12/23/2020 – 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!

12/23/2020 – Just a quick reminder! Today GM Elshan Moradiabadi will participate in our video blitz tournament at 15:00 CET. The good news is that we still have two open seats available! If you apply, you will be raffled and might take part in our little tournament.

12/22/2020 – Vishy Anand has ruled the number one spot in Indian chess for over three decades now. The five-time World Champion is now 51 years old and is still very much one of the best in the world. But Anand also wants to ensure that there are youngsters in India who rise quickly to the top of the world rankings in the years to come. It is with this objective in mind that the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy has been created. Nihal Sarin, Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani, Gukesh and Vaishali are the five youngsters who received a fellowship and will be personally mentored by Vishy Anand.

12/22/2020 – In his “Weekly Show” IM Lawrence Trent looks at a couple of games from the over-the-board tournament taking place in Sitges, paying special attention to the remarkable victory obtained by 17-year-old Hans Niemann over Matthieu Cornette in round 6. | 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. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/22/2020 – The second event of the Champions Chess Tour — an online series of tournaments organized by the Play Magnus Group — will kick off on December 26. Unlike the Skilling Open, which was a ‘Regular’ event and included 16 players, the Airthings Masters will have 12 players in its lineup, as it is the first ‘Major’ in the schedule. The tournament will run until January 3.

12/22/2020 – Remember what it was like to find new ideas and opening novelties in the past. First you had to go through a pile of books, making notes on lines of interest. When ChessBase was launched (over 30 years ago) you could do it on a computer – but it still took hours and days to find a powerful weapon for your next tournament. Now ChessBase 16 has reduced the search to a few clicks of the mouse. Let Sagar Shah tell you how to use this powerful feature to dramatically improve your results in the next tournament.

12/22/2020 – 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!

12/22/2020 – Recently music brought a critic and a guest together in a conversation about Bach, Beethoven: she a journalist of the New York Times, he a relatively well-known chess grandmaster. Each participant suggested a single piece of music for the other to listen to ahead of the chat, where they vigorously discuss classical music. Your task was to guess, from snippets of the conversation, who the grandmaster was. | Photo: alto

12/22/2020 – Rook endings have drawish tendencies and being one or even two pawns up does not guarantee a win. However, having a theoretically drawn position on the board does not guarantee a draw in practice. Precision is required. What should Black play in the diagram position?

12/21/2020 – Eight out of ten rounds have been played at the over-the-board tournament in Sitges, a town located about 35 kilometres south-west of Barcelona. Ivan Cheparinov and Jules Moussard are sharing the lead on 6½ points. A five-player chasing pack stands a half point behind. Cheparinov will have the white pieces against Moussard in Tuesday’s top clash. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

12/21/2020 – For long-time chess fans this might already sound like a tiring question. But for newcomers and those still invested in finding out how far computers can go in terms of solving the game, this remains to be a fascinating subject. British daily newspaper The Guardian recently published a 6-minute video — featuring Garry Kasparov, Maurice Ashley, Daniel Gormally and Alexandra Botez — exploring the issue.

12/21/2020 – The European Blitz Championship was played as an online tournament during the weekend. An 11-round Swiss open served as a qualification event, with 16 players moving on to the knockout phase. In the end, Gawain Jones took first place after beating Alexei Shirov in the final. Matthias Bluebaum defeated David Navara to get the bronze medal. | Photo: Alina l’Ami