3/6/2021 – The International Russian Cup, also known as the Moscow Open, took place from February 19 until March 1 partly at the Russian State Social University and partly online. The two main events, which serve as stages of the Russian Cup, were won by GM Ivan Rozum (open section) and IM Marina Guseva (women’s section). Diana Mihajlova tells us all about the traditional festival. | Pictured: Marina Guseva | Photo: Anna Shtourman

3/6/2021 – In the diagram position, Black's rook on h4 is cut off from the rest of the army, and after 21.Bg5 a rescue operation is needed. But what could that be?

3/6/2021 – The story goes that a low-rated player once bravely asked Viktor Korchnoi his advice about what opening to play against a stronger opponent. “Play Grünfeld” was the grumpy reply. “Play Grünfeld against everything apart from 1 e4.” Andrew Martin has no way of verifying this story, but it certainly inspired him to think about whether this was possible, and the end result is this new ChessBase course. One of our most famous and beloved Fritztrainers finally strikes back, and presents great ideas to go for the Grünfeld.

3/5/2021 – There is a long list of great German chess players, and one of the greatest was Siegbert Tarrasch. He was the world’s best player at times, but he was unable to win the World Championship title. Today is the 159th anniversary of Tarrasch’s birth. | In the painting by Antti Faven, which shows a scene from the Café der la Regence, Tarrasch is standing at the very back on the left.

3/5/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at the last-round win of Hovhannes Gabuzyan in the Armenian Championship. Tigran Petrosian, playing white, tried a positional approach against the Najdorf, but was duly outplayed by the recently-crowned Armenian champion. | 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.

3/5/2021 – One of Argentina’s and the world’s greatest chess players, a man shaken by life, a victim of war and its inevitable pain, a passionate man who never lost faith. Najdorf reminisces on his life story. | An interview from 1988 by José Luis Barrio for “El Gráfico”.

3/5/2021 – Grandmaster Vlastimil Hort, who loves to travel, is severely restricted in his activities by the coronavirus crisis. What can he do? He is writing his second book of chess stories, and he keeps his friends busy solving chess puzzles. He sent us two.

3/4/2021 – A bit over ten years ago, Hou Yifan became the youngest-ever women’s world champion by winning a 64-player knockout tournament in Hatay, Turkey. The Chinese prodigy defeated her compatriot Ruan Lifei on tiebreaks in the final match of the competition. Hou eliminated Zhu Chen, Kateryna Lagno and Humpy Koneru on her way to the final.

3/4/2021 – In the anniversary edition CBM #200, Grandmaster Rainer Knaak, who regularly writes about "Opening Traps" in the Magazine presents his Top Ten opening traps. Traps that again and again lead to success - not only in blitz, but also in high-level tournament! Some of the traps Knaak presents are well-known but his Top Ten list also include lesser known examples that might catch you or your opponent unaware.

3/4/2021 – The Philidor Defence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6!? was often underestimated in the past. But World Champion Alexander Alekhine, who used the Philidor Defence several times with good success, showed the dynamic possibilities of the opening. Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a closer look.

3/4/2021 – Every chess fan knows about the "Man vs Machine" matches between the IBM computer Deep Blue and World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1996 and 1997. But in the 1960s IBM had already developed a computer that could play chess reasonably well: the IBM 305 Ramac. At an industrial fair in Milan, Ramac even defeated the Italian champion Mario Monticelli - with a little trash-talk to spice things up. A find by Adolivio Capece.

3/3/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game in which Anish Giri enriched opening theory and showed his attacking skills against Alexei Shirov. | 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. | Photo: Alina l'Ami