2/27/2023 – We have reported extensively on the WR Chess Masters 2023, which ended on Sunday in Düsseldorf, Germany. Today we bring you unique impressions of the opinions and mood of the participants on the final days of this wonderful event. They were recorded by IM Sagar Shah, who runs ChessBase India and one of the biggest video chess portals in the world. Just sit back and enjoy.

2/27/2023 – A new super-tournament took place in Düsseldorf, with five vetted GMs facing five raising talents. Karsten Müller kept a close eye on the event, and sent us a number of fascinating endgames, annotated. Find here five instructive positions. Time to learn and enjoy! | Pictured: Andrey Esipenko | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/27/2023 – The 44th Finnish Championship in solving took place in the Chess Arena in Helsinki. In the close contest for the top honours, five solvers managed to score more than 50 points. Dutch GM solver Dolf Wissmann missed only 1.5 points and emerged as a deserved winner, ahead of two other GMs, Martynas Limontas of Lithuania and Jorma Paavilainen of Finland, who shared the second place. | Photos: Hannu Harkola

2/26/2023 – Professor Jerry Nash is the current chairman of FIDE’s Commission on Chess in Education. A long-standing educator who is passionate about helping others, Nash asserts in this interview conducted by Uvencio Blanco: “Chess can really positively alter the classroom environment by improving student behaviour and engagement”.

2/26/2023 – Levon Aronian convincingly prevailed in a three-player rapid tiebreaker to win the first edition of the WR Chess Masters. After quickly drawing their round-9 game, Aronian and Dommaraju Gukesh saw Ian Nepomniachtchi beating Vincent Keymer to join them in the lead. A double round-robin playoff between the three players followed. Aronian won his first three 10-minute games to secure the title. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/26/2023 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 114th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to explain why it is good to study and to play the Sicilian. | Photo: Pascal Simon

2/23/2023 – The traditional Biel Chess Festival seemed to be in danger after the city of Biel wanted to cut its subsidies. After a petition, the situation has improved and in summer the strongest "Triathlon" will continue - among others with Vincent Keymer again.

2/23/2023 – Chris Ward is showing us into an interesting endgame, which occurred between two strong US chess players a couple of weeks ago. The dragon variation, which we look at, leads us to an endgame with 7 pawns vs. 1 pawn, but with a full rook less! Which side would you rather be? At this point, the engine says = 0.00 equal position. Chris had a very similar game against Karsten Mueller once, which we also dive into, when both Grandmasters played in the German Bundesliga. | Photo: John Upham

2/22/2023 – After all games finished drawn in round 6 of the WR Chess Masters, Levon Aronian continues to have a full-point lead atop the standings. The sole leader entered a sharp line with black against Wesley So, but failed to find a couple of precise continuations that would have given him very good winning chances. Three games lasted more than six hours in a round that featured plenty of tense, imbalanced positions. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/22/2023 – In January the Russian Chess Federation applied for membership of the Asian Chess Federation and announced its intention to withdraw from ECU. Now Russian players who live in Europe and do not want to follow the RCF to Asia will be permitted to transfer to the ECU without paying fees to Russia and FIDE. They will also be eligible to play in the European Individual Chess Championship. Statement of the European Chess Union.

2/22/2023 – Berlin will host two tournaments of the Armageddon Series. In March, the continental tournament for North and South America will be held here, with Wesley So among others. In September, Berlin is also the venue for the grand Armageddon finale.

2/22/2023 – At top chess tournaments, you usually see the pictures of the players before and during the games. But there is also a lot to see behind the scenes, and the WR Chess Masters at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Düsseldorf is no exception. | Picture: Heike Keymer, Lotis Key and Sebastian Siebrecht (Photos: André Schulz)