NEW: Power Fritz 18 - The Chess Software World Champion 2022

9/16/2022 – Fritz has fascinated the chess world for thirty years. And the success story continues. In Vienna, the most popular chess program ever was once again able to underline its premier position: the newly developed neural engine with NNUE technology won the official Chess Software World Championship! With Power Fritz 18 you have the world champion program on your PC!
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An epic endgame battle

9/16/2022 – High-stakes, classical games can be extremely enthralling as top grandmasters get enough time to discuss positions that are often cut short in events with quicker time controls. In round 8 of the Chennai Olympiad, Gabriel Sargissian scored a win that gave his team a crucial victory over India’s top team. Sargissian converted a slightly superior endgame against Pentala Harikrishna, who valiantly defended until move 102. Wolfram Schön sent copious annotations of the epic endgame struggle. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

Chess 9LX: Games and standings

9/16/2022 – Ten international chess superstars are battling it out over the board on September 13-16 at the Champions Showdown Chess 9LX extravaganza. The field includes living legend Garry Kasparov, an in-form Alireza Firouzja and defending champion Leinier Dominguez. | Follow the games live starting at 21.00 CEST (15.00 ET, 0.30 IST)
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Must-win situations

9/16/2022 – In ChessBase Magazine #208, our new author, GM Jan Markos, started his video training series "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" with an article on "Time Management". In the new issue, CBM #209, he reveals how you should play in must-win situations. You certainly know such situations too - what would you tend to do? Play a risky opening line? Seek sacrifices? Try to put your opponent under time pressure? Jan Markos' recommendations go in a completely different direction. You can watch an excerpt from his video here. Have a look!

Robert Ris’ complete black repertoire against 1.d4 - A review

9/15/2022 – Dutch IM and well-known trainer Robert Ris has recorded a two-volume FritzTrainer in which he presents a complete Black repertoire against the opening moves 1.d4,c4 and 1.Nf3. His repertoire is based on the Queen’s Gambit Accepted after 1.d4 d5 2.c4. Free piece play is the idea. Philipp Hillebrand took an in-depth look at the course.
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Chess 9LX: Firouzja and Mamedyarov share the lead

9/15/2022 – Ian Nepomniachtchi could not keep up the pace he had shown on Wednesday, as he is now standing in third place at the Champions Showdown tournament. Nepo was replaced at the top of the standings by Alireza Firouzja and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Garry Kasparov has lost all his games so far in Saint Louis. Do not miss GM Karsten Müller’s endgame analysis. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club
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Game of the Week #533: Firouzja vs. So

9/15/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show, Merijn van Delft looks at a razor-sharp encounter between Alireza Firouzja and Wesley So. A crucial game which shed some light on current top-level chess trends. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Replay Training: a hidden gem in ChessBase

9/15/2022 – When you are solving an exercise in a book, or guessing a move in Solitaire Chess, and your move is wrong, the first thing you want to know is why it was wrong, and what the refutation was, but unless the author included your exact choice, you will be left scratching your head. A new feature in ChessBase solves this brilliantly and can become a powerful tool to your improvement.
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Svitlana's Smart Moves - Alekhine's Defense

9/15/2022 – World Champion Alexander Alekhine successfully played an unusual opening in the 1920s, one that would later be named after him. For White, the opening is annoying because, although it looks unplayable for Black at first, it is very much playable for his opponent. Furthermore, although it is called "Alekhine's Defence" it is seemingly more suitable for attacking players, which we will learn from today's video. Svitlana enjoys this opening big time, and shares her knowledge with us.
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Chess 9LX: Nepo’s perfect start

9/15/2022 – The first three rounds of the Champions Showdown tournament were played at the Saint Louis Chess Club on Wednesday. The event featuring the Chess960 variant saw Ian Nepomniachtchi winning all three of his games, while Garry Kasparov and Peter Svidler did not manage to score on the first day of action. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes
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Solving Carlsen’s challenge

9/14/2022 – The year was 2013. Magnus Carlsen was about to play his first match against Viswanathan Anand, and he was knee-deep in preparation. Amid this process, Magnus shared an endgame study on Facebook. He captioned the image, “More preparation. White to move and win, shown from black’s side”. A few days later, GM Vidit Gujarathi asked me if I had solved Carlsen’s challenge, which was extremely interesting. Dear reader, can you solve the Carlsen challenge?
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Revisited: 15-minute broadcast delay

9/14/2022 – When the organisation of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup decided, after Round 3, to implement a fifteen-minute delay for the broadcast of moves, we felt some gratification. Hadn't we suggested exactly this to FIDE, seventeen years ago, as one possible measure to counteract cheating in chess? At least to make it more difficult? Not everybody was happy with the proposal and with its implementation in Saint Louis. What do you think?

