"Timman-70" Composition Tourney

6/4/2021 – In December, on the 14th to be specific, Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman turns seventy. He was one of the world's leading players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. He is also a prolific study composer. So it is appropriate that a Study Composition Tourney is being staged in his honour. Awards will be distributed on his birthday. For this announcement Jan has selected five of his favourite studies, composed by him, for you to solve.

Throwback Thursday: Harikrishna wins on the Isle of Man

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

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: Attack and counterattack in the Sicilian Taimanov

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.

Gibraltar GP: Lagno qualifies to the Candidates

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

Building a Study

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.

Game of the Week: V. Keymer vs V. Laznicka

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.

New: CBM EXTRA 201

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.

Women’s GP: Gibraltar - Live!

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

Gibraltar GP: Abdumalik wins with a round to spare

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

Hardly any changes: FIDE ratings June 2021

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.

Shamsiddin Vokhidov wins Asian Individual Hybrid Chess Championship 2021

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.

New: How to study the classics by Adrian Mikhalchishin

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!

The Weekly Show: Zhansaya Abdumalik gains Grandmaster title!

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.

Kasparov trains young talents

6/1/2021 – Garry Kasparov is perhaps the best player of all times, and he has done a lot to promote and support chess all over the world. In May the Kasparov Chess Foundation and the Saint Louis Chess Club continued their Young Stars program and invited a number of promising juniors to get chess insights from the 13th World Champion. | Photo: ChessBase

Carlsen beats So in Armageddon, wins FTX Crypto Cup

6/1/2021 – Magnus Carlsen won the sixth tournament of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour after beating Wesley So in an exciting final match which was only decided in Armageddon. This was the third time Carlsen and So faced each other in a final of the tour, and So was inches away from scoring an unlikely third victory in a row. Meanwhile, Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Teimour Radjabov in the match for third place.

A fast and versatile knight

6/1/2021 – In the duel between bishop and knight it is often the knight which is too slow. However, one should not underestimate knights - they are versatile and often surprisingly quick, e.g. in the diagram position. Can the black knight play on both wings to help Black win the game?

Express report: FTX Crypto Cup Finals - Carlsen wins!

6/1/2021 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen won the FTX Crypto Cup after beating Wesley So in a dramatic final. The match on day 1 of the final ended with a 2-2 and that was also the result of the match on day 2. In the blitz-tiebreak Wesley So won the first game after a blunder by Carlsen, but Carlsen bounced back by winning on demand with Black and then also won the Armageddon game. In the match for place three Ian Nepomniachtchi won against Teimour Radjabov. Full report to follow soon. | Games and commentary.

The Grand Chess Tour 2021 begins - with tournaments in Bukarest and Paris

5/31/2021 – The Grand Chess Tour is back - and the tour begins on Thursday, 3 June 2021 with an over-the-board classical tournament in Bukarest. Ten top players take part, the top seeds are Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Alexander Grischuk, and Wesley So. After the end of the tournament on 15 June, the players travel to Paris to take part in a Rapid & Blitz tournament.

Gibraltar GP: Abdumalik a full point ahead

5/31/2021 – Thanks to back-to-back wins in rounds 7 and 8, Zhansaya Abdumalik is now leading the standings of the Women’s Grand Prix in Gibraltar by a full point over closest pursuers Gunay Mammadzada and Mariya Muzychuk. Mammadzada is making a strong impression on the Rock, as she collected three consecutive victories in rounds 6-9, coincidentally over the three Russian participants. Follow the games of round 9 live with commentary. | Photo: David Llada

Artemiev wins European Hybrid Qualification Tournament

5/31/2021 – 264 players started in the European Hybrid Qualification Tournament. The first three rounds of this knock-out tournament consisted of 2-game matches (followed by a blitz-tiebreak and an Armageddon game, if necessary) and the 36 players, who were still in the race after the third round, qualified for the World Cup 2021, which will take place in Sochi, Russia, from 10 Juli to 6 August 2021. These 36 also played a 9-round Swiss blitz tournament (10+3) for prizes and placement. After nine rounds Vladislav Artemiev (pictured) and Aleksandar Indjic both had 6.5/9 and shared first place but Artemiev had the better tiebreak and won the tournament. | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

FTX Crypto Cup Finals: Carlsen and So trade blows

5/31/2021 – Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen traded blows in the first set of the FTX Crypto Cup Finals which will be decided in Monday’s second mini-match — and potential blitz tiebreaker. A draw was also seen in the match for third place, except that Teimour Radjabov and Ian Nepomniachtchi decided to give themselves a rest day, as they signed four quick draws on Sunday. | Photo: Nick Barton

Understanding before Moving 29: To exchange or not to exchange

5/30/2021 – 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 29th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about good and bad bishops and wonders which pieces to exchange and which pieces to keep on the board. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

A judge’s rant to the awards galaxy

5/29/2021 – In his latest column, Siegfried Hornecker writes about the work of judges in endgame studies tournaments. He first introduces how computers have also made their way into this field, before noting that, however, “it will always be down to an individual judge, or a panel of judges, to finally evaluate a composition”. | Pictured: Clifford E. Berry and the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, or ABC, c. 1942 | Photo: Iowa State University

FTX Crypto Cup: So wins, Carlsen draws

5/29/2021 – On the first day of the FTX Crypto Cup semifinals, Wesley So beat Ian Nepomniachtchi by winning game 4 after having agreed to three draws. Meanwhile, world champion Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov traded blows in games 3 and 4, which means their match is tied going into day 2 of the semis.