Nakamura and Dubov get wildcards for FIDE Grand Prix

12/22/2021 – Six players have already qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022, and the two remaining spots will go to the two best players in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022, a series of three tournaments that will be played from February to April in Berlin and Belgrade. The FIDE recently announced that Hikaru Nakamura (pictured), who in the last two years has not played a single FIDE-rated game, will get the FIDE wild card for the Grand Prix. Daniil Dubov will a wild card from the organiser. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Gashimov Memorial: Rapport and Karjakin win rapid section

12/22/2021 – The rapid tournament at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial ended with an exciting and close finish. In the sixth and penultimate round tournament leader Richard Rapport lost against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, which allowed Fabiano Caruana to catch up. But in the final round Caruana also lost against Mamedyarov while Rapport and Karjakin won their matches. In the end, Rapport and Karjakin shared first place with 16 points each. | Photos: Tournament page

The Weekly Show: Sunway Sitges

12/21/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will take a look at the Sitges tournament, in which a number of the world's brightest stars take part. The game of the day will be Niemann-Puranik where the young Indian GM gets the better of, to quote Lawrence, "the greatest American natural talent since Nakamura". | Lawrence’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

NFT collection: Moments of Genius

12/21/2021 – ChessBase is launching a unique NFT series of the world chess champions, united with their iconic games and moves that have made history in their sublime beauty. Each NFT is authorized by the player himself. A font specially designed for this series allows historical portraits and private photographs to merge with the moves. Behind the notation, the key position of a very famous game appears in 3D ray tracing technology from ChessBase. Alternating with this is an intense portrait of the world champion from his active time. You can read. You can see. You can feel. The moment of genius. And you can now bid for them on Opensea.

The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 21

12/21/2021 – Yesterday's Reti study could be solved with Rd2, or even Rd3. Of course, almost everyone knew that. And today there is another study that even more should know how to solve. Please confirm you know it! And this short study, in this short video, is on the shortest day of the year.
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New: The 4 Player Types standard model Find your strengths and weaknesses and those of your opponent

12/21/2021 – Playing styles in chess are an important and thus often discussed topic. GM Dr. Karsten Müller and GM Luis Engel take up a model by GM Lars Bo Hansen based on 4 player types - namely ‘activists’, ‘pragmatics’, ‘theoreticians’ and so-called ‘reflectors’. Their respective strengths and weaknesses are explained with the help of many examples, enabling the reader to try and assign himself or herself to one or the other player type.

Endgame tactics

12/21/2021 – In the diagram position it is White to move and draw. Black's passed pawns are far advanced and it seems as if one of them will queen soon. However, White still has a way to draw. What should he do?

Hikaru Nakamura wins fourth straight Speed Chess Championship

12/21/2021 – For a fourth year in a row, Hikaru Nakamura won the online Speed Chess Championship organized by chess.com. His opponent in the deciding match was Wesley So, who lost a third final against his compatriot. It was a one-sided affair, as the online blitz and bullet specialist won by an impressive 23-8 score.

Karsten Müller’s Endgame Magic Show #176: Rubinstein's rook endgame mastery

12/20/2021 – In the Endgame Magic Show #176 Karsten Müller and Arne Kähler take a look at fascinating rook endings. They start with the last game of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, and then focus on the game Spielmann vs Rubinstein, St. Petersburg 1909, in which Rubinstein worked his rook endgame magic. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

The vision of FIDE's Managing Director - Dana Reizniece-Ozola

12/20/2021 – A pre-requisite for an organization to become world class is to have competent people working for it in key managerial positions. This is exactly what FIDE has done by roping in Dana Reizniece-Ozola as the managing director. A look at her credentials and you can have no doubts about her competency. Dana is a former Minister of Economics of Latvia as well as its Finance Minister! She has a Masters in Business Administration, has been the head of space programs and her list of achievements is quite huge. To add to all of this, she is also a strong chess player - a WGM with an Elo of 2283. At the World Championship 2021 in Dubai, IM Sagar Shah met with Dana and had a detailed interview about her journey of life, becoming FIDE's managing director, her vision for FIDE and much more.

