Daniel King presents highlights from Wijk aan Zee 2021

2/1/2021 – The Tata Steel Tournament 2021 in Wijk aan Zee ended with a dramatic finish. In a nerve-wrecking Armageddon game Jorden van Foreest won the all-Dutch tiebreak against Anish Giri. Daniel King takes a look at this tie-break and other highlights from the last rounds of the Wijk aan Zee Tournament 2021.

Karsten Müller analyses a Magnus Carlsen masterpiece

2/1/2021 – For chess fans, the fact that the Tata Steel tournament was played over-the-board with a classical time control meant the return of high-quality games by the strongest players in the world. In the final round, world champion Magnus Carlsen showed what he is capable of in his game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Play Magnus Group buys New in Chess

2/1/2021 – In October 2020, the Norwegian Play Magnus Group, founded in 2013 with the World Champion as figurehead and shareholder, went public. Now a new addition to the company's portfolio is reported. The Play Magnus Group acquired the Dutch publishing house New in Chess, publisher of the renowned "New in Chess" magazine.

Van Foreest beats Giri in Armageddon, wins Tata Steel Masters

2/1/2021 – There was no lack of excitement on the last day of action at this year’s Tata Steel Masters tournament. Jorden van Foreest defeated Nils Grandelius from the white side of a Najdorf to catch up with Anish Giri, who drew David Anton with the black pieces — these results meant an all-Dutch playoff would decide the winner. Two draws in the blitz tiebreakers were followed by an Armageddon decider, in which Giri got a major advantage but ended up losing in a wild time scramble. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

The Grandmaster of Publishing

2/1/2021 – Since the 1980s, the town of Alkmaar, twenty kilometres north-east of Wijk aan Zee, has been the home of "New in Chess", the best chess magazine in the world. A biography of its founder and long-time publisher Wim Andriessen (1938-2017) is now available. Stefan Löffler has read it. | Photo: Hidde Andriessen

Tata Steel Chess: Van Foreest wins in Armageddon

1/31/2021 – The Tata Steel Chess Tournament took place on January 16-31 as an over-the-board 14-player single round robin. Jorden van Foreest defeated Nils Grandelius in round 13 to catch up with Anish Giri, who managed to hold a draw from a worse position against David Anton. In the all-Dutch finale, Van Foreest won the Armageddon decider to clinch the title. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Understanding before Moving 12: Advantage in development

1/31/2021 – 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 twelfth part of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving" Herman looks at examples of material sacrifices while ahead in development. | Photo: Hans Hoornstra

Puzzle artist Sam Loyd (January 30, 1841 to April 10, 1911)

1/31/2021 – Even passionate chess players often have difficulties to appreciate the beauty of chess problems. Bizarre positions and terms such as albion, aristocrat, dual, duplex, uncapture, or Zepler doubling, to name just a few, are just not very inviting. But Sam Loyd, perhaps the most famous chess composer and puzzle author of all times, had a knack to present his chess problems in an attractive way: with humour, wit, and embedded into stories. Sam Loyd was born 180 years ago, on January 30, 1841.

Tata Steel R12: Almost there

1/31/2021 – Anish Giri failed to convert a superior position against Alireza Firouzja in the penultimate round of the Tata Steel chess tournament. The Dutchman nevertheless goes into the final day of action as the sole leader, with three players standing a half point behind. In case of a tie for first place, a blitz tiebreaker — and Armageddon, if necessary — will decide the winner. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Trivia and tales: A kaleidoscope

1/30/2021 – In his first column of the year, Siegfried Hornecker tells a few interesting — and real — stories, a kaleidoscope of sorts. The “colourful hodgepodge”, as he describes it, includes references to Alex Trebek, fairy-chess’ grasshoppers, optical illusions and a practical chess endgame between Daniil Dubov and Vladislav Artemiev. | Pictured: A kaleidoscope drawing by Kara Wilson

Locked down, playing chess: a poem by Fernando Arrabal

1/29/2021 – Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet Fernando Abarral is locked down in Paris. Noting that he plays ten chess games online per night, he sent us a poem filled with tragic yet inspiring remembrances. Arrabal writes, “Except for the first few days, the rest was bearable”.

