5/3/2023 – After his surprise win of the 2023 World Championship in Astana, Chinese GM Ding Liren spoke to 15 different Chinese media outlets, and "did not sleep a minute all night." He also spoke to the British newspaper The Guardian and the Spanish El País. As did Ian Nepomniachtchi. Here are some revealing excerpts from those stories.

5/3/2023 – During the World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi the new World Champion Ding Liren had a number of helpers in Astana. But as Ding revealed in an interview with Leontxo Garcia in the Spanish newspaper "El País", in critical moments of the match Ding also received help by thoughts and words of Louise Glück, American poet and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize of Literature, and by the "Concept of Resistance" by the French philosopher and author Albert Camus, winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize of Literature. | Photo: Stev Bonhage

5/3/2023 – One of Robert Ris long-time students is Eline Roebers, who advanced from a chess beginner to an International Master. Ris has a clear message - if you are new to chess, and want to get better - learning how to calculate is key! This is why his calculation Fritztrainers are so popular. Two new ones were published very recently - time to ask the Dutch IM about the "making of" these courses. Robert shared interesting insights and also showed a number of nice examples!

5/2/2023 – The sixth edition of the Salamanca Chess Festival took place on April 25-29. The Masters Tournament was the main event, with eight players (four men and four women) fighting in a single round-robin event. The time control was 40 minutes plus 5-second increments. Kirill Alekseenko and Jaime Santos were the top scorers with 5½ points. Alekseenko was declared champion based on tiebreak criteria. | Photo: Official site

5/2/2023 – Last week we presented a Computer Challenge. It's a position in which even the best chess engines will not find the solution — even if you run them for a very long time. Our readers were asked to come up with the logic and strategy of the solution themselves, and then confirm everything with the help of the computer. The result: success? Here is the full truth on the historical endgame puzzle.

5/2/2023 – The world's chess elite did not play too many classical games in April, so there were no major changes at the top of the world rankings. However, the FIDE World Championship match, which ended on the last day of April, affected the list: Ding Liren gained one point (new: 2789, 3rd place), Ian Nepomniachtchi lost one point (new: 2794, 2nd place). But with a rating of 2853, Magnus Carlsen - though no longer World Champion - is still the clear number one.

4/29/2023 – The Satty Zhuldyz rapid and blitz tournament took place in Astana as a side event of the World Championship match. A number of international chess stars participated. Karsten Müller followed the games, looking for endgame highlights. Find here five instructive positions, with on-point analysis by our in-house endgame expert. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

4/29/2023 – By playing the powerful 22.Rxe4! dxe4 23.Nxe4 in the diagram position, White gained a decisive attack, with magnificent checkmate patterns on the horizon. You can really let off steam here - enjoy!

4/29/2023 – Svitlana is finally back, and brought us one of her games of the Canadian Women's Closed, which she won! In the example, she played against the Giuoco Piano with Black, and presents us plenty of opening ideas, plans, and strategies, on how to win against this opening with the Black pieces. You need to watch to the end because the last tactic which decided the game is brilliant!

4/28/2023 – A new world chess champion is about to be crowned. Game 14 of the match facing Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren will be played on Saturday. The score is tied, so a draw will lead to a rapid playoff on Sunday. As a preview to what is likely to become a memorable weekend for chess fans, Robert Ris recaps similar deciding encounters, focusing on the 2010 match in Sofia — the score was also tied, and defending champion Vishy Anand beat Veselin Topalov with the black pieces to keep the title!

4/28/2023 – Recently the brillant Grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion Ruslan Ponomariov visited Hamburg to record his first FritzTrainer, and Arne Kähler used the chance to interview him. Throughout the conversation Ponomariov offered invaluable insights into his chess journey and the key moments that have shaped his career, but he also talked about his personal life, the books he reads and how he spends his time in the Basque sun. As an added treat, the Grandmaster also presented a thrilling game where he emerged victorious against the formidable Vassily Ivanchuk.

4/28/2023 – WR Masters 2023: The tournament winner, Levon Aronian, comments on two of his games. Plus analyses by Keymer, Duda and others. Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa each present one of their games in video! - European Individual Championship 2023: The winner Sarana comments on his groundbreaking game against Korobov, plus analyses by Shevchenko, Esipenko, Ponomariov and many others - "Special" on Vishy Anand: exclusive collection of 26 annotated games + contributions on strategy and endgame - French Gambit á la Carlsen: Sergey Grigoriants examines 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6!? – 0-0-0 against Bogo-Indian: Spyridon Kapnisis shows how White gets good play after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.a3, long castling not excluded! – “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge” Part 3: King and Pawn against King and much more!