10/2/2020 – Some might think that ChessBase was the inventor of the chess database. That is true to some degree, but there is a predecessor, and Frederic Friedel was a part of it. In the video we talk about one of the very first commercially available chess database systems, called "Intelligent Chess", and we opened our little ChessBase museum to present to you, the original prototype including a database on audio cassette.

10/2/2020 – "With the games and analyses in this article, I'm confident you are well-equipped to face 6.f4 against the Najdorf in a practical game." That's how Niclas Huschenbeth closes his article on 6.f4 in the Najdorf in the current ChessBase Magazine #197. Only a few days after the editorial deadline, he had the opportunity to test his analyses in practice at the German Masters. Andreas Heimann promptly attacked Huschenbeth's Najdorf with the aggressive 6.f4. And? Huschenbeth came out of the opening without any problems, but missed a nice winning chance in the middlegame.

10/2/2020 – In the diagram position White is a pawn down but Black has not castled yet and is far from being fully developed. Black's last move 13...Qb8 targets White's pawn on e5 but did not do anything for Black's development. Don't you let him get away with it!

10/1/2020 – The 2700chess.com webpage has been keeping track of top players’ ratings on a daily basis for quite a while now. Besides presenting the highest rated players in classical, rapid and blitz, both in the open and the women’s categories, they have included a list of the highest live ratings ever achieved. Let us recap the top ten of this list, and look at the games which gave each of the players their highest-ever live rating.

10/1/2020 – After the corona lockdown the players gradually play again over-the-board, which led to some movement on the rating lists. However, while World Champion Magnus has been very active online, he did not play a single elo-rated game. But with a rating of 2863 Carlsen is still the world's number one, and he is currently 35 points ahead of Fabiano Caruana who indeed played some over-the-board games in September.

10/1/2020 – Chess Classics are an integral part for every young chess player's development. These are the building blocks which help you to develop your style of play. IM Sagar Shah has started a new series on the ChessBase India YouTube channel where he has taken on the challenging task of covering some of the most important classics in chess! The first one he begins with is his personal favourite - Botvinnik vs Capablanca AVRO tournament 1938. A young Botvinnik takes on an experienced Capablanca and outplays him both strategically as well as tactically. 10 positions to solve, an hour long video and detailed game analysis for you to understand this duel.

9/30/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game from the Spanish Team Championship, in which Yuriy Kuzubov showed excellent endgame technique. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo:

9/30/2020 – In his most recent "Let's talk about Chess..." podcast Eric van Reem talks to Peter Heine Nielsen, who was second and trainer of Vishy Anand and now works for Magnus Carlsen. The Danish Grandmaster gives revealing insights into the work of a second and how the computer influences opening preparation. | Photo: Hartmut Metz

9/30/2020 – Modifying the existing rules for chess to make it more dynamic or decisive, is a non-trivial task: you need years of experience and large numbers of people playing new versions in order to assess the quality and appeal of any new variant. Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has proposed new variants, and DeepMind has used their AI technology to evaluate them in a much shorter period of time. Here are their findings for No-castling, Pawn one square and Stalemate=win chess.

9/30/2020 – With a 3½:2½ win over Gros Xake Taldea, Silla Bosch Serinsys secured clear first place at the Spanish Team Championship in Linares. Andreu Paterna, the team that was in sole second place before the final round, also won and took home the silver. Magic Extremadura completed the podium after beating Collado Villalba. | Photos: Spanish Chess Federation

9/29/2020 – This article celebrates connections between chess and coffee, in honor of national and international coffee days. WIM Alexey Root describes coffeehouse chess, a Seattle coffeehouse visited by famous chess players, and two coffee companies. A quiz guides each reader to specialty coffee beans and chess openings, courtesy of National Master Mike Walder. | Pictured: CEO of the Mokate Group Adam Mokrysz shakes hands with Anatoly Karpov at the simul given by the former world champion on August 21, 2020

9/29/2020 – The 2020 edition of the Spanish Team Championship is taking place on September 23-29 in Linares. Eight times are competing in the top division (“División de Honor”), a single round robin tournament. Each matchup is played on six boards, with one of the boards reserved for a woman player. Rounds start daily at 16:00 CEST. | Photo: FEDA