Chess in Literature: "Writers & Lovers" and the Immortal Game

6/22/2021 – 170 years ago, on 21 June 1851, Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky played one of the most famous games of all time: the so-called "Immortal Game", in which Anderssen sacrificed a large part of his army to mate the enemy king. Since then this game has been included in countless anthologies, it continues to be a popular choice for live exhibition games, it has been quoted in films, and the decisive position has been printed on T-shirts. It also played a role in the novel "Writers & Lovers" by American author Lily King.

Paris Rapid & Blitz - Wesley So wins!

6/22/2021 – Thanks to a remarkable performance in the second half of the blitz section, Wesley So won the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament with one round to spare. The Filipino-born grandmaster finished the tournament three points clear of second-placed Ian Nepomniachtchi, after losing only one out of the 27 games played in the French capital. | Full report to follow shortly. | Pictured: So next to Gilles Betthaeuser, founder of AOS in 1997 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Paris Rapid & Blitz: Firouzja strong in the blitz

6/22/2021 – After three days of rapid chess, the blitz section of the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament kicked off on Monday. Alireza Firouja was the strongest in the first half of the blitz phase, while Vladimir Kramnik had a rough time facing his younger opponents. Wesley So still leads the overall standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Arthur Guo wins National Open in Las Vegas

6/22/2021 – In the National Open in Las Vegas five players shared first with 7.0/9. The 15-year-old Arthur Guo had the best tiebreak and won the tournament. | Photos: Tournament page National Open

A versatile knight

6/22/2021 – Knights that fight against pawns in the endgame can be versatile or very clumsy. In the diagram position the black knight turned out to be very versatile. How did it help Black to win the game?

Larry Kaufman Interview - The Dragon's tale

6/22/2021 – The man behind the Komodo Dragon 2, Larry Kaufman, was a successful broker in the mid-80s. He earned enough money to retire for the rest of his life and lie in a hammock, reading books. But instead, he won the senior chess championship in 2008 to become a chess Grandmaster at the age of over 60 years, worked on several chess engines, like Machack, Rybka, and of course, the Komodo series, steadily played on the highest "Shogi" level for decades, and wrote plenty of books - his newest one "Chess Board Options" just came out a week ago. In the interview with Kaufman, there is even more to discover about his fascinating life. | Photos: Larry Kaufman

Meet The Fritztrainer - Jan Werle

6/21/2021 – Hundreds of different Fritztrainers have been teaching us chess on ChessBase for more than a decade. Maybe you sometimes wonder what else the authors of these Fritztrainers do? "Meet the Fritztrainer" takes a look behind the scenes, telling us more about the private life of your favourite chess trainer. Grandmaster Jan Werle recently made the Fritztrainer: "The Saemisch Variation against the King's Indian and Benoni". In our interview, he tells us why his signature glasses are missing, and what his puppy "Molly" has to do with this, and that he also created something else than Fritztrainers, and books, during the last year. | Photos: Jan Werle

Historical riddle solved: M. Tal vs O. Panno

6/21/2021 – When Mihail Tal won the Interzonal Tournament in Portoroz 1958 he impressed chess fans all over the world with his bold and daring sacrifices. One of Tal's most complicated and most deeply analyzed games from Portoroz is his win against Oscar Panno. A number of annotators have tried to find the truth about this fantastically complicated game, and Karsten Müller invited ChessBase readers to join the discussion. Zoran Petronijevic had a particularly close look. Is this the final word on this remarkable game?

ChessBase - 快速入门/快速指南现已推出

6/21/2021 – 国际象棋在中国越来越受欢迎--数据库程序ChessBase也是如此。但不是每个人都能流利地使用英语。对于那些喜欢用母语操作的人，我们有一项特殊的服务：ChessBase的中文教程手册。 Chess is becoming more popular in China – as is the database program ChessBase. But not everyone is fluent in English. For those who prefer to operate in their native language we have a special service: a ChessBase tutorial manual in Chinese.

Paris Rapid & Blitz: So grabs the lead

6/21/2021 – Wesley So is leading the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament after getting an undefeated 11/18 score in the rapid section. On Sunday, the Filipino-born grandmaster won two out of his three games to go into the blitz phase of the event a full point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi. Eighteen rounds of blitz games will be played on Monday and Tuesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Shankland wins Prague Masters after dramatic final round

6/20/2021 – Sam Shankland reached the final round of the Prague Masters Tournament with a half-point lead over Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The American grandmaster was still busy with his game against Jorden van Foreest when Duda had already overtaken him in the standings thanks to a win over Wojtaszek. Shankland only needed a draw, but his opponent was desperate to win. The curse turned into a blessing when Van Foreest blundered: Shankland won and thus became the undisputed tournament winner. | Photo: Official site

Mirror mirror on the wall...