The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 20

12/20/2021 – Only four more days and our beautiful endgame magic calendar is over. Could you find the move for the "King of the Umbrellas" yesterday? It was Ke6! Today we have an absolute classic in door 20. But who actually made this study?
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Understanding before Moving 58: "Hemmungsstrategie"

12/20/2021 – 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 58th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about Aaron Nimzowitsch and his famous "Hemmungsstrategie". | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Motylev is the new European Rapid Champion

12/20/2021 – At the European Rapid Championship in Katowice, three grandmasters finished level on points atop the standings: Alexander Motylev (Russia), Alexander Donchenko (Germany) and Paulius Pultinevicius (Lithuania), each with 9½ points after 11 rounds. According to the tiebreak criteria, Motylev was declared European Champion, Donchenko got the silver medal and Pultinevicius took home the bronze. | Photos: Michał Walusza

Jaime Santos dominates Salamanca Masters

12/20/2021 – The fifth edition of the Salamanca Chess Festival took place on December 14-18 at the Colegio Arzobispo Fonseca, a historical edifice built in 1519. The main event was an 8-player single round-robin rapid tournament which had living legends Veselin Topalov and Alexei Shirov as the top seeds. In the end, however, it was Jaime Santos who came out on top, as he scored 6/7 points to finish a full point clear of second-placed Romain Edouard. | Photos: Official website

Boxing in White City

12/19/2021 – The recent World Championship appears in hindsight to have been very one-sided, with Ian Nepomniachtchi’s collapse being dramatic but far from unprecedented. Thinking about collapses, star columnist Jon Speelman went back to the famous battle between Viktor Korchnoi (pictured) and Boris Spassky in Belgrade 1977!

Nabaty wins Israel Championship

12/19/2021 – The Israel Open Championship saw 102 players compete in nine Swiss rounds for the top honours as well as for the 80,000 NIS prize-fund. Quite a few of the country’s best junior players were among the participants. GM Tamir Nabaty, the highest rated participant, emerged winner despite an early defeat, ahead of GM Evgeny Postny and Israel’s best female player IM Marsel Efroimsky. Report by Yochanan Afek. | Photo: Ritvo photography.

The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 19

12/19/2021 – In door number 18, "Zugzwang is the sharpest endgame weapon" with Ka2!!! In today's door we take a closer look at a game by Jan Timman and find out: "Not all rook ending games end in a draw" if the right move is found.
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Jan-Krzysztof Duda wins the European Blitz Championship

12/18/2021 – The European Blitz Championship took place on Friday in Katowice. Polish grandmaster and rating favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the event after obtaining an 18/22 score. Duda finished a half point ahead of his compatriot Maciej Klekowski. Eight players scored 16½ points. | Photos: Official site

The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 18

12/18/2021 – Sometimes there are endgame puzzles that end quite surprisingly. The move Kd4, was the interesting idea yesterday to secure the draw. But we couldn't upset the majority of all the participants. You know your endgames too well. But maybe with door 18? Once again, a very witty move that has to be found.
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From the evergreen tree

12/18/2021 – The diagram shows a position from a game that was played 90 years ago. White here found a combination that is a true classic, and particularly impressive was the quiet third move of the combination. Do you see what White can do here?

The Gashimov Memorial returns with Anand, Caruana and Karjakin

12/17/2021 – The 7th edition of the Gashimov Memorial was officially inaugurated today in Baku. The tournament in memory of Vugar Gashimov, who died at an early age, will be contested by eight players — including Vishy Anand, Fabiano Caruana and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Unlike previous editions, it will be played as a rapid and blitz tournament. The first round will be played on Saturday.

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Positional sacrifices with Anand's help

12/17/2021 – Sometimes, it is not about attacking the king, or winning a piece, but getting an overwhelmingly strong position. And this can be achieved in several different ways. Svitlana picked out a way of gaining advantage through positional sacrificing. The 18-year-old coach, shows us two examples of Botvinnik, and Anand. Viswanathan Anand's game against Levon Aronian is an example of pure beauty.

Nakamura beats Ding in Armageddon, will face So in SCC final

12/17/2021 – In the second semifinal of the Speed Chess Championship knockout event, defending champion Hikaru Nakamura had to work extra hard to defeat Ding Liren, as the match was only decided in Armageddon. The Chinese grandmaster drew the online blitz and bullet specialist both ‘in regulation’ and in the 4-game tiebreaker. Nakamura will face Wesley So in Sunday’s final match.

Chess as sport and culture: The Chess Festival in Salamanca

12/17/2021 – The Chess Festival Salamanca combines chess sport and chess culture and emphasises gender equality. Four top male and four top female players compete in a tournament. After three rounds, Jaime Santos is in the lead. | Photos: Tournament page