, with 11 still needed by year's end. | Photo: Nakamura's X account

9/10/2025 – The Saint Louis Chess Club will soon host the 2025 US Chess Championship and the 2025 US Women's Championship, running from 12 to 24 October in its newly expanded venue. With a prize fund exceeding $400,000, the 12-player fields feature America's elite, including Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Carissa Yip, Alice Lee and Irina Krush. Alongside the competitions, Hall of Fame inductions and cultural events promise a historic month for American chess in Saint Louis. | Pictured: 2024 US chess champions, Fabiano Caruana and Carissa Yip | Photo: Lennart Ootes

9/10/2025 – As part of the Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference, Anna Cramling will play a game of chess against Noland Arbaugh. Arbaugh is paraplegic, but with the help of a novel neurochip in his brain, he can move the pieces via a Brain Computer interface using pure thought power.