Endgame tactics

6/15/2021 – The diagram position is complicated and extremely sharp. Both sides have dangerous passed pawns which the knights might or might not stop. However, it was Black to move and he had a way to win. But in the game Black failed to find the winning move - can you do better?

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov wins Superbet Chess Classic

6/15/2021 – In the last round of the Superbet Chess Classic, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov safely drew Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with the black to secure tournament victory. Wesley So, Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk shared second place a full point behind the Azerbaijani. The second event of the tour, the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament, kicks off on Friday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

"Homo Neubau": An exhibition featuring Ernst Grünfeld

6/14/2021 – In the winter of 1921/22, Ernst Grünfeld developed a revolutionary chess opening. Almost a hundred years later, the Viennese, who became a professional player out of necessity and joined the NSDAP because of his Jewish-sounding name, is the unlikely star of an exhibition in his hometown. Stefan Löffler visited it. | Photos, if not otherwise indicated: Collection Michael Ehn

Gukesh D. wins the Gelfand Challenge

6/14/2021 – On Sunday, the last four of the 19 rounds of the "Gelfand Challenge" were played. After 15 rounds Vincent Keymer from Germany had led the tournament but he only scored 1.5/4 on the final day. This was the chance for the 15-year old Indian Gukesh D., who had started the day two points behind Keymer, to catch up. After a 4.0/4 run Gukesh finished on 14.0/19 and tied first with his compatriot Praggnanandhaa but Gukesh won the tournament on tiebreak because he had won the direct encounter against "Pragg". Half a point behind the two Indians, Vincent Keymer came third. | Picture: Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour

Superbet Classic: Aronian beats Deac

6/13/2021 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov kept his 1-point lead going into the last round of the Superbet Chess Classic, as in the only decisive game of Sunday’s round Levon Aronian got the better of Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Mamedyarov signed a quick draw in his game against Anish Giri, while Alexander Grischuk vs Fabiano Caruana was an exciting encounter in which both players missed chances. | Games and results | Photo: Bryan Adams

Understanding before Moving 31: To exchange or not to exchange (3)

6/13/2021 – 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 31st instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to talk about the right exchange. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Superbet: Mamedyarov in the sole lead

6/13/2021 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is the sole leader at the Superbet Chess Classic after an eventful seventh round in Bucharest. The Azerbaijani beat Fabiano Caruana with black while former co-leader Alexander Grischuk was defeated by Levon Aronian. The third decisive game of the day saw Anish Giri getting a full point in his encounter against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Kasparov and Anand to play in Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour

6/12/2021 – The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) has confirmed the field for the Croatia Grand Chess Tour leg that will include four full tour participants and seven wildcards. With legendary World Champions Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand as well as the World Championship title challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia the Croatia Grand Chess Tour promises to be action packed. | Pictured: Kasparov and Anand at the 2017 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Gelfand Challenge: Pragg is back

6/12/2021 – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who came from winning the first event of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour, did not have a strong first day in the Gelfand Challenge. However, an impressive streak of five straight wins on day 2 prompted him to the top of the standings, as he is currently sharing the lead on 8/10 points with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Three players stand a full point behind with nine rounds to go. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Eight players succeed in American Hybrid Qualifier

6/12/2021 – Over the last several weeks zonal and continental qualifiers were taking place around the globe in anticipation of the World Cup scheduled for 10 July – 6 August, 2021 in Sochi, Russia. Among the latest qualifier tournaments was the American Continental Championship that took place 22 - 30 May and was played as a hybrid tournament. Eight players secured a ticket to Sochi.

Superbet: Exciting round leaves Grischuk and Mamedyarov in the lead

6/12/2021 – After the rest day some of the players in the Superbet Chess Classic came back swinging. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Levon Aronian while Alexander Grischuk got the better of Constantin Lupulescu. Fabiano Caruana missed a good opportunity against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The results left Grischuk and Mamedyarov atop the standings on 4/6 points. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Technique and tactics

6/12/2021 – In endgames, a "petite combinaison" à la Capablanca is often the quickest (if not the only) way to convert a material advantage. In the diagram position, White is a pawn up - how does he save himself a lot of work?

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Calculation and strategy

6/11/2021 – In this Power Play Show GM Daniel King features some complex calculation from the Superbet Chess Classic tournament in Bucharest, focusing in particular on the fine game Caruana-Lupulescu.| 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.