6/20/2021 – A comment in the previous column prompted Jon Speelman to share with the readers which players he considers to be the best to have ever lived. He starts with Bobby Fischer, whom he characterizes as having “precise power”; and with Anatoly Karpov — “deft control”. Chime in your thoughts in the comments section and, if you like, characterize your favourite players’ styles in a couple of words! | Artwork: Unknown (via Quora)

Understanding before Moving 32: To trade or not to trade

6/20/2021 – 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 32nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman asks whether "to trade or not to trade". | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Winners of the Asian and Canadian Zonals qualify to the World Cup

6/19/2021 – With the World Cup just around the corner, players from all over the world are fighting to get a spot in the event scheduled to take place next month in Sochi. Diana Mihajlova tells us all about the Zonal Tournaments that were played in Asia and Canada.

Dream team

6/19/2021 – A far advanced passed pawn supported by his queen can be an irresistible force. In the diagram position it is White to play and win!

Paris Rapid & Blitz: An entertaining first day of action

6/18/2021 – Four players finished day 1 of the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament with a +1 score. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, Wesley So and Peter Svidler are sharing the lead after three rounds of rapid games. Wunderkind Alireza Firouzja drew his first two games and lost against Teimour Radjabov, as he made his Grand Chess Tour debut on his 18th birthday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Test your attacking play

6/18/2021 – In this Power Play Show GM Daniel King looks at some attacking games from the Gelfand Challenge, an online rapid round-robin tournament with 20 of the world's best juniors that was won by the Indian Gukesh D. | 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.

Prague Chess Festival, Round 5 - Live

6/18/2021 – After four rounds Sam Shankland and Nijat Abasov lead the Masters tournament at the Prague Chess Festival with 3.0/4 each and in round 5 they play against each other - Shankland has the white pieces. David Navara, who started the tournament with four losses, plays against Thai Dan Van Nguyen. The round starts at 15:00 CEST (9:00 ET, 13:00 UTC). Follow the games live.

Prague Chess Festival: Navara loses again

6/18/2021 – In this year's Prague Chess Festival things do not go well for David Navara. In round 4 of the Masters he played against Nijat Abasov (pictured) and suffered his fourth loss in a row. Navara had an excellent position but first gave his advantage away and then lost on time. The other three games of the round ended in a draw. After four rounds Sam Shankland and Abasov now share the lead with 3.0/4 each. | Photo: Nijat Abasov (Vladimir Jagr)

Play the Author - Theme tournament with Spyridos Kapnisis

6/18/2021 – Our ChessBase Magazine subscribers recently received a particularly interesting offer: a theme tournament with Spyridos Kapnisis! "Play the Author" lets readers play against their favourite author in a round-robin tournament. Another attraction is the set opening that is played in each round. In this "Play the Author" episode, the Richter-Rauzer Variation in the Sicilian was the chosen setup.

New Opening Ideas in Bucharest – Part 2

6/18/2021 – The 2021 Superbet Chess Classic concluded on June 14 and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (pictured) won with 6.0/9 (3 wins, 6 draws). FM Joshua Doknjas analyzes four games from the second half of the event, all of which contain interesting opening ideas. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

Throwback Thursday: Kasparov and Anand atop the World Trade Center

6/18/2021 – A 20-game match between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand was organized in 1995 by the Professional Chess Association. The match was played on the 107th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. After eight draws, Anand took the lead in game 9, but a string of five subpar performances in which the Indian scored a mere half point left him in an unenviable position. Four draws in the following games gave Kasparov a 10½-7½ victory. | Photo: Owen Williams, The Kasparov Agency

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: New ideas for Black in the Queen's Gambit Accepted

6/17/2021 – This week, the well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at new and aggressive idea that helps Black to spice up things up in the Queen's Gambit Accepted. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

FIDE and World Chess announce Grand Prix Series 2022

6/17/2021 – The FIDE World Cup in July and the World Champion match in November still have to be played but FIDE and World Chess already plan ahead and just announced the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022. It will take place from February to April 2022 and will consist of three tournaments, which will be played in one city. The two best players qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022.