2/16/2020 – The English is an opening which can transpose into many others. It is definitely a must for those who want to improve middlegame play, thanks to the huge variety of middlegame themes which can arise from it. One can play very aggressively, or positionally; it's clearly an opening which can satisfy everyone interested in learning strategy and tactics. World Champion Magnus Carlsen is one of the players who has incorporated the English into his repertoire. In this FritzTrainer, IM Lorin D'Costa presents a complete repertoire for White explaining key pawn structures and ideas behind the moves. DAVIDE NASTASIO breaks it down.

2/15/2020 – Ju Wenjun and Humpy Koneru are still sharing the lead of the Cairns Cup after a seventh round in which things could have taken a different path. The only decisive result of the day saw Mariya Muzychuk beating Valentina Gunina — Muzychuk got a much better position, lost her advantage and ended up winning when Gunina overestimated her chances. Meanwhile, Ju Wenjun could not convert a clear advantage, and Humpy saved a half point in a difficult endgame. | Photo: Austin Fuller

2/15/2020 – After three hard-fought rounds of chess in Prague we finally have a sole leader! Vidit Gujrathi, after surviving a mega-scare against David Anton yesterday, found his rhythm and squeezed Markus Ragger in a Grunfeld endgame to go to world number 21 and 2½/3. Alireza Firouzja has found the going tough in the first two rounds, but he seems to have benefited from the close shave yesterday, as he outplayed Harikrishna in a Closed Ruy Lopez structure to score his first win of the event. David Anton was seriously worse, but David Navara's struggles continued as he missed numerous chances for an advantage with White to gift the Spaniard the point. Grandelius continued to falter in decisive moments, as Vitiugov escaped by a hair's breadth to maintain a plus score, and Shankland missed out on what could have been a brilliant win over Duda as Black. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/14/2020 – The Candidates Tournament 2020 is just over a month away and today FIDE announced the results of a ceremony to determine the pairing numbers for the eight players in this highly anticipated double round-robin. Radjabov, Ding, Giri, and Grischuk will start with the white pieces on March 17th in Yekaterinburg. Read the press release... | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili (CFR)

2/14/2020 – The top two seeds are sharing the lead with three rounds to go at the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis. Ju Wenjun was joined in first place by Humpy Koneru after the latter defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk from a very slightly superior knight endgame in round six. The other winner of the day was Carissa Yip, who beat Valentina Gunina to collect her second straight victory. | Photo: Austin Fuller

2/14/2020 – In the diagram White played 8.e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 threatening both 10.Nxe6 and 10.Qxg4. So, fire on the board — can you extinguish it as Black?

2/11/2020 – GM Nick Pert, a former World U18 chess champion and a member of the National English team, came up with an ingenious idea about helping the improving players. He composed three FritzTrainer DVDs in which he targets the "typical mistakes" committed by players in the lower rating brackets of 1000-1600, 1600-1900 and 1800-2000. DIANA MIHAJLOVA takes a look.

2/10/2020 – The 4NCL provides insiration for a new tactics-focus Simon Says. GM Simon Williams curates a selection of puzzles for your enjoyment and improvement. | Puzzle time: In the position below it's White to play and win! | Watch for free live and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).

2/10/2020 – Nana Dzagnidze became the first sole leader of the Cairns Cup after inflicting Carissa Yip's third straight loss in Saint Louis. Kateryna Lagno and Mariya Muzychuk are still a half point back after drawing their direct encounter, while Harika Dronavalli joined them in shared second place after beating Alexandra Kosteniuk. Valentina Gunina, in the meantime, got on the scoreboard with a win over Irina Krush. | Photo: Austin Fuller

2/10/2020 – Chess compositions have been around for over a thousand years, and composers aim to tap not only the practical but also the aesthetic sense of solvers. Recently AZLAN IQBAL has investigated the potential of fully-computer-generated chess problems, and here he presents some conclusions about what passes the threshold of beauty.

2/9/2020 – At the 40th National Team Open, a big shock in round three when GM Adhiban Baskaran was forfeited on board one for possessing an analogue watch after 16 moves against IM C R G Krishna. His team still won the match, thanks to wins on the lower boards. It's an unusual case, though evidently all according to the tournament rules. | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

2/9/2020 – An exciting day of chess left four players sharing the lead at the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis. Mariya Muzychuk showcased her attacking abilities to take down Humpy Koneru, Kateryna Lagno outplayed Carissa Yip with Black from a balanced yet dangerous endgame, while Valentina Gunina could not take advantage of Alexandra Kosteniuk's opening blunder and ended up losing for a second day in a row. Irina Krush missed a chance to beat world champion Ju Wenjun with the black pieces. | Photo: Crystal Fuller