1/25/2023 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov grabbed the lead at the Tata Steel Masters in round 5, and has topped the standings ever since. In Tuesday’s round 9, however, he could have been caught by Anish Giri, who got the better of Ding Liren in a sharp encounter. The Dutchman would be now in the shared lead had Vincent Keymer made the most of his advantage against Abdusattorov — the Uzbek defended resourcefully, though, and the game ended in an 89-move draw. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

1/24/2023 – The first Monthly Dragon in 2023 is ready, and our Dragon aficionado GM Chris Ward found some interesting games in the Yugoslav attack for us. This month we take a look at 9. 0-0-0 d5 where White ignores the central pawn tension and instead immediately swaps knights on c6 and then seeks to trade off the Dragon bishop via Bh6. This ultra-direct approach with a swift h-file assault in mind has been around for decades but has recently come back into fashion. Needless to say it’s far from one-way traffic though as Black certainly has his own attacking aspirations in another no-holds-barred encounter of thrills and spills! | Photo: John Upham

1/24/2023 – Dutch author and International Master Willy Hendriks just published "The Ink War: Romanticism vs Modernity in chess". The book analyses the rivalry between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, who in 1886 played the first official World Championship match. But Hendriks also looks at chess history and challenges a number of accepted views about chess improvement and the development of chess knowledge. In an interview with Johannes Fischer Hendriks talks about Steinitz, Zukertort, chess history, the pleasures of studying the classics, and why studying the openings helps you to improve in chess.

1/24/2023 – The much anticipated Tata Steel Chess Tournament is underway in Wijk aan Zee. GM Karsten Müller, our in-house endgame expert, continues to find instructive positions from the event in the Netherlands and shares his analyses with us. Find six such mini-lessons here. Enjoy! | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

1/24/2023 – The full pairings for every round of the upcoming Women's Grand Prix Munich 2023 have been announced. The second leg of Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23 will take place in Munich from February 1-14, 2022. Twelve players will compete in a round-robin tournament.

1/24/2023 – Pestering the enemy king with checks is an important defensive technique in rook endings. But while giving checks the defending side should not forget that it is often more important to prevent the enemy king from finding a safe escape. In the diagram position it is White to move and draw. How?

1/23/2023 – In his Endgame Magic Show #224 Karsten shows endgame highlights of the Sunway Sitges Open. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

1/23/2023 – ChessBase India turned 7 years old on 18th of January 2023. The little baby is growing up pretty quickly. In this article, the CEO and co-founder of ChessBase India, IM Sagar Shah writes about the work done by the ChessBase India team in the last 365 days. There is so much to tell that we are splitting Sagar's report into two parts.

1/23/2023 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov continues to lead the Tata Steel Masters going into the second rest day of the event. The number of players chasing him a point back has been reduced from four to two, though, as Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana lost their games on Sunday. Notably, Caruana was defeated by Magnus Carlsen, who recovered from his losses in rounds 4 and 5 by scoring back-to-back wins over the weekend. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

1/22/2023 – Thanks to dedicated individuals who follow their own heart’s pursuits, ancient chess variants are still alive today. An overwhelming number of enthusiasts and associations throughout the world cultivate old variants and other board games. Among them is Greg Myers, founder of the ‘Tamerlane Chess Club’ in Jamestown, New York.

1/22/2023 – 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 109th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to explain why it is good to study and to play the Sicilian. | Photo: Pascal Simon

1/22/2023 – The photo shows the tournament hall of the Hoogovens tournament 60 years ago, at that time still in Beverwijk. 18 players took part in the A-tournament and Jan Hein Donner won. One of the participants at that time was Tan Hiong Liong. He was one of the first IMs of Asia - a bright star that soon burnt out for tragic reasons. A journey through time... | Photos: Dutch National Archive (if not otherwise stated)