The sharpest endgame weapon

5/18/2021 – The German word "Zugzwang" describes the phenomenom that the rules of chess force you to make a move when it's your turn even if it would be better to do nothing. In chess, you simply cannot pass. "Zugzwang" is a typical endgame phenomenon that often decides the game. In the diagram position White can use "zugzwang" to force the opponent to self-destruct. How?

Carlsen to face Nepo in world’s first bitcoin chess event

5/17/2021 – The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour delivers a world first for its next event: an elite-level bitcoin chess tournament. The star-studded FTX Crypto Cup starts on May 23 and offers a record $320,000 prize pot for an online event — $100,000 of that is a bonus paid in crypto by new sponsor FTX, the leading cryptocurrency exchange. Fans will be able to track the prize pot's value in real-time throughout the broadcast to see how it fluctuates.

Giri beats Jobava to win MrDodgy Invitational

5/17/2021 – The second edition of the MrDodgy Invitational was played on May 12-16 in the chess24 PlayZone. The event was a 16-player knockout, with each match consisting of 12 blitz games (5 minutes for the game, without increments). Top seed Anish Giri, who had won the first edition of the event, defeated Baadur Jobava in the final to get the first prize of $2,500 plus a picture of Dodgy on a horse.

Fritztrainer Tournament: Live, with Daniel King and Arne Kaehler

5/17/2021 – The Fritztrainer thematic tournament starts today at 19:00 CEST (13:00 ET, 17:00 UTC) and will be hosted live on Twitch.tv by Daniel King and Arne Kaehler. The discount day, which starts Monday, 17 May, 18:00 CEST (12:00 ET, 16:00 UTC) offers a great opportunity to support your favourite Fritztrainer. But first and foremost, this tournament should be fun and it should offer us fine games with interesting openings to watch. We are looking forward to seeing the players in action: Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Mihail Marin, Merijn van Delft and Robert Ris.

How to solve chess problems

5/17/2021 – For many chess players, chess problems just look bizarre: the pieces on the board often seem to be randomly placed and the positions appear to to be utterly removed from anything that can happen in a practical game. However, solving chess problems can be fun - if you know how to approach them. Vlaicu Crisan has some advice.

Pearly Kings

5/16/2021 – Looking at the games from the recent Russian Team Championship, played in Sochi, prompted Jon Speelman to reminisce on a tournament he played nearly four decades ago in the same Russian city near the Black Sea. “In those distant Soviet times, the seven foreigners were put up in the Zhemchuzhina (Pearl) Hotel while the nine Soviets were dispersed among other lesser establishments”. | Photo: John Saunders / John Nunn 60th Birthday Blitz Chess Tournament

Understanding before Moving 27: A "multi-stage" plan

5/16/2021 – 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 27th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the "multi-stage" plan. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Yu Yangyi repeats as Chinese champion

5/15/2021 – Despite losing his last-round encounter against women’s world champion Ju Wenjun, Yu Yangyi won the open section of the Chinese Championship for a second time in less than six months. The fourth highest-rated player in the country collected 7 points in 11 rounds and edged Wei Yi and Li Di on tiebreaks. Tan Zhongyi had already secured first place in the women’s section with a round to spare.

Energetic

5/15/2021 – After White's bishop retreat from f4 to h2 (see diagram position), Black needed no second invitation to unleash her forces. What did she play?

Dirty Tricks: documenting an elite-level cheating scandal

5/14/2021 – Chess and bridge are the only ‘mind sports’ recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The two highly popularized games also share that cheating has become a growing preoccupation for fans and organizers alike. In a recently released documentary, Israeli filmmaker Daniel Sivan tells the story of a cheating scandal which involved Lotan Fisher, the strongest bridge player in the world. | Pictured: Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz

Live Tournament with Kasimdzhanov, van Delft, Ris and Marin

5/14/2021 – On 17 May, 19:00 CEST (13:00 ET, 17:00 UTC) our Fritztrainers will compete against each other in a theme tournament with randomly picked Fritztrainer openings. Daniel King and Arne Kaehler will accompany them LIVE on Twitch.tv through the evening. Will the two Dutch IMs be able to hold their own against the Grandmasters from Uzbekistan and Romania? Which of the chosen Fritztrainer openings will perform best? Six different openings will be played, from the Benoni to the Traxler Counterattack.

