Merry Christmas!

12/25/2022 – ChessBase wishes all chess friends a Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Stay healthy and enjoy chess! | Picture PublicDomainPictures by Pixabay
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Christmas CHESS Quiz

12/25/2022 – To help you enjoy your seasonal feast, we have a turkey, a tree and a turbulent priest; a circus trip, a corkscrew and a silent (k)night – and lots more for your festive chess delight! Graham Phythian presents some fun and challenging positions to help you while away the festive period. They all appear in the Christmas section of CHESS Magazine, which has a special gift ready for you. You can download the entire magazine to read, free of charge! In any case we all wish you a Merry Christmas – CHESS and ChessBase.

The World Championship 1972 calendar - Door 24

12/24/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

First league tactics

12/24/2022 – In the diagram position Black threatens ...Rh8, but he doesn't have the sole right to use the h-file. White to play and win!
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Abdusattorov wins Gashimov Memorial with five rounds to spare

12/24/2022 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov dominated the field at the Gashimov Memorial in Baku. The 18-year-old from Tashkent was the top scorer in the rapid and finished the blitz in third place. Since none of the players who had ended the rapid near the top of the standings performed strongly in the blitz, Abdusattorov managed to clinch first place with five rounds to spare! | Pictured: The players visited the grave of Vugar Gashimov on Wednesday.
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Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: Alekseenko attacks

12/23/2022 – This week Robert Ris presents a fine attacking game by Kirill Alekseenko, the winner of the Sitges Open, who showed the potential of the Steinitz Variation of the Ruy Lopez. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

A remarkable team: The "Chess Family" Peglau from Germany

12/23/2022 – With nine chess playing members, the Peglau family from Dippoldiswalde, a small town in Germany, is probably the world's largest chess family. But it definitely is one of the strongest. As the successes of the Peglaus at the recently finished European Blitz and Rapid Championships show. | Photos: Henrik Teske
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Sunway Sitges: Alekseenko takes the title

12/23/2022 – Kirill Alekseenko secured first place at the main event of the Sunway Chess Festival by drawing Hans Niemann with white in Thursday’s final round. Meanwhile, Amin Tabatabaei caught up with Niemann by beating Adhiban Baskaran — thus, a playoff match for second place between Niemann and Tabatabaei followed, with the US grandmaster winning in Armageddon after trading victories in two 5-minute games.
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The World Championship 1972 calendar - Door 23

12/23/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

Gashimov Memorial Rapid & Blitz - Live

12/23/2022 – The Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2022, organized once again as a rapid and blitz tournament, is taking place on December 18-23 in Baku, Azerbaijan. On Sunday, the ten participants are playing the first three rounds of the 15+10 rapid event — four Azerbaijanis, led by superstar Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, are competing with six guests from around the world. | Follow the games live, starting at 12.00 CET (6.00 ET, 16.30 IST)
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Chess, Life, and Parenting

12/23/2022 – Chess is fun but it can also be difficult. Being a chess parent is also often fun but sometimes it can also be difficult. Daniel Sokol, chess enthusiast and father of two kids who love to play chess and to compete in tournaments, shares some of his adventures and insights as a chess parent. And concludes: "The chess tournament, with its wealth of emotions and experiences, is an excellent training ground for the challenges of life for the children, and of parenthood for the adults." | Photo: Sebastian Siebrecht
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Game of the Week #547: Alekseenko vs. Grigoryan

12/22/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show #547 Merijn van Delft analyses one of Kirill Alekseenko’s victory from the Sitges tournament. Alekseenko combined positional play with good old attacking chess, making chess look easy in the process! | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

In Memoriam: Ivan Farago (1 April 1946 - 12 December 2022)

12/22/2022 – On 12 December the Hungarian Grandmaster Ivan Farago died at the age of 76. He was born on 1 April 1946 in Budapest, and in 1974 he became an International Master. The Grandmaster title followed two years later, in 1976. In 1986 he became Hungarian Champion and in July 1993 he reached a peak rating of 2540. In a short obituary FIDE pays tribute to this passionate player. | Photo: LGA

Gorshtein and Shvayger are the 2022 Israeli champions

12/22/2022 – The Israeli Championships took place on December 5-13 in the southern city of Arad, with a prize fund of 110 thousands NIS. The surprising winner was 20-year-old IM Ido Gorshtein, while IM Yuliya Shvayger defended her title in the women’s competition. | Pictured: FIDE Arbiter Ilana Glaz, Yuliya Shvayger, Avital Boruchovsky, Gil Boruchovsky (General Director of ICF), Ido Gorshtein, Ori Kochavi, Flory Sterling, Deputy Mayor of Arad. | Photos: Dr. Mark Livshitz
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The World Championship 1972 calendar - Door 22

12/22/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

Sunway Sitges Open: Final round - Live!

12/22/2022 – The Sunway Chess Festival, sponsored by Chessable, is taking place on December 12-22 at the Playa Golf Hotel in Sitges, Catalonia. Two massive open tournaments will be played at the resort southwest of Barcelona. Over 300 players have registered to participate in the main group, with the likes of Andrey Esipenko and Vasyl Ivanchuk in the mix. | Follow the games live with expert commentary. The final round starts at 9.30 CET (4.30 ET, 15.00 IST)
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Sunway Sitges: Tabatabaei holds Alekseenko to a draw

12/21/2022 – Kirill Alekseenko’s winning streak in Sitges came to an end in round 8, as Amin Tabatabaei held the Russian to a draw on Tuesday. Nonetheless, Alekseenko still has a full-point lead over a five-player chasing pack. Top seeds Yu Yangyi and Hans Niemann are among the chasers, after both winning their round-8 encounters. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
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The World Championship 1972 calendar - Door 21

12/21/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

Gashimov Memorial: Abdusattorov wins the rapid section

12/21/2022 – On Tuesday, the ten participants of the Gashimov Memorial played the last three rounds of 15+10 rapid chess in Baku. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who had grabbed the lead early on, scored a win and two draws to remain atop the standings. Paco Vallejo and Rauf Mamedov shared second place, two points behind the youngster (points count double in the rapid). Following the rest day, 18 rounds of blitz will take place on Thursday and Friday. | Photo: Official site
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Sunway Sitges: Alekseenko still perfect

12/20/2022 – A seventh win in a row left Kirill Alekseenko in the sole lead of the massive main tournament at the Sunway Chess Festival in Sitges. The Russian grandmaster defeated Karen Grigoryan with white to widen the gap atop the standings — the leader has a full point lead over Amin Tabatabaei, who got the better of Daniel Dardha with black on Monday. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
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The World Championship 1972 calendar - Door 20

12/20/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

The sting of the scorpion

12/20/2022 – In the endgame a rook is usually much stronger than a minor piece. But when only a few pawns are left on the board the attacker must be careful. In the diagram position it is Black to move. What did he do to win the game?

Gashimov Memorial: Abdusattorov tops the standings

12/19/2022 – On the second day of the rapid tournament at the Gashimov Memorial, Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov kept the lead he had gained by winning all three of his games on Sunday. In the rapid, points count double, so Abdusattorov now has a 10/12 score after six rounds. Rauf Mamedov is in second place (9 points), while Wang Hao (8 points) is third, a point behind the Azerbaijani. | Photo: Official site
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Endgame Magic #219: Highlights from the Bundesliga

12/19/2022 – In the Endgame Magic Show #219 Karsten Müller shows highlights from the last rounds of the German Bundesliga. Highly instructive material! | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.