11/24/2019 – Magnus Carlsen recently resigned from the Norwegian Chess Federation, but continues to play in the Second Norwegian League for his newly founded club Offerspill. So far, the world champion has played twice and — not surprisingly — won twice. Both games were one-sided, but still interesting. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (archive)

11/24/2019 – Magnus Carlsen does not cease to impress. This time it was not just on the chess board! He was called as the guest of honour along with Vishy Anand to open the day two of the cricket test match between India and Bangladesh. In between rounds four and five, he entertained one and all with his football skills. Last but not the least, he was an absolute monster on the board as he completely outplayed Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri. His last game for the day was a draw against Vidit Gujrathi. Magnus now has a lead of three points with 10.0/12. He is followed by Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So. In this report we bring to you detailed analysis, pictures, videos from the National Library in Kolkata.

11/24/2019 – The 84th edition of the Spanish Championship is taking place in Marbella (province of Málaga) from the 16th until the 24th of November. Most of the strongest players from the Iberian country are participating. Five players are sharing the lead on 5 out of 6: Paco Vallejo, Alexei Shirov, Miguel Santos Ruiz, José Cuenca and Pedro Ginés. Rounds 1 to 8 start at 16:00 UTC (17:00 CET / 11:00 AM EST) | Photo: Diario Sur

11/24/2019 – Japan has hardly appeared on the chess map so far. But since Yumiko Hiebert took over the office of President of the Japanese Chess Federation, but seems to sprout a small plant. GEORGIOS SOULEIDIS spoke during the FIDE Grand Prix in Hamburg with Hiebert (photo), who belonged to the tournament's Appeals Committee.

11/23/2019 – Chess is spread all over the city of Kolkata! Amidst the hoopla of the opening ceremonies, IM SAGAR SHAH managed to do a small quiz with the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Erwin l'Ami. The quiz dealt with the best games of Anand's chess career (because the players were in India and Vishy will turn 50 in a few days!) and the players had to guess Anand's best move and also the opponent in the game. Magnus Carlsen impressed one and all with his memory! Check out how he and the others fared!

11/23/2019 – The strongest ever tournament on Indian, in fact Asian soil, kicked off on the 22nd of November 2019. Three rounds of rapid chess were played on day one. Six years ago, on this very day Magnus Carlsen had become the World Champion by beating Anand in Chennai. Carlsen continued from where he left and now leads the tournament with 5.0/6. He is followed by Nakamura on 4.0/6. We bring to you the game analysis of all six decisive games of day one and also pictorial impressions and videos from the venue. Not to be missed is Anand's win against Wesley So, Vidit's Houdini like escape against Ding Liren and Nakamura's positional squeeze against Giri.

11/23/2019 – Two major FIDE events will take place in Russia next year. On November 11th, representatives of the organizing bodies signed an agreement for the Candidates Tournament in the magnificent Central Chess Club in Moscow. They announced that the Candidates will be held in Yekaterinburg from March 15th to April 5th. Organizers of other anticipated events have released detailed information in recent weeks, including the Olympiad, the Tata Steel Masters and the TePe Sigeman tournament. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

11/22/2019 – Power Play plays on! On the show today: The King's Gambit. 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...

11/22/2019 – After six rounds, five players share the lead at the Spanish Championship in Marbella, with top seed Paco Vallejo and former world number two Alexei Shirov included in the group that collected five points so far. José Cuenca, Miguel Santos Ruiz (pictured) and Pedro Ginés Esteo (b. 2004) are also co-leading. In the race for the women's trophy, four players are currently on top with 4 out of 6. | Photo: Spanish Chess Federation

11/22/2019 – Fritz 17 is a strong program with many useful (and entertaining) new functions. The following short tutorial shows you how Fritz 17 helps you to learn and to remember your opening repertoire.

11/22/2019 – Following 27.Rg5+! in the diagram position, the weakness of the dark squares will soon prove fatal for Black's king. A queenless mate attack - enjoy!

11/21/2019 – IM Robert Ris is back from his own playing trip to the European Club Cup in Montenegro and shares one of his own games. 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!

11/21/2019 – Success is quite relative. For many chess players winning the Olympiad three times, World Teams once, becoming the national champion twice and reaching the finals of the FIDE World Cup would surely represent a successful chess career. Yet, in the case of Vladimir Akopian this was not enough. This is because Akopian was considered by many to be one of the greatest talents that the chess world had ever seen. Why didn't this GM from Armenia fulfill his promise? Why didn't he become the absolute best in the world. What is his life story? IM Sagar Shah sat down for a candid chat with the Armenian grandmaster.

11/21/2019 – Today Karsten welcomes GM David Howell, who's visiting Hamburg and popped in for an impromptu visit. 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!

11/21/2019 – The 2019 Senior World Championships are taking place in Bucharest from November 12th to the 23rd. Parallel events for players over 50 and over 65, both in open and women's categories, are in full swing. After eight rounds, all four events have sole leaders, with Ukrainian grandmaster Vadim Shishkin heading the field at the 50+ Open. | Photos: Thorsten Cmiel and Tea Patatishvili

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).

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

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.