Daniel King’s Power Play Show: The new King's Indian

1/29/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King is focusing on the stylish game between Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Fabiano Caruana from round 9 of the Tata Steel Tournament, where the World #2 employed a daring and surprising strategy in the King's Indian. | 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.

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: A new concept in the King's Indian

1/29/2021 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a close look at a new concept in the King's Indian Defense that Fabiano Caruana used to beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek in round 9 of the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Tata Steel R11: Caruana and Firouzja miss chances, draw

1/29/2021 – Anish Giri is still the sole leader with two rounds to go at the Tata Steel chess tournament. The Dutchman drew world champion Magnus Carlsen with black while none of the players from the chasing pack managed to score a full point. Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja played a thrilling game, in which both missed chances to win. Jorden van Foreest rejoined the group trailing Giri by a half point with a victory over Pentala Harikrishna. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Not that simple

1/29/2021 – In the diagram position White is three pawns up and just played 45.Qf7+. Things look fine for White but the position is not that simple. After 45...Ng7 White played 46.Be3?? and now Black had a chance to strike. What did he do?

Chess under Covid

1/28/2021 – The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for many families and has brought many changes to the way billions of people live. It has also wrought a transformation of the chess world. This is described by John Nunn, who is playing vigorously in online tournaments. He has kindly annotated a game for us – one in which for the first time in his career he mated his opponent with a double check.

Wijk aan Zee Storytellers (4) - Ivan Sokolov

1/28/2021 – In the fourth part of the "Wijk aan Zee Storytellers" series, Eric van Reem, host of the "Let's talk about chess" podcast, talks to GM Ivan Sokolov, who shares memories of playing against Kasparov and meeting Valery Salov and reveals what he thinks about the young talents in Wijk.

Expo 2020 Dubai to host FIDE World Chess Championship

1/28/2021 – Originally, the match for the World Championship between Magnus Carlsen and the winner of the Candidates Tournament 2020, was planned for November 2020. But the corona pandemic put a stop to these plans. Now, the FIDE announced a new date for the World Championship match: if everything goes according to plan, it will take place from 24 November to 16 December 2021 in Dubai, as part of the Expo. | Picture: FIDE

Tata Steel R10: Giri sole leader

1/28/2021 – Anish Giri scored a win from what seemed to be a drawn position over Radoslaw Wojtaszek to grab the sole lead in round 10 of the Tata Steel chess tournament. Three players are chasing the Dutchman a half point behind — Andrey Esipenko joined previous co-leaders Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja in shared second place thanks to his victory over David Anton. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Game of the Week: Jorden van Foreest vs David Anton Guijarro

1/27/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a one of the interesting games Jorden van Foreest played in the Tata Steel Tournament 2021 in Wijk aan Zee: van Foreest's nice win against David Anton Guijarro. | 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.

Ten years and a day ago…

1/27/2021 – … on January, 26, 2011, Viktor Kortschnoi played in round 2 of the Gibraltar Chess Festival against Fabiano Caruana. Kortschnoi was 79 years old, Caruana 18, Kortschnoi had a rating of 2544, Caruana had a rating of 2721. Moreover, Kortschnoi was playing with Black. But he soon attacked Caruana with all his energy and won a remarkable game. | Photo: John Saunders, Chess Festival Gibraltar 2011

Tata Steel R9: Giri and Caruana join the lead

1/27/2021 – Three players are sharing the lead with four rounds to go at the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, as Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana won their games on Tuesday to join Alireza Firouzja at the top of the standings table. While Giri inflicted Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s third loss in the tournament, Caruana got the better of Radoslaw Wojtaszek after playing a surprising move out of a King’s Indian Defence. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

An International Chess Tournament on Malta

1/27/2021 – On the Mediterranean island of Malta, the number of Corona infections is comparatively low. This gave Clarence Psaila the courage to organise the XY Winter Chess Festival, a small live-event with a limited number of players and a strict adherence to safety. However, with players from three continents and 13 countries, the XY Winter Festival might currently still be the most international over-the-board chess tournament.

The Weekly Show: It's all about Wijk!