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: The King's Gambit with 3.Bc4

5/14/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King takes a look at the Bishop's Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4, an interesting and surprisingly tricky way to play the King's Gambit. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Chinese Championship: Yu leads, Tan wins

5/14/2021 – In today's tenth round Yu Yangyi won against his main rival Wei Yi and now leads the Open Chinese Championship by one point before the final round. In the Women's Tournament Tan Zhongyi (pictured) secured the title though there is still one round to play. | Photo: Gu Xiaobang

Mitropa Cup: Double success for Italy

5/14/2021 – Due to the pandemic, the Mitropa Cup 2021 was played as a "Hybrid Tournament" - the teams met at a central venue in their own countries from where they played online against the other teams, supervised by an arbiter. The Italian teams coped best with this still unusual form of tournament chess: they won gold in the Open Tournament and in the Women's Tournament. | Picture: Italian Chess Federation

Throwback Thursday: Ivanchuk wins the 2016 World Rapid Championship

5/14/2021 – Garry Kasparov has described him as a world-champion level grandmaster, an assessment that is shared by much of the chess world. A true genius, Vasyl Ivanchuk has won a number of super-tournaments and has been ranked number 2 in the FIDE rankings three times. The Ukrainian also won the World Rapid Championship in 2016, and celebrated in style.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: New developments in the Centre Game (1.e4 e5 2.d4!? exd4 3.Qxd4)

5/13/2021 – In this week’s show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris presents a number of ideas how White can get good attacking chances with the Centre Game. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

The Rise of Hybrid Chess

5/13/2021 – Online chess overseen by arbiters not only helps preventing cheating, but also offers opportunities to play against distant opponents and teams in an environmentally sustainable way. The Mitropacup and the upcoming World Cup qualification rounds are the first major hybrid tournaments. However, according to Stefan Löffler, hybrid chess still requires further field testing. | Photo: Christoph Menezes (Photos: Stefan Löffler / Bernhard Riess)

Game of the Week: A. Esipenko vs M. Kobalia

5/12/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at the Russian Team Championships, in which the 19-year Russian talent Andrey Esipenko showed a fine performance and played a number of impressive games. The focus will be on his win against M. Kobalia. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

60 years ago: Botvinnik wins return match against Tal

5/12/2021 – 60 years ago today, on 12 May 1961, the return World Championship match between Mihail Tal and Mikhail Botvinnik, which had started in Moscow on 15 March, came to an end. Tal had won the first match in 1960 with 12.5-8.5, but in the return match Botvinnik regained the world championship title and defeated Tal 13-8 (+10, -5, =6). But despite the clear result Botvinnik's victory still failed to convince.

Historical riddle: M. Tal vs O. Panno

5/12/2021 – Mihail Tal played many mind-boggling and beautiful games full of stunning tactics and surprising sacrifices. Modern engines may find out that Tal's sacrifices might not always have been correct but it is still fun to play through and analyse his games. Now, Karsten Müller invites the ChessBase readers to take a close look at one of Tal's classics.

Chinese Chess Championships in Xinghua Jiangsu

5/12/2021 – The Chinese Chess Championships are being played on May 7-15 in Xinghua Jiangsu, a county-level city in eastern China. After seven rounds, three players are sharing the lead in the open event while rating favourite Tan Zhongyi has grabbed the sole lead in the women’s tournament. | Pictured: Tan Zhongyi during the 2018 Women’s World Championship | Photo: Gu Xiaobang

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Episode 3

5/12/2021 – Svitlana Demchenko is a 17-year-old, Canadian WIM, and chess coach. Here and now, she will teach us plenty of smart moves on the board, ranging from tactics, strategies, openings, and anything else chess related. In the process, I'm happy to be available as a student at club player level, and pester the female international master with questions. Anyone who wants to strengthen their chess skills is welcome to watch, and actively replay the positions from the video, on our chessboard.

Arjun Erigaisi wins Indian Qualifier to the Champions Chess Tour

5/11/2021 – Arjun Erigaisi pulled a massive upset in the finals of the Indian Qualifier to the Champions Chess Tour by handing Adhiban his first defeat of the event. Nonetheless, by reaching the finals, Adhiban had already qualified to the elite online tour. Aravindh beat Gukesh in the match for third place. Gukesh should be happy with his performance, as he was the only player to beat eventual champion Arjun Erigaisi in the very first game of the semifinals.

The Weekly Show: The Russian Team Championships

5/11/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will take a look at the Russian Team Championships, with a focus on the game Rublevsky vs Askerov. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.