A good guideline

2/22/2022 – In rook endings, rooks usually belong behind passed pawns. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule but it is still a good guideline to find good moves in rook endings. In the diagrammed position it is White to move. How can she get her rook behind a passed pawn and win the endgame?

The octogenarian puzzle master

2/22/2022 – Werner Keym is a teacher (of French and Latin) and a musician who has organised more than 300 concerts in his town. In 2010, he ran for Mayor of Meisenheim and won in a landslide. Now in retirement he devotes his time to the family — he has six grandchildren — and to his hobbies. The foremost of them is problem chess, where he is the is one of the most creative problemists we know. Today he turns 80, and we celebrate with samples of his work. Prepare for an hour of fun.

Airthings Masters: Nepo grabs the lead

2/21/2022 – Ian Nepomniachtchi is almost certain to reach the knockout stage at the Airthings Masters, as he grabbed a 4-point lead after a strong performance on the second day of the preliminaries. Sharing second place are Ding Liren and Eric Hansen, while Magnus Carlsen stands two points behind the chasers after losing his round-8 game against 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa. | Photo: Maria Emelianova / FIDE

An interview with Carissa Yip

2/21/2022 – In an exclusive interview with Tatiana Flores, Carissa Yip talks about her chess career, her studies, some of her most important games, memorable chess moments, and shares her chess schedule for this year! | Photo: Austin Fuller (Saint Louis Chess Club)

Christmas knights

2/20/2022 – Star columnist Jon Speelman continues to link chess positions with Monty Python sketches. Readers pitched in with further suggestions, and in particular one noted the unexpected absence of the expectedly ‘Unexpected Spanish Inquisition’!

Understanding before Moving 67: Changing sides

2/20/2022 – 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 67th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman reveals why it is important to play against strong opponents to improve and shows how important it is to keep a flexible mindset. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Player Types - The Theorist

2/20/2022 – The Grandmasters Dr. Karsten Mueller and Luis Engel have set a ball rolling in Germany with their latest Fritztrainer. GM Lars Bo Hansen designed the four-player model in 2005, and was perhaps ahead of his time. In the 5-part interview with Dr. Karsten Mueller, all four player types are discussed in detail. Today - The Theorist.

Airthings Masters: Ding leads, Carlsen struggles

2/20/2022 – Ding Liren had the best start at the Airthings Masters online tournament. The Chinese scored 10/12 points after winning three games and drawing one on the first day of action. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Andrey Esipenko are placed second and third, while Magnus Carlsen is currently eleventh after losing in rounds 3 and 4, against Esipenko and Nepomniachtchi respectively. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Praggnanandhaa in Wijk aan Zee: Analyses and reflections

2/19/2022 – The organizers of the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee are known for inviting promising talents. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu made his debut in the Masters this year. Thorsten Cmiel analyses Pragg’s games and shares some reflexions about the youngster’s performance. | Photos: Lennart Ootes, Jurriaan Hoefsmit - Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022

A surprising attack

2/19/2022 – Opposite-coloured bishops favour the attacker - in the diagrammed position it is Black to move, and do you see how Black can exploit the superiority on "his squares"?

Full Tour Participants confirmed for the 2022 Grand Chess Tour

2/18/2022 – The total Prize Fund Increased to $1.4 million across all five tournaments. The nine players are Wesley So Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Richard Rapport, and Leinier Dominguez. | Photo: grandchesstour.org

Airthings Masters kicks off 2022 Champions Chess Tour

2/18/2022 – The Airthings Masters tournament kicks off this year’s Meltwater Champions Chess Tour with a glittering lineup featuring Magnus Carlsen and the new male and female world rapid champions. Sixteen players in total will battle it out in the round-robin stage of the online event before eight go forward to the knockout stage. The tournament will take place on February 19-26, with the action kicking off daily at 18.00 CET.

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Carlsen messes up

2/18/2022 – In his Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at a couple of games with a similar strategic pattern. In the first game we see Magnus Carlsen in action in the Norwegian League - and then we see a second game with a related theme, which was played by Ulf Andersson some years ago. | 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.

