2/19/2021 – In the diagram position, White's line-up of major pieces on the kingside makes one eager to strike. 23.hxg6 or 23.g5 - how would you continue the attack?

2/18/2021 – 15 years ago, on 18 February 2006, the Russian-Soviet grandmaster Ratmir Kholmov died in Moscow. Kholmov was a sailor and during World War II he was taken prisoner by the Japanese. After the war he became one of the best players in the Soviet Union though the Soviet again and again hindered his career. But in the course of his career Kholmov still won against players such as Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Robert Fischer and many more strong players. Dagobert Kohlmeyer remembers. | Photo: Kholmov-Vaganian, Moscow 1975 (chespro.ru)

2/18/2021 – Now that FIDE has announced that the second half of the Candidates Tournament will be played in April, it’s a good time to remember how Magnus Carlsen qualified to play for the World Championship title for the first time, in 2013. The Norwegian was the favourite and started strong, but Vladimir Kramnik made an impressive comeback in the second half. The Russian, however, fell barely short at the very end, and Carlsen won the tournament on tiebreaks. | Photos: Ray Morris-Hill

2/18/2021 – The history of the U.S. Women's Chess Championship contains a wealth of information about chess in America and countless fascinating stories about champions from all walks of life. Alexey Root, who is currently writing a book about the history of the U.S. Women's Championship, takes a look at some recent research about women's chess in the U.S. | Photo: Reigning and eight-time U.S. Women's Champion Irina Krush winning the title 2015 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/18/2021 – 100 years ago, on 19 March 1921, the French Chess Federation (Fédération Française des Échecs) was founded in Paris. To mark the jubilee, an international Zoom conference will be held on 20 March 2021, with a series of presentations examining the influence chess in France had on the development of chess in other countries. Participation in the conference is free and open to the public.

2/18/2021 – The traditional Spanish tournament in Leon is preparing a new star-studded lineup for its 34th edition, to be played on 8-12 July. The organizers intend to make it an over-the-board event if the sanitary situation allows it. If necessary, however, the tournament will take place online. The 6th edition of the International Open and the 2nd edition of the Invitational for Young Grandmasters will also take place.

2/17/2021 – The ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess, and it provides arsenal for the tournament player. CBM #199 offers games from the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament and the Russian Team Championship and others. 440 games, 11 opening surveys, demo lectures and exercises for training. It also includes games annotated by Alireza Firouzja, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Anish Giri, to mention a few. Prof. Nagesh Havanur takes a look and also offers a challenge or two to our young readers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/17/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft looks back to the final of the Opera Euro Rapid Tournament and presents a crucial game, in which Wesley So defeated Magnus Carlsen. | 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.

2/17/2021 – On the second weekend in February, the Russian Chess Federation hosted a strong rapid tournament at the Moscow Central Chess Club to honour the legendary chess coach Mark Dvoretsky. Ten of Dvoretsky's former students took part, and after nine rounds Boris Grachev and Ernesto Inarkiev shared first place with 6½/9 each. Grachev won on tiebreak.

2/17/2021 – "It's just a machine. It has no consciousness or feelings as we understand them. We have specific connections in our brain that make us react according to the circumstances, the situations we are experiencing. We interpret them as pleasure, pain and all other kinds of emotions. We would have to invent a new word to express what computers 'feel'." Here's the second part of the Europe Échecs discussion with Frederic Friedel on the subject of Artificial Intelligence.

2/16/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent looks back to the Opera Euro Rapid Tournament and forward to upcoming events like the FIDE World Online Corporate Championships and the resumption of the Candidates. When looking back to the Opera Euro Tournament Lawrence will talk about Carlsen's bad form and possible reasons for this. Lawrence's show is available at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12:00 ET) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

2/16/2021 – On Sunday, February 14, Wesley So added another tournament victory to the long list of his successes: he won the Opera Euro Online Tournament by beating Magnus Carlsen in the final. Which So also managed to do in the Skilling Open and in the final of the World Championship in Fischerrandom. But why is Wesley So so successful and how does he manage to beat Carlsen again and again? In an interview with Wesley So Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal tried to find out!