Scachs d'amor: The empowered queen

4/7/2020 – A poem written in Valencian by Francesc de Castellví, Bernat Fenollar and Narcís de Vinyoles was the first literary work to describe a game with the modern rules — the queen could move multiple squares in all directions and the scope of the bishops widened importantly. SERGIO NEGRI tells us the story. | Image: A chessboard illustrated in Jacobus de Cessolis' "De ludo scachorum".

Simon Says: Great games of ancient years - Part 2

4/6/2020 – In these strange times with no live tournaments going on, GM Simon Williams jumps aboard his time-machine and looks to the past. | Watch for free live and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 17:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EST).

Replay the classics with interactive analysis!

4/6/2020 – There's a new book in the making, one that contains the classics of chess, but also of the intricate art of chess problems and studies. The author is Werner Keym, one of the most versatile composers in the chess world. The book starts with the most famous games in history. Most of them you will know, but have you looked carefully at the moves, have you understood the plans and the tactics. You can do that on our news page, using our interactive JavaScript player. It's an opportunity to understand chess history better.

Ju Wenjun: An insider's view of the match for the Women's World Championship 2020

4/6/2020 – The chess year 2020 began with a highlight, the Women's World Championship match between World Champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina. The match was hard-fought and Ju Wenjun won the tie-break. Here, at her premiere as a ChessBase author, she delivers an insider's report on this exciting match. | Photos: FIDE

How much chess is in "Auto Chess"?

4/6/2020 – Chess enjoys a good reputation and the creators of the popular online game "Auto Chess" probably wanted to use this reputation when naming their product. However, chess players might wonder how much chess really is in "Auto Chess"? A bit but not that much. | Photo: Courtesy of Drodo Studio

Will you start composing or solving?

4/5/2020 – With all over-the-board chess action cancelled or postponed, this is a great moment to explore new territories. Our “Study of the Month” columnist SIEGFRIED HORNECKER sent us some tips to start composing an endgame study or two, or try solving some puzzles for fun.

For Bobby Fischer's 77th birthday

4/5/2020 – Last month, on March 9 2020, Bobby Fischer would have turned 77. We could have commemorated it with a detailed biography of the 11th World Champion – but who doesn't know all the details of the life of the most charismatic and enigmatic player in the history of the game? So instead I would like to retell one of my favourite stories, a birthday present to Fischer, wherever he might be. It is a lovely story, and has ideas that you can use in your own games.

Speelman's Agony: Facing "quite a strong player"

4/5/2020 – The protagonist of this week's column was defeated by "quite a strong player". JON SPEELMAN finds out who was the mysterious opponent and annotates the game in detail. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Going online: German Internet Championship 2020

4/4/2020 – In the times of corona online chess is more popular than ever and more than 1,100 players took part in the German Internet Chess Championship which was organized by the German Chess Federation and ChessBase. But online or not - the tournament is still affected by the corona pandemic.

Youth Chess Solving competition (U27)

4/4/2020 – Are you 27 years old or younger? Then you can take part in a competiton run by "Schwalbe", the German society for problem chess – on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the "German Chess Youth". You get ten (actually very delightful) problems to solve. You mail your answers to the supervisor of the competition, and can win one of many prizes. Comments are welcome. In any case the problems are lots of fun.

Congratulations: Murray Chandler turns 60!

4/4/2020 – Murray Chandler is author, chess organizer, philanthropist, New Zealand's only grandmaster and owner of a church in Auckland. Chandler has lived in Europe for many years, was a successful Bundesliga player and has played at Chess Olympiads for England and for New Zealand. Today, April 4, he celebrates his 60th birthday. Congratulations! | Photo: Murray Chandler at the Chess Olympiad 2008 in Dresden | Photo: Frank Hoppe

IM Artiom Tsepotan, the man who founded 2700chess.com

4/4/2020 – Statistics play a major role in any sport. More so in chess, where FIDE ratings have their weight in gold. FIDE does publish its rating list every month, but in between those 30 days a lot of action happens when some of the top tournaments are taking place. Where do we keep a track of all the live rating changes of top players? That's where the website 2700chess.com comes into the picture. It is the best resource to stay abreast of all the rating fluctuations of players above the rating of 2700. Who founded this website? What was the intention behind it? And how does he manage to keep it so well updated? Here's the interview with the founder of 2700chess.com — IM Artiom Tsepotan. | Photo: Artiom pictured with his wife Julia

Like the old masters

4/3/2020 – In the diagram position it's Black to play and win - but before you start thinking, please don't forget to take your watch off...

