2/21/2020 – 27...Kc7!! in the diagram is very cool, especially since the attempt to pin down the black knight on d7 with 28.Qh7 runs into an elegant refutation. Do you see it?

2/20/2020 – Easter is still a bit less than two months away, but it is already clear that the Easter holidays will be a boon for chess fans. From April 9th ​​to 13th the GRENKE Chess Open, the largest open tournament in Europe, takes place in Karlsruhe, Germany. And on Easter Saturday, April 11th, the GRENKE Chess Classic begins — with Carlsen and Caruana leading the field. To get in the mood for the tournament, the organizers have prepared a small video with the highlights of the past years.

2/20/2020 – The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian has been one of the most popular openings for decades. Players of every level like it and it also was an important part of the Black opening repertoire of two legendary World Champions: Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov. GM YANNICK PELLETIER explores the latest theoretical developments.

2/20/2020 – Vidit could not get his fourth straight win with White at the Masters section of the Prague Chess Festival, but nonetheless kept his one-point lead with two rounds to go. The winners of the day were Alireza Firouzja, who beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a swashbuckling tactical struggle, and Sam Shankland, who defeated Nils Grandelius to get his first win of the event. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/20/2020 – Many people aim for perfection in their chosen field. However, only a select few ever reach the pinnacle of achievement. As far as chess is concerned, Fabiano Caruana is one of the rare few who has, giving the chess world new ideas and beautiful games for years. TANMAY SRINATH reviews the second volume of Caruana’s FritzTrainer trilogy, and comes out amazed, yet again! | Photo: David Llada

2/19/2020 – The Prague Masters is in the crosshairs for this anniversary edition of Game of the Week. IM Merijn van Delft explores the third round win of the tournament leader Vidit Gujrathi. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

2/19/2020 – The Grand Chess Tour, which was announced one month ago, is a standard-bearer for world-class events. In the latest press release, the organizers have now announced dates, confirmed participants and venues for this year's tour. There will be two tournaments with classical time controls and three rapid and blitz tournaments. The three best players in the world — Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren — all take part. | Picture: Grand Chess Tour

2/19/2020 – Round six of the Prague Festival saw all games of the Masters finishing drawn, which means Vidit Gujrathi is still leading on 'plus three'. The one closest to get a win was Sam Shankland, who got an edge in the middlegame but could not convert it into a full point against Markus Ragger. During the rest day before round six, Boris Gelfand gave a simul and the Aero Cinema Film Festival kicked off, featuring documentaries about chess, among others. | Pictured: Jan Novak, Lubomir Kavalek and David Navara. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

2/18/2020 – IM Lawrence Trent looks to Prague for inspiration this week. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's White to move! How did he break through? | Lawrence is live this week from 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12 Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can always register a free 90-day account to watch.

2/18/2020 – In chess a "candidate" is a pawn that is part of a majority and that is not obstructed by an enemy pawn on its file. When mobilising your pawn majority, Nimzowitsch's rule "candidate ahead" is usually good and right. But not always!

2/18/2020 – International Master and prolific ChessBase author Andrew Martin returns to join Karsten in the ChessBase Studio. Live at 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET; 9:00 AM EST) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

2/18/2020 – When we learn the rules of chess as a youngster we are told about the chess board, the chess pieces and how each of the pieces move. Once we master these basics, we can proudly tell everyone that we have learnt the game of chess. However, when you go to a tournament, there is one more element that is added, one which plays just as important a role as the board and the pieces: the chess clock! Time is one of the most crucial factors when playing a game, and somehow this is one of the things that chess players pay the least attention to. It doesn't come as a surprise that many strong chess players handle the clock and time in a very poor manner, losing several games due to time pressure. How do we avoid this problem? In this article GM SWAPNIL DHOPADE tries to acquaint you with the causes and solutions of this perennial problem.