Rapid Interview - Cécile Haussernot

5/7/2021 – Rapid interviews are fun: interviewer and guest face each other in an epic rapid chess battle. The chess guest not only has to face the interviewer's questions, but also concentrate on the chess game at the same time. This leads to surprising answers and sometimes to curious chess positions. Cécile Haussernot is probably one of the most attractive titled chess players. I asked her if this ever lead to jealousy from other players, or hate comments, and how she deals with these factors. Furthermore, I wanted to know how it is for the French WIM to live in Tbilisi, Georgia, and what her future goals are in chess. | Photos: Cécile Haussernot

“Chess for Freedom” online conference announced

5/7/2021 – The International Chess Federation will hold an online conference dubbed “Chess for Freedom” on May 11th at 15:30 CET (8:30 US Central Time). The conference will present a newly launched project focused on introducing chess to prisons. This conference will feature FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, the 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, and other invited guests.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: The aggressive Rossolimo Sicilian

5/6/2021 – In this week’s show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris shows how White can play the Sicilian Rossolimo in an aggressive way. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

"The strategy was not to lose" - Eteri Kublashvili interviews Ian Nepomniachtchi

5/6/2021 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates Tournament 2020/2021, and in November he will play against Magnus Carlsen for the world title. In an extensive interview with Eteri Kublashvili after the Candidates, Nepomniachtchi talked about his preparations for the second part of the Candidates and revealed why he once was so frustrated during his preparations that he threw his "iPhone into the wall". He also talked about his key to success, Magnus Carlsen - "a very nice dude" - and why "there is never enough time to prepare". | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Throwback Thursday: Wesley So makes it past 2800

5/6/2021 – Wesley So has proven to be capable of beating any player from the elite, including world champion Magnus Carlsen. The Filipino-born grandmaster, currently representing the United States, obtained his highest-ever live rating in April 2017, following a streak of remarkable results in the elite circuit. We look back at the successes that helped the ever-humble star to reach the second spot in the world ranking. | Photo: South African Junior Chess Championship Facebook page

Chess in the QLASH house

5/6/2021 – The Mitropa Cup 2021 is the first major team tournament that is played as a hybrid tournament. The players of the ten teams that take part in the tournament play from their home countries but meet in a central place where they play online, watched by arbiters. For the Italian team the Mitropa Cup is already a success: they play in a very modern, almost futuristic location - an eGaming house.

Qualification for FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2022 announced

5/6/2021 – In May 2018 the Chinese Grandmaster Ju Wenjun became Women's World Champion by defeating her countrywoman Tan Zhongyi in a match. Later the same year Ju Wenjun defended her title in a knock-out tournament, and in 2020 she defended her title again, this time in a match against Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia. In 2022 Ju Wenjun will face her next challenger, the winner of the Women's Candidates Tournament 2022, will take place in the first half of 2022. And recently, the FIDE approved the "qualifying path" for the Women's Candidates.

Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson wins Icelandic Championship

5/5/2021 – The 2021 Icelandic Championship took place on April 22-30 in Kópavogur. It was a 10-player single round robin. Rating favourite Hjörvar Steinn Grétarsson finished in sole first place with a 7/9 score. Jóhann Hjartarson came second with 6½ points, while defending champion Guðmundur Kjartansson got third place after collecting 6 points. | Pictured: Grétarsson during round 7 | Photos: Official site

Game of the Week: I. Nepomniachtchi vs K. Alekseenko

5/5/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes another look at the Candidates and presents a game by Ian Nepomniachtchi, the winner of the Candidates, who will challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen in November. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

"Iron Horsemen" lead Russian Team Championship

5/5/2021 – In the Russian Team Championship in Sochi, Mednyi Vsadnik St. Petersburg defended its lead by defeating KPRF Moscow in round 4. In the women's tournament, Chess Team Moscow, with Kateryna Lagno, Polina Shuvalova and Alexandra Kosteniuk on the top boards, won its fourth match in a row and is clear first. | Photos: Russian Chess Federation

Chess Logicals – an experiment

5/5/2021 – Two students are studying a chess position. A Zen master watches and tells them that one of the pieces will play a very deep move. "Which one?" the students want to know. The Zen master whispers the piece type to one student and the colour to the other. From their reactions they are able to deduce which piece it is. You can help us in a book project by solving the problem. And hopefully have some fun in the process.

A New President for the French Chess Federation

5/5/2021 – France's top players, most prominently Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, have been on bad terms with their Chess Federation for years now. After the deselection of Bachar Kouatly, the association's new president Éloi Relange wants to put an end to the infighting. However, internal struggles within the Chess Federation still persist, as Stefan Löffler found out. | Photo: Bachar Kouatly, who remains Deputy President of FIDE. | Photo: FIDE.

