How to save a lost game

8/14/2020 – Dr. Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1894 to 1921, enjoyed the reputation of being a very "lucky" player. After all, time and again he managed to save bad and very bad positions. However, to quote Lasker's rival José Raúl Capablanca: "A good player is always lucky"! But what should a good player do in lost positions to let fortune smile on him? Stephan-Oliver Platz has some ideas. | Photo: Emanuel Lasker | Photo: Cleveland Public Library

Oldie-Parade I

8/14/2020 – In the diagram White threatens Rh3 with vicious intentions down the open h-file. Black to play: three lines, two results, one person to make all the difference - you!

What is your Fischer number?

8/13/2020 – How far away are you from the World Champion, in terms of handshakes, we asked our readers? At least one traced his handshake route all the way back to Philidor. Now we have a new challenge: have you beaten someone who has beaten someone who has beaten a World Champion? Prof. Christian Hesse describes the idea. You are invited to participate.

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Queen's Fianchetto Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6)

8/13/2020 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris presents a spectacular game by Luke Leon Mendonca, one of the most promising Indian talents. | "Fast and Furious" is available from 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 15:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: ChessBase India

Power Play with Daniel King: Mate ends the game!

8/13/2020 – In his match against Magnus Carlsen in the semi-finals of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Ding Liren lacked fortune, and lost the match 1-3 after missing a number of good opportunities, especially in the fourth set. But Ding arguably played most the spectacular game of the entire match and had the rare pleasure to mate Carlsen's king in the middle of the board. Daniel King took a closer look.

Karina Cyfka is Polish Women's Champion!

8/13/2020 – The Polish Women's Championship in Ostrów Wielkopolski ended yesterday. Karina Cyfka and Klaudia Kulon both drew in the last round and thus shared first with 6.0/9. But Cyfka won the two-game tiebreak and became new Polish Women's Champion 2020. Joanna Majdan won bronze. | Photos: Wojciech Zawadzki (Polish Chess Federation)

Watching videos, getting better: 400,000 minutes of ChessBase training and entertainment!

8/13/2020 – If you are logged on with your ChessBase Premium account and if you have a moment: click on the video button on the right side of your screen! It's worth it: We have filled up the video portal massively, with fresh training videos for openings, middlegames and endgames! You don't know the video portal yet? In a short video we explain everything. There are more than 13,000 training videos to discover! Enjoy!

MCT Finals: Carlsen escapes, advances to final

8/13/2020 – The fourth set of the semifinal match between Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren saw the Chinese grandmaster missing one opportunity after another to level the score and force a fifth set. Magnus Carlsen kept his cool while under heavy pressure and managed to win the match and get a spot in the final. The world champion will face Hikaru Nakamura in a best-of-7 final showdown starting Friday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Cowboy Adhiban trains tactics!

8/12/2020 – Grandmaster Adhiban Baskaran tested his skills with the ChessBase tactics training, and did so while streaming with a cowboy hat on his head. But he didn't need a gun to be explosive. Adhiban made upper-cuts, flying kicks and used his Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique combos, because every correct move you make in the ChessBase tactic-training is accompanied by "punching sounds". It is a pleasure to watch a Grandmaster making beautiful tactical moves in split seconds. In his stream Adhiban shows us all the moves.

The ChessBase Master Class Bundle 1-12

8/12/2020 – The ChessBase Master Class deserves its name. On twelve DVDs our top experts had a close look at some of the best players in the history of chess. You now have the opportunity to get these twelve DVDs with lessons about the world's best chess players per download - and for a short while you can buy the complete "Master Class Bundle" for a reduced price! Per download, right to your computer. And whoever buys the bundle, automatically takes part in a raffle!

Game of the Week: Carlsen vs Ding Liren

8/12/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game in which Magnus Carlsen once again showed his phenomenal class against Ding Liren in the finals of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A trendy system against the King's Indian

8/12/2020 – With 5.h3 and 6.Be3 Fabiano Caruana hat set a new trend against the King's Indian. "A challenging positional setup, which has the further advantage of still being relatively fresh, uncharted and not overanalysed yet", writes Igor Stohl in ChessBase Magazine #196 - the current issue. In his article about this promising setup Stohl explains, among other things, why the typical King's Indian move 6...e5 here plays into White's hands.
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Vladislav Tarasiuk: Portrait of a composer

8/12/2020 – Vladislav Tarasiuk is known as an immunologist in medical circles in Kharkov, Ukraine. However, the chess world knows him as a composer. Recently Tarasiuk authored an endgame study, Noah’s Ark, and aptly dedicated it to the Health workers and medical professionals combating the pandemic all over the world. In an interview with Tarasiuk, our columnist Prof. Nagesh Havanur lets the composer speak for himself.

