9/4/2023 – Dommaraju Gukesh is currently world number eight, with an Elo of 2758. The most amazing thing is that he has just turned seventeen years old! His strongest points are the attack and deep calculation. Vidit Gujrathi, who won the U14 World Championship in 2008, is currently rated 2716. His strengths are advanced tactics and calculations. Both these Indian Super-Grandmasters have produced Fritztrainers for ChessBase, which you can get for a special summer price this week: €64.90 instead of €79.80 for both packages.

9/4/2023 – On 1st September FIDE published its new rating list. Magnus Carlsen is still the clear number one, although he only gained 4 rating points by winning the prestigious World Cup. Carlsen tops the list with a rating of 2839 points, 53 points ahead of Fabiano Caruana, who has replaced Hikaru Nakamura as world number 2.

9/4/2023 – On August 6th, to celebrate GM Helmut Pfleger's eightieth birthday, octogenarian puzzle master Werner Keym submitted two very clever little problems in two German newspapers. The puzzles, which had a unique form of birthday greetings encoded into them, were not at all easy to work out. Today we bring you the solutions.

9/4/2023 – After beating Alireza Firouzja by a convincing 3-0 score in the winners’ bracket final of the Generation Cup, Magnus Carlsen saw the youngster setting up a rematch by winning the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, a much more hard-fought encounter was also won by Carlsen, who defeated Firouzja with black in the Armageddon decider.

9/3/2023 – In this week’s column, violence and subtlety are presented side by side — violence from the Düsseldorf Rapid Team Championship, and subtlety from the sophisticated concept of zugzwang. Find here examples from games by Dommaraju Gukesh and Nihal Sarin, plus remarkable zugzwang positions, including the ‘Immortal Zugzwang Game’. | Photos: FIDE / Niki Riga

9/3/2023 – 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 141st instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and takes a look at the ideas and legacy of José Raúl Capablanca. | Photo: Pascal Simon

8/31/2023 – Daringly, Ian Nepomniachtchi played the King’s Gambit against Peter Svidler at the World Rapid Team Championship — and he managed to score a full point! In his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris analyses Nepo’s crushing victory. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

8/31/2023 – The FIDE World Cup was a complete success, as top players fought for spots in the Candidates, both in the open and in the women’s section. Magnus Carlsen and Aleksandra Goryachkina were the winners. As ever, GM Karsten Müller compiled the most interesting positions from the tournaments. Find here five instructive endgames from the open category! | Pictured: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | Photo: Stev Bonhage

8/31/2023 – World-class chess explained in video: Dorian Rogozenco shows two wins of Hikaru Nakamura from Norway Chess 2023, including the decisive last-round game against Fabiano Caruana – Sharjah Masters 2023: Analyses by tournament winner Arjun Erigaisi as well as Ivan Cheparinov, Grigoriy Oparin, Thai Dai Van Ngyuen and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan – “Special” on Hikaru Nakamura: exclusive collection of 19 encounters with detailed commentary from 2007 to 2023 – Action in the centre: Christian Braun's Anti-Sicilian recipe 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5!? - "Nakamura's strategy in practice": Mihail Marin sheds light on the US American's skills, incl. two interactive videos and a large collection of exercises – Rossolimo á la Carlsen: Daniel King recommends the cutting-edge 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e5!? for Black. - "Basic Knowledge" Part #5: Karsten Mueller reveals tips and tricks in the endgame with two pawns against one. incl. two interactive training videos and much more!

8/30/2023 – Yannick Gozzoli and Mitra Hejazipour are the new champions of France. Both won their maiden national titles. The French Championships 2023, 16-player knockout tournaments held in open and women’s sections, took place on August 18-27 in Alpe d’Huez. Gozzoli beat Romain Edouard in the final of the open, while Iranian-born Hejazipour got the better of Deimante Daulyte-Cornette among the women.

8/30/2023 – The Chess Federation of Russia has lost another top player. Nikita Vitiugov, who played under the FIDE flag after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has transferred to the English Chess Federation, where he now occupies the first place in the federation’s ratings list.

8/30/2023 – In the last episode, Chris introduced the Hungarian Dragon. This time, the British GM will continue with some deviations of the popular variation. Beware, the following game is intense! It is definitely worth it to check out the full analysis. | Photo: John Upham