8/2/2022 – Do you find the Sicilian difficult to cope with? Are you afraid to play the Sicilian with White because you do not want to learn a huge amount of variations by heart? Well, Roeland Pruijssers and Nico Zwirs can help. The two Dutchmen have created a complete repertoire against the Sicilian, based on the Open Sicilian. A repertoire that is easy to learn. Only this week: €69.90 instead of €99.90!

8/2/2022 – Despite a searing heat and at least 32 degrees Celsius, the second ever ChessFest was staged by Chess in Schools and Communities in London’s famous Trafalgar Square on Sunday 17th July, with sister events held in Hull and Liverpool. The UK’s largest one-day chess event saw over 10,000 people visit, nearly double the number from last year.

8/2/2022 – But over the board it is often difficult to defend them. In the diagram position White is a pawn down but he can draw. How?

8/2/2022 – The big rating favourites in the open section of the Chennai Olympiad were held to a draw in Monday’s fourth round: Uzbekistan drew the United States thanks to a remarkable victory by Nodirbek Abdusattorov over Fabiano Caruana on top board. Meanwhile, five teams scored a fourth consecutive victory and are now sharing the lead — the most surprising member of this group is Israel, which beat the Netherlands on Monday. In the women’s section, eight teams are sharing the lead on 8 out 8 match points. | Photo: Stev Bonhage

8/1/2022 – In Endgame Magic #201 Karsten Müller had a look at endgame highlights from the Candidates Tournament, and in this Endgame Magic Show he visits the Candidates Tournament again. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

8/1/2022 – Over 650 games are being played daily at the record-breaking Chess Olympiad in Chennai. GM Karsten Müller is attentively following the games, looking for instructive endings. Naturally, all sorts of setups and typical patterns show up with so many encounters running concurrently. Go over our in-house expert’s analyses, and you are sure to find something to learn or, at the very least, something to enjoy! | Pictured: Sumiya Bilguun (Mongolia) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/1/2022 – ChessBase Magazine Extra #208 offers, among other things, almost an hour of video training: Ivan Sokolov presents 6.g3 as a surprise weapon against the Sicilian Four Knights. And Nico Zwirs examines the move 5...b5 in the Vienna Variation of the Queen's Gambit - an absolutely fashionable variation that leads to very dynamic play! "The brilliancy" is contributed by David Navara, who highlights his Black win with the Berlin Defense against Alexei Shirov. In addition, the "Lucky bag" with 59 annotated games - including contributions from Anish Giri and Kirill Shevchenko - holds a colorful mix of analyses and suggestions. ChessBase Magazine Extra is the perfect supplement to ChessBase Magazine. Available as a single issue or by subscription (6 issues per year). Available as download or on DVD.

8/1/2022 – As a chess site, it is not an exaggeration to say that the first and foremost obligation is to have the means to teach the game. ChessBase has programs such as the Fritz & Chesster series, but another way is through the Learn Chess app in the ChessBase Account, a beginner courses, which teaches the moves and then the core fundamentals. Here is a small tour.

8/1/2022 – It is getting more and more difficult for the top teams to beat their lower-rated opponents at the Chess Olympiad in Chennai. In round 3, Norway and Germany, seeded third and ninth in the open section, were defeated by Italy and Austria respectively, while the eighth seeds from Ukraine could only get a draw against Cuba. In the women’s section, Mongolia beat the United States and Estonia took down Armenia. | Pictured: Daniele Vocaturo (Italy) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/31/2022 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 88th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to explain why playing the Benko Gambit might be a good choice for club players. | Photo: Pascal Simon

7/31/2022 – The term "malyutka" - "baby" - is used for endgame studies with up to five pieces. The art of such studies is very old, but some modern composers extensively researched such positions. Obviously, endgame tablebases made composing such endgame studies easier in the late 20th century, and it seems that there can't be much variety with only three pieces apart from the kings. Yet, even with so few pieces, some interesting ideas can be found.| Photos: Pixabay

7/31/2022 – Most games favoured the favourites in round 2 of the Chess Olympiad, with a few exceptions. In the open section, Zambia and Bulgaria upset Denmark and Croatia respectively, while among the women, Ecuador got the better of Slovenia. World champion Magnus Carlsen made his debut, and outplayed Georg Meier in a balanced endgame to help Norway get a 4-0 win over Uruguay. | Pictured: Mohamed Emli Ramla (Dijibouti) | Photo: Mark Livshitz