2/5/2023 – It is rare to see female players take part in the open section of national championships. But 19-year-old IM Nurgyul Salimova decided to do it at the 2023 Bulgarian Championship. She scored an impressive 6/9 and edged past two grandmasters (who also collected 6 points) to finish second overall. Salimova obtained four wins, four draws and suffered her sole loss of the event against the top seed and eventual champion, GM Kiril Georgiev. | Photo: Nurgyul’s Instagram page

2/5/2023 – Alexandra Kosteniuk grabbed a third consecutive win in Munich to get a full-point lead over a 3-player chasing pack at the second stage of the Women’s Grand Prix series. Kosteniuk inflicted Dinara Wagner’s third consecutive loss. In the other decisive game of the round, Zhu Jiner beat Zhansaya Abdumalik with the black pieces. | Photo: FIDE / David Llada

2/4/2023 – By scoring six wins in as many matches, Poland grabbed gold at the first Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities. The team of Physically Disabled Chess Players (IPCA) won second place with 10 match points, while the Philippines took home bronze after outscoring (according to tiebreak criteria) three other teams that also collected 8 match points. | Photos: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

2/4/2023 – First published in 1828, ‘The Spectator’ is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. In the latest edition of the long-standing publication, an article written by Zoe Strimpel profiling living chess legend Judit Polgar was included in the Culture section. Strimpel writes: “It’s also why Judit Polgár, forty-six and one of the best players of all time, is so much more fascinating than her male counterparts”.

2/4/2023 – Yes, 24.Rxg7+! wins for White - but it's definitely a challenge to foresee the complete path to victory from the diagram position, even if it's initially paved with checks. Your perfect start to the (chess) weekend, right?

2/4/2023 – An entertaining second round at the Munich Grand Prix saw Alexandra Kosteniuk and Anna Muzychuk scoring wins with black, as they defeated local representatives Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner, respectively. Three other games, albeit not decisive, were fiercely fought, with Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli and Nana Dzagnidze showing great defensive skills to salvage half points. | Photo: FIDE / David Llada

2/1/2023 – ChessBase 17 offers many new features. We help to use them optimally! In our new video series, our developers personally explain the new features they have developed themselves. From the new data format to the beauty index. In no time at all, you'll learn how it's done. In this episode, we discover how easy it is to stream a Fritztrainer directly with ChessBase 17.

2/1/2023 – At the beginning of February FIDE published the new world ranking list. Magnus Carlsen, who continues to be clear number one, lost a few rating points in Wijk, but increased the Elo gap to Ding Liren, who lost even more rating points in Wijk and is now the world's number three while Ian Nepomniachtchi is number two. Hou Yifan is number one on the women's list and Alireza Firouzja remains the world's best junior though his rivals come closer. Best female junior is Bibisara Assaubayeva.

2/1/2023 – Most of all grandmasters were born under the sign of Aquarius. Among them romped the legends Taimanov, Eliskases and Sveshnikov. There is also a world champion - Boris Spassky. With Abhimanyu Mishra, we have not only the youngest grandmaster, but we also had Yuri Averbakh, the oldest, who died at the age of one hundred.| Photo: Pixabay

2/1/2023 – Arjun Erigaisi reached an extremely difficult endgame against Levon Aronian in the third round of the Tata Steel Masters. Many players would have collapsed, but the 19-year-old is a tough nut to crack. He held his own and managed to draw the game. After the game, you could see Arjun and Levon analysing the game, but it was all just too complex to figure out without an engine. IM Sagar Shah spent a lot of time going to the depth of the position and now shares the findings with you. Do check out the analysis to unlock the secrets of a complex knight versus bishop endgame. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

1/31/2023 – Time is important when playing chess. The time that the players have on the clock, but also the dynamic pieces and pawns develop during the game and that dictates whether to play fast or slow. Jan Markos knows how to use such dynamics to your advantage. | Photo: Michael Hofmann, Kitzingen., CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

1/31/2023 – The much anticipated Tata Steel Chess Tournament finished on Sunday in Wijk aan Zee. GM Karsten Müller, our in-house endgame expert, found plenty of instructive positions from the event in the Netherlands and shared his analyses with us. Find six such mini-lessons here. Enjoy! | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023