Champions Chess Tour: Setback for Carlsen

9/29/2021 – In round four of the Meltwater Chess Champions Finals World Champion Magnus Carlsen suffered an outright 1-3 defeat against Vladislav Artemiev. Wesley So drew his rapid match against Hikaru Nakamura but then lost the blitz-playoff 0-2. In the overall standings Carlsen is still four points ahead of So. | Graphics: Meltwater Chess Champions Tour

M. Amin Tabatabaei wins Sharjah Masters

9/29/2021 – The strong 4th Sharjah Masters Tournament ended on Sunday and after nine rounds four players shared first place with 6.5/9 each. But M. Amin Tabatabaei from Iran (pictured) had the best tiebreak and won the tournament. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

TePe Sigeman & Co, Round 7: Live

9/29/2021 – Dutch Grandmaster Jorden Van Foreest, who in January had won the top tournament in Wijk aan Zee, impressed again at the TePe Sigeman & Co event 2021 in Malmö by winning the eight-player tournament with one round to spare. After 6 of 7 rounds Van Foreest leads with 5.0/6 and is one and a half point ahead of Nigel Short and Nils Grandelius who share second and third place with 3.5/6 each. The seventh and final round starts two hours earlier than the previous rounds, at 12:00 CEST (10:00 ET, 10:00 UTC). Follow the games live.

The Weekly Show: Meltwater Finals

9/29/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will look at an attacking masterpiece by Magnus Carlsen in his first game vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the final of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Duda took a poisoned pawn on c3 and was duly punished. Lawrence will also talk about what’s going on at the TePe Sigeman tournament and the Women’s World Team Championships in Sitges. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

Champions Chess Tour Finals: Carlsen keeps his lead

9/28/2021 – On day 3 of the Meltwater Chess Champion Finals Magnus Carlsen played against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who had won both of his previous matches. The rapid match between "MVL" and the World Champion ended with a 2-2 tie, but in the playoffs Carlsen had the better of it. Wesley So won his rapid match against Vladislav Artemiev but is still five points behind Carlsen in the standings. | Photos and graphics: Meltwater Chess Champions Tour

Sigeman&Co: Van Foreest extends lead, Keymer beats Nihal Sarin

9/28/2021 – In round 5 of the TePe Sigeman&Co tournament in Malmö the two young Grandmasters Vincent Keymer and Nihal Sarin had to play against each other. Nihal Sarin outplayed Keymer but then blundered his advantage away and even lost. Jorden van Foreest won against Etienne Bacrot and now leads with 4.0/5. Nils Grandelius and Nigel Short follow with 3.0/5 each. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

The fourth phase of the game

9/28/2021 – After opening, middlegame and endgame comes the 4th phase of the game, when both sides have queened. In this phase it is important to start checking the enemy king first. In the diagram position Black just gave a check. But where should the white king go? And how should White prepare a transition to the fourth phase of the game?

Simen Agdestein wins Grand Prix Tournament in Kragerø

9/27/2021 – The Norwegian Grandmaster Simen Agdestein coached Magnus Carlsen, and at a chess school in the Norwegian town of Bærum he still coaches some of the most promising Norwegian talents. Agdestein regularly travels with his pupils to tournaments, and from the 3rd to the 5th of September, Agdestein and his students took part in the Grand Prix Tournament in Kragerø, which Agdestein won with 6.0/6. | Photo: The last round game between 12-year-old Martin Holten Fiskaaen and Agdestein. FM Ward Altarbosh in the background. | Photos: Tanja Cecilie Kveim

Karsten Mueller’s Endgame Magic #162: With French GM and opening expert Christian Bauer

9/27/2021 – Karsten Müller's guest in this week's "Endgame Magic Show" is the French GM Christian Bauer who just produced an interesting DVD - which, of course, will also available per download - about the charms and attractions of the Alekhine Defense. Karsten and Christian talk about this DVD but they also look at some fine endgames Christian played. | Endgame Magic is on air most Mondays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

Champions Chess Tour Final, Round 2: Carlsen continues to lead

9/27/2021 – After two days of play Magnus Carlsen leads the final of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour - which he, thanks to the 16.5 bonus point he received because of his successes in the previous tournaments of the tour - did from the very start of the event. But in round 2 the World Champion had to overcome serious problems before beating Shakhryar Mamedyarov in a tense and eventful match that went into Armageddon. | Graphics and photos: Tournament Site

Visiting Steinitz and Lasker at Their Final Resting Places

9/27/2021 – William Steinitz, the first official World Chess Champion, was born in 1836 in Prague and died on August 12, 1900 in New York, where he was also buried. Emanuel Lasker, the second World Champion, was born in Berlinchen, which today is Barlinek, a small city in Poland. But Lasker also died in New York and was buried close to his former rival Steinitz. IM Yury Lapshun and FM Jon Jacobs visited the graves of the two chess legends. | Photos: IM Yury Lapshun and FM Jon Jacobs

Understanding before Moving 46: Cooperation between the pieces (2)

9/26/2021 – 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 46th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to talk about the "Cooperation of the Pieces". | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Mega Database: a year of weekly updates

9/26/2021 – When mentioning the name Mega Database, many players automatically think of either the millions of games contained in it, or the equally impressive number of annotated games – well over 80 thousand. However, the price tag also includes a full year of weekly updates, which can then be renewed every year. Learn all here.

