11/8/2021 – The FIDE Grand Swiss in Riga just ended, Alireza Firouzja finished sole first with 8.0/11, half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana. Both qualified for the Candidates. The tournament in Riga brought many interesting games and many interesting endgames. In the Endgame Magic Show #169 Karsten Müller and Thomas Stark look at some of the endgame highlights. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

11/8/2021 – In honour of the 85th anniversary of the birth of the 8th World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal, FIDE is endorsing the Lindores Abbey Blitz Tournament, which is taking place on November 8 in the historical Hanzas Perons venue in Riga, Latvia. The Swiss System tournament will include nine rounds. Each round will consist of two games played against the same opponent, one with each colour. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana are the top seeds. | Photo: Mark Livshitz

11/8/2021 – Draws on the top 13 boards in the final round of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss meant Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana qualified to the next edition of the Candidates Tournament. Firouzja was the clear winner with a remarkable 8/11 score, while Caruana tied on points with Grigoriy Oparin but got a better tiebreak score than his Russian colleague. In the women’s event, Lei Tingjie had secured tournament victory with a round to spare. Elisabeth Paehtz and Zhu Jiner finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Mark Livshitz

11/7/2021 – All chess analysis, and that of endgames in particular, has been transformed in recent years by computer technology. Not only can you turn an engine on to get an instant assessment, which is generally fairly correct, but when you get down to seven pieces, then you have the ear of God — or rather an omniscient tablebase. In today’s column, we look at two fascinating endgames from the Grand Swiss in Riga. | Photo: Mark Livshitz

11/7/2021 – 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 52nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the pleasures of having a space advantage. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

11/7/2021 – Draws on the top 13 boards in the final round of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss meant Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana qualified to the next edition of the Candidates Tournament. Firouzja was the clear winner with a remarkable 8/11 score, while Caruana tied on points with Grigoriy Oparin but got a better tiebreak score than his Russian colleague. In the women’s event, Lei Tingjie had secured tournament victory with a round to spare. Elisabeth Paehtz and Zhu Jiner finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

11/7/2021 – A few weeks ago, Karsten Müller treated ChessBase readers to another endgame riddle. Charles Sullivan had come across an interesting endgame with opposite-coloured bishops that occurred in Botvinnik vs Pachman, Chess Olympiad Leipzig 1960, and Charles was curious whether Pachman had a draw with best play. The ChessBase readers came up with more than one answer.

11/7/2021 – Alireza Firouzja beat David Howell to reclaim the sole lead in the open section of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. Two players stand a half point back before the last round — Fabiano Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin. Lei Tingjie secured tournament victory in the women’s section with a round to spare. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

11/7/2021 – In his first opening video for ChessBase Magazine Markus Ragger takes up an idea that the World Champion tried out at the FIDE World Cup this summer. In the Moscow Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4) White almost always recaptures the d4-pawn with the queen. Carlsen played 5.Nxd4 against Wojtaszek instead and answered 5...Nf6 with the remarkable 6.0-0. In the new ChessBase Magazine Markus Ragger explains the potential of the new concept in a half hour video. From simple stumbling blocks (why can't Black just win the pawn with 6...Sxe4?) to tricky double attacks and positional exchange sacrifices, everything is possible! Here's an excerpt from Ragger's analysis.

11/6/2021 – In the diagram position, Black's has just played 16...Qg4, threatening 17...Nxg2+ while preventing 0-0-0. So, White's king is in a fix, and in the game it ended up getting checkmated on ... a5! Enjoy!

11/6/2021 – In an exciting twist, Fabiano Caruana beat former sole leader Alireza Firouzja in the open section of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss to set up a thrilling final weekend in Riga. Now Caruana and Firouzja are sharing the lead with David Howell, while no fewer than ten players are standing only a half point back — the fight for the two spots in the next edition of the Candidates has heated up considerably! Meanwhile, Lei all but secured tournament victory in the women’s section, as she incredibly collected a fourth win in a row by beating Alexandra Kosteniuk with the black pieces. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

11/5/2021 – In November 1991 ChessBase launched its first chess playing program for PCs. It was a modest start, but one that went on to completely change the chess world. Today, we start retracing the steps that led to the development of a fledgling chess program that went on to become one of the most powerful entities that has ever played the game – one that top players consult when preparing for their next tournament or match.