1/4/2023 – The 3rd World Chess Championship between Wilhelm Steinitz and Isidor Gunsberg that ran from December 9, 1890 to January 22, 1891 was a closely fought match. At the end of 19 games, Steinitz emerged victorious, 6-4, to retain his title. Gunsberg's good result in this match was no coincidence. Gunsberg was one of the strongest players of his time though today he is almost forgotten. Eugene Manlapao takes a look at the life and career of this relatively unknown World Championship challenger. | Photo source: Wikipedia

1/4/2023 – The theme of “decision-making” is an essential part of every chess game. At every moment of the game, you must make a decision that is not only tactical; as psychology, structural preferences, positional basics and good variation calculation are all part of the process of making the right decision.

1/4/2023 – October saw the start of the new Bundesliga season. In ChessBase Magazine #211 participants from various teams comment on their games from the first rounds, including the stars from the cover - Pavel Eljanov, Loek van Wely and Luke McShane - as well as Nils Grandelius, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Ivan Saric, Ivan Cheparinov, Gawain Jones, Nikita Vitiugov, Erwin L'Ami, Dennis Wagner, Daniil Yuffa, Georg Meier, Jan-Christian Schröder, Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Michael Prusikin. In addition, David Navara presents his game against Luke McShane in a detailed video analysis and Rustam Kasimdhzanov reviews his Black victory against Julian Kramer, also in the video. "The Analysis" of the issue comes from Erwin l'Ami – A Queen’s Gambit Accepted in which the Dutch GM actually had his opponent perfectly pegged out. Enjoy!

1/4/2023 – The cosmopolitan city of Almaty saw Magnus Carlsen adding two world titles to his collection, while Tan Zhongyi and Bibisara Assaubayeva took home gold medals in the women’s events. With so much chess being played in a span of five days, Karsten Müller had no trouble finding remarkable endgames to share with us. Find here six instructive positions to learn and enjoy! | Pictured: Vincent Keymer trying to make the most of his good knight against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s bad bishop. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

1/3/2023 – Of all traditional chess tournaments that still take place, the Chess Congress in Hastings has the longest tradition. This year, it sees its 96th edition. To celebrate the event, James Bacon, the mayor of Hastings, opened the tournament in his official attire. After the first six rounds Sarunas Sulskis from Lithuania leads with 6.0/6.

1/3/2023 – When we see a child playing chess, it is easy for us to associate such activity with the development of important cognitive skills. Chess is perceived as a way to improve logical reasoning and the ability to solve complex problems. However, what level of scientific verification have we obtained so far on this issue? Peruvian psychologist Percy Guzman carried out an experimental study to elucidate these questions. | Photo: Nadja Wittmann

1/3/2023 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) celebrated its 20th anniversary this year with a gala on November 16th. However, the gala event was not the last event of the year as there was one more work session left. In the week before Christmas, from December 16-18, Garry Kasparov trained six talented youngsters, who had an average age of 13 and an average Elo rating of 2490. | Photos: Kasparov Chess Foundation

1/3/2023 – In the diagram position White is a piece up but if Black plays correctly White cannot win - after an exchange of queens White often lands in a position in which he has the h-pawn and the "wrong" bishop. But how should Black proceed in the diagram position?

1/2/2023 – The Rilton Cup in Stockholm celebrates its 50th anniversary. The tournament is now one of the top international tournaments through which players can qualify for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. After five rounds, 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster Raja Rithvik is sole leader with 4.5/5. | Photo: Dana Reizniece starts the round (Photos: Rilton Cup)

1/2/2023 – In the Endgame Magic Show #221 - the first in 2023 - Karsten shows entertaining endgame highlights from the Tata Steel India Tournament 2023. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

1/2/2023 – The exodus of Russian chess players continues. In 2024 Alexandra Kosteniuk will play for Switzerland. The top Russian player and Women's World Champion from 2008 has both Russian and Swiss citizenship, and in 2013 Kosteniuk won the Swiss Championship (in the open tournament). | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

1/2/2023 – Today, ChessBase India CEO Sagar Shah wants to touch on a subject that has been playing around on his mind, and to which he has no concrete answers. Is chess levitating towards shorter time formats. Are sponsors driving this trend? And will classical chess be abandoned? "I just want to put the question out there, maybe our readers can see why I feel a bit confused as a chess fan," Sagar says.