Chessable Masters: Carlsen, Ding, Praggnanandhaa and Giri qualify for the semifinals

5/24/2022 – In the quarterfinals of the Chessable Masters, Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Anish Giri beat their opponents quite confidently. In the duel of talents, Praggnanandhaa won 2.5-1.5 against Wei Yi. | Photos and pictures: Play Magnus Group

The desperado rook

5/24/2022 – Stalemate motifs often play a role in endgames. In the diagrammed position it is White to move. What would you do?
More...
 4

Karsten Müller's Endgame Magic Show #195 - with Arne Kaehler

5/23/2022 – In his Endgame Magic Show #195 Karsten and Arne look at endgame highlights and take a particularly close look at the strengths and weaknesses of knights and "zugzwang", a sharp weapon in the endgame. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.
More...
 1

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: "From Ukraine With Love For Chess"

5/23/2022 – In his "Power Play Show" Daniel King takes a look at the book "From Ukraine With Love For Chess", that was just published by "New in Chess". The book celebrates the chess of notable Ukrainian players from the past and present, and all profits will go to charities in Ukraine. To quote Daniel: "A worthy project and a superb book with tremendous material." | 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.
More...
 1

Ukrainian GM Andrii Baryshpolets is running for FIDE President

5/23/2022 – At the FIDE Congress during the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the elections for the FIDE Presidium are on the agenda. Arkady Dvorkovich is standing for re-election and is supported by Viswanathan Anand. In view of the candidacy of the Russian President, the election has a strong political colour. Now a Ukrainian, GM Andrii Baryshpolets, has announced his candidacy. | Photo: US Chess Federation
More...
 2

Superbet Tournament Warsaw: Games and standings

5/23/2022 – The second tournament of the Grand Chess Tour 2022 took place in Warsaw from May 17-23, and consisted of a rapid and a blitz tournament. Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the event after collecting 6½/9 points on the final day of action to overcome long-time sole leader Vishy Anand in the standings table. Anand and Levon Aronian finished in shared second place.
More...
 6

Stream FritzTrainers in the video portal!

5/23/2022 – The ChessBase video portal contains a wealth of videos on various topics (opening, middlegame and endgame). A helpful function for owners of the newer FritzTrainer courses is the possibility to view the contents of the purchased courses directly with the browser in the video portal. This makes it easier to access the courses as it is not necessary to view the contents of the courses with the ChessBase Reader, ChessBase or one of the chess programmes on the desktop.
More...
 5

Chessable Masters: Giri wins prelims, Tari makes it to the KO

5/23/2022 – The preliminary stage of the Chessable Masters came to an end on Sunday. Anish Giri scored a win and two draws to keep the lead and win the single round-robin. Magnus Carlsen finished in second place, and was followed by Ding Liren and Praggnanandhaa. Wei Yi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, David Anton and Aryan Tari also made it to the knockout stage.

Superbet Poland: Anand leads, Caruana scores 8 out of 9

5/23/2022 – Vishy Anand kept the sole lead at the Superbet tournament in Warsaw after scoring 5 points in the first nine rounds of blitz, which were played on Sunday. The Indian has a 1½-point lead over Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who finished the day with three wins in a row. A half point back stand Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian, the day’s top scorers — Caruana collected 8 points, while Aronian added 7 points to his tally. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 1

Understanding before Moving 80: Pawn Majorities (4)

5/22/2022 – 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 80th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to talk about pawn majorities. | Photo: Pascal Simon
More...
 2

Trent's Tactics - Boris Spassky, and a nightmare

5/22/2022 – Another fantastic chess player, who was able to play defensive, aggressive, tactical, strategical, and creative. Boris Spassky has solved some juicy tactics in his games. Also, this is the very first time, that Lawrence and Arne have to face the so-called "nightmare" of the ChessBase tactics section. With limited amount of time, they have to solve this beast. Can you solve it?
More...
 2

Chessable Masters: Giri grabs the lead

5/22/2022 – On the third day of the Chessable Masters, Anish Giri took the lead in the standings table after scoring three wins and a draw. Wei Yi, who had been leading until Friday, only managed two draws and dropped to fourth place. Magnus Carlsen is one point behind Giri in second place; Ding Liren is third. Sunday’s final three rounds of the preliminaries will decide which eight players move on to the knockout.

