Is the Traxler Variation still viable?

1/22/2020 – The presentation of new opening ideas is one of the main focuses of ChessBase Magazine. In the current issue, eleven opening articles are waiting for you. A mix from Scandinavian to Najdorf and Catalan to King Indian. There is something for every taste! IM Renato Quintiliano's article on the Traxler Variation from the current issue #193 ends this small series.
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Women's World Championship 2020 - Game 11 drawn

1/22/2020 – Chinese defending champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia are playing a twelve-game match at locations Shanghai and Vladivostok. Game 11 of the Women's World Championship Match ends in a draw after 40 moves. Defending champion Ju Wenjun is leading 6-5. In the final game on Jan 23, the challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina has White in a must-win situation. Ju Wenjun took the lead with back-to-back wins in Game 9 and Game 10. The second half in Vladivostock starts two hours earlier with games commencing at 5:30 UTC (6:30 CET, 12:30 AM EST). | Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen puts the brakes on Firouzja

1/22/2020 – Fabiano Caruana became the sole leader of the Tata Steel Masters after Magnus Carlsen took down former co-leader Alireza Firouzja in a highly anticipated match-up between the world champion and the 16-year-old. Carlsen is now one of four players trailing the leader by a half point. In the meantime, David Anton and Erwin l'Ami caught up with Pavel Eljanov in the lead of the Challengers. Expert analysis by GMs CONSTANTIN LUPULESCU and YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Understanding Rook vs. Minor Piece Endgames for fun and profit

1/21/2020 – A journey into a distant and foreign land always begins by choosing a good guide. If one is interested in knowing more about rook vs minor piece endgames, there is no better guide than the latest book from renowned endgame expert: GM Karsten Mueller. DAVIDE NASTASIO is back for an instructive breakdown on his latest stop on the road to chess improvement.

Start of the Gibraltar Chess Festival 2020

1/21/2020 – The 18th Gibraltar International Chess Festival starts today at the Caleta Hotel on the east side of the Rock of Gibraltar. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov tops the starting ranking list, joined by fellow "2700 club" members Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Hao, Veselin Topalov, David Navara, Le Quang Liem and Kirill Alekseenko. Anatoly Karpov opened the festival with a simultaneous exhibition. Live games and commentary with GM David Howell and Fiona Steil-Antoni from 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET, 9:00 EST). | Pictured: Mayor of Gibraltar John Gonçalves, made the first move on the top board at the start of the 2020 Gibraltar Masters with top seed GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan. Currently No.8 in the world he played his first round game against 12-year-old Candidate Master Raahil Mullick from India. Photo: Niki Riga

Endgame Magic with Mihail Marin

1/21/2020 – First the work then the fun, Karsten welcomes back repeat Endgame Magic guest GM Mihail Marin. 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!

Finding a way

1/21/2020 – Apparently simple pawn endings are often, in fact, surprisingly tricky. Is there a way for White to convert her extra-pawn in the diagrammed position?

Bulmaga tops a quartet in Sharjah, UAE

1/20/2020 – Escaping the cold Romanian winter, IM IRINA BULMAGA returned home recently from a successful jaunt to the UAE where she shared first with fellow IMs Irine Sukandar and IM Olga Zimina, and GM Monika Socko, each scoring 7 out of 9. It was the tenth such tournament for women in Sharjah. | Photos: Official site: shjwomenchess.com

Women's World Championship: Ju takes the lead...again

1/20/2020 – Ju Wenjun took the lead for the second time in the match with just two games before the end of the competition for the Women's World Championship. She defeated her challenger with the black pieces in today's tenth game in a Queen's Gambit Declined, and has excellent chances to retain her title. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

Simon Says: Hastings Highlights 2

1/20/2020 – GM Simon Williams wraps up his recent trip to the traditional Hastings Congress over the New Year with a few more highlights. | Watch for free 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).

Tata Steel Chess: Amazing turnaround leaves Caruana in the lead

1/20/2020 – Fabiano Caruana caught up with Alireza Firouzja atop the standings table of the Tata Steel Masters after beating Vishy Anand from a clearly lost position. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vladislav Kovalev grabbed their first wins of the event. In the Challengers, Nils Grandelius and David Anton joined the four-player chasing pack that stands a half point behind sole leader Pavel Eljanov. Do not miss the thorough analyses provided by GMs DANIEL FERNANDEZ and YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Speelman's Agony: A twofer from the 4NCL

1/19/2020 – In this week's column, GM JON SPEELMAN, brings you two of his own instructive games against grandmasters, played in a recent weekend of the Four Nations Chess League. | 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!

First ever "no-castling" tournament results in 89% decisive games!

