3/25/2023 – The third stage of the Women’s Grand Prix series, set to take place in New Delhi, did not start as scheduled on Saturday, March 25. It was reported that some of the players were not received by official transport at the airport and that, at the hotel, they were informed that the rooms were not ready and the breakfast was not included in the price. Due to these conditions, Zhansaya Abdumalik withdrew from the event. FIDE and the eleven remaining players decided that the event would take place anyway, albeit starting on Sunday. | Photo: International Chess Federation

3/25/2023 – Generally after winning a tournament in a dominating fashion, players tend to relax. That's not what GM Leon Luke Mendonca did. After clinching 27th Hit Open 2023 on the previous day, the teenager went on to defeat FM Domen Tisaj to score a perfect 9/9. Leon, who has just turned 17, performed at 3196, which earned him 26.4 Elo rating points. This is Leon's second consecutive tournament triumph this month: he remains undefeated after winning 38th ChessOrg Festival Bad Woerishofen 2023 on 11th March. Report with full post-match interview.

3/25/2023 – From the diagram position Black's knight landed by force... on the square f1! In the end it was only enough for half a point, but she had a fat chance of winning on the way. Have fun!

3/25/2023 – The 2023 American Cup Finals kicked off in exciting fashion with the first games between Hikaru Nakamura against Wesley So and Irina Krush against Alice Lee. In the open, Nakamura sacrificed his queen for two rooks in a roller-coaster game that would ultimately end in a draw. Meanwhile, Krush took a 1-0 lead after winning a very sharp first game as White. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

3/25/2023 – The participants of the European Women’s Championship in Montenegro had a rest day on Friday. After six rounds in the 11-round Swiss tournament, Polish IM Oliwia Kiolbasa is leading the standings with 5⅕ points. Defending champion Monika Socko and Estonian IM Mai Narva stand a half point back, while fifteen players are still within close reach of the leader on 4⅕ points. | Photos: Official site

3/24/2023 – The "Special" of the current ChessBase Magazine is dedicated to Anthony Miles. In addition to a collection of 21 extensively analysed brilliant games of the first English grandmaster, you will also find a multifaceted contribution by Mihail Marin on Miles' chess understanding and playing style. Marin's database of 12 games from the years 1978 to 2000 is peppered with many training exercises. For the first time for ChessBase Magazine, our author also offers two interactive videos in which you can put your strategic understanding to the test. And of course Marin again introduces the "hero" of this issue in the introductory video to his contribution - you can watch the 20-minute video here.

3/21/2023 – In the current ChessBase Magazine #212 you will find new repertoire ideas for eleven different openings - from the English Opening to the King's Indian. In his search for a suitable weapon against the Scotch, Lars Schandorff has come across a fresh idea with which Black immediately seeks active play: After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 (Schandorff's favourite) 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 7.Qe2 he recommends 7...a5!?. In his analysis, this idea has proved so successful that he even sees White facing the task of looking for new ideas in the alternative variations with 5.Nxc6 or 5.Be3. Take a look!

3/21/2023 – The series of open national competitions for the World Solving Cup 2022/23 continued this month, with events in Poland and the Netherlands. Kacper Piorun won the Polish competition, while Nikos Sidiropoulos (Greece) was the winner in the Dutch event. In Poland, eight minutes decided the winner; in the Netherlands, one subtle endgame study made the difference.

3/21/2023 – In Eugene Manlapao's previous articles, he has featured the leading players of 19th century British chess. Among them were Amos Burn, Isidor Gunsberg, and the London residents Johannes Zukertort of Poland and Wilhelm Steinitz of Austria. Another one of their great contemporaries was Joseph Henry Blackburne, Britain's strongest player for nearly three decades. "The Black Death" was always a dangerous rival to his British and foreign peers in local and international tournaments, as well as one-on-one matches. | Picture: Wikipedia

3/21/2023 – Rooks are powerful and two rooks are even more powerful, and given the chance, they can quickly mate the enemy king. In the diagram position the white rooks are passive and seem to be doomed to defend the b-pawn. But it is White to move and win. How?

3/21/2023 – Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So advanced to the final match of the champions bracket in the open section of the American Cup after beating Leinier Dominguez and Fabiano Caruana respectively. Among the women, Irina Krush and Alice Lee scored 1½-½ wins to set up a rematch from last year’s edition in the final. The losers of the day still have chances to win both events, via the elimination brackets. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

3/20/2023 – Ilamparthi A R (born in 2009) is one of the most promising talents from India, a country with a lot of promising talents. He is the U14 World Champion, India's youngest International Master and has just won the U14 tournament at the WR Masters in Düsseldorf. When Ilamparthi visited the ChessBase headquarters in Hamburg, he and Karsten had fun analysing some tricky endgames together. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.