Preview: World Rapid and Blitz Championships

12/26/2021 – One of the most anticipated events in the chess calendar, the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship, is around the corner. The open and women’s championships that have been held concurrently since 2016 will take place on December 25-31 in Warsaw, Poland, at the PGE Narodowy Stadium. | Pictured: Alireza Firouzja facing Hikaru Nakamura at the 2019 edition | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Study of the Month: Darko, not Donnie

12/25/2021 – The Serbian name "Darko" comes from "Dar" for "gift". Good wishes are bestowed often upon our children, be it luck with the Biblical name "The son of luck" or "Benjamin", or in this case, the gift of being gifted. A special gift indeed was given to Darko Hlebec, an interesting composing style. Study specialist Siegfried Hornecker presents presents examples of his work and Darko's comments about it.

Christmas games with Fritz 18

12/25/2021 – A few weeks ago we announced a Brilliancy Challenge: send us brilliant games you have recently played and compete for some valuable prizes. Here's a festive example: Andreas Krentel, a physiotherapist, used to play in a chess club 15 years ago. He was looking for an opponent to test his wits against. Suddenly he found the prefect chess partner: Fritz 18! And it became like the good old days in the chess club. Andreas has sent us a couple of games to show how the program encouraged him to execute brilliancies.

The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 25

12/25/2021 – We are sorry, but our calendar doesn't have 25 doors, but one solution still has to be shown. Thank you! We were able to beat last year's result, thanks to your record participation. All winners will be announced on 27.12.
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More Music in "The Queen's Gambit": The Dutch band "Shocking Blue"

12/25/2021 – Part of the attraction of the Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit" is the design: costumes, buildings and music evoke the 1960s, the time in which the series is set. In a crucial scene of the series the Dutch band Shocking Blue provides the background music. Shocking Blue, founded in 1967, might not be as famous as other bands from the 1960s and 1970s but it still has ardent followers, and one of them is a prominent chess player and well-known coach. | Photo: Netflix

A Christmas nut to crack

12/25/2021 – In the diagram position it is Black to play but it is White who seems to be calling the shots. However, Black's position contains hidden possibilities and with three powerful moves Black can exploit the somewhat precarious position of White's queen on g4. What would you do?

Merry Christmas!

12/25/2021 – ChessBase wishes all chess friends and readers a Merry Christmas and happy holidays! | Photo: Pixabay

Sitges: Abdusattorov clinches first place in thrilling playoff

12/25/2021 – The eighth edition of the strong Open in Sitges was a thrilling tournament throughout, but it offered an extra dose of excitement on the final day of play. Four players finished with 8 points at the top of the standings table, and a knockout was organized to decide the winner. Dimitrij Kollars reached the final, where he lost to Uzbek prodigy Nodirbek Andusattorov. | Photos: Rupali Mullick

Music and chess: Mason Williams' "Classical Gas" in "The Queen's Gambit"

12/24/2021 – "The Queen's Gambit" is one of the most successful Netflix series and will remain one of the best representations of chess in film. The series contains many impressive and powerful scenes, e.g. the depiction of a tournament in fast-forward mode, fittingly accompanied by the famous instrumental musical piece "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams.

The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 24

12/24/2021 – That's almost it! It's the last day of the calendar, and we want to say a huge thank you for the thousands of entries! Yesterday we had to send the king to c2 because of the virtual opposition. Finally, there is a really nice endgame treat to solve.
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Caruana beats Rapport in Armageddon to win Gashimov Memorial

12/24/2021 – Fabiano Caruana had a great second day of blitz at the Vugar Gashimov Tournament in Baku. The American even caught up with former leader Richard Rapport in the overall standings table. Caruana then went on to beat his Hungarian colleague in Armageddon to win the event. | Photos: Official tournament site

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: A sharp Sicilian battle

12/23/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris looks at a sharp and interesting Sicilian that was played in a game of two Indian players at the Sunway Sitges Tournament. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Trent's Tactics - World Championships Special (II) - Anand vs. Topalov

12/23/2021 – Lawrence is busy, but still managed to continue Trent's Tactics from the UK, with an improvised setup. Good enough to conquer a remarkable tactical masterpiece by Vishy Anand against Veselin Topalov, in the World Championship in Sofia from 2010. Lawrence and Arne also try to reach the 2350 Rating in the ChessBase training section, but will they succeed?

Joe Gallagher plays the King’s Gambit!

