5/2/2021 – In a hard-fought first set of the New in Chess Classic finals, Magnus Carlsen grabbed the lead by scoring a 3-1 win over Hikaru Nakamura. After drawing the first two games and losing the third encounter, Naka had a better position in a must-win situation. The American mishandled his advantage and Carlsen ended up scoring a second win in a row. Meanwhile, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Levon Aronian tied the first set in the match for third place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/1/2021 – Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura will play the final of the New In Chess Classic online tournament. Carlsen safely won his second semifinal mini-match against Levon Aronian 3-1 on Friday after the first set had ended 2-2 the day before. The match between Nakamura and Shakriyar Mamedyarov was more exciting. Mamedyarov initially levelled the score with a convincing 3-0 victory in the second set. The Azerbaijani, however, went on to lose the tiebreaker in Armageddon. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/1/2021 – In the last episode about the Candidates Tournament 202X, Eric van Reem (pictured), host of the "Let's talk about chess" podcast, talks (again) to GM Jon Tisdall. They discuss the Candidates Tournament 202X, the winner with the unspeakable name, the right format to qualify, wildcards, the retirement of GM Wang Hao, GM Peter Leko being the decisive factor in the Candidates and the upcoming World Championship in Dubai. And yes, they managed to pronounce the name of the winner, GM Yan Nepomniachtchi! Enjoy!| Photo: Eric van Reem

5/1/2021 – In the diagram position, which is from a game between Adelya Salakhova and Valentina Gunina, White seems to be doing more or less okay. However, it took Gunina, who has a keen eye for tactics, only a few moves to reveal the hidden weakness of White's position - power play in perfection! What did Black do?

4/30/2021 – 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 we talk about the candidates tournament outcome, the new in chess classic tournament, and how the world would have changed, if Fischer had lost against Spassky in 1972.

4/30/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks back to the Candidates and tries to find out how and why Ian Nepomniachtchi won the tournament and became World Championship challenger. | 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.

4/30/2021 – Since 2009 Irina Bulmaga (pictured) has played in the German "Bundesliga", and recently she decided to use the enforced break caused by the pandemic to start learning German. However, passionate chess player that she is, she could not help but wonder whether there is any connection between the written and unwritten rules of the language you grow up with and the way you later study and play chess - and had some fun trying to find an answer to this question. | Photo: David Llada

4/30/2021 – ChessBase Magazine is the most comprehensive and most sophisticated chess magazine there is. World-class players analyse their brilliancies and explain the ideas behind the moves to you, opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and offer exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in the fields of tactics, strategy, and the endgame show you the tricks and techniques a successful tournament player needs! DVD with several hours of video + booklet. Also available for download including the booklet in pdf!

4/30/2021 – Hikaru Nakamura won the first set of his semifinal match against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian drew their first mini-match. Both Carlsen and Nakamura were undefeated before the semis, and both were beaten for the first time in the New in Chess Classic on Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

4/29/2021 – None of the players who lost the first set of the quarterfinals could make up for it in the second set. Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov quickly secured their tickets to the semifinals. Magnus Carlsen, after a 2-2 against Radjabov in the first set, won the second set and is also through. | Photo: Alina l’Ami

4/29/2021 – In this week’s show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at an aggressive setup against the Queen's Gambit Declined, which Le Quang Liem used in the New in Chess Classic tournament to bring Hikaru Nakamura to the verge of defeat. | “Fast and Furious” is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

4/29/2021 – No Rapid Interview? That's right. Grandmaster Efstratios Grivas said that he doesn't play online chess any more. In our "normal" interview, we talked about how Grivas went to eight Olympiads, published over 110 books, and became a Grandmaster despite starting with chess at the rather late age of 13. Furthermore, we talk about the largest chess club in the world, the Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club in Dubai, which launches a "real" over the board rapid tournament today, and of course, the reason behind Grivas not playing online chess - he doesn't mince his words! | Photos: Efstratios Grivas