6/3/2021 – By now, the GM tournament played on the Isle of Man is already a fixture in the yearly chess calendar, with the British Crown Dependency set to organize the FIDE Grand Swiss for a second time this year. Before that, a strong open had taken place from 2014 until 2018. The second edition was won by Pentala Harikrishna. | Photos: Alina l’Ami

6/3/2021 – This week, the well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at the old main line (Be2 & Be3) of the Sicilian Taimanov, which often leads to fascinating games full of fun and tactical blows. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

6/3/2021 – A draw with Mariya Muzychuk in the last round of the Gibraltar Women’s Grand Prix was enough for Kateryna Lagno to secure a spot in the next edition of the Women’s Candidates Tournament. The one scenario in which the Russian would have failed to qualify was not so far from happening, as Muzychuk did not go for the most trying continuation nearing the end of the game while Nana Dzagnidze had a superior position against Valentina Gunina at some point in their lengthy encounter. | Photo: John Saunders

6/3/2021 – Chess studies have brought pleasure to enthusiasts over the centuries. They show the depth of the game more dramatically than regular over-the-board encounters. They can be mind-bogglingly clever. But how do authors go about composing studies? Amatzia Avni is a Fide Master in both OTB play and composition. He describes the process of spotting an idea and refining it, step by step, together with a colleague, until you have a competition-worthy study.

6/2/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game Vincent Keymer and Viktor Laznicka played at the European Hybrid Qualification Tournament. Keymer impressed with bold and creative play but then failed to convert a winning endgame. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

6/2/2021 – Nearly one hour video training. Plus 23 extensively analysed games by Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Yu Yangyi, Krishnan Sasikiran, Spyridon Kapnisis, Romain Edouard, Sury Vaibhav and Tanmay Srinath. ChessBase Magazine Extra is the perfect addition to ChessBase Magazine and can also be obtained by subscription (6 issues per year). Available on DVD or as a download.

6/2/2021 – After an exciting ninth round and a quieter tenth day of action, 21-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik secured first place at the Women’s Grand Prix in Gibraltar. Follow the games live with commentary starting at 14.00 CEST (08.00 ET, 12.00 UTC). | Pictured: Gunay Mammadzada | Photo: John Saunders

6/2/2021 – After an exciting ninth round and a quieter tenth day of action, 21-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik secured first place at the Women’s Grand Prix in Gibraltar. The young star from Kazakhstan beat Valentina Gunina and signed a quick draw with Kateryna Lagno to get a 1½-point lead with only one round to go. | Pictured: Deputy Chief Minister of Gibraltar Jospeh Garcia makes the first move in Abdumalik v Lagno. | Photo: David Llada

6/2/2021 – There are hardly any changes at the top of the new FIDE World Ranking List as the first 22 players on the list have not played any FIDE-rated games in May and with a rating of 2847 Magnus Carlsen is still clear number one, followed by Fabiano Caruana with 2820. However, in the women's list Aleksandra Goryachkina gained some points and is now on 2596, only four points away from the 2600 mark though Hou Yifan (2658) is still clear number one on the women's list. Alireza Firouzja (2759) remains best junior, and Polina Shuvalova (2489) remains best female junior player.

6/2/2021 – Due to the ongoing pandemic the Asian Individual Hybrid Chess Championship 2021 was played online. From 21 to 29 May 82 players from 15 countries battled in a hybrid tournament for the title, a place in the FIDE World Cup 2021, and the pitfalls of online play. After nine rounds the 19-year old Grandmaster Shamsiddin Vokhidov from Uzbekistan and IM Tin Jingyao from Singapore shared first with 7.0/9 each, but Vokhidov won the tournament on tiebreak. Top seed Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran finished tenth and suffered from power failures.

6/1/2021 – Chess education is based on examples of great players of the past. Most of the typical methods of attack, analogous plans and correct ways of conducting different endgames happened for the first time in their games. On the basis of these games, numerous books have been written about endgame subjects and endgame technique. Even concerning openings, the great Alexander Alekhine said that theory is simply the practice of the masters!

6/1/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will focus on the fantastic performance by Zhansaya Abdumalik at the Women’s Grand Prix in Gibraltar. She is s currently two points clear of the field and, perhaps more importantly, crossed the 2500 barrier and has officially got her Grandmaster title. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.