12/17/2022 – This week, Daniel King examines games from the Sitges Open, featuring some nice tactics. Then, in more detail, two games that feature the Rossolimo. For the unwary, this is a dangerous opening! | 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.

12/17/2022 – Halfway through the 10-round main tournament in Sitges, Kirill Alekseenko and Karthikeyan Murali still have a perfect score, after beating Abhimanyu Puranik and Aditya Samant respectively. Five players stand a half point back, including second seed Hans Niemann, who on Friday drew Karen Grigoryan with the black pieces. | Pictured: The great-looking analysis room in Sitges

12/16/2022 – In the second semi-final of the Speedchess Championship on chess.com Magnus Carlsen meets Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and that gives the World Champion the opportunity for a little revenge. After all, in the semi-finals of the Speedchess Championship 2020 Carlsen had lost to "MVL", who then lost to Hikaru Nakamura in the final. This time Carlsen wants to do better, but of course "MVL" has other plans. Action starts at 19:00 CET (10:00 PT). With live commentary by Laurent Fressinet and Peter Heine Nielsen. | Graphics: chess.com

12/16/2022 – Hikaru Nakamura defeated Nihal Sarin by a 14½-10½ score in the first semifinal of the Speed Chess Championship. Naka, who won every edition of the online event since 2018, will face either Magnus Carlsen or Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final match, which is set to take place on December 20.

12/16/2022 – Viktor Korchnoi ( 1931 - 2016 ) was undoubtedly one of the most fascinating personalities in the chess world. The two-time World Championship finalist played successful and attractive chess, even into old age. We have a great Korchnoi bundle for you in our ChessBase Shop. The Fritztrainer - My life for chess, and the Masterclass Vol. 15 - Viktor Korchnoi. The complete package is available for only €49.90 and is now also available as a streaming version.

12/16/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

12/14/2022 – The history of the U.S. Women's Chess Championships contains a wealth of information about chess in America and countless fascinating stories about champions from all walks of life. A groundbreaking work about the U.S. Women's Chess Championships and the 29 women who won the title between 1937 and 2020 has been published by McFarland. Johannes Fischer wanted to know more and interviewed Alexey Root, the author of the book.

12/13/2022 – "The Ink War: Romanticism versus Modernity in Chess", the new book by Dutch author Willy Hendriks, is definitely one of the most exciting and interesting chess books of 2022. Hendriks first of all looks at the bitter rivalry between William Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, who in 1886 played the first official World Championship match. But Hendriks also analyses how chess understanding developed and takes a critical look at chess history and the way chess history is written. Thoroughly researched, well-written, entertaining, witty, and thought-provoking. Here's an appetizer to enjoy!

12/13/2022 – The 2021 Challengers Chess Tour Champion, Praggnanandhaa R, took on the 2022 Champion, Pranav V, in a $10,000 match held in the Tel Aviv offices of Julius Baer on December 11-13. The match was split into 4 mini-matches, 2 in rapid chess and 2 in blitz.

12/13/2022 – Manuel Göttsching is a pioneer of techno music, and in 1984 he released his groundbreaking classic "E2-E4". The title of the album alludes to chess and the cover of the album also shows a chessboard - Göttsching liked to play. On 4 December the German musician died in Berlin at the age of 70. | Photo: Yoho

12/13/2022 – The two winners of the Julius Baer Challenger Tour 2021 and 2022, the young Indian grandmasters Praggnanandhaa and Pranav Venkatesh, currently play a three-day rapid and blitz match in Tel Aviv. After two best-of-three rapid matches follow two best-of-four blitz matches. Praggnanandhaa won both rapid matches and has very good chances to win the event.

12/13/2022 – We sent a copy of the new Chessbase 17 to the noted Russian journalist WGM Elmira Mirzoeva, and she wrote back quite excited how impressed she was, and that it was just such software and their new functions that allow young players to rise as quickly as they do. Read what she thinks in this review!