6/2/2023 – The advance of the h-pawn on move three is certainly not in line with the basic rules of how to play the opening. But in recent years a number of world-class players have been successful with it, including Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. And just a weeks ago at the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Fabiano Caruana managed an impressive winning game with it on his way to winning the tournament against MVL. Sipke Ernst recorded a FritzTrainer on 3.h4 against the Grünfeld and King's Indian half a year ago. In the new CBM Extra #213 he provides an update with current material - you can see an excerpt of his analysis here!

6/2/2023 – Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja (photo) won straight games against Aryan Tari and Nodirbek Abdusattorov in round 3 of the Norway Chess Tournament. Magnus Carlsen, D. Gukesh and Anish Giri picked up an extra half point in Armageddon after their draws. Caruana leads the field. | Photo: Norway Chess/ Lennart Ootes

6/2/2023 – In his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris takes a look at a modern line of the Taimanov Sicilian, which Anish Giri and Gukesh recently discussed at the Norway Chess Blitz tournament in Stavanger. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

6/1/2023 – From her weekly video series "Svitlana's Smart Moves" we already know what a good teacher Svitlana Demchenko is. She is well prepared, can give clear and understandable instructions, which makes it easier for her students to understand and learn from her, and she is excellent at explaining complex chess concepts in an understandable way, which makes the learning process more enjoyable! Her latest Fritztrainer consists of a whopping 10 hours of great instructional advice on how to play the Leningrad Dutch Defence!

6/1/2023 – FIDE has published its new world ranking list. In June 2023, Magnus Carlsen is the only player with an Elo rating above 2800 and leads the world rankings by almost 70 points. The best young players, Firouzja, Gukesh, Abdusattorov and Erigaisi, are steadily improving.

6/1/2023 – From the 1st to the 6th of June 2023, as a part of the Maharashtra Chess Festival, two matches between world class players will take place in Nagpur, India. The first is between India's no.3 GM Vidit Gujrathi, who will take on the eight-time Russian Champion Peter Svidler. The second is between the top rated junior from the state Raunak Sadhwani and former World Championship Challenger Nigel Short. We have done extensive video interviews with the players.

5/30/2023 – Traditionally, the Norway Chess Tournament begins with a blitz tournament to determine the pairings for the classical tournament. The big favourite to win Norway Chess is of course Magnus Carlsen, former World Champion and the clear number one in the world. Carlsen was also the favourite in the Blitz tournament, but things did not go his way. It was Nodirbek Abdusattorov who blitzed the best. He finished first with 6.0/9, half a point ahead of Alireza Firouzja and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Carlsen finished seventh with 4.5/9 and will now play five games with Black in the classical tournament, where he, however, is still favourite. | Photo: Norway Chess

5/29/2023 – The Global Chess League is a new team tournament launched by Tech Mahindra in cooperation with FIDE. The first edition will be held in Dubai from 21 June to 2 July.

5/28/2023 – 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 127th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell". | Photo: Pascal Simon

5/28/2023 – In an exclusive interview for ChessBase, American Fide Master Alice Lee talks to chess journalist Tatiana Flores about her ambitions in chess as well as in her private life, gives some insights into her training routine and answers the big questions about her future in chess. | Photo: Alice Lee, ready for the start of the 4th day of the American Women's Cup 2023. | Photo: St. Louis Chess Club, courtesy of Alice Lee.

5/27/2023 – Dinara Wagner grabbed a full point in the final round to win the Women’s Grand Prix in Nicosia, the last event of the 2-year series. Wagner, the lowest-rated player in the field, played enterprisingly from the get go to beat Bella Khotenashvili with black. Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina both drew with white to secure spots in the next edition of the Women’s Candidates. | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

5/27/2023 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Fabiano Caruana 2½-1½ to win the ChessKid Cup, the third event of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour. It was a hard-fought Grand Final match, which saw Abdusattorov beating Caruana for a second time in the tournament. With this victory, the Uzbek ace gained a spot in the Tour Playoffs which will take place in December. Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are already qualified to the series’ final event.