The Power Play Show: Carlsen vs Firouzja

4/3/2020 – Grandmaster Daniel King reflects on some online games between Carlsen vs Firouzja and wonders if this is the chess of the future. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

Belgrade: Narrow win for the USSR

4/3/2020 – The fourth and final round of the "Match of the Century" between the USSR and the "Rest of the World" in Belgrade ended with a 5:5 tie. Larsen (against Stein) and Uhlmann (against Taimanov) scored for the "World" while Smyslov (against Olafsson) and Keres (against Ivkov) scored for the USSR. In the end the USSR won the match 20.5:19.5, with the narrowest possible margin. | Photo: Group photo with players and officials

Remembering a Ukrainian super-talent

4/3/2020 – On March 5th, Nataliya Vernigora, found her 18-year old daughter Alexandra and her boyfriend, GM Stanislav Bogdanovich dead of apparent accidental asphyxiation in Moscow. Fellow Ukrainian GM MIKHAIL GOLUBEV delves into his life and death, and reports that Bogdanovich was in the same league talent-wise as Karpov, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Shirov and Ponomariov, with unrivalled fighting spirit — he once played 210 moves for a win in the Ukrainian Championship!

Arnold Schwarzenegger says: "Stay at home and play chess!"

4/3/2020 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilder, businessman, "Terminator", and former Governor of California, has made a couple of videos to encourage people to "Stay at Home". But what to do at home? Schwarzenegger has a number of ideas, one of them is playing chess. Which evoked memories in Garry Kasparov who back in 2002 played against the former "Mr. Olympia". | Photo: Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoying chess before Corona hit the world. | Film still from a YouTube video by Morne Bester

New: ChessBase Magazine Extra 194

4/3/2020 – If you want to keep up with all the newest developments in chess and in opening theory the ChessBase Magazine Extra is a must. In the current edition you do find a lot of recommendations for your repertoire and Mihail Marin shows you a strong line against the Grünfeld. The magazine also offers instructive analyses on video and in databases. Last, but not least: the issue comes with 35,000 recently played games.

Throwback Thursday: Grischuk wins memorable Linares Tournament

4/3/2020 – This new series of articles will focus on reliving some of the best chess events from a relatively recent past. We will go back eleven years in the first instalment, to the 2009 edition of the Linares Tournament. Viswanathan Anand was the world champion at the time and headed an eight-player field set to play a double round robin. In the end, seventh seed Alexander Grischuk got the title, after scoring 8/14 and edging Vassily Ivanchuk on tiebreaks (most wins). An 18-year-old Magnus Carlsen finished third. | Photos: Frederic Friedel

Grand Chess Tour Cancels 2020 Season Due to COVID-19

4/2/2020 – In a press release the organisers of the Grand Chess Tour announced that they will cancel the Season 2020 before it has even started. The worldwide corona epidemic would not allow any planning and the health of the players is more important. The tour is scheduled to continue in 2021.

USSR vs. Rest of the World, Round 4 - Live, with commentary

4/2/2020 – The ten best players of the Soviet Union play against the ten best players from the "Rest of the World". Today we will see the decisive fourth and last round. After three rounds the Soviet team leads 15.5-14.5. Live transmission of the games starts at 17.00 pm CEST (11.00 EDT, 15.00 UTC). With commentary by IM Merijn van Delft.

Belgrade, Round 3: Larsen bounces back and beats Spassky

4/2/2020 – The "Match of the Century" between the Soviet Union and the "Rest of the World" in Belgrade is close. After three rounds the USSR narrowly leads 15.5:14.5. In round two Bent Larsen had suffered a devastating defeat against Boris Spassky on board one, but in round three Larsen bounced back and won with Black against the World Champion. Samuel Reshevsky and Lajos Portisch also scored for the "World" but in the Soviet team Mihail Tal was the only one who could win.

The Najdorf: A sharp weapon for Black!

4/2/2020 – Exciting chess is the reason some of us love it as a sport and look forward to fighting weekend after weekend in the tournament arena. Many come out from such arena to never enter again, because they cannot stand the pressure and the pain when they lose. But for those who are on the fence, and for those gladiators who fight endlessly during the year, there is nothing better than preparing one's own weapons, and sharpening them as much as possible. This can be aided by the right choice of openings, and reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO thinks the Najdorf is definitely one of them. Pelletier introduces us to the magical world of the Sicilian Najdorf in his recent FritzTrainer!

Strong players take over Saturday online blitz series

4/2/2020 – Amid the Coronavirus crisis, chess players have turned to online tournaments to practice, compete and keep their spirits high. In this context, ChessBase India organized a five-event series to take place every Saturday since the 21st of March. Two tourneys have already been played. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Arjun Erigaisi were the winners, but Diptayan Ghosh is leading the overall standings table. | Photo: Amruta Mokal