8/26/2022 – Ivan Sokolov has celebrated numerous successes in his career as a player. His greatest coup as a coach came only recently at the Chess Olympiad 2022 in Chennai, when he led the team from Uzbekistan to gold. In his video contribution to the current ChessBase Magazine Extra #208 he presents an idea on how to surprise your opponent in the Sicilian Four Knights Variation: The move 6.g3 may not look particularly aggressive - but when a player like Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan's number one and reigning rapid chess world champion) is on a loss with Black a few moves later, that can easily happen to your opponent too! You can see an excerpt from Sokolov's analysis here.

8/26/2022 – The Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Simagin was considered a tactical genius. His game against Bronstein is famous, and his move to win the game takes some time to be discovered. Furthermore, Lawrence shows us his tactical brilliance, talks about Frederic Svane, and shows us the power of solving tactical puzzles, to recognize patterns better, and quicker. Also, the final tactic which Lawrence and Arne try to solve, ends terribly.

8/26/2022 – Back-to-back wins in rounds 5 and 6 allowed Polish GM Monika Socko to grab the sole lead at the European Women’s Championship in Prague. Two players, Gunay Mammadzada and Maria Gevorgyan, stand a half point back, as the participants will get a rest day before Saturday’s seventh round. In round 7, Socko will play white against Gevorgyan, while Mammadzada will face top seed Nana Dzagnidze, also with white, on the second board. | Photo: Official site

8/25/2022 – This week Robert Ris will have a look at an interesting gambit which Black can use to spice things up after 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4. With 4...e5!? Black indicates that he is ready to give a pawn to get good play. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

8/25/2022 – After draws in games 14 and 15, Fischer still had a three-point lead in the World Championship match, and the Spassky side was getting nervous. The Champion was fighting hard, but not getting any points. Suspicion arose that Fischer might be using secret weapons: hypnosis, devices planted in the lights or the chairs, and even perhaps assistance from an "IBM" (Russian for "computer" at the time). All this was formally investigated, while Fischer continued to coast.

8/25/2022 – The well-known grandmaster and author Lubomir Kavalek passed away last year in January. A prolific writer, he penned dozens of well-read chess columns, including one he shared on ChessBase over the years. Here we reproduce one from February 2017, in which Kavalek shows us a failed queen sacrifice by Jan Timman against him, and Caruana’s successful 19.Qxf6!! sac against Nakamura at the London Chess Classic.

8/22/2022 – Ever since the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) emerged as chess’ governing body, the Candidates’ Tournament has been vital to the selection and making of the game’s world champion. Remade more than a few times in the seventy-two years that it has been running, the tournament has been a story on its own. Eugene Manlapao traces its history from its first edition in 1950, to its latest in 2022 that may have produced the combatants for the next world championship match. | Photo: The participants of the Candidates Tournament 1956 in Amsterdam | Photo: Herbert Behrens (ANEFO) (Cropped from GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL)) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

8/22/2022 – Robocop. This was what GM Yermolinksy dubbed IM Conor Murphy as he followed his superlative result. While the 2022 Olympiad was dominated by the performance of the youthful and brilliant Gukesh, and other stars on the rise, it is also much more than a collection of super grandmasters, so let us sing the praises of the unlikely heroes who rose to the occasion.

8/22/2022 – Magnus Carlsen won the FTX Crypto Cup in Miami after losing in tiebreaks against Praggnanandhaa in the final-round tournament-deciding match. Pragg stood two points behind the world champion before the round, so his victory was not enough to claim first place (he gained 2 points to Carlsen’s 1). The youngster nonetheless finished in second place, despite tying on points with Alireza Firouzja, as he had defeated the Frenchman in their round-1’s direct encounter.

8/21/2022 – The FTX Crypto Cup kicked off on Monday with world champion Magnus Carlsen and new rival Alireza Firouzja topping a stellar line-up. The all-play-all tournament is the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour’s second Major of the season and is taking place on-site at the Eden Roc Miami Beach in Miami, Florida, from August 15 to 21. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 18.00 CEST (12.00 ET, 21.30 IST)

8/21/2022 – Pushing the g-pawn early in the game has become so common that when GM Jon Speelman watches Shakhriyar Mamedyarov play, he feels tempted to bet with himself when ‘the bayonet’ will be deployed. This week’s thematic column features a couple of classics (by Paul Keres and Alexei Shirov), an example from Mamedyarov’s practice and a remarkable win by Richard Pert from the British Championship. | Photo: Niki Riga

8/21/2022 – A field with well-established GMs and young stars is fighting it off in Miami at the FTX Crypto Cup. Our in-house expert Karsten Müller is following the games looking to find the most intriguing and instructive ending positions. Do not miss his on-point analyses! | Pictured: Anish Giri | Photo: Amruta Mokal