10/6/2020 – The Pacific Northwest Chess Center (PNWCC) is a very active, Seattle based club that organised a couple of strong online events during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these events was the so-called Jackpot Blitz, a series of blitz tournaments. The excellent conditions and the attractive prizes attracted some of the world's best players, but a few weeks ago the Jackpot series ended with the 20th and last Jackpot Blitz. It was won by GM Vladimir Fedoseev, who sends a report and annotates games.

10/6/2020 – In round 1 of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament Alireza Firouzja (pictured), the world's best junior, won a nice game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who is also an extraordinary talent. In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a closer look at the action. | Lawrence’s show is available at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST, 13:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Official site | Photo: Amruta Mokal (Archive)

10/6/2020 – There are few other Grandmasters who can go into such detail, and explain complicated variations like Sergei Tiviakov. This is why our ChessBase community enjoys his content so much, and why he already has made 17 Fritztrainers with us so far. For this volume, Tiviakov concentrates on his favourite variation in the Ruy Lopez, with the White move - queen to e2. The Russian-Dutch Grandmaster analyses several variations, explains their purposes, tactics and strategies, and lets you establish a very solid continuation in this popular chess opening. Furthermore, 30 exercises round up this great download.

10/6/2020 – Despite the ongoing corona pandemic, the organisers of the Fagernes Open in Norway decided to go ahead with their tournament, which is played live and under strict hygiene regulations. Evgeny Postny, Simen Agdestein and Frode Urkedal are the top seeds in the A-Open, which also functions as Norwegian National Championship. | Photos: Tom Eriksen, Malgorzata Kopaczek-Styczen (Tournament page)

10/6/2020 – Knights are ideal to block passed pawns. However, in the diagram position White's knight on the rim cannot stop the black pawns. If Black is careful and proceeds with precision.

10/6/2020 – In a fighting first round at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger, Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja (pictured) grabbed the early lead by beating Aryan Tari and Jan-Krzysztof Duda without going to Armageddon. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen defeated Levon Aronian in sudden death after signing a 30-move draw in the classical encounter. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/5/2020 – In this "Simon Says" the Ginger GM takes a look at some games from the Pro Chess League and wonders whether it is better to play a system or to play specific openings. | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 14:00). | Photo: Bobby Fischer at the Candidates Tournament Portoroz 1959 | Photo: Tournament book

10/5/2020 – The final of the Chess.com Pro Chess League was overshadowed by a cheating incident. The Chess.com Fair Play Team came to the conclusion that the Armenian Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian, who played for the Armenian Eagles, the team that had won the finals and the tournament, had used computer assistance in the final. The Armenian Eagles were deprived of victory, and Tigran Petrosian was banned for life from playing on the Chess.com server.

10/5/2020 – Claus Dieter Meyer was a prominent and legendary figure in German chess: as a player, author, trainer, and analyst. On March 5, 2020, Meyer died after a long illness at the age of 73. As a tribute to the many achievements and the friendly personality of Meyer, his club, the SV Werder Bremen, now organises a strong tournament to remember him: the Claus Dieter Meyer Memorial. | Photo: Werder Bremen

10/5/2020 – Mint, one of India’s premium business news publications, just published an article written by Omkar Khandekar focused on the rating gap between the top men and women chess players. The author wonders whether it has to do with conventional gender roles or unequal access. | Pictured: Harika Dronavalli observes her compatriot Humpy Koneru in action against Alexandra Kosteniuk | Photo: FIDE

10/4/2020 – Two days ago, October 2, it was Jon Speelman’s 64th birthday. Given that 64 is a canonical number for chess players, our columnist used this chance to remind us that every single square of the chessboard may be important. In order to illustrate his point, he goes on to show a game in which, as Black, he placed his knights on both h1 and a8 during a single game. Happy birthday, Jon! And many thanks for your ever-ingenious columns! | Pictured: Speelman usin PressTel Chessbox to play long distance chess | Source: British Chess News

10/3/2020 – World numbers one and two will participate in the over-the-board Altibox Norway Chess tournament starting Monday. Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will be joined by Armenian star Levon Aronian (pictured), Polish number one Jan-Krzysztof Duda, wunderkind Alireza Firouzja and local representative Aryan Tari. No matchup will split the points evenly between the contestants, as an Armageddon decider will follow each and every drawn classical game. | Photo: Lennart Ootes