A crazy position!

11/2/2021 – One highlight of each issue of the ChessBase Magazine is "The Analysis", a deeply analysed, particularly interesting game, selected from the many annotated and interesting games in every issue. Not an easy task - just take a look at the list of authors who contributed analyses to CBM #204: Anton Demchenko, Romain Edouard, Viktor Erdos, Alireza Firouzja, Daniel Fridman, Anish Giri, Nils Grandelius, Niclas Huschenbeth, Maxime Lagarde, David Navara, Peter Heine Nielsen, Alexey Sarana, Ivan Saric, Hedinn Steingrimsson, Rasmus Svane and Vidit! This time, the game Mamedov-Lagarde from the European Individual Championship 2021, was chosen. Take a look at the diagram position after 14...Ke6, and you will know why! How could that position arise on the board? And how did the game continue? Curious?
More...
 3

The right way

11/2/2021 – Pawn endings are often tricky and must be calculated carefully. In the diagram position it is Black to move and he can win with precise play. How should he proceed?

Grand Swiss: MVL and Sasikiran win, join the lead

11/2/2021 – After six rounds, the participants of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss will get a rest day on Tuesday. In the open section, five players are tied atop the standings on 4½/6 points, with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Krishnan Sasikiran (pictured) the latest to have joined the leading pack. Among the women, Lei Tingjie reclaimed sole first place by beating Jolanta Zawadzka. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Karsten Müller’s Endgame Magic #168: Pawn races

11/1/2021 – Pawn races are often fun because every tempo counts and such pawn races can often turn into a mating attack when the pawn queens. In the Endgame Magic Show #168 Karsten and Arne look at some recent examples of entertaining pawn races. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

The new rating list: Carlsen is the only 2800+ player

11/1/2021 – The FIDE published its new rating list. Magnus Carlsen remains number one and is now the only player with 2800+. Fabiano Caruana lost a couple of points in the US Championship and is now below 2800 and the world's number three, behind Ding Liren. Hou Yifan does not play often but remains the world's best women. Best junior is Alireza Firouzja, best girl Polina Shuvalova.

Michal Krasenkow wins Sheikh Russel tournament in Bangladesh

11/1/2021 – With an impressive finish Michal Krasenkov won the strong Sheik Russel tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that ended 27 October. In the last three rounds the Russian-born Polish GM scored 3.0/3, which helped him to finish sole first with 7.0 out of 9. Six players followed half a point behind and shared second to seventh place. | Photo: Alina l'Ami (Archive)

Annotating in ChessBase: creating training positions

11/1/2021 – You've seen the program create training positions automatically, but what if you wanted to create your own? This could be to show a student, show some friends, post online, and more. The tools are all there to generate your own hand-crafted test positions for tactics, strategy, and endgames, and it is useful tool to know. Read on to learn how!

Grand Swiss: Shirov and Najer join Firouzja in the lead

11/1/2021 – A draw on top board between Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave allowed veterans Alexei Shirov and Evgeniy Najer to join Firouzja in the lead at the open section of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. Both Shirov and Najer won with the black pieces on Sunday. In the women’s section, five players are sharing the lead going into round 6. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Understanding before Moving 51: The black squares!

10/31/2021 – 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 51st instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the black squares. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Notable endgames from the Grand Swiss - Karsten Müller analyses

10/31/2021 – High-level chess is being played in Riga at the open and women’s sections of the Grand Swiss. Our in-house endgame expert has been following the games closely, and sent us a few analyses from instructive positions played by Harika Dronavalli, Meruert Kamalidenova and Jeffery Xiong. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: A queen sacrifice in the Makogonov Variation of the Kings Indian Defence

10/31/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at the spectacular queen sacrifice that Alexandr Predke used to beat Nodirbek Yakubboev in round 2 of the Grand Swiss in Riga. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Grand Swiss: Lei Tingjie takes the lead in the women’s section

10/31/2021 – After kicking off the event with three straight wins, Alireza Firouzja drew a game for the first time at the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss on Sunday. The youngster nonetheless kept the sole lead, as none of his closest chasers got to score a win — Evgeniy Najer almost managed, but failed to find a killer shot. Meanwhile, among the women, Chinese star Lei Tingjie beat Valentina Gunina to climb to sole first place. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Study of the Month: Frankenstein and Monsters

10/30/2021 – Halloween is near — and inspired Siegfried Hornecker to search for compositions and studies that are suitable to this time of the year. After all, a good endgame study doesn't ask "Trick or treat?" but rather offers both. Enjoy!