MCT Finals: Nakamura knocks out Dubov

8/12/2020 – Hikaru Nakamura needed only three sets to knock out Daniil Dubov in their best-of-5 semifinal match. ‘Naka’ will get two rest days before the final, where he will face either Ding Liren or Carlsen, with the latter now the favourite to advance after scoring a second consecutive 2½:½ victory over his Chinese colleague. | Photo: Justin Kellar

Polish Women's Championship: Kulon loses but keeps the lead

8/11/2020 – In round 7 of the Polish Women's Championship tournament leader Klaudia Kulon lost with Black against Patrycja Waszczuk. It was Kulon's first loss but she still has good chances to win the Championship. With two rounds to go Kulon leads with 5½/7 and is one full point ahead of Karina Cyfka who is sole second with 4½/7. | Photos: Szymon Pieczewski (Polish Chess Federation)

An interview with Anna Muzychuk

8/11/2020 – Anna Muzychuk is not only one of the best chess players in the world, she is also very charming. A short time before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic she visited the ChessBase office in Hamburg with Elisabeth Pähtz to record a video about the Taimanov Variation but also found time for a short interview about her career and her life as a chess professional.

On Playchess: Azerbaijan beats Turkey 26:10

8/11/2020 – The friendly six-round match on the Playchess server between Turkey and Azerbaijan to prepare for the Online Olympiad ended yesterday, August 10. In the Online Olympiad Azerbaijan is seeded in the "Top Division", while Turkey will start in "Division 2", and in the match the Azerbaijanis also had the better of it: they won 26:10. | Photo: Turkish Chess Federation

The right path into the fortress

8/11/2020 – Due to the colour blindness of the bishop there are often fortresses in pure endgames. In the following case White can either reach the saving corner h1 or Ponziani's old fortress.

MCT Finals: Nakamura strikes again, Carlsen bounces back

8/11/2020 – Hikaru Nakamura defeated Daniil Dubov for a second set in a row, which means he only needs one more win in the coming three days to move on to the final of the Magnus Carlsen Tour closing event. Meanwhile, Carlsen evened the score in his matchup against Ding Liren by scoring a clear 2½:½ victory on Monday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

John Hilbert on Edward Winter’s Chess Notes

8/10/2020 – Earlier this year, Edward Winter announced the curtailment of Chess Notes, which began nearly 40 years ago. Now, the United States’ leading chess historian, John Hilbert, has written an extensive assessment of Chess Notes, reflecting on the range and depth of material published and picking out many of his favourite articles. They cover almost every imaginable aspect of chess, past and present.
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Polish Women's Championship: Kulon stays on course

8/10/2020 – Six rounds have been played at the Polish Women's Championship in Ostrów Wielkopolski, and with 5.5/6 International Master Klaudia Kulon has a comfortable 1.5 point lead over Karina Cyfka. Another half point behind follows Monika Socko with 3.5/6. | Photos: Szymon Pieczewski (Polish Chess Federation)

Ian Gillan (Deep Purple): "Chess is great for your mind!"

8/10/2020 – Ian Gillan is the singer of the legendary rock band "Deep Purple" which recently released their 21st album, called "Whoosh!". In an interview with the German newspaper "Lübecker Nachrichten", Gillan, who will turn 75 on August 19, 2020, revealed his passion for chess.

Your Spanish is Fab! Part 3

8/10/2020 – All eyes were on the Candidates 2020, which was to determine the next challenger for Carlsen's World Championship. The top seed of the tournament, Fabiano Caruana, also has the unique distinction of publishing most of his findings on one of the most complex openings, the Spanish, in a 16 hour 3 DVD package for ChessBase. Having loved the first two parts, Tanmay Srinath in a detailed look at the DVD takes you through the last part, and tells you why listening to one of the greats of the modern game is a shortcut to chess improvement! | Photo: World Chess

MCT Finals: Ding impresses, beats Carlsen

8/10/2020 – Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura kicked off the semis of the Magnus Carlsen Tour closing tournament with impressive wins. Ding defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in Armageddon, while Nakamura also reached the tiebreaks against Daniil Dubov but managed to secure victory without needing to play a sudden-death decider. | Photo: Lennart Ootes