Magnus Carlsen about Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Polgar, Hou Yifan and himself

5/5/2021 – On Sunday, 2 May, Magnus Carlsen won the New in Chess Classic Online Tournament, the first of the so far five Meltwater Champions Chess Tour tournaments the World Champion, who is as spoilt for success as he is hungry for it, could win. But Carlsen did not only entertain and impress at the board (or screen). In short video clips, shown during the live broadcast, he revealed what he thinks about previous World Champions and showed his amazing chess memory. | Image: Screenshot

Polish Championships in Bydgoszcz

5/4/2021 – The 2021 Polish Chess Championships are taking place from April 29 to May 7 in Bydgoszcz. The open tournament is a 16-player knockout event, while the women’s section is being played as a 9-round single round robin. The biggest upsets in the open were given by IM Pawel Teclaf, who knocked out GM Mateusz Bartel and Robert Kempinski in consecutive rounds. | Pictured: Joanna Dworakowska facing Joanna Majdan | Photo: Official site

The Weekly Show: The New in Chess Classic

5/4/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will take a look at the New in Chess Classic where Magnus Carlsen won his first Meltwater Champion Chess Tour title. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Episode 2

5/4/2021 – Svitlana Demchenko is a 17-year-old, Canadian WIM, and chess coach. Here and now, she will teach us plenty of smart moves on the board, ranging from tactics, strategies, openings, and anything else chess related. In the process, I'm happy to be available as a student at club player level, and pester the female international master with questions. Anyone who wants to strengthen their chess skills is welcome to watch, and actively replay the positions from the video, on our chessboard.

"Behind the Stonewall you should never lose"

5/4/2021 – It's also thanks to Magnus Carlsen that the Stonewall currently enjoys a good reputation and is considered healthy and ambitious. Usually, the Stonewall structure arises via the Dutch Defense, after 1.d4 f5. But in ChessBase Magazine #201, the new issue of the CBM, the renowned theoretician and Dutch expert Viktor Moskalenko shows that Black also does well against line-ups without d2-d4 (English or Reti). He explains the ideas of these systems with some of his own games and concludes: "Behind the Stonewall you should never lose".

Reflecting on the 2020-21 Candidates – Part 1

5/4/2021 – The 2020-21 FIDE Candidates Tournament concluded on April 27, 2021 with Ian Nepomniachtchi (pictured) emerging victorious from a close race in the second half of the event, ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, and Fabiano Caruana. In a two-part reflection on the Candidates the Canadian FM Joshua Doknjas aims to provide readers with a glimpse into the preparation of the world’s best players and showcase some of their brilliant ideas that were hidden beneath the surface. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A magical knight

5/4/2021 – The diagram position looks pretty bad for Black. He has a passed pawn that is close to queening and he is to move but White has the nasty threat of 55.Rd8+ that is hard to parry. But Black's knight can do some magic and save the game. What should Black do?

FIDE Ratings May 2021

5/4/2021 – On 1 May the FIDE published the new World Ranking List. Magnus Carlsen (2847) continues to be the world's number one, followed by Fabiano Caruna (2820) on two. The second half of the Candidates Tournament helped Ding Liren (number 3, 2799) to eight additional rating points while Ian Nepomniachtchi (number 4, 2792) gained three rating points and Anish Giri (number 6, 2780) four. But it was the Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo who made the biggest jump ahead: after convincingly winning the Iranian Championship he now has a rating of 2698 and is the world's number 41.

No Castling Chess: An interview with Vladimir Kramnik

5/3/2021 – From 10 to 18 July, Dortmund will once again be Germany's chess capital. Chess fans in Dortmund organise the "Sparkassen Chess Trophy", a grandmaster tournament, and Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand will play a match in No Castling Chess. In an interview Kramnik reveals more.

Carlsen beats Nakamura, wins New in Chess Classic

5/3/2021 – Only needing a draw in the second set of the finals against Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen bounced back from a loss in game 1 with a win in game 3 — Nakamura could not win on demand in game 4, which meant Carlsen had won his first event of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov obtained a 2½-½ victory over Levon Aronian to secure third place.

New in Chess Classic Finals: Carlsen wins!

5/2/2021 – Only needing a draw in the second set of the finals against Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen bounced back from a loss in game 1 with a win in game 3. Nakamura could not win on demand in game 4, which meant Carlsen had won his first event of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov obtained a 2½-½ victory over Levon Aronian to secure third place. | The action kicks off daily at 19:00 CEST.

Raising the floor: Nepo's chances against Carlsen

5/2/2021 – Now that we know that Ian Nepomniachtchi will be Magnus Carlsen’s next challenger for the World Championship title, it’s time to start getting ready for the big match. Star columnist Jon Speelman has another go at prediction, claiming that “Carlsen is surely the favourite, but not, I think, by that much: no more than 60-40, and perhaps just 55-45”. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour