1/13/2020 – GM Simon Williams took a trip to the traditional Hastings Congress over the New Year and shares the experience. | Watch live for free (or on-demand for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).

1/13/2020 – Four decisive results, all favouring White, left five players sharing first place on 1½/2 at the 2020 Tata Steel Masters. Wesley So obtained a quick win over Vishy Anand, Vladislav Artemiev defeated his compatriot Nikita Vitiugov, Daniil Dubov inflicted Vladislav Kovalev's second loss and Jeffery Xiong got the better of Jorden van Foreest. In the Challengers, Jan Smeets and Rauf Mamedov joined the leading pack. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports; round-up show by GM DANNY KING. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/12/2020 – Last year we rivived our twenty-year tradition of giving you unusual puzzles for the Christmas holidays — puzzles that cannot be easily solved with a computer (the point of this endeavour), tasks which require you to think all by yourself. Sadly the greatest problematist, Pál Benkö, who faithfully contributed to this endeavour, could only make one contribution, for Christmas day, before passing (at 91 last August). We hope you enjoyed the puzzles and were able to solve some yourself.

1/12/2020 – It is hard to call a win by Alireza Firouzja a surprise after his stellar performance at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships — and his general good form from last year — but it is still noteworthy that he won his first ever game in Wijk aan Zee. He is joined in the lead in the Masters by Jorden van Foreest, who beat Yu Yangyi. In the Challengers, Pavel Eljanov, Surya Ganguly and Erwin l'Ami kicked off with victories. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports. Round-up show by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Official site

1/11/2020 – Chess problems have been around for over a thousand years. In the 21st century, however, composing original chess problems is no longer something that only humans can do autonomously. In this article, AZLAN IQBAL shares what the general global chess community, not just master players and composers, apparently find appealing when it comes to chess problems. Do you agree?

1/11/2020 – Chess author and publisher Bob Long has reportedly been murdered in his home in Davenport, Iowa, USA, according to local news media. ChessBase author IM Andrew Martin was a long-time friend and sent this reflection. | Photo: bobthechesser.wordpress.com

1/10/2020 – Quick trivia: Who was the strongest female player ever born in the USA? If you said Alisa Maric, you're right! She and Mirjana Maric are twins and they are both Women Grandmasters — a unique case in the history of chess. In 1990, Alisa almost played for the Women's World title and after the end of her chess career she had a successful career as an academic. From 2012 to 2013 she served as Serbia's minister for youth and sports. Today, January 10, 2020, Alisa and her 20 minutes younger sister Mirjana celebrate their 50th birthday. | Photo: Rochade Kuppenheim

1/10/2020 – Power Play in 2020! On the show today: Ju Wenjun - Goryachkina. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

1/10/2020 – Starting tomorrow the chess world will look again towards the tiny Dutch village of Wijk aan Zee. There, the crème de la crème of the chess world will drink pea soup with some very hungry young players at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which kicks off Saturday with Round 1 of both the Masters and Challengers groups.

1/10/2020 – Following 19.Bg5!? Be7 in the diagram position White has a clever way to maintain the initiative, based on his mighty queen f3. Can you find four stringent moves in a row?

1/10/2020 – New opening ideas is one of the main topics of ChessBase Magazine. In this small series we want to present three selected articles from the current issue #193. It starts with GM Krisztian Szabo's aggressive recommendation against the Scandinavian with 3...Qd6. Szabo recommends 6.Ne5 and 7.f4! Have a look!

1/9/2020 – Given past controversy over his views on women and chess, Grandmaster Nigel Short might seem a surprising choice for multiple roles at the 2020 Women’s World Chess Championship. Short is the championship’s FIDE Supervisor, Chair of the Appeals Committee, and a commentator. Short’s credentials include being the official challenger in the 1993 World Chess Championship, commentating expertise, and promoting chess in 129 countries. WIM ALEXEY ROOT sent us this brief interview.

1/9/2020 – The UN General Assembly, by consensus decision, adopted the resolution on December 12th 2019, put forward by Armenia’s permanent mission and co-sponsored by several countries, designating the July 20th as World Chess Day, marking the date in 1924 when the International Chess Federation was established in Paris.

1/9/2020 – But how, some ask, does an ordinary club player or an ambitious lower-rated amateur makes use of this technology to improve? TANMAY SRINATH tells us why having a more 'human' engine makes all the difference in the world regarding chess improvement and shows us how he nearly-refuted the solid 3...Qd6 Scandinavian!

1/8/2020 – Sally Landau marries Misha Tal for love. Then she separates from him on account of his affairs with other women. Meanwhile, she has to make a living and bring up her son, Gera, so she takes up a job with a travelling orchestra. On one of these trips she leaves the little boy with Ida, her mother-in-law. Unfortunately, Ida falls seriously ill. So a friend who works in a sanatorium takes in Gera for the time being. | Photo: Svetlana Punte / "Sally Landau" Album

1/8/2020 – For tonight's training IM Merijn van Delft turns West to Charlotte, North Carolina and a rare Alekhine's Defence between grandmasters. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

1/8/2020 – Life is not fair, why should I be? So asks ALINA L'AMI as she kicks off her photo report of a recent tournament in Mexico with an enviably sumptuous beach scene. Another gem: She writes, "'typical' Mexican is atypical". If you can't swing a visit to beautiful Cancún yourself, this is the next best thing! "I love how sportive and fun this nation is," she added later noting that a recent trend towards enjoying outdoor runs (see photo) was brought about by the Mexican organizer, Señor Armando. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

1/7/2020 – 25 years ago, on January 7, 1995, Harry Golombek died. He was a prolific and popular author, and from the 1930s to the 1950s also one of England's best players. Golombek also worked as an arbiter and directed tournaments and world championship matches. During World War II he belonged to the famous group of English "Codebreakers" who helped the Allies to win the war.