1/19/2020 – All the rules of chess remain the same, just that both the players cannot castle. How does removing this one rule alter the game? Well, we decided to put this idea to test by getting 13 of the strongest Indian youngsters (average Elo: 2457) and holding the first ever No-Castling chess tournament at the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training camp in Chennai. Check out all the games, videos, analysis by IM SAGAR SHAH and some brilliant photos by Amruta Mokal.

Tata Steel Masters: Firouzja sole leader

1/19/2020 – 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja continues to stun as he defeated Jeffery Xiong to take the sole lead of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest also grabbed full points and are now sharing second place with Wesley So on 4½ out of 7. In the Challengers, only Nihal Sarin got a win in round seven, which means Pavel Eljanov is still first on 5 points. Do not miss the thorough analyses sent by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ and the round-up video by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Goryachkina grabs the lead

1/18/2020 – With a convincing win in game eight, challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina took the lead in the Women's World Championship match against defending champion Ju Wenjun. After 8 of 12 games, it is now 4½ : 3½ to Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / wwcm2020.fide.com

"Always enjoy the beauty of chess, no matter your level"

1/18/2020 – Chilean singer Juga die Prima has enriched the music world with chess motifs and the chess world with her music. On the occasion of their visit to the Munich Chess Foundation, there was an opportunity for an interview. Franziska Kurz spoke to the musician. | Photos: Munich Chess Academy

Tata Steel Chess: Giri bounces back

1/18/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana signed a draw on a day that saw Anish Giri and Daniil Dubov getting wins at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Thus, Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja are still co-leaders on 'plus two' — Fabiano Caruana, Daniil Dubov and Jorden van Foreest are a half point back. In the Challengers, Pavel Eljanov took advantage of a blunder by Max Wardermam to take the sole lead. Expert analysis by GM TIGER HILLARP-PERSSON and IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

2020 Grand Chess Tour in Bucharest, Paris, Zagreb and Saint Louis

1/17/2020 – Details of the upcoming season of the Grand Chess Tour are out. Ten full tour members and wild cards (TBD). Other than Viswanathan Anand, most of the usual suspects are returning to GCT action — except, that is, the London Chess Classic, which is going it alone this year, no longer a part of the tour that consists of two classical and three rapid/blitz events. Instead of a "Final", the tour culminates with the Sinquefield Cup, held in September. | Image: grandchesstour.org

19-year-old wins 2020 Australian Championship

1/17/2020 – Temur Kuybokarov was born on July 22, 2000 in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. In 2016, he moved to Perth, Australia, with his parents, and since 2018, the year in which he became a grandmaster, he has played for Australia. This year he became Australian Champion. The 19-year-old won the national championship, which took place in Sydney from January 2 to 13, with 9 out of 11.

Epaulette Mate

1/17/2020 – In the diagram, after 21.Qh3! Rh8 there are still some power moves to find before the headline becomes a reality, but perhaps you can already outline the first contours. Enjoy!

Tata Steel Chess: Firouzja takes down Giri

1/17/2020 – Alireza Firouzja rejoined the leading pack at the Tata Steel Masters by taking down Anish Giri in their first-ever classical encounter. GM TIGER HILLARP PERSSON analyses. Fabiano Caruana could have also caught up with Wesley So, but he failed to finish off Jorden van Foreest from a position of strength. The other winner of the day was Vishy Anand, who bounced back to fifty percent with a victory over Jeffery Xiong. Meanwhile, an eventful round in the Challengers left Pavel Eljanov, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Erwin l'Ami sharing the lead. Round-up show by GM DANNY KING. | Photo: Official site

Fast and Furious: Open Catalan (4...dxc4) with 5...a6

1/16/2020 – All eyes on Tata Steel Chess this week, and IM Robert Ris has a theoretically significant game in the Catalan from the current leader of the Challengers group, Surya Ganguly. Tune into the live show at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 1 PM EST) which is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. In the diagram, it's Black to play!

Ju vs Goryachkina all tied at the half

1/15/2020 – In Shanghai on Sunday, the sixth game of the women's world championship between Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina ended in a draw. Goryachkina pulled out all the stops until the 105th move, but the fortress of the defending champion held fast. The match is all tied up at 3:3, and the action now moves to Vladivostok. Get up to speed on the first half's action in time for Thursday's Game 7. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong FIDE / Official site

Game of the Week: van Foreest vs Carlsen

1/15/2020 – Tonight's show will be recorded from Wijk aan Zee, very close to where the action happens. IM Merijn van Delft tackles the game from the Masters that was the talk of the town: Jorden van Foreest vs Magnus Carlsen. 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).