1/15/2020 – In Shanghai on Sunday, the sixth game of the women's world championship between Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina ended in a draw. Goryachkina pulled out all the stops until the 105th move, but the fortress of the defending champion held fast. The match is all tied up at 3:3, and the action now moves to Vladivostok. Get up to speed on the first half's action in time for Thursday's Game 7. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong FIDE / Official site

1/15/2020 – Tonight's show will be recorded from Wijk aan Zee, very close to where the action happens. IM Merijn van Delft tackles the game from the Masters that was the talk of the town: Jorden van Foreest vs Magnus Carlsen. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

1/15/2020 – When top players try out a new opening idea, you will often find an article with analyses and recommendations in one of the next issues of ChessBase Magazine. In the current issue #193 GM Romain Edouard for example takes a closer look at Grischuk's 3.h4!? against Vachier-Lagrave's Gruenfeld. You'll find "fresh unexplored positions" like the aggressive 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.h4!? Enjoy!

1/15/2020 – Wesley So defeated Alireza Firouzja to leapfrog him in the standings table of the Tata Steel Masters and become the new sole leader before the first rest day of the event. Five players are a half point back, including Vladislav Artemiev, who took down Vladislav Kovalev on Tuesday. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen salvaged a draw from an inferior position again to set a new record of undefeated classical games. Surya Ganguly is now the sole leader in the Challengers. Expert analysis by GMs STEPHEN GORDON and DANIEL KING. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/14/2020 – Lawrence covers the early rounds of the Tata Steel Challengers in Wijk aan Zee. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's Black to move! | Lawrence is on-demand this week beginning at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

1/14/2020 – Karsten's first GM guest of the year is Dutch GM Sipke Ernst. Live at 9:00 UTC (10:00 CET; 4:00 AM EST) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

1/14/2020 – Stalemate can cause trouble. Black can win in the diagram, but not straightforwardly.

1/14/2020 – The third round of the Tata Steel Masters saw 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja take the sole lead after beating Vladislav Artemiev with the white pieces. Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest also won, while Magnus Carlsen was in trouble against Jeffery Xiong, but managed to save a half point to tie Sergey Tiviakov's 110-game unbeaten streak in classical chess. Five players are still sharing the lead in the Challengers. Do not miss the thorough analyses provided by GM STEPHEN GORDON. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/13/2020 – The "Rilton Cup" in Stockholm experienced its 49th edition over the turn of the new year. Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi led a group of five players after seven of nine rounds, and held on to finish with a winning score of 7.0/9, narrowly edging out Arseniy Nesterov on tiebreak. Moradiabadi sent us a pair of annotated games, and explained how he had to battle to keep his concentration following the sudden military escalation between his native country, Iran, and his adoptive country, the United States, which he now calls home. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

1/13/2020 – GM Simon Williams took a trip to the traditional Hastings Congress over the New Year and shares the experience. | Watch live for free (or on-demand for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).

1/13/2020 – Four decisive results, all favouring White, left five players sharing first place on 1½/2 at the 2020 Tata Steel Masters. Wesley So obtained a quick win over Vishy Anand, Vladislav Artemiev defeated his compatriot Nikita Vitiugov, Daniil Dubov inflicted Vladislav Kovalev's second loss and Jeffery Xiong got the better of Jorden van Foreest. In the Challengers, Jan Smeets and Rauf Mamedov joined the leading pack. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports; round-up show by GM DANNY KING. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/12/2020 – Last year we rivived our twenty-year tradition of giving you unusual puzzles for the Christmas holidays — puzzles that cannot be easily solved with a computer (the point of this endeavour), tasks which require you to think all by yourself. Sadly the greatest problematist, Pál Benkö, who faithfully contributed to this endeavour, could only make one contribution, for Christmas day, before passing (at 91 last August). We hope you enjoyed the puzzles and were able to solve some yourself.

1/12/2020 – It is hard to call a win by Alireza Firouzja a surprise after his stellar performance at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships — and his general good form from last year — but it is still noteworthy that he won his first ever game in Wijk aan Zee. He is joined in the lead in the Masters by Jorden van Foreest, who beat Yu Yangyi. In the Challengers, Pavel Eljanov, Surya Ganguly and Erwin l'Ami kicked off with victories. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports. Round-up show by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Official site

1/11/2020 – Chess problems have been around for over a thousand years. In the 21st century, however, composing original chess problems is no longer something that only humans can do autonomously. In this article, AZLAN IQBAL shares what the general global chess community, not just master players and composers, apparently find appealing when it comes to chess problems. Do you agree?

1/11/2020 – Chess author and publisher Bob Long has reportedly been murdered in his home in Davenport, Iowa, USA, according to local news media. ChessBase author IM Andrew Martin was a long-time friend and sent this reflection. | Photo: bobthechesser.wordpress.com

1/10/2020 – Quick trivia: Who was the strongest female player ever born in the USA? If you said Alisa Maric, you're right! She and Mirjana Maric are twins and they are both Women Grandmasters — a unique case in the history of chess. In 1990, Alisa almost played for the Women's World title and after the end of her chess career she had a successful career as an academic. From 2012 to 2013 she served as Serbia's minister for youth and sports. Today, January 10, 2020, Alisa and her 20 minutes younger sister Mirjana celebrate their 50th birthday. | Photo: Rochade Kuppenheim

1/10/2020 – Power Play in 2020! On the show today: Ju Wenjun - Goryachkina. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

1/10/2020 – Starting tomorrow the chess world will look again towards the tiny Dutch village of Wijk aan Zee. There, the crème de la crème of the chess world will drink pea soup with some very hungry young players at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which kicks off Saturday with Round 1 of both the Masters and Challengers groups.