News Review - Fair play, Ratings, and a journey to becoming a GM

6/11/2021 – Lawrence Trent and Arne Kaehler talk about what happened chess-wise last week. They give their opinions on various topics, and encourage you to think about the subject, analyse games, or read the articles thoroughly yourself. This week they discuss the juicy topic of how fair you would play chess in a high stakes situation, how Alex Yermolinksy played in Mexico, and Lawrence Trent's journey to becoming a Grandmaster.

Gelfand Challenge: A perfect start for Liang

6/11/2021 – The Julius Baer Chess Tour brings together 20 of the world’s best male and female talented young players. The second tournament of the series, the Gelfand Challenge, started yesterday. After the first five rounds, Awonder Liang leads with a perfect score. Nodirbek Abdussatorov is currently in sole second place with 4 points. | Photo: Crystall Fuller

New Opening Ideas in Bucharest – Part 1

6/11/2021 – The 2021 Superbet Chess Classic is the first event of this year’s Grand Chess Tour and it takes place in Bucharest, Romania from June 5 to June 14. Canadian FM Joshua Doknjas had a look at four interesting games from the first five rounds of the tournament, all of which contain important opening ideas and are dynamic battles.

Magnus Carlsen to play in FIDE World Cup in Sochi

6/11/2021 – Surprising news from FIDE: in a press release the FIDE announced that World Champion Magnus Carlsen will play in the next World Cup, which will take place in Sochi, Russia, from July 10 to August 6. It's a knock-out event with 206 players, in which the two finalists will qualify for the Candidates 2022. However, as reigning World Champion Carlsen is already guaranteed a spot in the Candidates 2022 should he lose the World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi in November. But maybe the World Champion wants to play some over-the-board chess again after the long break caused by the pandemic and enjoys the challenge of a very tough tournament. | Photo: David Llada

Yermo’s travels: Back on the road

6/11/2021 – Yermo is back! Once the restrictions allowed it, he made it down to Mexico City with travelling pal Alexander Shabalov to try his hand in a 10-player round robin. In a thorough report, including plenty of pictures and annotations, he tells us all about his time in CDMX — chapulines, positive COVID tests and good old over-the-board chess made for a great experience in the second-largest metropolitan area of the Western Hemisphere.

Rapid Interview - Irina Krush

6/10/2021 – Rapid interviews are fun: interviewer and guest face each other in an epic rapid chess battle. The chess guest not only has to face the interviewer's questions, but also concentrate on the chess game at the same time. This leads to surprising answers and sometimes to curious chess positions. Irina Krush talks about her time dealing with the coronavirus, which still affects her today, if she has more power and ambition to win another U.S. women's champion title, and what her plans are for the future, involving an own YouTube channel.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: Ruy Lopez Open Variation

6/10/2021 – This week, the well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at new developments in an old opening: the Open Ruy Lopez. Bogdan Deac used this line to surprisingly win with Black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the Superbet Chess Classic Tournament. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Why do some countries always gain and other always lose rating points?

6/10/2021 – World Youth Chess Championships are known to produce tons of interesting games and often very surprising and inconsistent results. However, it appears that at least one thing stays fairly consistent – certain federations typically gain rating points while others lose them at the event. Why is there such a contrasting trend for Asian versus European countries, and what could be the possible reasons behind it? Sveta Demchenko presents the data from which we can draw our conclusions.

Superbet: Mamedyarov joins the lead

6/10/2021 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov joined Wesley So and Alexander Grischuk in the lead of the Superbet Chess Classic after beating local hero Constantin Lupulescu in round 5. The Romanian, who played with the white pieces, faltered in time trouble and is now sharing last place with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri — a single point behind the leaders, though! | Photo: Bryan Adams

Game of the Week: W. So vs F. Caruana

6/9/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at Wesley So's fine win against Fabiano Caruana at the Superbet Chess Classic tournament in Bucharest. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Superbet Chess Classic: So and Grischuk grab the lead

6/9/2021 – Wesley So and Alexander Grischuk are now sharing the lead at the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, as each defeated a former co-leader in Tuesday’s fourth round. So played brilliantly to take down Fabiano Caruana, while Grischuk ground out a win against Bogdan-Daniel Deac from a very slightly favourable queen endgame. | Photo: Bryan Adams