7/20/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show Merijn van Delft recaps a lovely attacking game from the second round of the Sparkassen Open in Dortmund. Thomas Beerdsen employed a strong novelty, which was connected to an amazing concept! | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/20/2022 – With a day’s delay due to the change in the field of participants, defending champion Vishy Anand played his first game on Tuesday at the NC World Masters 2022. With Black, he drew round-1’s winner Michael Adams. The second game in the NC World Masters offered everything one could expect from this chess variation, as both kings were under fire throughout the game. In the end, Daniel Fridman prevailed over Dmitrij Kollars. Follow | Follow today’s action live with expert commentary! | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/20/2022 – With their victories today, Lê Quang Liêm and Andrey Esipenko climbed to first and second places in the Biel Grandmaster Triathlon. Esipenko defeated former leader Gukesh, while Lê prevailed against Keymer. There was also a change of leader in the Ladies’ Quadriathlon, with France’s Margaux Moracchini taking the lead for the first time. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

7/19/2022 – Fifty years ago, after the disaster he suffered in game one, Bobby Fischer was on the verge of abandoning the entire event and returning home. The challenger continued his vigorous protest, and when his demands were not met, Fischer did not turn up for game two. He was forfeited and the score was 0-2. Bobby booked a flight back to New York, but practically at the very last moment decided to play game three – in an isolated ping-pong room!

7/19/2022 – Today we take a look at a quite popular opening. The Pirc Defence. The opening was named after GM Vasja Pirc from Slovenia/Yugoslavia. Thanks to this opening, we were able to enjoy the Immortal game of Kasparov vs. Topalov, or game number 17 of Fischer vs. Spassky, in the World Championship match 1972 in Iceland. We also tackle the question, of how it is pronounced correctly - Pirk, or Pirch?

7/19/2022 – In rook endings checks are often a major defensive weapon. So it is important for the attacking king to find shelter. In the diagrammed position, it is White to move and win. How should he proceed?

7/16/2022 – The Schara-Hennig Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!?) is now over 100 years old. Recently the gambit has received more attention - also thanks to Magnus Carlsen's games against Sam Shankland and Le Quang this year. Our new author, GM Lucian Miron, takes a closer look at the pawn sacrifice in the latest ChessBase Magazine #208. "if you are tired of constantly being under pressure when White plays 1.d4 and only the main lines, go for the Schara-Hennig Gambit!" he concludes. Take a look!

7/16/2022 – In the previous article composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen showed us how he strips ideas he has seen in tournament games to construct a proper endgame study. Today he shows us the alternate strategy: massaging the position and the brilliant idea to make it into full-fledged study that at first sight barely resembles the original game. The description of this process appeared in The Macedonian Problemist.

7/16/2022 – Wei Yi and Levon Aronian will play the 2-set final match of the FTX Road to Miami online tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Wei knocked out Richard Rapport, while Aronian got the better of Jan-Krzysztof Duda in semis. Both finalists have already secured a spot in the coming FTX Crypto Cup, which will be played in Miami next month.

7/15/2022 – This week Robert Ris picks up from last week, when he looked at a quick loss suffered by Ding Liren with the white pieces. A recent victory by Andrew Hong from the US Junior Championship was similar in that a single mistake by White was quickly punished by his opponent. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/15/2022 – Queen endgames often need extreme precision. In numerous instances, passed pawns play a large role, but mating attacks should also be considered. Game 4 of the quarterfinal match between Levon Aronian and Arjun Erigaisi saw the former outplaying his opponent in an ending with queens and four pawns per side.

7/15/2022 – This is the 2nd episode in the series of Olympiad stories with Saravanan. In this episode, we discuss the Madras Tiger Vishy Anand and some of his memorable games at the Olympiad. In discussing the games, Saravanan and Sagar also go into the history of how Vishy developed as a chess player. Saravanan saw the lightning kid style of play of Anand and also the more mature and calm style. This is part of a 6-episode series of the most interesting stories from the Chess Olympiads. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram.