Mongolian team wins Online Chess Championship for prisoners

10/22/2021 – Team Mongolia became the winner of the first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners after defeating Team Zimbabwe in the final of the biggest ever chess event among correctional facilities. In the women’s section, the Georgian team won all three matches and finished in clear first place.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: The Improved Milner-Barry Gambit

10/21/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at the improved Milner-Barry Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3!? cxd4 7.0-0, an interesting and aggressive way to fight the French Defense that has recently become more and more popular. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Interview with Jovanka Houska

10/21/2021 – In an exclusive interview with Tatiana Flores, Jovanka Houska talks about her career as a chess player, author and commentator. She also talks about some of her most important and memorable games and reveals how it feels to get free chess lessons from Judit Polgar. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Annotating in ChessBase: Variations, moves, and more

10/21/2021 – Adding symbols, evaluations and comments may be important, but without variations and moves to depict the possibilities that could have taken place or should have taken place, describing chess as a science would have no meaning. Yet knowing how to organize and re-organize those variations and moves sensibly and efficiently is no less essential. Learn how to do it like a pro!

Grand Swiss in Riga will take place despite lockdown

10/21/2021 – On Monday, 25 October, the Grand Swiss Tournament in Riga is scheduled to begin. 114 players have registered, the two best qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022. But due to a sharp rise in the numbers of COVID-19 cases, the Latvian authorities have introduced a strict four-week lockdown, from Thursday 21 October until 15 November. However, the Grand Swiss is exempt from these restrictions and the tournament can take place.

Svitlana's Smart Moves - "Material Imbalances": S. Shankland vs F. Caruana, St. Louis 2021

10/21/2021 – Recently, Svitlana came to Hamburg to record her new Fritztrainer: "Understanding Material Imbalances". The DVD will appear soon, probably in a couple of weeks. But this is a good opportunity for a preview, including some recent examples of the themes Svitlana presents, e.g. the entertaining topic of "Material Imbalances". At the US Championship 2021 that just ended in St. Louis Sam Shankland and Fabiano Caruana played a fascinating game with material imbalances - it ended in a draw when the queen was unable to win against two minor pieces.

Nikita Vitiugov and Valentina Gunina are the 2021 Russian champions

10/20/2021 – All but one game in both sections of the Russian Superfinals finished drawn in Wednesday’s final round, and the one decisive game (which was played in the open section) did not alter the situation at the top of the standings table. Thus, Nikita Vitiugov and Valentina Gunina, who were the sole leaders after the penultimate round, were crowned as the 2021 Russian chess champions. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Game of the Week 486: A. Lenderman vs F. Caruana

10/20/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft takes another look at the US Championship and analyses the encounter between Alekandr Lenderman and Fabiano Caruana, a tactically and positionally rich battle, in which Caruana showed great fighting spirit. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Wesley So dominates playoffs, wins 2021 US Championship

10/20/2021 – Wesley So beat both Fabiano Caruana and Sam Sevian in the playoffs of the 2021 US Championship to win the national title for a third time, since his transfer to the United States in 2014. A hard-fought tournament saw the three players sharing first place on 6½ points after 11 rounds. A round robin with a rapid time control took place on Tuesday to decide the winner of the national championship. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Nick Pert wins British Championship

10/20/2021 – This year, the British Chess Federation organised two national championships, an online championship in July/August, and an "Over-the-Board" championship at the beginning of October. Nicholas Pert (pictured) won the Open Championship, Harriett Hunt became Women's Champion. | Photos: John Stubbs (Tournament page)

Superfinals - Round 11

10/20/2021 – All but one game in both sections of the Russian Superfinals finished drawn in Wednesday’s final round, and the one decisive game (which was played in the open section) did not alter the situation at the top of the standings table. Thus, Nikita Vitiugov and Valentina Gunina, who were the sole leaders after the penultimate round, were crowned as the 2021 Russian chess champions. | Follow the action live starting at 12.00 CEST (6.00 ET, 15.30 IST)

Baden-Baden wins Bundesliga

10/20/2021 – Last weekend, Baden-Baden won the German Team Championship, the Bundesliga. Again. In fact, since 2006 the team from Baden-Baden, sponsored by GRENKE Leasing, only failed to win the league in 2016, when Solingen finished first. This year, at the end of a season that due to the pandemic lasted from 2019 to 2021, Baden-Baden was three team points ahead of their closest rivals but securing the title was more difficult than the final result suggests. | Photos: Pascal Simon

Superfinals: Matlakov joins the fight for the title

10/20/2021 – Going into Wednesday’s final round in the Russian Superfinals, both the open tournament and the women’s championship have a sole leader with a half-point edge over two players sharing second place. In the open, Nikita Vitiugov leads, with Maxim Matlakov and Vladimir Fedoseev standing close behind; among the women, Valentina Gunina is the frontrunner, with her closest chasers being Evgenija Ovod and Polina Shuvalova. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

US Championship - Playoffs

10/19/2021 – Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Sam Sevian finished the 2021 US Championship sharing first place on 6½/11 points. A rapid round robin tournament (10 minutes plus 2-second increments) will decide the winner. In case of a tie, blitz and Armageddon will follow. | Follow the action live with commentary starting at 13.00 local time (14.00 ET, 20.00 CEST)

US Championships: Sevian, Caruana and So go to playoffs

10/19/2021 – The last round of the US Championship was played on Monday. The US Champion, however, has not yet been decided, as Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Sam Sevian finished tied on points atop the standings and will play a rapid-chess tiebreak to find the winner of this year’s national event. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

The Weekly Show: Carissa Yip wins US Women's Championship 2021

10/19/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent focuses on the US Championships, especially on Carissa Yip's victory in the Women’s event. The game of the day is Yip's win against Nazi Paikidze. Lawrence will also talk about Pragg’s victory at the Julius Baer challenge, and other events. | Lawrence’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

Pawn race in a rook ending

10/19/2021 – Rook endings often have drawish tendencies, but pawn races usually spice things up. In the diagram position it is Black to move. Should he protect his pawn on g6 or should he attack White's pawn on b3?

Carissa Yip wins the US Women’s Championship at 18

10/19/2021 – With a remarkable 8½/11 score, Carissa Yip won the 2021 US Women’s Championship a bit over a month after turning 18 years old. The Bostonian is the highest-rated U20 woman player in the world and has now joined the top 50 in the live women’s ratings list. The youngster won the national title in style, securing first place with a round to spare and finishing the event 1½ points ahead of second-placed Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

62nd Annual US Armed Forces Open Chess Championship

10/18/2021 – The 62nd Annual US Armed Forces Open Chess Championship was held in Grapevine, Texas, from October 8–11, 2021. Charles D. "Chuck" Unruh and Charles M. Unruh won the Veterans Open Championship and the Armed Forces Open, respectively. Chuck, the father, scored 4½ of 5 rounds to top a 22-player field. Charles, the son, went 5-0 in a 51-player field. | Photo: Danny Fallon

US Championships: Caruana shares the lead, Yip secures women’s title

10/18/2021 – With one round to go at the 2021 US Championship, a number of players still have a chance to become champions. Fabiano Caruana joined the leading pack with a win over Aleksandr Lenderman — he now shares first place with Sam Sevian and Wesley So. In the women’s tournament, 18-year-old Carissa Yip grabbed the title with one round to spare! | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Karsten Müller’s Endgame Magic #166: Endgame highlights from the finals of the Champions Chess Tour

10/18/2021 – In the Endgame Magic Show #166 Karsten Müller Arne and Karsten discuss endgame highlights from the finals of the Champions Chess Tour, which ended in October and was won by Magnus Carlsen. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

Carlsen's 4.c4 in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation

10/18/2021 – At the FIDE World Cup 2021 Magnus Carlsen surprised his opponent Vladimir Fedoseev in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5) with the move 4.c4. Jan Werle analyses this brilliant game in ChessBase Magazine Extra #203 in a video and pays special attention to the opening. Is Carlsen's idea a good attacking weapon against the Caro-Kann? Take a look at an excerpt from Werle's video analysis!
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Superfinals: Vitiugov and Gunina sole leaders

10/18/2021 – With three rounds to go in the Russian Superfinals, Nikita Vitiugov and Valentina Gunina are leading the tournament standings in the open and women’s event respectively. Vitiugov climbed to first place after surviving a lost position against Kirill Alekseenko, while Gunina is undefeated with five wins in eight games so far in Ufa. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Impressive Praggnanandhaa wins Julius Baer Challengers Tour Finals

10/18/2021 – There was no stopping Praggnanandhaa in the Finals of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour. The 16-year-old from Chennai scored a dominating 3-0 victory in the final match against Christopher Yoo, which means he was a half point away from getting a perfect score in the event — he got 8½/9 points after knocking out Volodar Murzin and Vincent Keymer in the previous rounds.