12/4/2019 – Opening novelties in the Najdorf made IM Merijn van Delft stand up and take notice this week, and he focuses on a game by fan-favourite Vassily Ivanchuk. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is on-demand this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

12/4/2019 – FIDE's Women's Grand Prix in Monaco started with a solitary win by Skolkovo GP winner Humpy Koneru. She had to fight for over five hours against Valentina Gunina from an inferior position to score a victory after enduring the longest grind of the day. Pia Cramling made a good start against Alexandra Kosteniuk but she missed capitalizing on good opportunities and eventually ended up making a draw. The World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina held World Blitz Champion Kateryna Lagno, Harika Dronavalli met her match in the form of Nana Dzagnidze, FIDE GP 2019-20 debutant Zhao Xue held Elisabeth Paehtz and the Muzychuk sisters made a peaceful draw in round 1. Photo: Karol Bartnik / FIDE

12/4/2019 – Two more draws were signed on Tuesday at the Grand Chess Tour semi-finals in London. Magnus Carlsen once again looked to surprise Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the opening, to which the Frenchman responded with cautious play. Meanwhile, Ding Liren found himself in an inferior position in his game with White, but Levon Aronian was not in physical conditions to push for more. Rapid and blitz games will decide the finalists on Wednesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/3/2019 – From London IM Lawrence Trent is on the scene at both the Grand Chess Tour Finals and the London Chess Classic ancillary events, and brings you his take in this Weekly Show. | 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.

12/3/2019 – Today Karsten welcomes GM Roeland Pruijssers and IM Nico Zwirs. Live at 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET; 9:00 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!

12/3/2019 – The endgame K+R+B against K+R is a theoretical draw. Therefore, the better side should take good care of its pawns before this endgame is reached.

12/3/2019 – Alexandra Kosteniuk won the women's European Rapid Chess Championship on tiebreak score ahead of Olga Girya after both finished with 9/11. Five players ended up a full point behind, with former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova getting third place. | Photos: European Chess Union

12/3/2019 – Two very different draws set the GCT semi-finals in motion at the Olympia Conference Centre in London. Levon Aronian played it safe with White against Ding Liren as he did not feel well after a bad night's sleep, while Magnus Carlsen decided to challenge Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a rare line of the Sicilian Najdorf. The draw signed by the world champion and the Frenchman was as memorable as it was complex. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/2/2019 – Studies are on the menu this week with GM Simon Williams. Solving and analysis. 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).

12/2/2019 – The Tata Steel Chess India 2019 was held from November 22nd to the 26th, 2019 in Kolkata, India. It was truly a trailblazing event being the strongest tournament ever to be organized on not just Indian but Asian soil. IM SAGAR SHAH reflects on the ten things that according to him made the Tata Steel Chess India special. A photo / video retrospective.

12/2/2019 – It will be a jam-packed December in the world of elite chess. The Grand Chess Tour and the Grand Prix series will come to an end with events in London and Jerusalem respectively. European rapid and blitz tournaments will be the prelude to the World Rapid and Blitz Championships that will take place in Moscow. The second leg of the Women's Grand Prix will be played in the luxurious Yacht Club in Monaco. And a couple of strong opens will be organized in Spain and the United Kingdom. Don't miss any of the action! | You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage.

12/1/2019 – The Sicilian Sveshnikov is on tap for this penultimate column of 2019 as GM JON SPEELMAN tackles a pair of clashes from "clashkid". Pictured: Evgeny Sveshnikov by GFHund (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons) | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

12/1/2019 – The December rating list is out, with Magnus Carlsen back at number one in rapid, in addition to classical chess. Hikaru Nakamura, however, remains atop the world blitz rankings. They pair will have a chance to clash in both rapid and blitz formats later this month in Moscow. Alexander Grischuk (pictured) is now nearly sure of a 2020 Candidates qualification spot after his win in the Hamburg Grand Prix tournament. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko

11/30/2019 – The enjoyment to be gained from solving a well-crafted chess composition can be seen from the sentiment that closes this Study of the Month column. After a long day of work at the board, what does a hungry chess player require? "Something to eat from the pub and something to solve from Matouš". Study of the Month columnist SIEGFRIED HORNECKER dives into the live and work of Mario Matouš.

11/30/2019 – Grandmaster Ding Liren needs no introduction. The young, unassuming talent from China has fans all over the world. He particularly distinguishes himself in blitz games. In the just concluded Tata Steel India Tournament, he beat Carlsen twice and came third after Nakamura and the world champion in the blitz event. PROF NAGESH HAVANUR takes a closer look at some of his games. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

11/30/2019 – He started as the seventh seed, but finished as the winner with a rating performance of 2752, gaining 23 Elo points and scoring 9.0/11 to become the World Junior Champion 2019. His name is Evgeny Shtembuliak. Originally from Ukraine, the youngster now lives in the United States and is studying on a full scholarship at the Texas Tech University. His feel for positional chess is outstanding and at the age of 20, he is already rated 2600. Being the World Junior Champion, we are sure to see him in action in many important events in the coming months. IM SAGAR SHAH got in touch with Evgeny after his World Juniors victory in Delhi for an interview. In this article you get to know everything you wanted to about this genial champion.

11/29/2019 – A good password paired with strong encryption protects data against unexpected loss. No password is unbreakable, but some can last for quote a long time. After 39 years, recently a few old Unix passwords were cracked. Computer pioneer Ken Thompson had hidden his access behind a chess opening. | Photo: Bell Labs

11/29/2019 – Last weekend the new season of the German League began with team matches in Bremen, Deizisau, Augsburg and Speyer-Schwegenheim. In the top match, Bremen Werder met Solingen. Perennial favourites OSG Baden-Baden played their season openers against Berlin and Dresden, winning both matches easily. Results, games and video. | Photo: Grenke Chess YouTube