12/17/2020 – Wang Hao is ranked second in China, behind Ding Liren. In round 1 of the 2020 Candidates Tournament, Hao defeated Liren, a game that National Master Mike Walder annotates. Walder also creates a recipe for a dish that Hao might like. WIM Alexey Root tells why Wang Hao is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Maria Emelianova / FIDE

12/17/2020 – The full lineup of the 2021 Tata Steel Chess Tournament was announced a week ago, with Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana heading the field. Today, almost exactly a month before the start of the event (it will run on January 15-31), the organizers have informed that Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will not be able to participate. His replacement will be Indian star Pentala Harikrishna. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament

12/17/2020 – After beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in round 9, Daniil Dubov also beat Sergey Karjakin, the second rating favourite, to decide the title race in the open tournament — in favour of Nepomniachtchi. The women’s championship was decided in a playoff. Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated long-time leader Polina Shuvalova in Armageddon. | Photo: Eteri Kublshvili

12/17/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/16/2020 – The video and audio function of Playchess is being used more and more often by our premium members. Of course, during the pandemic people are thankful for having an option available to see, hear, and play chess with a single friend, a group of friends, or even the whole chess club. Furthermore, in the second half of December, you will be able to face three VIP players! We will also premiere our very first double-round bullet chess evening. Just sign up to play against Regina Pokorna, Elshan Moradiabadi and Germany’s fastest chess player, Ruben Mantel!

12/16/2020 – In his Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft analyses a game that was not only spectacular but also critical in the fight for first place at the Russian Superfinals. Daniil Dubov played an absolutely fantastic game to defeat Sergey Karjakin, who needed a draw to tie for first place with Ian Nepomniachtchi! | 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: Eteri Kublashvili

12/16/2020 – The Russian Chess Superfinals (Open and Women’s) are taking place at the Central Chess Club in Moscow on December 5-16. Both events are 12-player single round robins. Top seeds in the open event are Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784), Sergey Karjakin (2752) and Peter Svidler (2723); the highest-rated participants in the women’s section are Aleksandra Goryachkina (2593), Alina Kashlinskaya (2494) and Natalija Pogonina (2474). All rounds start at 3 PM Moscow time (13:00 CET, 7:00 ET). | Photo: Russian Chess Federation

12/16/2020 – Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin are still tied atop the standings after 10 rounds (of 11) at the open section of the Russian Superfinals. Nepomniachtchi defeated Andrey Esipenko while Karjakin got the better of Vladislav Artemiev. In the women’s tournament, Polina Shuvalova and Aleksandra Goryachkina surprisingly drew their direct encounter rather quickly. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili

12/16/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/16/2020 – One year of top level chess and top level training materials: six issues (a one-year-subscription) of the ChessBase Magazine, that is the first prize in the 7th tournament of the Autumn Series on Playchess, a nine round Swiss blitz tournament that will start on Wednesday, December 16, 20.00 CET (19:00 UTC, 14:00 ET). As in all tournaments of the Autumn Series, the games will be played under real names.

12/16/2020 – Countless chess books are published every year, some better than others. With the year coming to an end, we take a brief look into five noteworthy works that were put in circulation in 2020.

12/15/2020 – In his “Weekly Show” IM Lawrence Trent celebrates one of the greatest attacking players of all time, Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov! | Lawrence's show is available at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET, 14:00 ET) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Pictured: Rashid Nezhmetdinov (left) with his brother, Kavi Nadzhmi | Source: kazan.aif.ru, retrieved from Douglas Griffin’s webpage