Anniversary Chess Match: Space – Earth

6/5/2020 – On June 9, a chess match between Space and Earth is scheduled to take place in the main hall of the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics. The event is co-organized by the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics, the Roscosmos State Corporation, and the Chess Federation of Russia. The match is timed precisely to celebrate the half-century anniversary of the first Space – Earth game of chess played on June 9, 1970. | Photos: Archives of the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics and Chess in the USSR magazine

Do you have an eye for tactics? (1)

6/5/2020 – In the diagram position White played 36.Kh3 and after 36...Qd3 37.Kh4 Qc2 37.Kh3 the game ended in a draw. Trying to continue the fight with 36.h3? (instead of 36.Kh3) is not a good idea - do you see why?

Throwback Thursday: Anand shines at Amber Tournament 2005

6/5/2020 – A memorable and dearly missed event for chess fans — the Melody Amber Tournament took place each year since 1992 until 2011. In its fourteenth edition, Vishy Anand won both sections outright, blindfold and rapid. This was the second time a player managed to do it. But who was the first one to do it? Vishy himself! He achieved the same feat back in 1997.

Computer Chess: Longest-Running Experiment in Computing Science

6/4/2020 – On August 31, 1970, an experiment began that continues to this day. The first chess tournament for computers was held as part of the ACM’s National Conference. The interest generated was tremendous, leading to ACM sponsoring an annual event until 1994. Professor Jonathan Schaeffer has provided us with a retrospect of what it was like at this pioneering time, which was the beginning of a 50-year project to build a chess program capable of competing with (and, eventually exceeding the abilities of) strong human players. The experiment continues to this day and for the foreseeable future, he says.

Fast and Furious: Alekhine Defense Four Pawns Attack

6/4/2020 – This week Robert Ris takes a look at the Four Pawns Attack in the Alekhine Defense, a variation that can lead to fascinating positions. "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: Lennart Ootes

NEW: ChessBase Magazine Extra #195

6/4/2020 – The new ChessBase Magazine Extra #195 offers a lot of chess highlights, including a review by Ju Wenjun who talks about her narrow victory against Aleksandra Goryachkina in the last Women's World Championship match. Georgios Souleidis shows the power of the "Firouzja-Express" and opening surveys, endgame and middlegame columns and lots of other training materials help you to sharpen your game. A must for every serious chess player.

The best I saw in chess - by Stuart Rachels

6/4/2020 – In the early 1990s, International Master Stuart Rachels was one of the very best US chess players. He played games against Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Nigel Short, Anthony Miles and Boris Spassky, only to name a few. His chess adventures are funny, beautiful, interesting and honest. His book "The Best I Saw In Chess" which just came out, is a blast to read. We conducted an interview with Rachels about the book, the chess greats he met, his decision to quit chess and the ego of chess players. | Photos: Stuart Rachels

AVRO 1938, Round 2: Reuben Fine starts with 2.0/2

6/4/2020 – Reuben Fine started well into the AVRO tournament. After his win against Mikhail Botvinnik in round 1 Fine also defeated his old rival Samuel Reshevsky in round 2. Max Euwe outplayed Salo Flohr and scored the second win of the round. José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine drew as did Paul Keres and Botvinnik. With 2.0/2 Fine is now sole leader. | Photo: Tartakower, Keres, Fine and Euwe analyse at the beach with a pocket chess set.

Optimistic organisers at 53rd Biel International Chess Festival

6/4/2020 – The preparations for the 53rd International Chess festival Biel continue and take into account the Corona requirements. In a press release the organisers said that they are preparing for the key event, the Grandmaster Tournament (GMT), a main tournament (C-HTO) and a youth tournament, including Swiss championships. However, some tournaments and events including the Master Open (MTO) will be cancelled. | Photo: Biel International Chess Festival 2019

Daniil Dubov bags Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge

6/4/2020 – Daniil Dubov defeated Hikaru Nakamura to become the champion of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge. In the third, deciding rubber of the final, Dubov was the first to score a full point, in game two. Nakamura bounced back with an impressive win and, after a draw in game four, Armageddon was all that was left. An opening catastrophe for Nakamura gave Dubov a winning position as early as move 13 — the Russian duly converted his massive advantage and clinched the title. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko / World Chess

Game of the Week: Carlsen vs Nakamura

6/3/2020 – In this show Merijn van Delft takes a look at the match between Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen at the Lindores Abbey Chess Challenge tournament. | Merijn's show is available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Getting the most out of ChessBase 15: a step-by-step guide #4 – The Board

6/3/2020 – You are raring to get started with some of the amazing functions of ChessBase 15. But there is one last thing we need to consider before we dive into the substance – and that is style! ChessBase 15 is fantastically customisable and here Nick Murphy will show you step by step how to get the look you want. Because it helps to enjoy your chess!

Lindores Abbey Final: Dubov wins in Armageddon!

6/3/2020 – Daniil Dubov defeated Hikaru Nakamura to become the champion of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge. In the third, deciding rubber of the final, Dubov was the first to score a full point, in game two. Nakamura bounced back with an impressive win and, after a draw in game four, Armageddon was all that was left. An opening catastrophe for Nakamura gave Dubov a winning position as early as move 13 — the Russian duly converted his massive advantage and clinched the title. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

How sound was the endgame Spielmann-Rubinstein?

