Game of the Week: Van Delft vs Schreiner

11/20/2019 – The European Club Cup presented IM Merijn van Delft with an opportunity to practice his craft, and this week he brings you a personal highlight. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is on-demand this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

Cheers galore as chessboxing kicks off in France

11/20/2019 – Chessboxing has spread to France. The hybrid sport which combines alternating rounds of blitz chess and boxing has been popular in London and Berlin, and now the first official bout has been held in Paris. Paris-based journalist DHANANJAY KHADILKAR was there and sent this report. | Pictured: Thomas Cazeneuve vs Xhemshid Vogliqi | Photos: Dhananjay Khadilkar

Garry Kasparov on chess, tech, Trump and Putin

11/20/2019 – Garry Kasparov became, at the age of 22, the youngest World Champion in chess history. His famous matches against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue brought chess and artificial intelligence into the mainstream. Now, he’s focusing on the quiet war Russia is waging against U.S. democracy. Last week he sat down on the PBS show (in collaboration with CNN) Amanpour and Company and, with Miles O’Brien, discussed everything from computer chess, troll farms to election interference.

Rapid & Blitz Champs return to Russia

11/20/2019 – FIDE has announced the venue and dates for the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships. Officially called the "King Salman World Rapid & Blitz Championships", the tournament will be held in Moscow from December 25th to 30th, 2019.

The Weekly Show: Spanish Champs action

11/19/2019 – This week IM Lawrence Trent checks out the Spanish Championship, specifically the performance of Alexei Shirov. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's White to move! | Lawrence is live for free and on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

A strong line-up at the Spanish Championship

11/19/2019 – Most of the strongest Spanish players are participating at the 2019 edition of the national championship in Marbella, Málaga. After three rounds, five players have managed to maintain a perfect score: Alexei Shirov, Iván Salgado, Jaime Santos, José Cuenca and defending champion Gabriel del Río. The strong event had Anatoly Karpov as a special guest. The former world champion also gave a simul. | Photo: Diario Sur

Catching pawns

11/19/2019 – Knights are versatile but slow. Sometimes they even have difficulty catching a single pawn.

Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova and Nona are European Club Cup 2019 Champions

11/18/2019 – The European Club Cup came to an end with the fourth seeds Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova in the Open and third seeds Nona in the Women's tournament winning the title. The most important feature of both the teams was consistent performance by all the team members en route to wininng the title. In this article we bring you some of the most interesting moments from the event and also pictures from the closing ceremony.

Simon Says: Morphy's Magic

11/18/2019 – Paul Morphy is an eternal source of fascination, and this week GM Simon Williams has curated a selection of his most "magical" games. Watch live for free (or on-demand for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).

Chess computer buyer's guide

11/18/2019 – So you decided you want to upgrade your computer but don’t know where to start? In the following article you will get precise choices for a variety of budgets to help guide you through the maze of choices with precise setups designed to help you get the best bang for your buck. With Black Friday looming around the corner, or even Christmas or Hanukkah to decide on some end-of-the year purchases, this is the one you want to bookmark!

Alexander Grischuk wins the third leg of the Grand Prix in Hamburg

11/18/2019 – Alexander Grischuk defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2½:1½ in the rapid tiebreakers of the final match at the FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg. He thus claimed tournament victory and greatly increased his chances of reaching next year's Candidates. The Russian lost the first game of the day but bounced back with two straight victories. In the fourth encounter of the day, he had a winning position when the draw was agreed. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko

Speelman's Agony: Lessons from amateur errors

11/17/2019 – This week Jon goes solo on annotating, with five games for your review, including the popular Alapin and London. | 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!

Grand Prix Hamburg: Grischuk defeats Duda in four-game rapid match

11/17/2019 – Alexander Grischuk won a thrilling tiebreak match against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The latter took the first rapid game but lost the second. Grischuk dominated the 10+10 games to clinch his victory in Hamburg, and with it 10 Grand Prix points. His total of 20 points will be difficult to beat. The pair played to a draw in the second game of their final match, after Game 1 also ended in a draw. Sixteen players began the tournament competing for Grand Prix points in the penultimate event of the series from November 5th to November 17th, in Germany's Hanseatic metropolis. Games and commentary. | Pictured: Duda during his final match with Grischuk. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko

Hamburg GP Final: Duda the defender

11/17/2019 – For a second day in a row, Alexander Grischuk got the upper hand against Jan-Krzysztof Duda at the final of the FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg. Duda lost the opening battle but managed to find correct defensive moves one time after another until the draw was agreed. The champion will be decided in Sunday's tiebreakers. | Photo: Official site

An Alternate's Chess Olympiad

11/16/2019 – The Chess Olympiad in Novi Sad began 29 years ago today, and ran from November 16th to December 4th, 1990. The 1990 U.S. Women’s team finished in sixth place at the Chess Olympiad held in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia). In board order, the team members were WGM Elena Akhmilovskaya Donaldson, WGM Anna Akhsharumova, WIM Esther Epstein, and alternate WIM ALEXEY ROOT, who shares her alternate experience here.

European Club Cup LIVE

11/16/2019 – Seven rounds have been completed, and two leaders have emerged victorious at the European Club Cup in Ulcinj (Montenegro) played from November 10th to 16th. In the open competition 66 teams play, in the women's tournament there are 14 teams. Photo: Official site

Hamburg GP Final: Grischuk's missed chance

11/16/2019 – In the first game of the FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg, Alexander Grischuk was the one missing a good chance to get ahead on the score board. The Russian got a promising position with White, but could not make the most of it, after both he and Jan-Krzysztof Duda survived a deep time trouble scramble. Another draw in game two will mean the final will be decided in Sunday's tiebreaks. | Photo: Official site

Ivy League Chess Challenge redux

11/16/2019 – The 2nd Ivy League Chess Challenge was successfully held in Toronto, Canada from November 8th to 10th. With the tournament held over the course of three days, many exciting games were played, and numerous new friendships were made. QIYU ZHOU reports that this tournament is special because it is played by some of the top universities in the world! | Pictured: (L to R) Joseph Bellissimo, Sean Lei (current Treasurer of the Hart House Chess Club, and also played as a sub for one game on the team!), Mark Plotkin, arbiter Weiwen Leung, Advait Patel, and your author, Qiyu Zhou | Photo: Panagiotis Tsialas

The Power Play Show: Bucharest GCT

11/15/2019 – Power Play plays on! On the show today: GM Daniel King takes you through a game from the Bucharest GCT. 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...

An amazing game at the European Club Cup 2019

11/15/2019 – The European Club Cup is witnessing some fantastic games. Five out of seven rounds have been completed and the Italian team of Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova is leading with a perfect score of 10.0/10. In the women's section there is a tie between the Georgian team Nona and the Ukrainian Kyiv Chess Federation. IM SAGAR SHAH reports on the results and the performances with a special focus on the amazing game between Ivan Saric and Aydin Suleymanli.

A knight for a knight

11/15/2019 – In the diagram position White, being a pawn down, delivered a surprising strike: 18.Nxh7. Can you see how after 18...Kxh7 he intends to regain the Nb8 by force - or even better, how Black refutes the idea in the end?

Checkmate: A Memorable Love Story

11/15/2019 – He was crazy and he drove everyone crazy. Misha Tal was the joy and despair of all who loved him. When it comes to the Wizard of Riga, truth is stranger than fiction. Last Saturday, November 9th, was his birth anniversary, which inspired PROF. NAGESH HAVANUR, to take a look at the reminiscences of Sally Landau, his first wife.

Abhimanyu Mishra becomes the youngest IM in the world

11/14/2019 – A lot of young talents like Praggnanandhaa, Sindarov, Abdusattorov, Gukesh etc. have tried their best to break Sergey Karjakin's record of becoming the youngest GM in the world at the age of 12 years and 7 months. But they all missed it by a small margin. Who has the best chance to break this record now? Well, it's a 10-year-old American boy of Indian origin who lives in New Jersey. Meet Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest IM in the world. The youngster achieved this feat on November 8th 2019, at the age of 10 years 9 months and 3 days, thereby eclipsing Praggnanandhaa's record of the youngest IM by 17 days. Learn more about the youngster through this article and have a glimpse of his chess skills through the annotated game that he has sent us!

Hamburg GP: Duda in the final

11/14/2019 – The second finalist at the FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg is Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The Polish grandmaster will be facing Alexander Grischuk starting Friday to decide who will become the champion in the second-largest city of Germany. Duda defeated Daniil Dubov in rapid tiebreaks despite losing the first encounter against the Russian. | Photo: Official site