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

1/31/2023 – From 29 January to 5 February, Belgrade will host the 1st Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities. Thirty-three countries and three international teams have registered to take part in this team competition. The German Grandmaster Thomas Luther opened the tournament.

1/31/2023 – In the middle of the Chilean summer, at the end of December, the 8th International Chess Festival was held in Arica. Over 100 players from 11 countries participated. The Argentine GM Sandro Mareco won the Open in the "City of Eternal Spring" on tiebreak, GM Cristobal Henriquez from Chile finished second. Read more about town and tournament... | Photos: Organiser

1/31/2023 – On TikTok these two young ladies asked strangers on the street to guess what they did for a living. Model? Artist? Dancers? Cheerleaders? Gymnasts? Architect? TikTok twins? All wrong! We ask you to guess, just looking at this picture. The answer is provided in a video of their street side quiz, one that has been watched 8½ million times.

1/31/2023 – Pawn endings must be calculated very precisely. In the diagram position it is Black to move, and with precise calculation he could have saved the draw. What should he do?

1/30/2023 – In the latest version of ChessBase, there are some huge changes to the software, modifications which add significant improvements to the software! The two main programmers, Matthias Wüllenweber and Mathias Feist, have implemented a completely new file format, added beauty filters and medals, a fast interactive search, and much more! IM Sagar Shah takes you through all the new features of ChessBase 17 along with relevant screenshots and video instructions on how to make full use of the new features. | Thumbnail: Abhyudaya Ram

1/30/2023 – In his Endgame Magic Show #225 Karsten shows endgame highlights of the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

1/30/2023 – With Sara Khadem Iran has lost another top chess player. The 2018 rapid and blitz vice world champion has moved to Spain with her family, but plans to continue playing under the Iranian flag. The well-known Spanish journalist Leontxo Garcia met with her and published a portrait of the young Iranian woman in the Spanish newspaper "El Pais". | Photo: El Pais

1/30/2023 – The second event of the 2022-2023 Women's Grand Prix Series will kick off on Thursday in Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria. Twelve of the world's top female players will dispute an eleven-round all-play-all with their eyes set on the 15,000 euros first prize plus the valuable WGP points that add up for direct qualification to the 2023-2024 FIDE Women's Candidates.