6/3/2020 – 1909, Saint Petersburg: in one of the strongest tournaments in history Akiba Rubinstein defeated Rudolf Spielmann in a dramatic endgame. After the game Spielmann said: "Akiba, if you lived in the Middle Ages you would have burned at the stake: what you do in rook endgames can only be called witchcraft!" Was that really the case, or are there holes in the ending that all analysts over the years have missed? Can you help endgame specialist GM Karsten Müller answer this question? | Pictured: Rudolf Spielmann (left) and Akiba Rubinstein (right)

AVRO 1938, Round 1: Fine beats Botvinnik

6/3/2020 – The first round of the AVRO Tournament 1938 brought the first surprise: Reuben Fine outplayed and defeated Mikhail Botvinnik. The games Euwe vs Keres, Flohr vs Capablanca and Alekhine vs Reshevsky were all drawn but Euwe and Alekhine missed good chances. | Photo: The first official move of the tournament

Lindores Abbey Final: Dubov wins, ties the score

6/3/2020 – The winner of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge will be decided on Wednesday, as Daniil Dubov beat Hikaru Nakamura in the final's second rubber to tie the overall score. Dubov won game one and drew the remaining three. Hard-pressed to win in game four, Nakamura tried the Leningrad Variation of the Dutch Defence, but to no avail — Dubov kept the balance until securing the all-important half point. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

The eight best players in the world meet at the AVRO Tournament

6/2/2020 – Today, the AVRO Tournament starts in Amsterdam. The eight best players in the world play a double-round-robin tournament in ten different Dutch cities. With Alexander Alekhine, José Raúl Capablanca and Max Euwe no less than three world champions start but maybe there's also a future world champion in the field. After all, Salo Flohr, Paul Keres, Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, and last but not least, Mikhail Botvinnik are all outstandings talents and potential world champions. | Photo: Salo Flohr, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe

Rook and knight and a perpetual

6/2/2020 – Rook and knight can be a powerful team. If well-placed this duo has saved countless bad or even lost positions with a typical perpetual that every chess player should know.

Chess is indeed a sport!

6/2/2020 – It has been debated for ages. But now the University of Physical Education in Budapest has awarded a Honorary Doctorate to a chess player – to the richly deserving Judit Polgár, for a stellar career in the board game, effectively recognizing chess as a sport. Only 44 such doctorates have been conferred in four decades, mainly to Olympic Committee (Samaranch, Rogge) or FIFA Presidents (João Havelange). "A milestone for the chess universe," said Judit in her acceptance message.

Lindores Abbey Final: Nakamura storms ahead

6/2/2020 – Hikaru Nakamura stormed ahead in the first leg of the $150,000 Rapid Challenge final today. The American, fresh from toppling World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the semi, showed all his cool, calm skills to race into a 2:0 lead almost without breaking a sweat. After four games Nakamura was leading 2½:1½. Tomorrow, former World Rapid Champion Daniil Dubov will be back gunning to turn the match around. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

LetsUp Blitz Grand Prix + YouTube records

6/1/2020 – The Maharashtra Chess Association is organizing the LetsUp Blitz Grand Prix 2020, which starts on June 3rd, 2020. Every Wednesday from June 3rd to July 1st five Blitz Grand Prix Open events will take place on Playchess. Participants are fully ID-ed, which reduces cheating attempts to a minimum. The tournament is open to anyone across the world – a lot of very strong players have already registered. You can too. Or you can watch some ChessBase India YouTube videos – like 100 million viewers before you!

Oscar Panno: “Chess is cruel”

6/1/2020 – Oscar Panno was born on March 17, 1935, in Buenos Aires, and was one of the greatest chess players from Argentina. He won the World Junior Championship in 1953 and went on to play the 1956 Candidates Tournament. He came third at the 1955 Interzonal in Gothenburg, ahead of strong players such as Efim Geller, Tigran Petrosian or Boris Spassky. In this extensive, unpublished interview from 2005, the Grandmaster tells his story and touches on universal themes related to chess, such as its educational value in society. | Pictured: Panno at the 1956 Candidates in Amsterdam | Photo: Joop van Bilsen / Anefo

Solution to the historical riddle: Kramnik could have defeated Fritz!

6/1/2020 – Last week we asked you to help us solve a historical riddle. In November 2006 World Champion Vladimir Kramnik played a match against the computer program Deep Fritz. Kramnik lost the match 2:4 and did not win a single game. But in the very first game he had a favourable endgame. Could he have won? Until today that remains unclear. We asked you for help in solving this riddle. With some very energetic analytical work of our readers we have come to a firm conclusion.

Constantin Lupulescu: My most memorable game

5/31/2020 – Getting a spot in the World Cup is a major accomplishment for chess players. For those born in Europe, qualifying through their continental tournament is particularly difficult, given the amount of strong grandmasters in the region. Back in 2014, Constantin Lupulescu found himself in a tough spot, lagging behind in the standings with two rounds to go. Facing a higher-rated opponent, he decided to give the French Defence a go. | Photo: Fiona Steil-Antoni