11/22/2020 – The $1.5 million Champions Chess Tour kicks off today with the Skilling Open. World champion Magnus Carlsen is the top seed. Shortly before the start of the much anticipated tournament, the Norwegian talked about Netflix’s hit series ‘The Queen’s Gambit’. Carlsen found it extremely enjoyably, but also a little too unrealistic. | Photo: Play Magnus Group

11/22/2020 – Vahap Sanal obtained his second consecutive Turkish Chess Championship on Saturday in Kemer, a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province. The 22-year-old was the rating favourite and duly dominated the field by scoring five wins and four draws in the 10-player single round robin. IM Melih Yurtseven finished the tournament in style, winning three in a row to get sole second place. | Pictured: Cem Kaan Gokerkan (3rd), Vahap Sanal (1st) and Melih Yurtseven (2nd) | Photos: Official site

11/22/2020 – 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 second part of his new ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving" Herman explains how to find ways to improve the activity of your pieces. | Photo: Hans Hoornstra

11/21/2020 – The first Online Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities, organized by the International Chess Federation, kicks off today (November 21) and will run until December 3, a day recognized by the United Nations as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The competition brings together 400 players from all over the world, including two grandmasters. | Photo: David Llada

11/21/2020 – Netflix’s ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ has been praised by viewers and critics as the best chess movie in history. The series is set in an orphanage in the United States and in tournament halls in Paris and Moscow. But where was the film shot? To a large extent, in Berlin! | Photo: Netflix

11/21/2020 – The $1.5 million Champions Chess Tour, a series of ten online tournaments featuring elite players, kicks off November 22 with the Skilling Open. The 16 participants will first play a single round robin to decide who moves on to the knockout stage. World champion Magnus Carlsen and Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour runner-up Hikaru Nakamura will both be playing in the 9-day inaugural event.

11/20/2020 – Since 2005, fan favourite Vassily Ivanchuk has played ten times at the Capablanca Memorial. Playing in Cuba seems to bring out the best of the Ukrainian genius, who won the event no fewer than eight times, including the most recent edition in 2019. We look back on his two most dominating performances, in 2005 and 2007, when he scored +6 and +7 respectively.

11/20/2020 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King takes a look at the play of Hou Yifan, currently the world's best women player. | 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. | Photo: Hou Yifan after winning the Chess Festival Biel 2017 | Photo: Pascal Simon

11/20/2020 – Objectively, the diagram position in which Black is to move, might be equal but it is certainly tricky and complicated. Therefore, Black should find a good and powerful move - Richard Rapport was up to the task. How about you?

11/20/2020 – Irina Bulmaga loves chess. Before corona, the Romanian IM and WGM used to travel all over the world to play in tournaments and league events. But the pandemic brought all that to a halt. In a passionate article Bulmaga wonders how corona changed her life as a chess professional, and how the pandemic affected her love for the game. | Photo: David Llada

11/20/2020 – In the first third of the quarterfinal Speed Chess Championship match between Wesley So and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, the young Polish player kept his own in the 5+1 blitz games, and in bullet he was even slightly better. But this was not enough because So dominated Duda in the 3+1 blitz games, which helped So to win the match 16-10 and to qualify for the semifinals. | Picture: Chess.com

11/20/2020 – The ChessBase Playchess server now offers a "Video & Audio" option which allows you to see your opponents and to talk to them. With this function, playing online comes as close as it can get to playing in real life. After successful Playchess tournaments with Elisabeth Pähtz, Vincent Keymer and Simon Williams, Lawrence Trent waits to play against ChessBase readers. If you are a premium member, and if your computer has a microphone and webcam, apply to join the tournament on Monday!