1/2/2022 – In his ChessBase Magazine column "Topical opening traps", GM Rainer Knaak regularly examines examples from current tournament practice. He also presents three of them in the video analysis in each CBM. Especially for club players, his contributions offer exciting suggestions. Thanks to the range of topics, you should be able to find something for your own repertoire in every issue! In addition, the trap expert often shows variations that are rarely seen in top-level chess but must be on one's mind as a club chess player. We offer you an excerpt from Rainer Knaak's collection from ChessBase #205 here, including a video on the Budapest Gambit.

1/2/2022 – 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 60th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows how to convert the advantages of having the pair of bishops. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

1/1/2022 – In the diagram position White can start fireworks to hunt down the black king, and you are invited to ignite all the rockets - have fun!

12/31/2021 – Nona Gaprindashvili wrote referring to Milunka Lazarevic: “A literary person by profession, lively and impressionable, Lazarevic is one of the brightest figures in women’s chess of the sixties”. Milunka attracted attention by her exciting, uncompromising style: sacrificing pawns and pieces and despising draws, which made her famous and endeared her to chess audiences! | Photo: Balkan Chess

12/31/2021 – On the last day of 2021, GM Daniel King looks at games from the World Blitz Championship, including two fascinating King’s Gambits played by Ian Nepomniachtchi and a fabulous queen sacrifice by Levon Aronian. Happy New Year! | 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.

12/31/2021 – Duplex problems are loosely defined as satisfying the same stipulation with the colours reversed, and are typically found in helpmates. In this article, Azlan Iqbal expounds on the much rarer variety that applies to direct mates. Using incidental examples taken from his computer-generated chess problem collection and a couple by human composers, he challenges readers to compose some of their own. For starters you can try to solve the problem shown in our picture. Both White and Black can mate in five, if they have the first move.

12/27/2021 – In the history of the Chess World Championships Viktor Korchnoi is an extremely successful player, even if he was ultimately denied the title. If you count the 1974 Candidates Final for challenging Fischer, he played three 'World Championship matches'. The era of Korchnoi's participations in the WCh cycle stretches from the Curacao Candidates Tournament in 1962 to the 1991 quarterfinal match against Timman, which he played at the age of 60. The dramatic fight against Anatoly Karpov in Baguio City in 1978 stands out in particular: hypnosis, cheating accusations with blueberry yoghurt, X-ray examinations on chairs, mirror glasses worn at the board, Korchnoi's comeback to 5-5 after trailing 4-1 are a few of the external circumstances involved!

12/27/2021 – The first five rounds of the World Rapid Championship were played on Sunday. Three players are sharing the lead on 4½ points: defending champion Magnus Carlsen, local hero Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Baadur Jobava from Georgia. On the women’s tournament, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina have a perfect 4/4 score after the first day of action. | Foto: Michal Walusza

12/26/2021 – It was just a few weeks ago that Markus Ragger published a complete repertoire on two FritzTrainers for his favourite opening against 1.d4: the Gruenfeld Defence. In the new ChessBase Magazine #205 he provides an update on the variation with 5.Bd2, since the new idea of 5...c5 has recently proved very attractive at the highest level. Among others, it was used by Carlsen, Giri and Dubov. While Markus Ragger in his FritzTrainer still recommends the common and still fully valid continuation 5...Bg7, his appeal in ChessBase Magazine is clear: "Let's make 5...c5 the main line against 5.Bd2!" You can watch an excerpt from his video analysis here!

12/26/2021 – 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 59th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the battle between static and dynamic factors. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

12/26/2021 – In November we launched a new edition of our flagship program, Fritz. Version 18 has a special mode in which Fritz allows its opponent to actually win games, if he is able to find clever moves. Many amateurs and club players have sent in games that they won with brilliant ideas. But how about grandmasters? Fritz determines the playing strength of its opponent, and makes him find more difficult brilliancies. Iniyan Panneerselvam, a young GM, has written a report on his experience with Fritz 18.

12/26/2021 – One of the most anticipated events in the chess calendar, the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship, is around the corner. The open and women’s championships that have been held concurrently since 2016 will take place on December 25-31 in Warsaw, Poland, at the PGE Narodowy Stadium. | Pictured: Alireza Firouzja facing Hikaru Nakamura at the 2019 edition | Photo: Amruta Mokal