Kvika Reykjavik Open 2022

1/20/2022 – The Kvika Reykjavik Open will return to its normal setting in the Harpa music and conference center in 2022 – which has been billed as the best playing venue for an open tournament ever! The dates are from the 6th of April until the 12th of April, with nine rounds in seven days! Many world class players have taken part in then tournament in recent years. The total prize-fund in the 2022 edition will be €15.000, including many special prizes for various age and rating categories, in addition to the traditional top women’s prize.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: Fireworks in the Giuoco Piano

1/20/2022 – This week Robert Ris will have a look at the fantastic game between Daniil Dubov and Vidit Gujrathi from the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Dubov played provocatively out of a Giuoco Piano, Vidit gladly accepted the challenge, and an incredible struggle ensued! | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

FIDE declares 2022 the year of the woman in chess

1/19/2022 – The International Chess Federation has declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. According to the FIDE Women’s Commision, this is a chance to take a leap forward in their mission of forming gender equity policies, practices and programs. | Pictured: Eva Repkova / Chair of FIDE Women’s Commission

Kasparov and NFT

1/19/2022 – "It was special for me to present my journey with 1Kind [Crypto portal] in a series of NFTs that traced my life from childhood through my ever-busy ‘retirement,’" writes Garry Kasparov. "The project was all the more meaningful for me because 10% of the proceeds will go toward setting up a scholarship fund at the Kasparov Chess Foundation, dedicated to my late mother Klara, that will support all the great talents raised by single mothers like her." Read his interview in CoinDesk.

Svitlana's Smart Moves - The prophylactic moves

1/19/2022 – A core of chess is the correct prophylaxis. That doesn't mean, that we have to brush our teeth twice a day, since I hope we all do this any way. But, as I heard Yasser Seirawan once say:"I tend to play a conscious move, before my opponent plays the threat". Svitlana shows us the smartest moves in difficult situations, and explains how to approach a rough position like this.

Tata Steel R4: Wins for Pragg and Shakh

1/19/2022 – Vidit Gujrathi kept the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters going into the first rest day of the event, as round 4 saw 2 out of 7 games ending decisively. Praggnanandhaa inflicted Nils Grandelius’ third defeat to bounce back to a 50% score, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov got the better of Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the white pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The Weekly Show: Highlights from Wijk aan Zee

1/19/2022 – In his "Weekly Show" Lawrence Trent shares his thoughts and some highlights from the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Lawrence analysed the lovely game Carlsen vs Giri, where the World Champ unveiled some serious hidden prep in a Catalan. | Lawrence’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

DGT Centaur – the latest sensor board

1/19/2022 – Remember what "Sensory board chess computers" were like, four decades ago? Bulky, heavy, with complicated installation, and very expensive to buy. Today you get elegant, flat boards, which run on rechargeable batteries. And they are immediately ready to play. The one we are looking at today even adjusts its playing strength to match yours. It is a pleasure to operate.

Livestream event: The fascinating world of AI

1/18/2022 – During the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, the worlds of Artificial Intelligence and Chess will come together at a unique event called ‘The Game Changer’. The event will take place online on Friday 21 January, starting at 15.30 CET. How is AI used in chess? Could Magnus Carlsen also have become world champion without the use of AI? And more importantly, how can the world of manufacturing adopt lessons learned in the world of chess?

Tata Steel R3: Vidit grabs the lead

1/18/2022 – After beating Daniil Dubov in a sharp struggle, Vidit Gujrathi grabed the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters tournament. Going into round 4, no fewer than five players stand a half point behind the leader, though, with Jorden van Foreest, Richard Rapport and Andrey Esipenko joining the chasing pack thanks to victories in Monday’s third round. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Achilles' heel

1/18/2022 – The duel knight against bishop is often full of fascinating possibilities. On first glance, the diagram position does not look particularly dangerous for White. But White's position is vulnerable, and with a cunning maneuver Black is able to exploit the hidden weaknesses in White's position. What would you do with Black?

