3/3/2022 – In the current ChessBase Magazine the Sicilian Taimanov Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6) is taken to task from two sides at once. The super-modern 7.g4 came onto the board at the Tata Steel 2022 in the game Grandelius-Carlsen, we have already presented the Swede's analysis to you recently. There is also a complete opening article by IM Christian Braun on precisely this variation in CBM #206. A "dangerous weapon for White", because Black has development problems, whereas White can quickly castle long... The concept, which Jan Werle looks at in his opening video on the basis of a game by Alireza Firouzja, is completely different: after 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Qd3 Nf6 9.Qg3 Qxg3 10.hxg3 White achieves a small but lasting positional advantage, which can be played comfortably. Take a look!

3/3/2022 – Two players have a 1-point lead in their respective pools going into round 3 of the FIDE Grand Prix preliminaries in Belgrade. Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrathi kicked off the event with back-to-back wins and are the sole leaders in pools B and C. In pool A, Sam Shankland joined Dmitry Andreikin in the lead thanks to a win over Alexander Grischuk. In pool D, both games were drawn for a second consecutive day. | Photos: Mark Livshitz

3/3/2022 – Whether for in-class work or for homework, worksheets help students review and practice chess. Creating worksheets—then printing, formatting, and sharing them—are tasks that every chess coach undertakes. In this article, National Master Jeffrey Ashton shows how ChessBase makes these tasks easier.

3/3/2022 – The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has decided to postpone the World Teams Championship 2022 to November 2022. The rights to host the tournament are retained by the Israeli Chess Federation. Press release.

3/3/2022 – IM Andrew Martin and GM Nigel Davies are a good team of experienced trainers. In the 1990s, they formed the "Master Chess Roadshow" and toured England to help players all over the country to get better and to have fun with chess. Now, the band is back together: with the Chess Web Show, three weekly shows on Twitch and a YouTube channel!

3/3/2022 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft looks at the interesting Sicilian A. Grischuk and D. Andreikin played in the first round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Belgrade. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

3/3/2022 – Due to the current events, Lawrence and Arne decided to show this episode from early February today, instead of last week. Lawrence built his setup up in Barcelona, and shows us some golden Keres tactics right from the openings. The more often we keep repeating, and recognizing the patterns, the better we will get. In the tactics training, we slowly move towards 2500.

3/2/2022 – FIDE published its new World Ranking List. World Champion Magnus Carlsen remains the clear number one but did not make any significant progress towards the 2900 mark - Carlsen gained points by winning in Wijk but lost these points again in one game in the Norwegian league. The winner of the Challengers in Wijk, Arjun Erigaisi, is now among the top 100, and Hikaru Nakamura is back in the top 20.

3/2/2022 – Magnus Carlsen famously stated:"I Don't Believe in Fortresses". But obviously, he was referring to positions which look like a fortress, but are nothing else than a "Papier-mâché". Svitlana shows us some real fortress ideas, positions, how to build them up, and defend them correctly.

3/2/2022 – The love of most chess players for the bishop-pair is both strong and irrational. We all know that having the "bishop-pair" advantage should be beneficial, but – as discussed in the previous part of The Winning Academy – we barely know how to make full use of them. I would like to show you how this irrational love for the two bishops leads to poor practical decisions. The price players are willing to pay for the bishop-pair is quite often far too high. An arm and a leg. And more.

3/2/2022 – From 23rd to 27th February a strong international Open took place in Kragero, Norway. After nine rounds Dutch Grandmaster Lucas van Foreest and GM Boris Chatalbashev from Denmark shared first place but van Foreest won the tournament on tiebreak. | Photo: (from left to right) Geir Sune Tallaksen Ostmoe, Chatalbashev, van Foreest | Photos: Chess Club Kragero

3/2/2022 – Half the games ended decisively on opening day at the second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix in Belgrade. Dmitry Andreikin and Vidit Gujrathi are leading their pools after beating Alexander Grischuk and Alexei Shirov respectively. Meanwhile, both games finished decisively in pool C, with Anish Giri and Nikita Vitiugov scoring full points in the first round. Two draws were seen in pool D. | Photos: Mark Livshitz