The Weekly Show: The powerful bishops

11/3/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at the Tegernsee Masters and a fine attacking game in which White demonstrated the power of the bishops. | 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.

Video chess evening with just 2 clicks!

11/3/2020 – Play chess with friends without effort, in private, and integrated video? A pleasant experience with playchess! With only 2 clicks you can organise a video chess evening with friends! Set the meeting point (virtual arena on playchess with a self defined URL) and then send the URL to your friends. They only have to open the link, click on the video and accept. Now you can see, and interact with each other, and the chess evening can start with the first game!

Siem Van Dael: Unorthodox openings lead to success

11/3/2020 – At the Young Champions Tournament in Uppsala the opening choices of the young Dutch FM Siem Van Dael surprised again and again, particularly when he was playing with White. Van Dael tried 1.a4, 1.h4, 1.h3, 1.a3 and 1.g3 g6 2.Bg2 Bg7 3.Na3, and these unorthodox openings brought him 4 points out of 5 games and helped him to win the tournament. | Photos: Tournament page

Tegernsee Masters: Donchenko and Bluebaum lead, Keymer in quarantine

11/3/2020 – Starting October 31 until November 8, the Tegernsee Masters tournament is taking place near the shore of Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria, Germany. The event is a 10-player single round robin with 5 German players and 5 international players hailing from the Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil, India and Belgium. Unfortunately, Vincent Keymer withdrew from the tournament after finding out one of his classmates tested positive for Covid-19. | Photos: Sebastian Siebrecht

The mighty bishop

11/3/2020 – Rooks are of course stronger than bishops, and there is a reason why giving up a rook for a bishop is called exchange "sacrifice". But of course there are many positions in which a rook is not stronger than a bishop. In the middlegame and in the endgame. The diagram shows one example. Can you find way to save the position for Black?

Simon Says: An aggressive and modern variation in the English Opening

11/2/2020 – In this "Simon Says" the Ginger GM takes a look at an aggressive and modern variation in the English Opening. | Watch "Simon Says" on-demand and with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 14:00 ET).

Happy Birthday! Lubomir Ljubojevic turns 70!

11/2/2020 – Lubomir Ljubojevic is a living legend. In the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the world's best players, who famous for his creative, daring and brilliant attacking chess. Today, November 2, 2020, Ljubojevic celebrates his 70th birthday. Dagobert Kohlmeyer remembers highlights of a remarkable career. | Photos: Dagobert Kohlmeyer, Dutch National Archive, David Llada

Kasparov's bishop pair

11/2/2020 – Variety is the spice of life, and the new ChessBase Magazine #198 entertains with two more "Specials": Anish Giri starts his new column "All in One" (more information to come soon), and the training columns focus on "Kasparov as a challenger". Enjoy one example: Karsten Müller's article "The role of the bishop pair on Kasparov's way to the first WCh match".
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One Night in Bangkok, one day in Meran

11/2/2020 – All chess players know the "Meran Variation", even if they do not play it. But how did this line of the Semi-Slav Defence got its name? Roger Lorenz did some research and found the games that gave the line its name. He also knows where they were played - in the South Tyrol spa town of Meran. As the photograph taken at the Meran spa gardens proves, our writer did his research on site!

The joy of hacking

11/1/2020 – Former world number 4 and long-standing columnist Jon Speelman shares one of the most complicated games he has ever played — a win he got over Britain’s first grandmaster Tony Miles when he was 19 years old. How did he do it? Speelman concludes his analysis: “There’s no point in looking for consolidation when the board is awash with lava.” | Pictured: Tony Miles (sitting) and Michael Stean at the Zonal Tournament 1978 in Amsterdam | Photo: Dutch National Archive

Live interview with a super-talent

11/1/2020 – Anish Giri's life story is simply amazing. He is a Dutch citizen right now, but has a Nepali father, a Russian mother, and a Georgian wife. He is world no.10 and one of the absolute best in chess! Today, at 2:30 p.m. Anish will do a live interview on YouTube. It's the life story of the Dutch legend, described in his own words! Don't miss it. Currently Vishy Anand is being interviewed!

Chess composition in Israel

10/31/2020 – Chess composition in Israel can be traced back to 1924. Throughout the years the small country gained relevance in the field of endgame studies. Columnist Siegfried Hornecker presents short bios and notable studies of six remarkable Israeli composers, plus a study he composed with helpmate specialist Paz Einat. | Pictured: Ruins of the ancient synagogue in Kibbutz Bar'am in Northern Israel. The ruins are located within the site of the ancient village of Kfar Bar'am, about three kilometers from the Lebanese border.

