6/18/2023 – 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 129th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to talk about the attacking and defending skills of Wilhelm Steinitz, the first official World Champion. | Photo: Pascal Simon

6/18/2023 – ‘Chess4refugees’ was the motto of the Emanuel Lasker Society Chess Culture Day, which took place a week ago in Hamburg. The event kicked off with a simultaneous exhibition given by Dr. Richard Lutz and Dr. Helmut Pfleger (final result: 20-5). In the evening, the chairman of the Emanuel Lasker Society, Thomas Weischede, handed over a symbolic cheque for €5,000 to the UN Refugee Aid and a lively panel discussion about 40 years of chess history followed with Frederic Friedel, Prof. Christian Hesse and Dr. Helmut Pfleger. | Photos: Nadja Wittmann (ChessBase)

6/17/2023 – Ahead of the inaugural edition of the Global Chess League (GCL), the league has announced the tournament’s schedule and the scoring system. Remarkably, a game won with the black pieces will result in 4 Game Points (GP) for the winning player; a victory for a player with the white pieces will see them win 3 GP. The tournament will take place from June 21 to July 2 in Dubai.

6/17/2023 – Alice Lee, aged 13, is considered one of the biggest talents in the United States. In March, she finished second in the highly competitive American Cup after narrowly losing to Irina Krush in a playoff. The youngster has now earned her third and final IM norm at the Canadian Transnational Open in Montreal. Alice Lee is in illustrious company, as the only women players that had previously earned the IM title by age 13 are Judit Polgar and Kateryna Lagno. | Photo: Bryan Adams / Saint Louis Chess Club

6/17/2023 – Although White is a whole piece up in the diagram position, he is dead lost - he simply has castled to the wrong side. How would you hunt down White's king on c1?

6/17/2023 – With five wins in as many games, Frederik Svane had a brilliant start at the traditional open event in Teplice, Czech Republic. It was only in round 6 that the 19-year-old GM, who plays for the Hamburg Chess Club in the Bundesliga, conceded his first draw, against his brother Rasmus. A win over then co-leader Evgeny Romanov left him in the sole lead with two round to go. Three players, including Rasmus, stand a half point behind. | Photo: German Chess Federation

6/17/2023 – The ASEAN Age Group Championships is an extremely important event for young kids living in the ASEAN countries. They include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar. Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timur Leste. However, if you look at the name carefully, it says ASEAN+ and the + indicates that more countries are welcome at the championships — China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. It will be held in 14 age groups from the 17th to the 27th of June 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. Along with this tournament, there is also an ACC-ECU symposium which will witness the presence of Artur Yusupov, Zurab Azmaiparashvili and many other famous names.

6/16/2023 – In a new article published on Forbes India, former world champion Vishy Anand reflects on how India has come to be recognised as a global chess powerhouse. Anand writes: “So, when I started the academy with Westbridge Capital, the idea wasn’t just to get Indians to play chess, but to see how we can get Indians to the very top”. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

6/16/2023 – In his new Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at the remarkable move ...Rg8 played in the game between Aryan Tari and Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the Norway Chess super-tournament. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

6/16/2023 – Endgame theory consists of various concepts. Unlike the opening, the theory in the endgame is not getting influenced by the computer. Knowing certain concepts will always help to understand various endgame theories. Correspondence squares is one of those must-know concepts. Is it only limited to pawn endgames? GM Sundararajan Kidambi explores a concept which he found quite complex since his childhood. | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

6/16/2023 – The Aimchess Rapid Play-In featured a number of top-notch grandmasters, who had to go through a difficult open event to fight for a spot in the next stage of the Champions Chess Tour. Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Levon Aronian and Eduardo Iturrizaga made it through in the end. GM Karsten Müller followed the games closely and highlighted a few instructive endgames for us to learn from. Find here four examples which showcase the technical ability of Carlsen, So, Daniil Dubov and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. | Photo: Alina l’Ami

6/15/2023 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation, in association with the European Chess Academy and the Trainers Commission of the European Chess Union, present the first European conference for chess trainers. The event will take place during the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament in Zagreb, the third stage of this year’s Grand Chess Tour.