3/23/2023 – On March 24, the third of four tournaments in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2022/2023 will begin in New Delhi, India. Twelve players will compete, but the two Ukrainian grandmasters Anna and Mariya Muzychuk have decided not to take part, presumably because Kateryna Lagno, Polina Shuvalova and Aleksandra Goryachkina, who are members of the Russian Chess Federation but play under the FIDE flag, will be among the participants in New Delhi. | Photo: ChessBase

3/23/2023 – Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush emerged victorious in the champions’ brackets of the open and women’s sections of the American Cup. Both multiple US champions won their matches in tiebreaks. Nakamura got the better of Wesley So by a 4-2 score, while Krush defeated Alice Lee more quickly, by a 3-1 score. In the elimination brackets, Levon Aronian and Nazi Paikidze remain in contention in each of the two sections. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

3/22/2023 – We have some good news for you. The Slovakian GM Jan Markos has created his first Fritztrainers for ChessBase, and their release is just around the corner. It is time to meet your new Fritztrainer in our interview. Jan understands to break complex themes down to several rule of thumbs which are very practical for your own play. With these guidelines it seems easy to improve your own middlegame play. Jan has written a number of chess books and enjoys chess because of the game, not mainly to achieve goals. This and some of his philosophies, which he has studied all his life, make him such a popular person. | Photos: Jan Markos

3/22/2023 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. 618 games (20 annotated) from the Schachbundesliga, Meltwater Tour Tournament and the U.S. Championship, plus 12 opening surveys, 8 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Loek Van Wely, Pavel Eljanov and Luke McShane, Erwin L’Ami, Nikita Vitiugov, Nils Grandelius and Gawain Jones among others. The icing on the cake is a feature on Misha Tal with 21 annotated games.

3/22/2023 – In the most thrilling match of the tournament so far, Levon Aronian knocked out Fabiano Caruana to remain alive in the elimination bracket, where he is set to face Leinier Dominguez next. In the women’s elimination bracket, Nazi Paikidze and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova were the winners of the day and will face off on Wednesday. Meanwhile, in the champions brackets, draws were seen in both sections. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

3/21/2023 – In the current ChessBase Magazine #212 you will find new repertoire ideas for eleven different openings - from the English Opening to the King's Indian. In his search for a suitable weapon against the Scotch, Lars Schandorff has come across a fresh idea with which Black immediately seeks active play: After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 (Schandorff's favourite) 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 7.Qe2 he recommends 7...a5!?. In his analysis, this idea has proved so successful that he even sees White facing the task of looking for new ideas in the alternative variations with 5.Nxc6 or 5.Be3. Take a look!

3/21/2023 – The series of open national competitions for the World Solving Cup 2022/23 continued this month, with events in Poland and the Netherlands. Kacper Piorun won the Polish competition, while Nikos Sidiropoulos (Greece) was the winner in the Dutch event. In Poland, eight minutes decided the winner; in the Netherlands, one subtle endgame study made the difference.

3/21/2023 – In Eugene Manlapao's previous articles, he has featured the leading players of 19th century British chess. Among them were Amos Burn, Isidor Gunsberg, and the London residents Johannes Zukertort of Poland and Wilhelm Steinitz of Austria. Another one of their great contemporaries was Joseph Henry Blackburne, Britain's strongest player for nearly three decades. "The Black Death" was always a dangerous rival to his British and foreign peers in local and international tournaments, as well as one-on-one matches. | Picture: Wikipedia

3/21/2023 – Rooks are powerful and two rooks are even more powerful, and given the chance, they can quickly mate the enemy king. In the diagram position the white rooks are passive and seem to be doomed to defend the b-pawn. But it is White to move and win. How?

3/21/2023 – Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So advanced to the final match of the champions bracket in the open section of the American Cup after beating Leinier Dominguez and Fabiano Caruana respectively. Among the women, Irina Krush and Alice Lee scored 1½-½ wins to set up a rematch from last year’s edition in the final. The losers of the day still have chances to win both events, via the elimination brackets. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

3/20/2023 – Ilamparthi A R (born in 2009) is one of the most promising talents from India, a country with a lot of promising talents. He is the U14 World Champion, India's youngest International Master and has just won the U14 tournament at the WR Masters in Düsseldorf. When Ilamparthi visited the ChessBase headquarters in Hamburg, he and Karsten had fun analysing some tricky endgames together. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

3/20/2023 – The 2023 FIDE Women's Candidates Final will be disputed in Chongqing (China) from March 27th to April 6th. Chinese Grandmasters Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi will face each other in a six-game classical chess match. The winner will receive 60,000 Euros and the right to challenge the current Women's World Champion, Ju Wenjun, for the title in July.