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: The new King's Indian

1/29/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King is focusing on the stylish game between Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Fabiano Caruana from round 9 of the Tata Steel Tournament, where the World #2 employed a daring and surprising strategy in the King's Indian. | 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.

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: A new concept in the King's Indian

1/29/2021 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a close look at a new concept in the King's Indian Defense that Fabiano Caruana used to beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek in round 9 of the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Tata Steel R11: Caruana and Firouzja miss chances, draw

1/29/2021 – Anish Giri is still the sole leader with two rounds to go at the Tata Steel chess tournament. The Dutchman drew world champion Magnus Carlsen with black while none of the players from the chasing pack managed to score a full point. Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja played a thrilling game, in which both missed chances to win. Jorden van Foreest rejoined the group trailing Giri by a half point with a victory over Pentala Harikrishna. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Not that simple

1/29/2021 – In the diagram position White is three pawns up and just played 45.Qf7+. Things look fine for White but the position is not that simple. After 45...Ng7 White played 46.Be3?? and now Black had a chance to strike. What did he do?

Chess under Covid

1/28/2021 – The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for many families and has brought many changes to the way billions of people live. It has also wrought a transformation of the chess world. This is described by John Nunn, who is playing vigorously in online tournaments. He has kindly annotated a game for us – one in which for the first time in his career he mated his opponent with a double check.

Wijk aan Zee Storytellers (4) - Ivan Sokolov

1/28/2021 – In the fourth part of the "Wijk aan Zee Storytellers" series, Eric van Reem, host of the "Let's talk about chess" podcast, talks to GM Ivan Sokolov, who shares memories of playing against Kasparov and meeting Valery Salov and reveals what he thinks about the young talents in Wijk.

Expo 2020 Dubai to host FIDE World Chess Championship

1/28/2021 – Originally, the match for the World Championship between Magnus Carlsen and the winner of the Candidates Tournament 2020, was planned for November 2020. But the corona pandemic put a stop to these plans. Now, the FIDE announced a new date for the World Championship match: if everything goes according to plan, it will take place from 24 November to 16 December 2021 in Dubai, as part of the Expo. | Picture: FIDE

Tata Steel R10: Giri sole leader

1/28/2021 – Anish Giri scored a win from what seemed to be a drawn position over Radoslaw Wojtaszek to grab the sole lead in round 10 of the Tata Steel chess tournament. Three players are chasing the Dutchman a half point behind — Andrey Esipenko joined previous co-leaders Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja in shared second place thanks to his victory over David Anton. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

Game of the Week: Jorden van Foreest vs David Anton Guijarro

1/27/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a one of the interesting games Jorden van Foreest played in the Tata Steel Tournament 2021 in Wijk aan Zee: van Foreest's nice win against David Anton Guijarro. | 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.

Ten years and a day ago…

1/27/2021 – … on January, 26, 2011, Viktor Kortschnoi played in round 2 of the Gibraltar Chess Festival against Fabiano Caruana. Kortschnoi was 79 years old, Caruana 18, Kortschnoi had a rating of 2544, Caruana had a rating of 2721. Moreover, Kortschnoi was playing with Black. But he soon attacked Caruana with all his energy and won a remarkable game. | Photo: John Saunders, Chess Festival Gibraltar 2011

Tata Steel R9: Giri and Caruana join the lead

1/27/2021 – Three players are sharing the lead with four rounds to go at the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, as Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana won their games on Tuesday to join Alireza Firouzja at the top of the standings table. While Giri inflicted Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s third loss in the tournament, Caruana got the better of Radoslaw Wojtaszek after playing a surprising move out of a King’s Indian Defence. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

An International Chess Tournament on Malta

1/27/2021 – On the Mediterranean island of Malta, the number of Corona infections is comparatively low. This gave Clarence Psaila the courage to organise the XY Winter Chess Festival, a small live-event with a limited number of players and a strict adherence to safety. However, with players from three continents and 13 countries, the XY Winter Festival might currently still be the most international over-the-board chess tournament.

The Weekly Show: It's all about Wijk!

1/26/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will recap the action at the Tata Steel Tournament, with a focus on the fantastic game Duda-Grandelius from round two where Nils Grandelius shocked by winning with Black and getting to 2/2. 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.