9/12/2025 – Having to play Black against the Larsen Defence (1.b3) can be quite unpleasant. This is because the white bishops on b2 and b5 love to attack the opponent's centre. In the main line with 1...e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3, Petra Papp recommends the pawn sacrifice 3...d5 4.Bb5 Nge7!? in the current ChessBase Magazine #227. If White rejects the sacrifice with 5.Nf3, 5...e4 leads to an attractive position for Black. If White accepts the sacrifice with 5.Bxe5, they must part with their bishop pair after 5...a6... Papp: ‘There are many setups against the Larsen Defence, but I particularly like the pawn sacrifice 4...Nge7!?’ Take a look at the new CBM reading sample - on your iPad, tablet, smartphone or PC!

9/12/2025 – Round seven of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss saw a shake-up at the top as Parham Maghsoodloo suffered his first loss, falling to Nihal Sarin (pictured), who now shares the lead with Matthias Bluebaum after the German defeated Arjun Erigaisi. A large chasing pack on 5/7 includes Abhimanyu Mishra, who held Anish Giri to a draw to extend his unbeaten streak to 63 games, Hans Niemann, who defeated Yagiz Erdogmus in a wild 26-move Petroff, and defending champion Vidit Gujrathi, now back in contention. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

9/11/2025 – In his latest Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft goes over a highly memorable game from the Grand Swiss. Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, aged 14, beats Aditya Mittal in an encounter which featured a number of unusual tactics and an iconic finish. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

9/11/2025 – For the second time, Hamburg played host to a unique combined chess and tennis tournament. To manage the Swiss-system draw, a specially developed combined rating was introduced. Georgi Davidov once again proved his class, successfully defending his title from last year. | Pictured: Group photo at the close of the tournament – champion Georgi Davidov with the knight in the centre, flanked on his right by organisers Christian Kalla and Kai Schönwolf. | Fotos: Eva Maria Zickelbein and Anastasiia Agapitova

9/11/2025 – Hikaru Nakamura is working to meet the requirement of playing enough classical games in 2025 to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament by rating. The world number two recently entered two state-level events in the United States, scoring perfect results in both. He won all seven games at the Louisiana State Championship in New Orleans, before adding five more victories at the Iowa Chess Open in Iowa City. These results bring his total to 29 classical games, with 11 still needed by year's end. | Photo: Nakamura's X account

9/10/2025 – The Saint Louis Chess Club will soon host the 2025 US Chess Championship and the 2025 US Women's Championship, running from 12 to 24 October in its newly expanded venue. With a prize fund exceeding $400,000, the 12-player fields feature America's elite, including Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Carissa Yip, Alice Lee and Irina Krush. Alongside the competitions, Hall of Fame inductions and cultural events promise a historic month for American chess in Saint Louis. | Pictured: 2024 US chess champions, Fabiano Caruana and Carissa Yip | Photo: Lennart Ootes

9/10/2025 – As part of the Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference, Anna Cramling will play a game of chess against Noland Arbaugh. Arbaugh is paraplegic, but with the help of a novel neurochip in his brain, he can move the pieces via a Brain Computer interface using pure thought power.

9/10/2025 – Parham Maghsoodloo kept his lead at the FIDE Grand Swiss, drawing with Arjun Erigaisi to stay half a point clear on 5/6 going into the rest day. Nihal Sarin defeated Szymon Gumularz, while Anish Giri overcame Marc'Andria Maurizzi to join the five-player pack of pursuers. Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju suffered a second consecutive defeat, this time against Nikolas Theodorou (pictured). In the women's section, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Kateryna Lagno both won to remain tied at the top. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

9/10/2025 – The XTX Markets London Chess Classic (LCC) returns to the capital between 26th November and 7th December 2025. Following GM Gawain Jones's victory in 2024, the event will once again be held largely at the iconic Emirates Stadium, switching to London Novotel West in Hammersmith to avoid clashes with Arsenal home matches.

9/10/2025 – At the Louisiana State Championship, a surprise guest stole the spotlight: none other than Hikaru Nakamura. The superstar streamer was looking to secure qualification for the Candidates Tournament and needed a few rated games to do so. That set the stage for some wildly lopsided encounters - none more striking than his matchup against Nahum Jose Villamil, rated just 1933, nearly 1000 points below Hikaru. Against all odds, Villamil came close to pulling off what would have been one of the most sensational underdog upsets in chess history. Robert Ris has a closer look.

9/9/2025 – Computers continue to shape the way chess is played, studied and understood, but they also present challenges for humans trying to assert their creativity at the board. This month's column highlights two recent encounters where human ingenuity met silicon precision: Wesley So's victory over world champion Gukesh Dommaraju at the Sinquefield Cup (pictured), and Ian Nepomniachtchi's resilient defence against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu at the 2024 Candidates in Toronto. Both games illustrate the tension between preparation, psychology and practical decision-making. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

9/9/2025 – It's a cliché, but in chess you should be careful until the very end - even if only a few pieces remain on the board. In the diagram position Black was careful and won quickly. How?