9/3/2021 – Paleochora is a serene little village which occupies a small peninsula on the southeast coast of Crete. Even during the uneasy pandemic time, Paleochora welcomed more than 300 players from all around the world for the 14th edition of the Open, one of the strongest tournaments in Greece. Irina Bulmaga reports from a paradisiacal location.

9/3/2021 – The ChessBase News Review is back, and Lawrence shares his thoughts about Alireza Firouzja, who played rather bad tournaments recently, but seems to be back on track in the Aimchess Open. Furthermore, he talks about MVL, the winner of the last Sinquefield Cup, and how important this tournament was for the French Grandmaster. Lawrence also has some sad news - the Gibraltar Open might pause or come to an end. This episode ends unexpectedly. After Lawrence braggs about his "bullet chess" skills, Arne immediately challenges him to a three-game bullet match on Playchess. And this match is not as easy for the English IM as you might expect.

9/2/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at a sharp and instructive game in the Sicilian Najdorf. Ris’ student Eline Roebers (15 years old) beat a player much higher-rated than her on her way to tournament victory at the Brugse Meesters in Belgium! | “Fast and Furious” is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

9/2/2021 – The Scandinavian is one of the most direct approaches against 1.e4. Right from the first move Black is attacking White’s centre. A lot of players, especially club players, don’t like to face this line because of this aggressive character. Most of them flee into offbeat lines which are not very critical. The ones who dare to go for the mainlines need to remember a lot of lines. This makes the Scandinavian a perfect choice for your repertoire. In the Fianchetto Scandinavian, Dutch IM Nico Zwirs will share his experience with the love of his youth.

9/2/2021 – Fabiano Caruana and his second Rustam Kasimdzhanov formed a very successful team. However, their best year together (2018) ended in disappointment after many successes. The last Candidates Tournament did not go as desired either. “The pandemic year did not do our relationship any good”, says Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Now Fabiano Caruana and Rustam Kasimdzhanov are going their separate ways. | Photo: Austin Fuller

9/2/2021 – For the first time in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, Alireza Firouzja has made it past the quarterfinals. And the 18-year-old did it in style, knocking out one of the toughest opponents in the tour, Wesley So. In the semis, Firouzja will face Vladislav Artemiev, who defeated Leinier Dominguez in a close match. The other semifinal will see Magnus Carlsen playing Levon Aronian. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

9/1/2021 – The Scandinavian opening is controversial. Some hate it, others love it. But if Magnus Carlsen and many other Grandmasters play this opening occasionally, it wouldn't harm to take a closer look at it. Especially the "Portuguese Variation" is worth discovering. This tricky line is full of tactics, and heavy development on Black's side. Furthermore, Svitlana teaches us some more ideas from a blindfold match between Gelfand and Morozevich. After all, it is a great idea to try out openings you have never ever touched before, to get the most out of this beautiful game called chess.

9/1/2021 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave couldn’t have asked for a better time to win the Sinquefield Cup. Scoring six points in nine rounds, he became the only player to outrightly win the event twice. Equally important for him, the win beckons a return to top form. In an interview with Dhananjay Khadilkar, he remarked, “I have absolutely no doubt that I am part of the chess elite”. | Photo: Austin Fuller

9/1/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft chooses one of the many exciting games played in the prelims of the Aimchess US Rapid tournament — Daniel Naroditsky’s impressive attacking win over Wesley So. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

9/1/2021 – The new ChessBase Magazine # 203 already whets the appetite for the World Championship match in November. In the "Special: Ian Nepmniachtchi" each of our authors analyses their favorite game of the new challenger. The result is an exclusive collection of 21 extensively annotated games. Karsten Müller puts the technique of the 31-year-old Russian to the test in his contribution "Nepomniachtchi’s Endgames". And Mihail Marin explores the question of what distinguishes “Nepos” playing style. Adhiban, Krasenkow, Navara, Praggnanandhaa, Vitiugov, Wojtaszek and others comment on their games from the World Cup. Plus 10 opening articles ("The Scandinavian under pressure", "News from the Fantasy Variation" etc.), opening videos by King, Werle and Marin as well as training columns on tactics, strategy and endgame. We present all of this to you in the new CBM layout!

8/31/2021 – The first sets of the Aimchess US Rapid quarterfinals were played on Tuesday. Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja and Levon Aronian won their first 4-game mini-matches, which means a draw on Wednesday will grant them a spot in the semifinals. The one match that finished drawn was Vladislav Artemiev vs Leinier Dominguez, as the Russian won game 4 on demand to tie the score. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

8/31/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at a game which shows how things can go wrong from the black side of a Slav Defence — i.e. Wesley So vs Awonder Liang from the Aimchess US Rapid. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here