12/12/2021 – 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 57th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about "The Elephant", an animal that particularly likes the jungle of Nimzo-Indian variations. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

12/12/2021 – This year, the main event of the London Chess Classic was the match between England and the Rest of the World, with each team consisting of three players. Before the final round, the squads were tied at 7½ points each. In a very hard-fought final round, the Rest of the World won the match. Boris Gelfand and Nikita Vitiugov provided the winning points.

12/12/2021 – Today the first authorized NFT series of world chess champions has been minted! World chess champions, NFT and blockchain? What is that supposed to mean? You may have heard that NFTs can establish ownership of digital art: In March 2021, an NFT by digital artist Beeple fetched the auction value of $69 million at Christie's. However the NFTs of the world chess champions are not about crazy auctions, but about honoring outstanding chess achievement. In a series that currently consists of 14 entries, the classic world champions are now immortalized with selected games. The unique thing about this series is that many players participate through their authorization. This makes it the first of its kind in history.

12/12/2021 – You only had to find the correct move Bd3 yesterday, but a huge amount of participants also knew about "Rauser's drawing zone". I congratulate you, for your endgame knowledge. Today, your task is to find a rather beautiful way to win, and as always, only one move is the right one!

12/11/2021 – “The second half of the match wasn’t the fight we all wanted to see, with most of the games being blundered away (b5,c5,g3 and others). Still, the World Champion barely made a mistake in 11 games, and never gave a chance once in control. Hopefully Nepo can recover from what must be an absolute nightmare of a match”, writes GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov in his analysis of the match’s eleventh and final game. | Photo: Austin Fuller

12/11/2021 – Vladimir Kramnik thought he was already completely lost in yesterday's task a few moves earlier anyway. The readers knew almost without exception that Sb1 with sacrifice was enough to win. In today's exercise it's all about 30 green squares!

12/11/2021 – The razor-sharp diagram position saw Black losing after 26...Kxh6?, while after 26...Kg7! things easily might have gone the other way round. Stunners galore - enjoy!

12/11/2021 – ChessBase has minted a series of NFTs on world chess champions. The success of NFTs is closely linked to the current rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Here, we take a look at this fast-growing world of virtual assets. At their current stage, cryptocurrencies are still viewed with a great deal of controversy. For many, they are breakthrough technology, growth market and a sharp sword to protect civil rights. Others see them as a speculative bubble that diminishes the capability for monetary policy of central banks because they can no longer be controlled by central authorities.

12/10/2021 – Magnus Carlsen picked up a fourth win at the World Championship match in Dubai to secure overall victory with three games to spare. Playing black, the world champion saw Ian Nepomniachtchi all but self-destructing for a third time in the match. This was Carlsen’s fourth consecutive successful defence of the title after becoming world champion in 2013. | Photo: Eric Rosen / FIDE

12/10/2021 – In light of recent events GM Daniel King looks back over World Championship mistakes and blunders. The selection is plentiful, and it wasn't just the old guys making errors. The first example comes from the Steinitz-Chigorin match of 1892, the last is from Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi, and there is much in between. | 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.

12/10/2021 – A few days ago the FIDE announced that the World Rapid and Blitz Championships due to Corona restrictions could not take place in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, as was originally planned. Now FIDE announced that they found a new venue: the World Rapid and Blitz Championships will take place in Warsaw on the planned dates (December 25 - December 31, 2021). | Photo: Qbolewicz

12/10/2021 – Magnus Carlsen picked up a fourth win at the World Championship match in Dubai to secure overall victory with three games to spare. Playing black, the world champion saw Ian Nepomniachtchi all but self-destructing for a third time in the match. This was Carlsen’s fourth consecutive defence of the title after becoming world champion in 2013. | Replay all the games with computer analysis. Full report to follow shortly | Photo: Niki Riga