Grandmaster Chef: Alexander Grischuk

10/31/2020 – To honor Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk on his 37th birthday, October 31, National Master Mike Walder shares a recipe for a dish that Grischuk might enjoy. Walder also annotates one of Grischuk’s favorite wins, over Grandmaster Vugar Gashimov. WIM Alexey Root tells why Grischuk is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Blitz Challenge with top female players

10/31/2020 – On Wednesday (October 28), we had a special event. Two top female players played against amateurs for 1½ hours on Playchess. The games were commented on by host Sagar Shah, and you could hear the two discussing what to play. A wonderfully entertaining – and instructive -- session. If you missed it live you can watch it all on YouTube. And replay the games they played, following the moves with an engine running in the background. It's fun, and you can learn a lot. The girls are thoroughly delightful.

Wesley So wins U.S. Championship 2020

10/30/2020 – By scoring two quick draws on the last day of competition, Wesley So secured first place at the 2020 U.S. Championship. The Filipino-born grandmaster had a great run from start to finish and took home the $40,000 first prize after obtaining a remarkable 9/11 score. Jeffery Xiong also had a great performance, finishing in sole second place on 8½, while Ray Robson took third place after collecting 7½ points.

Daniel King's Power Play Show: Structural thinking

10/30/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King presents a nice chess problem, takes a look at an endgame, and explains the pros and cons of an important structure that arises in many openings. | 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.

Sophisticated

10/30/2020 – If White plays 12.Bh1 in the diagram position to keep the fianchetto bishop the white king on g1 is boxed in and this might lead to trouble, especially in view of the powerful bishop on h3. But does Black really have a way to raid White's position!

Happy birthday Xie Jun!

10/30/2020 – For many years Chinese women have dominated the chess scene, and since 1991 no less than six Chinese have been Women's World Champion. The the first one was Xie Jun who celebrates her 50th birthday today. In a short interview Xie Jun answers questions about her career.

U.S. Championship 2020: Live!

10/29/2020 – The 2020 U.S. Championship is an elite national championship event, featuring 12 of the strongest chess players in America. Over the course of eleven rounds, these competitors will battle for $150,000 in prize money and the title of 2020 U.S. Chess Champion. The 12-player single round-robin is being played on October 26-19. The action kicks off daily at 13:00 local time (18:00 UT, 19:00 CET). Read the report on Day 3 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: a fascinating opening battle

10/29/2020 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at the fascinating opening battle that occurred in a game between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Aryan Tari from the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament. | "Fast and Furious" is available from 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 16:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

U.S. Championship: A one-point lead for So

10/29/2020 – Wesley So continues his amazing run at the 2020 U.S. Championship, played online this year on October 26-29, as he has a one-point lead going into the last two rounds after having scored 8 points in the first nine rounds. Despite his great performance though, there are still two players who have chances to catch up with him on Thursday — Ray Robson and Jeffery Xiong, both currently on 7/9. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

ChessBase Magazine 198: Out now!

10/29/2020 – ChessBase Magazine is the most comprehensive and most sophisticated chess magazine there is. World class players analyze their brilliancies and explain the ideas behind the moves to you, opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and offer exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in the fields of tactics, strategy, and the endgame show you the tricks and techniques a successful tournament player needs! DVD with several hours of video + booklet. Also available for download including the booklet in pdf!

Solution of the Endgame Riddle Smyslov vs Benko

10/29/2020 – About a week ago, Karsten Müller invited readers to analyze a fascinating rook endgame that occurred in a game between Vassily Smyslov and Pal Benkö from 1975. Smyslov was an endgame specialist but he still failed to grasp the hidden depths of this tricky endgame. But after taking more than one close look and with the help of the ChessBase readers, Karsten Müller and Zoran Petronijevic are now closer to the truth. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

U.S. Championship: So keeps the lead

10/28/2020 – GM Wesley So continued his excellent form at the 2020 U.S. Championship, scoring 2½/3 today to end with 5½/6 after the second day of play. GM’s Jeffery Xiong and Ray Robson have also been in excellent shape so far as they are tied for second with 5/6, a full two points ahead of the rest of the field.