Israeli Championships: Early upsets

3/12/2021 – After having been twice postponed due to the Corona restrictions, the 40th edition of the Israeli Championships are now taking place (March 7-15) at the Leonardo Plaza Hotel in Haifa. Four players are sharing the lead in the open section after six rounds. Among the women, top seed Yuliya Shvayger is currently the sole leader. | Photo: Dorit Ritvo Wolfoviz

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Ivanchuk and his octopus knights

3/12/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at a game recommended by a viewer which features Vassily Ivanchuk playing with a double octopus knight. The game also features great positional judgement plus razor-sharp tactical vision and calculation. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 13:00 ET). All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The universal chess language of the "Informant" (Part 3)

3/12/2021 – The first "Chess Informant" was published in 1966, and it caused a revolution in the world of chess. After looking at the history of the "Informant" in part 1 and the current situation of the "Informant" in part 2, the third and final part of this series deals with the universal chess language the "Informant" has created and has made popular: a system of signs that allows readers all over the world to understand the annotations of chess games and the system of codes classifying the various chess openings. Diana Mihajlova took a closer look.

Endgame Riddle: Did Kasparov miss a chance?

3/12/2021 – Karsten Müller once again sets out to find truth in a famous endgame. This time he looks at the 27th game of the 1st World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, which is generally regarded as a fine example of Karpov's outstanding technique. But how well did Karpov and Kasparov really play the endgame in this famous game?

From outer space: Magnus Carlsen Invitational kicks off Saturday

3/12/2021 – The fourth event of the Champions Chess Tour, the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, will take place on March 13-21, with sixteen players fighting for Tour points and a share of the US$ 220,000 prize fund. According to their rapid ratings, Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura are the top seeds.

Five years of powering chess in India

3/11/2021 – On the 18th of January 2021 ChessBase India turned five years. Each day of its existence it has indulged in activities to power chess in India. But how did this company come into existence? This article is dedicated to the work that has been done by the organization. 21 grandmasters of Indian chess including have given their feedback about ChessBase India. Check it out!

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Having fun with the Halloween Gambit

3/11/2021 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at at a wild but entertaining gambit: the Halloween Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5!?. Have fun and enjoy! | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Laura Unuk leads Mediterranean Flowers Tournament

3/11/2021 – For the 21st time, the SK Draga in Rijeka organises the "Mediterranean Flowers" tournament, a Women's Tournament in the week around International Women's Day. Laura Unuk, U18w World Champion 2017, dominates the tournament, and after six rounds she leads with 5.5/6. | Photo: Frank Hoppe

Shohreh Bayat receives International Women of Courage Award

3/11/2021 – The Iranian chess arbiter Shoreh Bayat is one of 21 recipients of the 2021 International Women of Courage Award, which has been awarded by the US State Department since 2007 to women who have worked for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality and women's empowerment. | Photo: US State Department

Throwback Thursday: Kasparov’s immortal

3/11/2021 – Right around the turn of the century, one of the most dominating players in history showed his strength by winning the traditional Wijk aan Zee tournament three years in a row. Not only that — in his first appearance in Wijk, in 1999, Garry Kasparov defeated Veselin Topalov in what is now known as his ‘immortal game’.

Meeting Don Miguel

3/10/2021 – Miguel Najdorf (April 15, 1910 – July, 4 1997) is one of the great chess players who never became World Champion. Born in Poland, Najdorf stayed in South America after the Chess Olympiad 1939 in Buenos Aires and became an Argentinean and a successful businessman. Vlastimil Hort had the pleasure of meeting "Don Miguel" in person and shares memories of these meetings.

Learn the King's Indian from the King

3/10/2021 – He is indeed more than just the metaphoric king – the "Raja" in Teimour Radjabov's name makes him the king of the King's Indian Defence. The world no. 10 is truly a leading expert in this opening, someone whose exploits have redefined the way it is handled in the uppermost echelons of contemporary chess. Here's he gives us an interactive lesson that will teach you how to handle this quintessentially extremist opening. Learn and enjoy!

