5/27/2021 – This week, the well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris shows how 14-year old Eline Roebers (Elo 2066) defeated the Greek Grandmaster Athanasios Mastrovasilis in round 1 of the European Hybrid Qualifier. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

5/27/2021 – Teimour Radjabov and Wesley So won the first sets of their quarterfinal matches in the FTX Crypto Cup, while Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana managed to draw their mini-matches by scoring wins on demand in the last game of the day against Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi respectively. In the face-off between Carlsen and Nakamura, all four games finished decisively and favoured the player with the white pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Altibox Norway Chess

5/26/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game between Magnus Carlsen and Alexander Grischuk in which the World Champion sacrificed a piece in the opening to build up a slow and powerful attack. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

5/26/2021 – The preliminaries of the FTX Crypto Cup ended on Tuesday, with eight of the sixteen players qualifying to the quarterfinals. Fabiano Caruana was the top scorer in the round robin, while Magnus Carlsen only managed to qualify at the last minute, after defeating Teimour Radjabov on demand in the last round. Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Teimour Radjabov and Ian Nepomniachtchi also made it through.

5/26/2021 – Uncompromising chess has been the rule at the fourth leg of the Women’s Grand Prix series in Gibraltar. After four rounds, Zhansaya Abdumalik, Kateryna Lagno and Mariya Muzychuk (pictured) are sharing the lead on 3 points, while Elisabeth Paehtz is the only player a half point behind in fourth place. | Photo: FIDE

5/25/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will focus on a new crop of young super talents - Marc’Andria Maurizzi, who got his GM title at the age of 14 years and 5 days, and Abhimanyu Mishra, the 12 year old close to becoming the youngest GM in history (he only needs 8 points and one norm to be the youngest GM of all time). | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

5/25/2021 – Svitlana Demchenko is a 17-year-old, Canadian WIM, and chess coach. Here and now, she will teach us plenty of smart moves on the board, ranging from tactics, strategies, openings, and anything else chess related. In the process, I'm happy to be available as a student at club player level, and pester the female international master with questions. Anyone who wants to strengthen their chess skills is welcome to watch, and actively replay the positions from the video, on our chessboard.

5/25/2021 – Fritz & Chesster has been around for 20 years! The chess learning software for children is an absolute classic! It shows how digital learning works and is fun. Now the ChessBase merchandising partner LEMI Consulting is redesigning the program and developing physical pieces and boards for children to enhance their online experience. You can support their Kickstarter project.

5/25/2021 – This is a 12-year-old on a mission: to become the youngest chess grandmaster in history. Abhimanyu Mishra has made two norms, but in his latest tournament suffered a setback: in time trouble refused a draw offer by a GM and discovered that this is not such a great idea. Abhi lost the game, and a second one to boot, but staged a remarkable comeback with four back-to-back wins. He gained nine rating points and is currently just eight points from his goal. Read the messages of encouragement the lad from Englishtown, New Jersey, is getting from well-known personalities from all over the world.

5/25/2021 – Simplifying into a pawn ending must always be calculated carefully. In the diagram position Black is a rook up but White has powerful passed pawns. But how and when to advance them?

5/25/2021 – Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Teimour Radjabov are sharing the lead on 6½/10 points in the preliminaries of the FTX Crypto Cup after two days of action. Out of the 16 participants, those that finish at the top half of the standings table will move on to the knockout stage. World champion Magnus Carlsen is currently sharing 6th-9th place with a 5½/10 score. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit

5/24/2021 – The International Chess Federation has published the qualification criteria that will be used to determine who participates in the next Candidates Tournament, scheduled to take place in 2022. Notably, Teimour Radjabov was granted a spot after the Azerbaijani withdrew from the previous edition, rightfully predicting that the sanitary crisis would become a real obstacle for the normal development of the event. FIDE has also eliminated the chance to qualify by rating. | Photo: FIDE