12/23/2021 – The King's Gambit continues to pose puzzles. The opening evokes memories of glorious sacrificial games from the romantic era, but at the same time it is regarded as somewhat unsound — as theoretically incorrect. But even today the move 2.f4 after 1.e4 e5 leads again and again to unusual positions rich in content. As the games of King’s Gambit expert Joe Gallagher demonstrate! | Photo source: British Chess News

CBM #205: "Special" on Robert Huebner, Ragger's Gruenfeld update, surprise in the London System, and much more

12/23/2021 – The "Special" in the new ChessBase Magazine #205 is dedicated to Robert Huebner, the best German player since Emanuel Lasker: an exclusive collection of 16 games, with analyses by Michal Krasenkow, Romain Edouard, Viktor Moskalenko, and others. And there's the best of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2021: tournament winner Alireza Firouzja annotates his victory against Nijat Abasov, and Grigoriy Oparin, Yu Yangyi, Alexandr Predke, Samuel Sevian, Nikita Vitiugov, and others annotate their best games. In a video Markus Ragger reveals a brand-new update in the Gruenfeld Defence with 5.Bd2. Plus 11 opening articles ("Surprise in the London System: 6...e5!", "Benko Gambit with open centre: 5.b6 e6!?", "News in the French Tarrasch: 8...g5" ), as well as training columns on tactics, strategy and endgame.
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The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 23

12/23/2021 – The youngest GM ever, played the move Nf3+. Although the game was played this year, it is already a classic. On the penultimate day, there is a fast-paced task in which a white king has to find the right square. Can you help?
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Gashimov Memorial - Live!

12/23/2021 – The Gashimov Memorial 2021 is a rapid and blitz chess tournament taking place on December 18-23 in Baku. Eight players, including Vishy Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin and Shakriyar Mamedyarov, are participating in the six-day event. Follow the action live starting at 15.00 local time (12.00 CET, 6.00 ET, 16.30 IST).

The Winning Academy (3): The Art of Exchanging Minor Pieces

12/23/2021 – Legend has it that a player who once was analysing with Dr. Tarrasch (pictured), a great believer in the power of the bishops, gave his bishop for a knight and remarked: "Winning the small exchange!" Tarrasch, probably with good reason, felt provoked, and said: "You obviously mean losing the small exchange!" Exchanging minor pieces is a fine and difficult art indeed. Jan Markos knows more!

Gashimov Memorial: Mamedyarov shines in blitz

12/22/2021 – Richard Rapport, co-winner of the rapid section, is leading the overall standings table after the first seven rounds of blitz at the Gashimov Memoarial in Baku. The strongest on day 1 of the blitz was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, though, who scored 5 out of 7 points despite losing his last game of the day against Fabiano Caruana. | Photos: Official site

Game of the Week #495: A fine game by Nico Zwirs

12/22/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft takes a looks at a game by Nico Zwirs which abounds with interesting positional and tactical ideas. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Sitges: Eight players share the lead

12/22/2021 – In the last three days the number of leaders at the Sunway Sitges Open has always doubled, and by now the leading group consists of eight players with 6.5/8 each. Among them is the young Indian Arjun Erigaisi (pictured) who won a fine attacking game in round eight. But most of the top matches in round eight ended in a draw which allowed a number of players to catch up to the leaders. | Photos: Rupali Mullick

Magnus Carlsen about passion and playing for the title

12/22/2021 – In a blog post for his sponsor Simonson Vogt Wiig, Magnus Carlsen reiterated and explained his announcement that he might not play another World Championship match because he lost his passion for this form of competition over the years. But "passion must be the main driver. I have always liked to compete, but chess was for me mainly driven by passion for the game." | Photo: Eric Rosen (FIDE)

The Endgame Magic Christmas Calendar - Door 22

12/22/2021 – Arne Kaehler had just learned this study in "Ellis Schatztruhe - Episode 9", but embarrassingly forgot it again for a short time. But the vast majority knew, of course, that only Kg7 leads to success. Today, the task is not to find the probably "best" move, but the move that was played in this particular game with Black.
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Nakamura and Dubov get wildcards for FIDE Grand Prix

12/22/2021 – Six players have already qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022, and the two remaining spots will go to the two best players in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022, a series of three tournaments that will be played from February to April in Berlin and Belgrade. The FIDE recently announced that Hikaru Nakamura (pictured), who in the last two years has not played a single FIDE-rated game, will get the FIDE wild card for the Grand Prix. Daniil Dubov will a wild card from the organiser. | Photo: Lennart Ootes