12/2/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft takes another look at the final of the Skilling Open between Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So and shows crucial moments of the match. | 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.

12/2/2020 – Shortly before the death of former World Champion Bobby Fischer his Icelandic bodyguard during the Spassky match in 1972, Saemundur Pálsson, participated in the production of a documentary entitled "Vinur minn Bobby" (“My Friend Bobby”). Fischer protested, stating that the material used in the film was obtained by fraud. Now for the first time the full film is available in YouTube. You can watch it – but warning: it contains harsh language!

12/2/2020 – One year of top level chess and top level training materials: six issues of the ChessBase Magazine, that is the first prize in the 6th tournament of the Autumn Series on Playchess, a nine round Swiss blitz tournament that will start on Wednesday, December 2, 20.00 CET (19:00 UTC, 14:00 ET). As in all tournaments of the Autumn Series, the games will be played under real names.

12/2/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/2/2020 – Football star Diego Armando Maradona passed away last Wednesday at age 60. Regarded worldwide as one of the greatest players of all time, he was glorified in his home country, Argentina. After his retirement as a professional footballer, Maradona worked as a manager first in 1994-95 and then from 2011 until his death. In the meantime, among other activities, he was a talk show host — in September 2005, former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov was one of his guests. | Pictured: Lorenzo Insigne, Napoli’s forward, placing flowers at a section of the San Paolo Stadium that donned a picture of Maradona. | Photo: Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse

12/1/2020 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at the final of the Skilling Open, in which Wesley So defeated Magnus Carlsen in a blitz-tiebreak. | Lawrence's show is available at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET, 14:00 ET) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

12/1/2020 – Wesley So stunned Magnus Carlsen on his 30th birthday to win the Skilling Open, the inaugural event of the Champions Chess Tour. Carlsen admitted that So was a deserved winner, as he showed great nerves to make the most of his chances in the blitz tiebreaker. It was not a great tournament for Carlsen — by his extremely high standards — and in the final he faced a tactically alert opponent, who was up to the task when the pressure was at its highest. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/1/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/1/2020 – December 1st is the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, bringing daytime temperatures in the low 80s (Fahrenheit) to Canberra, the capital city of Australia. FIDE Master and International Arbiter Shaun Press provides photos and a history of outdoor chess in Canberra, with additional text by WIM Alexey Root.

12/1/2020 – Pawn endings often require knowledge and precise calculation. And sometimes a (temporary) retreat is the best (and only) way to make progress.

11/30/2020 – The Skilling Open is the first stop of the 2020-21 Champions Chess Tour. With 16 participants, the event will be played on November 22-30. A single round robin tournament to be played from Sunday to Tuesday will decide who moves on to the knockout stage.The top eight will advance to a 6-day knockout. The action each day begins at 17:00 GMT (18:00 CET, 12:00 ET). Read the full report on Day 1 of the final | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/30/2020 – Медный Всадник, the "Bronze Horseman" from St. Petersburg, convincingly won the Russian Team Championships 2020 in Sochi. The "Horsemen" won eight of their nine matches and finished three points ahead of their closest rivals. Top scorer of the team was Maxim Matlakov (pictured), European Champion 2017. FSM Moscow won the women's event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)