Game of the Week: A new setup against the Caro-Kann

3/10/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game in which Jorden van Foreest tried a new - and promising? - setup against the Caro-Kann. | Merijn's show is available at 16.00 UTC (17:00 CET, 12:00 EDT) and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

ChessBase Magazine Jubilee: The best tactics videos

3/10/2021 – The ChessBase Magazine celebrates its anniversary! On the occasion of issue # 200, published at the beginning of March, we are presenting highlights from the many regular columns of the ChessBase Magazine. A good way to get better and to win more games is to solve tactical puzzles regularly. And in each issue of the CBM, Oliver Reeh leads you through a series of training puzzles - from simple to super-advanced tasks - and presents his personal favourites in interactive Fritztrainer videos. Take part, improve your tactics, and enjoy!

Pichot and Grandelius qualify to the Magnus Carlsen Invitational

3/10/2021 – Four players fought for two spots at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational in a double round robin online tournament played on Tuesday. Alan Pichot and Nils Grandelius were the ones qualifying to the fourth tournament of the Champions Chess Tour, which is scheduled to kick off on Saturday.

The Weekly Show: International Womens Day Show

3/9/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will honour the International Women’s Day - March 8 - and will take a look at a game from the greatest of all time – Judit Polgar. | Lawrence's show is available at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12:00 ET) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Outstanding: John Donaldson's "Bobby Fischer and His World"

3/9/2021 – Bobby Fischer was born 78 years ago today, on 9 March 1943. Countless articles and books have been written about the controversial American, and recently John Donaldson published another book about the 11th World Champion: "Bobby Fischer and His World". Well researched and well written, it shows the many facets of Fischer's personality, and is definitely one of the best books ever written about Fischer's life, if not the best.

Miguel Najdorf: a love story (II)

3/9/2021 – One of Argentina’s and the world’s greatest chess players, a man shaken by life, a victim of war and its inevitable pain, a passionate man who never lost faith. Najdorf reminisces on his life story. | Part 2 of an interview from 1988 by José Luis Barrio for “El Gráfico”.

Zugzwang - an unpleasant obligation

3/9/2021 – In endgames with opposite coloured bishops creating a fortress often saves the defender. But in the diagram position Black's fortress is not strong enough and zugzwang forces him to self-destruct. White to move and win.

Learn to love the game: An interview with Andrew Martin

3/8/2021 – Andrew Martin is an International Master and a professional chess trainer with a lot of experience. In an interview Martin talks about The Grünfeld Formula, his new ChessBase DVD, his own career, and gives advice to help players who are new to the game. Enjoy! | Photo: John Upham

ECU: What should the arbiter do?

3/8/2021 – This position occurred in a standard game in the presence of the arbiter. Black played 46...Rc1+, but failed to press his clock on time. White claimed a win. Does he get it? What do the FIDE rules decree? IA Prodromos Gerontopoulos tells us the answer. In addition the February issue of the ECU E-Magazine gives us four fun problems to solve.

Gukesh wins Vidit Chess Tour in Armageddon

3/8/2021 – Indian prodigy Gukesh D won the Vidit Chess Tour after beating Aronyak Ghosh in the Armageddon decider of the final match. The players drew all four rapid games and went to sudden death. The 14-year-old eventual winner played white and won the game to take home the US$ 1,000 first prize. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Officially a U.S. citizen: Wesley So’s success as an American player

3/8/2021 – Wesley So has represented the United States since the end of 2014 and has collected a number of major successes since his transfer. A couple of weeks ago, the Filipino-born star officially became a United States citizen. So declared, “From the moment I landed here I was encouraged and enabled to become better than I was”.

Feeding the flames

3/7/2021 – In this week’s column, Jon Speelman looks deeply into “a real fire fight” in which 18-year-old Arseniy Nesterov came out on top after a terrific battle. In the game, the aggression was mutual and included extended hand-to-hand fighting!