Sagar Shah: This is the very best way to learn chess openings

4/22/2021 – A lot of players want to get better at openings, but they don't know what the right resources are: which books they should buy, which DVDs. "I can tell you with confidence that here is one product which is going to help you to become a very strong opening player," says chess trainer Sagar Shah. "It's the Opening Encyclopedia 2021!" In a 27-minute video he tells you why, and shows you how to use this great tool to improve your openings skills.

Candidates Round 10: Nepomniachtchi widens the gap

4/22/2021 – In the only decisive game of round 10, Ian Nepomniachtchi widened the gap at the top of the standings by beating Kirill Alekseenko in 31 moves. Russia’s number one thus goes into the final four rounds a full point ahead of Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Thursday will be a rest day. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Game of the Week: Anish Giri vs Wang Hao, Candidates, Rd. 8

4/21/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at the Candidates and presents the highlight of round 8: Anish Giri's fine win against Wang Hao. Instructive and pleasant. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Candidates, Rd. 9: Ding Liren missed a win

4/21/2021 – In round eight of the Candidates, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had a difficult endgame against Fabiano Caruna. "MVL" could have drawn but lost. In round nine, "MVL" again had a difficult endgame, this time against Ding Liren. The game ended in a draw but Ding Liren could have won. Karsten Müller took a closer look. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Carlsen vs. The Challengers: 19.5:2.5

4/21/2021 – Magnus Carlsen loves chess and he loves a challenge. On Monday, after commentating round 8 of the Candidates for several hours live, the World Champion played a 22 game 3+0 Banter Blitz match against the "Challengers", 20 of the world's most promising juniors. Carlsen convincingly won the match with a score of 19.5-2.5. He only lost against Nihal Sarin and Awonder Liang and drew against Vincent Keymer.

Candidates Round 9: Giri wins, climbs to shared second place

4/20/2021 – Anish Giri beat Wang Hao to climb to shared second place a half point behind sole leader Ian Nepomniachtchi at the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg. Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are the other two players who make up the chasing pack, as they both drew their games in round 9 — while Caruana failed to make the most of his advantage against Kirill Alekseenko, MVL defended fiercely against Ding Liren. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A difficult endgame: Fabiano Caruana vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

4/20/2021 – Fabiano Caruana had a lot of time to prepare for his game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in round 8 of the Candidates, and he used it to find a new and dangerous idea in the Poisoned Pawn variation of the Najdorf, a favourite of the French player. "MVL" survived the opening and escaped into an endgame that objectively was a draw but difficult to defend. Karsten Müller took a closer look.

The Weekly Show: The Candidates Tournament

4/20/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will of course take a look at Kirill Alekseenko's win against Alexander Grischuk from the first round of the Candidates. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Room to move

4/20/2021 – In the fight bishop against knight the bishop is often superior, when it can operate on both wings. In the diagram position White is better. But can she win?

Candidates Round 8: Caruana impresses, wins marathon

4/20/2021 – Fabiano Caruana defeated former co-leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in round 8 of the Candidates Tournament, once the event resumed a year after having been postponed due to the sanitary crisis. Caruana played a sharp novelty out of a Najdorf Sicilian and eventually got a slightly superior endgame, which he turned into a remarkable victory. In the other decisive game of the day Kirill Alekseenko defeated Alexander Grischuk. Ian Nepomniachtchi is now the sole leader of the event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Magnus Carlsen vs. The Challengers: Banterblitz live

4/19/2021 – The Julius Baer Chess Challenge is the counterpart to the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour - for young players and talents. Tonight World Champion Magnus Carlsen will play Banter Blitz against all challengers, one after the other. Live from 20:00 CEST (14:00 EDT)

Victor Bologan wins European Parliamentary Tournament

4/19/2021 – Friday, 16 April, 32 Members of Parliament from a total of 15 European countries played "European Parliamentary Friendship Online Chess Tournament", a seven-round 10+2 online tournament on the Tornelo platform. Among the participants were three Grandmasters: Victor Bologan (Moldova), Loek van Wely (Netherlands) and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). Bologan won the tournament with 6.0/7, van Wely finished second with 5.5/7 and Stefanova finished fifth with 4.5/7. | Photos: European Chess Union