"My memorable game"

10/30/2021 – In the diagram position, Black's king is only protected by pawns and - not a single minor piece supports its monarch. Which is kind of an invitation for White - or isn't it? Your move!

Grand Swiss: Firouzja scores third straight win

10/30/2021 – For the first time in the 2021 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss a sole leader has emerged in either section, as Alireza Firouzja is the only player to have kicked off the event with three straight victories. The 18-year-old beat Alexandr Predke with the white pieces on Friday. In the women’s section, nine players are sharing first place on 2½/3 points. | Photo: Mark Livshitz

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Catch the King!

10/29/2021 – In this week’s show, GM Daniel King looks at ways to catch the enemy king, and shows how Maxime Vachier-Lagrave failed to do so in a recent Bundesliga game, which Daniel featured the previous week. More successful in his efforts to catch the enemy king was Vassily Smyslov in a game of his Candidate Match against Zoltan Ribli in 1983. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Interviews with Dana Reizniece Ozola and Arkady Dvorkovich

10/29/2021 – The FIDE is currently in an excellent position with its Presidium. Arkady Dvorkovich was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and organised the World Cup. Managing Director Dana Reizneice was Minister of Economy and Finance of Latvia. On the occasion of the Grand Swiss in Riga, they both gave insightful interviews.

Trent's Tactics - Devastating queens

10/29/2021 – Today's tactical focus: how to harness the power of devastating queens. Trent uses examples from 1880 and 100 years later. The Playchess training playground is getting more and more difficult, and some problems took us a few minutes to solve. But we were able to reach a rating of over 2050 meanwhile.

CBM #204: A "Special" on Judit Polgar, clear and modern concepts against the Najdorf and the Rubinstein Variation, and much more!

10/29/2021 – The new ChessBase Magazine #204 dedicates its "Special" to the strongest female chess player of all time: Judit Polgar! The CBM authors annotate their favourite games of the attacking artist, Mihail Marin shows her great strategic skills and Karsten Müller shows her virtuosity in the endgame. The issue also contains the best from the European Championship 2021 - with analyes by the new Champion Anton Demchenko, Viktor Erdos, Daniel Fridman, Nils Grandelius, Maxime Lagarde, Aleksei Sarana, Ivan Saric and others. In his first opening video for the magazine, Austrian GM Markus Ragger presents an idea of World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the 3.Bb5+ Sicilian. Plus 11 opening articles ("A clear attacking plan against the Rubinstein Variation: 7.Be3", "Modern and simple vs. the Najdorf: 7.Nf3/8.Bg5" etc.), as well as training columns on tactics, strategy and endgame. All in a new layout!
More...
 1

Grand Swiss: Firouzja wins, Nihal escapes

10/29/2021 – Three players are sharing the lead at the open section of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in Riga, as Alireza Firouzja, Alexandr Predke and Ivan Saric are the only participants to have won both their games so far. Meanwhile, seven players have a 2/2 score in the women’s section. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

Reconstructing ancient games with an AI

10/28/2021 – When talking about ancient games you might have an image of a couple of dozen at most, ranging from chess and its precursors, to backgammon, Go, and a few more, but humanity has long had a passion for a good game. This passion has spanned across the globe with thousands of games uncovered, but no way to learn how to play them...until now. (image: papyrus dated c.1200 BC)

Game of the Week 487: S. Mamedyarov vs G. Kamsky

10/28/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game Shakhryar Mamedyarov played in the Bundesliga against Gata Kamsky, "one of the most beautiful positional games of the year". | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Playing against two weaknesses: Alekhine shows the way

10/28/2021 – Using a fine game by Alexander Alekhine, Svitlana shows how to play against two weaknesses, an important strategic motif in middlegame and endgame. Svitlana and Arne also discuss how to pronounce "Alekhine", and wonder whether the German Master Friedrich "Fritz" Saemisch (1896-1975), name-giver of several popular opening lines, inspired developers to call their chess engine "Fritz".

The ACO World Senior Championship 2021

10/28/2021 – From 1-10 October the World Senior Championships 2021, organised by the Amateur Chess Organization (ACO), were played on the Greek island of Crete. 178 players fought in seven rating groups for the titles. Several Grandmasters, including Vlastimil Hort and Daniel King, supported the amateurs.