12/5/2018 – It was quite a series: 102 matches in a row without a loss by the team of Novy Bor in the Czech League (the 'Extraliga'). Last Sunday, this incredible series ended in defeat. Aneta Vignerova, Miss Czech Republic 2009, opened the competition Moravská Slavia vs Labortech Ostrava. | Photos: Vladimir Jagr

12/5/2018 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 20:00 CEST (19:00 UT, 2 pm EDT). On this week's show: A Catalan from China's Yu Yangyi. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders. To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows.

12/5/2018 – Following the example of the massive bi-annual Chess Olympiad, an Under-16 youth version was held in Konya, Turkey, a 9-round Swiss team tournament which took place from November 25th to December 2nd, 2018. The Uzbek team won with 16 points ahead of India and China. Iran's top board, Alireza Firouzja scored 8.0/9 for a performance rating of 2736! | Photo: Official site

12/5/2018 – FIDE has finally announced the venue and regulations for the 2018 World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships. The dates are the same, but the venue, as was widely expected, has changed. It will take place from December 25th (arrival) to 31st (departure) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Magnus Carlsen will play, but it remains to be seen how much of the world elite will join him on short notice. | Pictured: The Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange, Rostral Columns from across the frozen Neva river | Stanislav Kondratiev (Unsplash.com)

12/5/2018 – The 10th edition of the Penang International Chess Open has just kicked off in the Malaysian state of Penang. EDWIN LAM pays tribute to Dato’ Tan Chin Nam, a key instigator of the tournament, who died in October. | Pictured: Dato’ seen here having a game of chess against FM Ignatius Leong. Next to them were FM Geoffrey Borg playing Black against WIM Li Ruofan at the 2007 Malaysia Open | Photo: Edwin Lam

12/4/2018 – The field is complete for the 81st Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee which takes place from January 11th to 27th, 2019. The organisers have announced the final participants — qualifiers from the Association of Chess Professionals. In the top 'Masters' group, World Champion Magnus Carlsen is back and will be fighting to keep his World Number 1 spot against fellow-2800 players Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ding Liren. The 'Challengers' includes World Junior Champ Parham Maghsoodloo, and other young up-and-comers Praggnanandhaa, Andrey Esipenko and Vincent Keymer. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

12/4/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent brings you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. Lawrence is LIVE this week and free for ChessBase Basic account holders for a limited time! (Why not register for FREE in 30 seconds if you don't already have an account?) This week Lawrence looks at the Bundesliga.

12/4/2018 – The ChessBase Mega Database and other game collections contain fantastic examples for all important chess manoeuvres. However, they often remain hidden. The new search mask in ChessBase 15 can help find these hidden gems. A powerful function that is simply fun to use!

12/4/2018 – An extra piece usually wins. However, with reduced material the win is often difficult.

12/4/2018 – The International Chess Festival "Aeroflot Open 2019" will be held in Moscow from 18 February (the date of arrival) to 1 March 2019 (the date of departure). General information about the festival including all the details on travel and accommodation packages available from the organisers.

12/3/2018 – The aim of this Simon Says is to spot the tactic! A range of positions will be looked at, are you capable of finding the correct continuation? Simon is live this week at 18:00 CET (15:00 UTC). If you miss the show, you can watch it in the archive with a ChessBase Account. Don't have an account? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

12/3/2018 – The match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana was the fourth World Chess Championship which took place in London. The contest was previously played in the English capital in 1986, 1993 and 2000. We take a brief pass through the history of World Championship matches between Kasparov and Karpov, Kasparov vs Short and Kasparov vs Kramnik. | Photo: Ben Bartels

12/3/2018 – After the success of the first volume on Calculation Training, Dutch IM Robert Ris continues with “Extreme Calculation Training” — a wide range of new aspects which have to be mastered to become a great calculator at the board! The topics discussed in the original series (candidate moves, method of elimination & imagination) are certainly useful when studying the content of this new video series. Special attention will be paid to intermediate moves, quiet moves, sacrifices on empty squares, mating patterns, ignoring opponent threats, calculation in defence and methods of comparison. On top of that, more practical advice for training is recommended, for instance how to handle your time management and how to visualise the position in your mind during the calculation process. After going through the 13 examples from the theoretical section, it’s time to switch the brain to active participation and your calculation skills will be tested seriously! The frequent request for more puzzles has been granted, as Ris has selected no less than 50 games with multiple questions. After all, training your calculation abilities is an activity which never ends; it takes continual practice to stay sharp at the board!

12/3/2018 – Grandmaster ADRIAN MIKHALCHISHIN takes a look at some of the key games from the World Senior Championships recently concluded in Bled, Slovenia. Featured are the games of 65+ runner-up Yuri Balashov and third place Nukhim Rashkovsky, Women 65+ winner Nona Gaprindashvili, best 50+ woman Elvira Berend, Open 50+ champ Karen Movsziszian and runner-up Giorgi Bagaturov | Photo: Tadej Sakelšek

12/2/2018 – The Slovenian city of Bled received players from more than sixty countries for this year's World Senior Championships. Open and women's tournaments for players aged 50+ and 65+ took place from November 18th to 29th. Nona Gaprindashvili (pictured), Elvira Berend, Vlastimil Jansa and Karen Movsziszian were the winners. During the rest day, some of the participants plus other 'visitors' competed in the Albin Planinc Memorial, a 9-round rapid tournament won by Mladen Palac. | Photos: Official site

12/2/2018 – Can a master level blitz match be more exciting than an elite level match? Are amateurs or semi-pros able to showcase their creativity, imagination, dazzling combination and sacrifices as well as the big guns? Is over-the-board (OTB) chess more exciting than online chess and streaming? The answer two all these questions a resounding, yes, argues DAVIDE NASTASIO, who presents many positions from a recent match — Meruga vs Mbonu (pictured) — that he finds useful for training. Blitz rules like touching a piece or losing because of an illegal move don't exist in online chess. In OTB chess this makes the difference between life or death! So don't miss the chance to add some tactical ideas or endgame learning to your arsenal!

12/2/2018 – This week GM JON SPEELMAN takes a submission from a Belgian 2200 player featuring the Pirc Defence. Feel free to send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

12/1/2018 – FIDE's December ratings are out and surprisingly little has changed across all rating categories. The World Championship did not lead to a new number one. The Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun will have to wait to claim the number one spot as well, since Hou Yifan played in the German League and is in no danger of dropping off the rating list due to inactivity despite her ongoing University studies. There was more of a shakeup in rapid and blitz ratings thanks to India's first ever super-tournament which featured both. | Pictured: Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun survived a strong challenge to hang on to her title, not unlike a certain Magnus Carlsen! | Photo: ugra2018.fide.com