4/9/2021 – Three players are sharing the lead after round 5 at the Polgar Challenge, the first event of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour. Praggnanandhaa, Christopher Yoo and Nodirbek Abdusattorov each scored 4 points on the first day of competition. Three players stand a half point behind, including Lei Tingjie, who was the sole leader after round 4 and was inches away from scoring a win in her last game of the day. | Photo: David Llada

4/9/2021 – Round 5 of the men's tournament at the German "Kader-Challenge" in Magdeburg brought a number of interesting endgames and two decisive results. Niclas Huschenbeth won against Dmitrij Kollars and Daniel Fridman defeated Frederik Svane. Rasmus Svane drew against Luis Engel but that was enough to defend his lead and with 3.5/5 he is still sole first. In the women's tournament table leader Jana Schneider (pictured) lost her first game - against Annmarie Mütsch - but still leads with 3.0/4. | Photo: Bernd Vökler

4/9/2021 – It was an Easter puzzle. We asked you to take a try to solve this truly remarkable study by a truly remarkable composer, Mario Matouš. You were asked to win the position against a rampaging queen which wants to sacrifice itself to stalemate the black monarch. Were you able to solve it? Many readers found the problem quite difficult, and extremely clever. Today we give you the full solution, on a replay board with full engine support.

4/8/2021 – In this week’s show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at the Fantasy Variation, an interesting way to fight the Caro-Kann that often leads to sharp and double-edged positions. | “Fast and Furious” is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

4/8/2021 – Wednesday, April 7, brought a double shift for the players in the German "Kader-Challenge" - rounds 3 and 4. Rasmus Svane made the most of these opportunities: in round 3 he won against his younger brother Frederik and in round 4 he defeated Niclas Huschenbeth, and is now sole leader with 3.0/4. In the women's tournament only one round was played. Jana Schneider continued to win and now leads with 3.0/3. But it was Antonia Ziegenfuß, who played the game of the day: she defeated Elisabeth Pähtz in a powerful attacking game. | Photo: Frank Hoppe

4/8/2021 – In the last couple of decades, China has become a chess powerhouse, with Ding Liren fighting at the highest level, the national squads accumulating success after success in team events and the women players continuing to show their strength. A week and a half before the resumption of the Candidates — where two of the participants are Chinese — we revisit two brilliant games by players born in the world’s most populous country: Liu Wenzhe and Wei Yi. | Photo: Niki Riga

4/4/2021 – On April 3, Sportstar premiered the ‘Sportstar Aces Awards 2021’ on their YouTube channel. Vishy Anand was nominated for ‘Sportsman of the Decade Non-Olympic Sport’ along with Pankaj Advani (billiards) and Rajat Chauhan (compound archery). Koneru Humpy was nominated for ‘Sportswoman of the Decade Non-Olympic Sport’ along with Harika Dronavalli and Jyothi Surekha (compound archery). Arjuna Awardees Dibyendu Barua and Tania Sachdev presented the awards to Anand and Humpy respectively. | Photo: Sportstar

4/4/2021 – With ten players in the men’s section and eight participants in the women’s category, the Kader-Challenge — organized by the German Chess Federation — kicks off on Monday at Magdeburg’s Maritim Hotel. A number of measures will be in place to deal with the current sanitary crisis. Matthias Bluebaum and Alexander Donchenko are the top seeds in the men’s event, while Elisabeth Paehtz and Josefine Heinemann are the highest-rated players among the women.

4/4/2021 – 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 21st instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows a classic example of a strong knight who fights against a bad bishop. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

4/4/2021 – In the mid-nineteenth century, sacrifice was king, and it was supposedly considered “ungentlemanly” to disdain the tasty bait which the opponent proffered. In today’s column, Jon Speelman looks at three examples of the decision-making process behind accepting or not a sacrifice made by the opponent. | Pictured: Vasily Smyslov | Photo: Dutch National Archive

4/3/2021 – When a chess club reaches a nice round anniversary, a proper celebration is called for. And what better way to celebrate than with a grandmaster tournament? That’s what the ‘SG Bochum 31’ club did in 1981, when it celebrated its 50th anniversary with the “International German Championship” held at Stadtpark Restaurant. Those who were already active chess fans at the time will certainly look back and remember one or two of the participants — among them was Lubomir Kavalek, who in fact won the tournament! It all happened 40 years ago to the day. | Photo: Gerhard Hund, via Wikimedia Commons

4/3/2021 – The Schachfreunde Deizisau won the European Chess Club Cup a few days ago. The star-studded tournament was undoubtedly a top-class event. Good reason for Karsten Müller to examine the extensive game material in detail. During his research, he found bishop-related examples: he discovered an imprisoned bishop, saw how another one fought alone against a number of pawns, and found a pure opposite-coloured bishops endgame that was not a draw. | Photo: Pascal Simon