Let's talk about the Candidates... with Douglas Griffin

4/19/2021 – On the occasion of the Candidates Tournament 2020-2021 that will resume today, Monday, 19 April 2021, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Eric van Reem, host of the "Lets Talk about Chess" podcast, spoke with Scottish historian Douglas Griffin about the history of the Candidates Tournaments, chess history in general and the charm and value of good tournament books.

Ovi-ready

4/18/2021 – With the Candidates Tournament resuming this week, all eyes are turning to Yekaterinburg. Bravely, star columnist Jon Speelman decided to add his voice to the hubbub of predictions, “thus preparing to get egg all over my face or, as you might say, becoming Ovi-ready”. Who do you think will be Magnus Carlsen’s next challenger? | Image: FIDE

Understanding before Moving 23: "V" stands for Victory!

4/18/2021 – 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 23nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman takes a look how Tigran Petrosian, World Champion from 1963 to 1969, played against the King's Indian. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

The ratings gap and gender: Analyzing U.S. Chess Championships (Part II)

4/18/2021 – Comparing the average ratings of the U.S. Championships and U.S. Women’s Championships from 1972–2000 shows a 300+ point difference between the former and the latter, as detailed in part one of this two-part series. In this part two, Ashley Yan and Alexey Root offer a possible explanation for this gender-based ratings gap.

Vivendi and Garry Kasparov team up

4/17/2021 – Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and global media company Vivendi announced today the launch of Kasparovchess.com, a new multimedia content platform for chess lovers of all skill levels, built to offer features for all players, whether they are enthusiasts or beginners. It includs thousands of chess puzzles, online matches, in-depth tutorials, articles, documentaries, and even an exclusive masterclass with Kasparov himself. Press release.

April Chess Bonanza in Belgrade

4/17/2021 – Chess players who ventured to go Belgrade this April are spoilt for choice among chess events which take place literally every single day of the month. We are halfway through the Belgrade Chess Spring Festival that has started on 2 April and will finish on 30 April. | Photos: Official website

Missed knockout

4/17/2021 – In the diagram position, 32...Qf3+! 33.Kh3 would have led to victory for Black, a "wow move" included. Enjoy!

The ChessBase News Review (09.04. - 16.04.)

4/16/2021 – 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 some topics are the gender gap, and if it even exists, who Max Bluemich is, and what his connection to Alekhine is, and of course who will win the Candidates Tournament. Caruana, or Giri?

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Can you play like Capablanca?

4/16/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King continues to look at the World Championship match Capablanca-Lasker played 100 years ago in Havana and invites you to find out whether you can play like Capablanca. | 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.

Who played it first?

4/16/2021 – The Dutch IM Robert Ris loves sharp play and he loves to play gambits. In a recent article in the ChessBase Magazine Ris talked about the pros and cons of a "new" gambit against the Classical Sicilian. "Wait a minute," German Grandmaster Stefan Kindermann (pictured) thought, when he read the article. "Didn't I play that back in 1978?"

Isabelle Sztrauch Choko, French Champion 1956

4/16/2021 – Izabela Sztrauch née Galewska was born in 1928 in Poland, where she spent a happy childhood. During the pogroms of the second world war she was sent to the Łódź Ghetto, and then to the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. She survived, typhoid stricken and weighing just 25 kg, recovered in Sweden and finally found a home in France. There she nurtured her love for chess, and in 1956 she won the French Women's Championship. Read her inspiring story as told by Georges Bertola in Europe Échecs.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: a surprise weapon against the Sicilian

4/15/2021 – In this week’s show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at an interesting attempt to fight against the Sicilian: The line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5!? dxe5 5.Nxe5 that offers White surprising possibilities. | “Fast and Furious” is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.