Inmates around the world getting ready for Prisoners Online Chess Championship

9/14/2022 – FIDE, jointly with the Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff’s office, will hold the second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners. The tournament is set to take place on the International Day of Education in Prison, from 13-14 October. The online event is open to male, female and youth teams representing correctional facilities. So far, prisons and correctional facilities from 20 countries have registered for the competition.
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A letter to Alekhine

9/14/2022 – Alexander Alekhine was one of the greatest in chess. The skill of the world champion, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1946, emanates to this day, as proved by a letter that chess enthusiast Ludger Bröring discovered on Alekhine’s grave at the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
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Chess 9LX: Kasparov joins the fun in Saint Louis

9/13/2022 – Ten international chess superstars are set to battle it out over the board from September 13-16 in Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX. Chess 960 is a variant of chess created by Bobby Fischer in the late 1990s in which the pieces on the home rank are randomized, with 960 representing the number of possible starting positions. The field includes living legend Garry Kasparov, an in-form Alireza Firouzja and defending champion Leinier Dominguez. | Photo: Crystal Fuller (2021)
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Let's go!

9/13/2022 – In rook endgames, activity is (almost) everything. In the diagrammed position it is White to move. How should he proceed?

Saint Louis Chess Club: Ultimate Moves

9/13/2022 – Between the Sinquefield Cup and the Chess 9LX Champions Showdown, the focus today is on fun, as the Ultimate Moves friendly game takes place at the Saint Louis Chess Center. Two teams made up of world-class players and enthusiastic amateurs take turns at the board after every five moves. | Follow the games live with commentary starting at 20.00 CEST (14.00 ET, 23.30 IST)
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Carlsen and Niemann to face off in Julius Baer Generation Cup

9/13/2022 – The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour is launching a new ground-breaking tournament this month focused on the clash of ages. The eight-day Julius Baer Generation Cup, the seventh leg of the Tour, will feature 16 world-class players spanning the age spectrum. Top of the bill is Magnus Carlsen with Indian teen sensation Praggnanandhaa. American 19-year-old star Hans Niemann will also compete, much like living legends Boris Gelfand and Vasyl Ivanchuk.
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The Battles of Hastings: Remembering the Hastings Tournament of 1895

9/13/2022 – Hastings 1895 was a grand tournament that gathered the day’s greatest players without exception. At the time it was played, it was arguably the greatest tournament in history. On the occasion of its recent 127th anniversary, Eugene Manlapao revisits the tournament that introduced the brilliant and perennial title contender, Harry Nelson Pillsbury.
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All set for the first leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix

9/12/2022 – The first event of the 2022-2023 Women’s Grand Prix Series will kick off on September 18 in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan. Fielding 16 of the world’s top female players, the Grand Prix will consist of four tournaments (to be played in Kazakhstan, Germany, India and Poland). Each player will participate in three out of the four tournaments. | Photo: FIDE / David Llada
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Endgame Magic #211: More Highlights from the Candidates Tournament

9/12/2022 – In the Endgame Magic Show #211 Arne Kähler and Karsten Müller continue to look at endgame highlights from the Candidates Tournament. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

ECU Magazine: Chess for Protection + Arbiter's Advice

9/12/2022 – FIDE Chess for Protection is a project that helps refugees learn the game of chess and acquire new important life skills, socialize, and release stress through it. Second report: Being an arbiter is not a solitary journey, it is more of a team effort. We cooperate in tournaments, share experience, get together in seminars and workshops. An arbiter is a member of a pack, not a lone wolf. Read about this in the latest ECU Magazine. | Photo FIDE
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Alireza Firouzja conquers Saint Louis!

9/12/2022 – Alireza Firouzja beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in play-offs to win the ninth edition of the Sinquefield Cup. Firouzja also grabbed an extra $100,000 for winning this year’s Grand Chess Tour. The youngster came from winning the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Tournament a couple of weeks ago. This was Firouzja’s first trip to Saint Louis, one that he is sure to remember for time to come! | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes
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CBM #209: "The Analysis"

9/12/2022 – Alongside a variety of videos and training columns, ChessBase Magazine #209 offers 32 deeply annotated games. One focus of these analyses is the Prague Chess Festival 2022 with contributions by Pentala Harikrishna, Vincent Keymer, David Navara and Sam Shankland. Another is the "Special" with 21 games of Anna and Mariya Muzychuk with analyses by various CBM authors. "The Analysis" of the current issue comes from David Navara: in his encounter with Saleh Salem an unusual structure came on the board, which had already proved comfortable for White in Navara’s preparation. Take a look!
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