10/24/2022 – There is love at first sight, as everyone knows, and there are, somewhat surprisingly, "statistics at first sight". What is that? In the infamous matter labelled by now as "the Hans Niemann cheating case" (a title that S.S. Van Dine would have greatly appreciated, as well as the mystery surrounding the case) such "statistics at first sight" have attracted the undisputed attention of every party involved – and above all the attention of the ones not involved. | Picture: The rating development of Hans Niemann

10/24/2022 – 188 years ago, from June to October 1834, Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais of France and Alexander McDonnell of Ireland played a series of five matches to determine who was the world's best player of their time. La Bourdonnais won with an overall score of 45 wins, 27 losses and 13 draws. Today, this series of matches is considered to be the first inofficial World Championship match. It helped enormously to popularize chess and led to a number of remarkable games. Eugene Manlapao has the details. | Pictured: Stamp issued by the postal administration of the Solomon Islands in 2013

10/23/2022 – Half the field of the Women’s Candidates will battle it out in a knockout event to decide who qualifies to a final match set to take place sometime in 2023. Pool A will take place from October 24 to November 6 at the Hotel Hermitage in Monte Carlo.

10/23/2022 – 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 96th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to discuss structures that are typical for the Queen's Gambit Declined. | Photo: Pascal Simon

10/23/2022 – After her first round win, Lilit had a winning position in her second game, but wasn't able to convert it, and drew. The draw against Anna Kubicka felt like a loss, and the IM had to recover quickly, to be prepared for the next round. Everybody knows the feeling after a loss in a tournament. But how to tackle those emotions, which pull you down best? Lilit has some good advice in this third episode.

10/23/2022 – In the third and final instalment of the Chess Artistry Adventure series, we bring you seven more studies, six of them originals, by world-class composers like Arpad Rusz, Amatzia Avni, Michael Pasman, and more. We also briefly discuss the composers and try to understand how they can turn positions from games into original compositions. Like in the previous article, we also have an assortment of flavours here. Some of the studies are concrete and tactical, while others are a bit on the technical side. However, regardless of style, each composition is deeply instructional, and you can be sure to come out wiser as a chess player if you go through them all.

10/22/2022 – The FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship is back with its second edition. The over-the-board final will take place at the Berjaya Natura Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland, on 25-30 October. The 8-player lineup will include defending champion Wesley So, classical chess champion Magnus Carlsen and rapidplay specialist Hikaru Nakamura.

10/22/2022 – Bobby Fischer was the fifth of the twelve World Chess Champions whom Frederic met. In our new weekly series he tells us how he met and befriended the top players, and the adventures they experienced together. Frederic has written a new book, together with Professor Christian Hesse, with fascinating chess stories from the last 50 years. It appeared (first in German) in October. | Foto: YURIKO NAKAO/ REUTERS

10/22/2022 – This time we would like to add only one piece of information to the inconspicuous diagram position: White to play! The rest is up to your tactical acumen...

10/21/2022 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the 2022 Aimchess Rapid online tournament after beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in what somewhat unexpectedly turned out to be a hard-fought final match. After getting a clear victory in the first set, Duda got a superior position in Friday’s first game. Shakh first managed to turn the tables in that game and then scored 1½ points in the next two encounter to take the match to tiebreaks. Duda won back-to-back blitz games to secure overall victory.

10/21/2022 – Have you registered for the first Armageddon Online Cups? The Asia & Oceania section begins on October 22, at 13:00 UTC, Europe & Africa on October 23, at 16:00 UTC. The prize fund for each tournament is €1,000, which is divided between the first ten winners. The first 20 places get access to the Online Finals with a €10,000 prize fund.

10/21/2022 – In his Power Play Show, Daniel King continues his explorations of opening gambits. This time around, using a game in which world champion Magnus Carlsen played the fashionable Scotch Gambit. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.