1/26/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will recap the action at the Tata Steel Tournament, with a focus on the fantastic game Duda-Grandelius from round two where Nils Grandelius shocked by winning with Black and getting to 2/2. 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.

No rule without exception

1/26/2021 – Is a knight on the rim always dim? Well, in chess there are no rules without exceptions, and though knights on the rim often make a poor impression there are still countless examples in which they prove to be powerful. The diagram position is one such example: Black to play and draw.

Using chess to help deal with addictions

1/26/2021 – In the Spanish region of Extremadura, there are a number of centres dedicated to the care, treatment and overcoming of addictions: addictions to substances (alcohol, drugs, pills) and others (gambling). The centres that treat these problems in a comprehensive manner are known as Therapeutic Communities. Many were set up in rural areas, where they functioned as real communities. One of the activities used to help the recovering addicts is chess. | Photo: Juan Antonio Montero

Daniel King analyzses Esipenko vs Carlsen

1/25/2021 – Magnus Carlsen only rarely loses a game, and his defeat against 18-year-old Russian Grandmaster Andrey Esipenko in round 8 of the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee was a big surprise. In his Power Play show Daniel King took a closer look at this game. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Wijk aan Zee Storytellers (3) - Ian Rogers

1/25/2021 – In the third part of the "Wijk aan Zee Storytellers" series, Eric van Reem, host of the "Let's talk about chess" podcast, talks to GM Ian Rogers, the well-known and popular player and chess writer from Australia. In the podcast Rogers remembers how he first played in Wijk when he was 16 years old. And he reveals what he thinks is the most spectacular game ever played in Wijk. And no, it is not Kasparov vs Topalov but Bellon vs Jamieson, played in group B, in 1977! | Photo: Ian Rogers 2014 | Photo: Macauley Peterson

The power of the bishops: Harikrishna vs Firouzja, Wijk 2021, Round 8

1/25/2021 – In the first round of the Tata Steel Tournament 2021 Alireza Firouzja lost against Magnus Carlsen, but then he scored 5½/7, and with 5½/8 and an Elo-performance of 2882 he is now sole leader. In round 8 Firouzja won an interesting game against Pentala Harikrishna in which he showed how powerful the bishops can be. Karsten Müller had a close look. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit - Tata Steel Tournament 2021

Remembering Eva Moser

1/25/2021 – About two years ago, Austrian Woman Grand Master Eva Moser passed away. Michael Ehn, Kurt Jungwirth and Markus Ragger have now published a beautiful and impressively detailed book to honour the memory, life and chess career of this outstanding player.

Tata Steel R8: Esipenko stuns Carlsen, Firouzja grabs the lead

1/25/2021 – Alireza Firouzja grabbed the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters by beating Pentala Harikrishna with the black pieces, but remarkably this was not the most shocking development of round 8 as Andrey Esipenko defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in their first-ever confrontation in classical chess — Carlsen played aggressively with the black pieces and was duly outplayed by the 18-year-old. With his win, Esipenko joined the four-player chasing pack which also includes Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Understanding before Moving 11: Pattern Recognition

1/24/2021 – 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 eleventh part of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving" Herman explains how important it is to learn and to remember typical patterns. | Photo: Hans Hoornstra

Tata Steel R7: Four leaders

1/24/2021 – It was an eventful seventh round in Wijk aan Zee, as five out of seven games finished decisively, including Anish Giri beating former sole leader Nils Grandelius with the white pieces. Giri, who was sharing second place before the round, was not the only player from the chasing pack to win on Saturday though — Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja and Jorden van Foreest also scored full points to become co-leaders. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

A Chess Story

1/23/2021 – Irina Bulmaga is a Woman Grandmaster, an International Master, and a chess professional. She discovered her passion for chess when she was still a child, and in a short story she looks back to the start of her chess career and remembers the beginning of a life-long love affair.

Tata Steel R6: Firouzja and Van Foreest score

1/23/2021 – Two decisive results in round 6 left Nils Grandelius still as the sole leader and increased the number of players chasing him a half point behind to six. Jorden van Foreest and Alireza Firouzja won on Friday and are now part of the massive chasing pack on 3½ points. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen failed to find a winning move against Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Fabiano Caruana tried hard but could not take down the leader. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021