Superbet Poland: Rapport inflicts a first loss on Anand

5/22/2022 – Vishy Anand won the rapid section of the Superbet tournament in Warsaw, despite losing his round-9 encounter against Richard Rapport. The latter goes into the 18 rounds of blitz in sole second place, after winning twice and losing once on Saturday. Jan-Krzysztof Duda stands in third place, a point further back. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 4

Duo infernale

5/21/2022 – By hindsight, it's easy to say that in the diagram position White must play 29.Rxd3! - but is it just as easy to refute the game continuation 29.f3?? Your call!
More...
 6

Chessable Masters: Pragg beats Carlsen as Wei leads

5/21/2022 – Wei Yi continues to lead the standings in the preliminary stage of the Chessable Masters, as he collected two wins and two draws in Friday’s rounds. David Anton and Magnus Carlsen are sharing second place three points back. Carlsen kicked off the day with a loss — for a second time in the tour, the world champion was defeated by 16-year-old Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa.
More...
 6

Superbet Poland: Anand keeps the lead, Rapport wins three in a row

5/21/2022 – Vishy Anand continued his winning streak at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament in Warsaw, as he kicked off day 2 with two straight wins before signing his first draw of the event in round 6. Anand has a 2-point lead over Richard Rapport, who collected full points in all three rounds on Friday. | Photo: Bryan Adams
More...
 1

Svitlana's Smart Moves - The King's Indian Part 2

5/20/2022 – In the first day of the Champions Chess Tour, Gawain Jones played the Kings Indian against Vidit Gujrathi because it is a very legit weapon. One of Svitlana's favourite openings deserves a second part, to get into some deeper strategic territory. What if White is castling on the queen side? We adjust our plans, and build up some important decisions. Svitlana analyses an interesting King's Indian game between Ivan Cheparinov, and Wang Yue!
More...
 3

Chessable Masters: Wei Yi leads

5/20/2022 – After four rounds at the preliminaries of the Chessable Masters, 22-year-old Wei Yi is leading the standings table on 10/12 points. Three of the favourites stand two points behind — Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Anish Giri. The 16-player online tournament is played with a football scoring system. Half the players will move on to the knockout stage from the single round-robin set to run until Sunday. | Photo: Niki Riga
More...
 2

Superbet Poland: Anand’s perfect day

5/19/2022 – Vishy Anand scored three wins in as many games to take the lead at the rapid section of the Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz Tournament. With six rounds of rapid left to go, the former world champion has a 2-point lead over a chasing pack consisting of Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian and Jan-Krzysztof Duda — players receive 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw in the rapid. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 11

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: Playing against 3...a6 in the Queens Gambit Declined

5/19/2022 – This week Robert Ris shows how David Navara managed to beat the currently popular line with 3...a6 against the Queens Gambit Declined in a fine and instructive game played in the Czech Championship 2022. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Munich to host a leg of Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23

5/19/2022 – Munich will host the third leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23, to be held from February 1-14, 2023. The venues, dates, and details for the other three legs in the WGP Series will be announced at the end of May. | Photos: FIDE
More...
 1

Online Player Encyclopedia - Players, profiles, and pictures (with video!)

5/19/2022 – Users of ChessBase are undoubtedly familiar with the Player Encyclopedia that comes with Mega Database, a massive archive of players and photos that allow you to view games with a picture of that player instead of just their name. There is an online version with ChessBase Account, but offers much more. Read the tutorial or watch the video to find out why.
More...
 2

Ding Liren confirmed to play in the Candidates

5/18/2022 – As expected, Ding Liren is the eighth participant in the Candidates Tournament 2022. The Chinese top GM replaces the suspended Sergey Karjakin as the highest-rated player after World Champion Carlsen. The Candidates Tournament begins on 17 June in Madrid and the winner will play Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship.
More...
 5

Game of the Week #516: A fine attack by Nico Zwirs

5/18/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show #516, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a fine attacking win by Dutch IM and ChessBase author Nico Zwirs. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
More...
 1