CHESS Magazine quiz

2/18/2022 – Are you weary of feverishly watching for novelties in the Najdorf, or following tedious battles over the chessboard? Looking for something different? In the January issue of CHESS Magazine there was a small collection of delightful problems that caught our eye. They were selected and annotated by Graham Phythian. Today we show you the positions without any solutions, which will be supplied in a week. You can however figure them out on your own, with the help of the built-in engines in our replay app.

The search mask in ChessBase 16

2/18/2022 – The ChessBase MegaDatabase 2022 contains around 9.2 million games, many of them by top players. Thanks to the ChessBase reference function the immense opening knowledge from these games is easily accessible. Thanks to the ChessBase search mask the same applies to the middlegame and endgame. But how does the search for positions work, e.g. for positions with an isolated queen pawn? You will quickly learn how powerful this tool is and how easy it is to use the search mask! Let's go.

Nakamura beats Aronian in tiebreaks, wins Berlin Grand Prix

2/17/2022 – Hikaru Nakamura defeated Levon Aronian in tiebreaks to win the first leg of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin. The hard-fought final match had seen two draws in the classical games. In the two rapid encounters that broke the tie, Nakamura showed better nerves in the last stage of the games to take home the title, 13 Grand Prix points and 24,000 Euros. | Photos: World Chess

FIDE Grand Prix Final - Games and results

2/17/2022 – The last two spots in the upcoming Candidates Tournament will be decided in the FIDE Grand Prix Series, with the first leg of the series taking place in Berlin on February 4 to 17. The new format consists of four-player double round-robins and a knockout stage. Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 15.00 CET (09.00 ET, 19.30 IST)!

ChessBase for Coaches: Showing a Plan

2/17/2022 – The Enter Null Move feature in ChessBase helps chess coaches demonstrate opening tabiyas, middlegame attacking ideas, and endgame plans. It’s also perfect for figuring out missing moves on students’ scoresheets or for Knight’s Tours. National Master Jeffrey Ashton explains.

England vs. Sweden Challenge Match

2/17/2022 – It will be a ten-game encounter, with five games at slow time control, five fast. In March Swedish grandmaster Nils Grandelius will play English grandmaster David Howell in London. The event is part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the London Chess Centre and the relaunching of CHESS Magazine. Press release.

Berlin GP: Tiebreaks it is

2/16/2022 – A 29-move draw in game 2 of the FIDE Grand Prix final means the winner of the event will be decided in Thursday’s tiebreaks. The short game was not without excitement, though, as the players entered a sharp line in which White had the more comfortable position but had to contend with Black grabbing material on the queenside. Hikaru Nakamura will have the white pieces in the first rapid game tomorrow. | Photos: World Chess

Game of the Week #503: L. Dominguez vs W. So, Berlin, Grand Prix 2022

2/16/2022 – In his "Game of the Week" show #503 Merijn van Delft takes at a theoretically interesting game in the Italian, which Leinier Dominguez and Wesley So played at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Remembering Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022)

2/16/2022 – On 14 February the Yugoslav-Serbian grandmaster Borislav Ivkov died in Belgrade at the age of 88. In 1951 Ivkov was World Junior Champion and in the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the world's best players. He made it to the Candidates in 1965, and played in the Interzonal Tournaments in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. | Photo: Durch National Archive

The Weekly Show: The final of the Grand Prix Berlin

2/16/2022 – In his "Weekly Show" Lawrence Trent analyses the first game of the final of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin between Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian, which was a hard-fought draw. | Lawrence’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

Berlin GP Final: An exciting draw

2/16/2022 – Hikaru Nakamura had the white pieces in the first game of the final at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin. Nakamura was on the back foot after playing what his opponent Levon Aronian considered to be an “erroneous” plan. However, Aronian could not make the most of his advantage and ended up needing to show precision to hold a 54-move draw. | Photos: World Chess