Karsten Müller’s Endgame Magic Show #178: Rook vs bishop

1/17/2022 – Beginners often learn that a rook is roughly two pawn units better than a bishop. But that does not mean that it is always easy to convert an endgame rook vs bishop into a win. In the Endgame Magic Show #178 Karsten Müller and Arne Kähler present a classic example of rook vs bishop to illustrate some principles of this important and instructive endgame. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

Tata Steel Chess: Interviews

1/17/2022 – Spectators are not allowed at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk, and the Open cannot take place because of the Corona pandemic. But the Masters and Challengers tournaments are played and the first two rounds offered exciting chess. Video interviews allow spectators from all over the world to get insights into the thoughts of the players.

Tata Steel R2: Carlsen beats Giri

1/17/2022 – World champion Magnus Carlsen joined a three-player leading pack on Sunday by beating Anish Giri with the white pieces. In the only other decisive game of the day in the Masters, Richard Rapport bounced back from his first-round defeat as he took down Jorden van Foreest. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Bring your own bottle and fork

1/16/2022 – Years ago the great Mikhail Tal pithily expounded a critical aspect of all out attacking chess, noting that it is only possible to capture one piece at a time. In full battle cry, Tal’s instinct was not to retreat attacked pieces, especially minor pieces — but to pour more oil on the fire by putting further units en prise! Jonathan Speelman explores this theme using games by Tal and Fischer, as well as more recent examples. | Pictured: Fischer and Tal in Zurich, 1959 / Photo via skaksogufelagid.is

Understanding before Moving 62: Light-square strategy (2)

1/16/2022 – 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 62nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to look at examples of light-square strategy. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Tata Steel R1: Three winners on opening day

1/16/2022 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vidit Gujrathi and defending champion Jorden van Foreest (pictured, right) all won with white on Saturday to take the early lead at the Tata Steel Masters tournament. It was an action-packed day, especially during time trouble, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Fabiano Caruana failing to find winning continuations while hurried by the clock. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

St Louis University wins the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship

1/15/2022 – The Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship is a university championship in which, as the name suggests, teams from both the Americas and the Caribbean are allowed to participate — but in fact most of the participating teams come from the United States. This year’s tournament was won by the Saint Louis University, which was the only team to emerge victorious from all six matches they played. | Photo: Bill Simmons

Watch your king!

1/15/2022 – In the diagram position Black has just played 32...Qf5, threatening to harass the white king with ...Qb1+. But White has a way to combine attack and defence which leads to victory. Your call!

Throwback Thursday: Snowdrops beat Oldhands in 2013 match

1/14/2022 – At the end of 2013, a match facing chess legends from the 20th century against young female talented players was organized in Podebrady, the Czech Republic. A 20-year-old Alina Kashlinskaya was the top scorer in the winning team of the Snowdrops, while Boris Gulko and Iossif Dorfman were the strongest for the Oldhands.

Understanding Big DataBase 2022: Playing against e4

1/14/2022 – Among ChessBase products the Big DataBase stands in its own right. Unlike the MegaBase it has no annotations. This paves the way for independent study and preparation, and helps the player to hone skills on his own. The present edition offers 9.2 million games from 1475 to 2021. In this vast collection there are games from world championships, famous tournaments, past and present, not to mention little-known events that deserve greater recognition. There are magnificent battles, brilliancies and unknown gems all waiting to be discovered. Our columnist here introduces a few rare lines in e4-openings.

Trent's Tactics - Lawrence and Arne get crushed!

1/14/2022 – "I am getting so much better at tactics!" Arne mentions right at the beginning of the show. Little did he know, that this episode might be the low point of his chess career. The puzzles are merciless, and every move seems to miss the point. The goal was to reach 2400 in the tactic's section today, but apparently some technical difficulties, and more bad ideas lead to an actual loss of rating points! Have fun watching Lawrence and Arne getting crushed.

How the AI Revolution Impacted Chess (2/2)

1/14/2022 – In the second part of the series, Joshua Doknjas examines opening system influenced by the neural network engines and discusses the modern battle between two well-prepared players. | Graphic: Europe Echecs

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Beautiful games in the Kalashnikov

1/14/2022 – In his second Power Play Show of the year, Daniel King looks at sharp, beautiful games in the Sicilian Kalashnikov. And a critical position in one of these games reminds him of a famous combination played by the legendary David Bronstein! | 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.