Georgian knot

9/25/2021 – In the diagram position Black has enough material for the queen, so the key to victory for White must be the attack on the king. Which is protected by a lot of pieces - but how can White break through Black's defence?

"Schwalbe" - history tour of the German chess problem society

9/25/2021 – In football, the German word "Schwalbe" (the swallow bird, and the football term for "diving") is an attempt by a player to feign a foul by deliberately dropping himself in a tackle with an opposing player to gain an unfair advantage. The Schwalbe in chess, doesn't mean that players fake a fall to the ground, and knock off the chess pieces to work out a mate in four. Columnist Siegfried Hornecker shows us the way on how to solve chess problems with the thematic idea of the Schwalbe, and takes us on a journey about the history of the German chess problem society. | Photo: www.dieschwalbe.de

Lawrence's statement about Beth and Nona, Korchnoi and Karpov, the "karp"

9/24/2021 – Lawrence Trent has taken a well-deserved holiday, but doesn't want to forget the good times and travels to the Bahamas in the News Review. Jokes aside, he takes a closer look at the lawsuit of Nona Gaprindashvili and the Netflix show "Queens Gambit". Furthermore, the British IM wants to watch the new film about Karpov and Korchnoi, not only because he played against Korchnoi in the past.

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?

9/24/2021 – In this week’s show, GM Daniel King, following Magnus Carlsen's brilliant win in a bishop endgame, looks at more of the same. Even at one of his own games... | 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.

European Club Cup, Round 7 - Live!

9/24/2021 – With one round to go, the team of Mednyi Vsadnik managed to take the sole lead at the European Club Cup in Struga, North Macedonia. The Russian club is one team point ahead of AVE Bovy Nor (Czechia), and has good chances to win the event. In the last round they play against Team XtraCon from Denmark. In the women's event South Ural (Russia) leads with two team points and the much better tiebreak and is almost certain to become first. | The seventh and final round start starts at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST).

Sigeman: Four decisions in round 1

9/24/2021 – The organisers of the TePe Sigeman & Co tournament once again put together a highly interesting field with young and experienced grandmasters. The players did not disappoint and the first day brought four interesting games and four decisions. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund (Tournament page)

Champions Chess Tour: Finals

9/24/2021 – Tomorrow, Saturday, 25 September, ten players will play the final tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2020/2021: the eight winners of the individual tournaments of the series and two players who received wildcards. Unlike the previous tournaments, the final will be played as a round robin with no knock-out stage. First prize is 100,000 USD.

Updated: Master Class Magnus Carlsen

9/23/2021 – On this updated DVD, experts including Daniel King, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller, Oliver Reeh and Niclas Huschenbeth examine the games of the 16th World Champion. Let them show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame, and bear witness to how the Norwegian always managed to find a way to pose his opponents serious problems, even in apparently level endings. This 2nd edition features additional new recordings by all the authors and an extra chapter with a special look at Carlsen by Daniel King.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: English Four Knights

9/23/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris shows how Black can get good attacking chances in the Four Knights Variation of the English Opening, using one of his own games from the Dutch Team Championship as example. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

For Friedrich Sämisch's 125th Birthday

9/23/2021 – When the FIDE officially introduced the title of Grandmaster in 1950, only one German received the title - Friedrich Sämisch. Alexander Alekhine once pointed out that "he could play among the very best, if he only managed to quit his extreme smoking". What Alekhine seemed to have forgotten was Sämisch's perennial addiction to time-trouble. Michael Dombrowsky, author of Sämisch's soon-to-be-published biography, wrote a tribute to this unique character to celebrate Sämisch's 125th birthday. | Image: British Chess News

2021 U.S. and U.S. Women’s Chess Championships Fields Announced

9/23/2021 – The Saint Louis chess club and its sponsor Rex Sinquefield have done a lot for chess in the U.S. and the world, and they continue to organise top tournaments. Beginning on the 5th of October, the club will host the U.S. chess championship tournaments 2021, for women and men. With players such as Caruana, So, Dominguez, Shankland, Xiong, Krush and Yip both tournaments are strongly contested, though Hikaru Nakamura, U.S. Champion 2005, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2019 is missing from the line-up. Over the course of eleven rounds, the 2 x 12 competitors will battle for a prize-fund of almost 200,000 USD, the qualification for the World Championship cycle, and of course, the title of U.S. Champion 2021.