Stop the pawns!

12/29/2020 – Passed pawns can be dangerous, sometimes even extremely dangerous. In the diagram position Black really needs a good idea to stop the white pawns. What would you do? Black to play and draw!

Airthings Masters: A dramatic day 3

12/28/2020 – The third and last day of the preliminary tournament of the Airthings Masters saw a lot of of exciting games and a close fight for the top eight places which secured the qualification for the knock-out stage. In the end and after a close tiebreak Carlsen, So, Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov, Aronian, Dubov and Vachier-Lagrave qualified. | Photo:

Airthings Masters, Carlsen vs Dubov: A close look at a difficult endgame

12/28/2020 – In the first eight rounds of the Airthings Masters Preliminary Tournament Magnus Carlsen (pictured) drew seven of his games and won only one. He defeated Daniil Dubov in a difficult technical endgame. The Airthings Masters is a rapid tournament, and the players often have only seconds to make their moves - not enough to think too much about endgame subtleties. However, analysts like to search for the truth, and Zoran Petronijevic and Karsten Müller decided to take a close look at the endgame in Carlsen vs Dubov and found an amazing ressource. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: A strategic masterpiece by Daniil Dubov

12/28/2020 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King takes a look at Daniil Dubov's play at the Russian Championship in December. Dubov is known for his creative tactical style but he is also able to play strategic masterpieces.

Airthings Masters, Day 2: Six leaders, lots of draws

12/27/2020 – The Airthings Masters starts with a 12-player round robin preliminary tournament, in which the eight best players qualify for the knock-out stage. This mode of play invites caution, and on day 2 of the prelimary tournament only three of the 24 games were decided. Now, after eight rounds no less than six players share the lead with 4.5/8, and though tailenders Anish Giri and David Anton will need a strong finish on day 3, theoretically all twelve players can still qualify for the knock-out stage. The most entertaining player on day 2 was Daniil Dubov (pictured). | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

The winners of our Fritztrainer calendar!

12/27/2020 – For 24 days, you could guess who our distorted and blurred Fritztrainers were. We received over 6000 emails in total! That's great! Thank you very much. From all the entries, we randomly selected three winners for each day. Furthermore, we raffled off T-shirts and masks with a ChessBase motif, as well as a few DVDs with signatures of grandmasters. Those who guessed all 24 days correctly, also entered into our super raffle. Maybe you are one of them? After all, there were 90 prizes to be won.

Klara Shagenovna – 1937 † 2020

12/27/2020 – She was a remarkable lady: an Armenian from Karabakh, living in Azerbaijan. After the early death of her husband she brought up her son alone – and what a job she did! She recognized his talent at an early age and quit her job to devote herself completely to the task of helping him become World Chess Champion. She passed on Christmas day 2020, and her son Garry Kasparov writes: "I am bereft. She was my role model, my greatest champion, my wise counsel, and the strongest person I will ever know."

Understanding before Moving 7: Divided in two - Part 1

12/27/2020 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the seventh part of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving" Herman shows how strong a strong pawn center can be. | Photo: Hans Hoornstra

Christmas puzzles: Add-a-king, and take that back!

12/27/2020 – In the venerable tradition of our Christmas Puzzles, a tradition that has endured for over twenty years, we always strive to provide you with "computer-resistant" problems. You must not be able to solve them by pressing Alt-F2 or clicking on a fan icon. They should also be different from traditional chess problems. Today you have to add a piece or retract a move. Today's problems present logical challenges.

Airthings Masters, Day 1: Five players share the lead, Carlsen starts with four draws

12/26/2020 – The first day of the Airthings Masters was rather peaceful: 17 of the 24 games ended in draw, only seven had a decisive result. Magnus Carlsen also finished the day without a win and drew all his four games. After the first four rounds five players share first place with 2½/4 each: Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Wesley So, Teimour Radjabov, and Daniil Dubov. They all won one game and drew the other three. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

A tricky choice

12/26/2020 – In the diagram position Black just played 45...Rxc5 and now White has a tricky choice: he can play 46.Qxc5, 46.Qxf7+ or 46.Rxf7+. What would you do?

Chess is beauty, can you see?

12/26/2020 – Columnist Siegfried Hornecker wonders, What is it that which motivates me, and others? What is this mysterious thing that is called ‘beauty’? Why do we perceive something as beautiful? He then goes on to share the opinions of people who have delved into these thought-provoking questions. | Photo: Bas Beekhuizen / Batavia Tournament 2016

Chinese Chess Championships taking place in Xinghua

12/25/2020 – The open and women’s Chinese Chess Championships are taking place on December 19-30 in Xinghua, a county-level city located in the Jiangsu Province. Both events are 12-player single round robins. Yu Yangyi and Lu Shanglei are sharing the lead in the open event, while three players — Tan Zhongyi, Ni Shiqun and Song Yuxin — are tied in first place in the women’s tournament. Women’s world champion Ju Wenjun is playing in the open section. | Photo: Nadja Wittmann

Hort stories: Don't worry, be happy!

12/25/2020 – It has been a tough year for everyone. But one can always look at the glass half full, like our columnist Vlastimil Hort, who wrote this piece two years ago. Enjoy! | How to recover after a loss? What to do when things do not go your way — in life and in chess? Vlastimil Hort has an answer to this question: "Don't worry, be happy!" And he shares some anecdotes to show how this works in practice.

Christmas puzzles: no checks please!

12/25/2020 – Do you know how many chess variants there are? In 1994 David Pritchard counted 1,450. Many are complex and require long explanations of the rules. Here's a variant that takes just a few seconds to explain, but completely changes the spirit of the game: Checkless Chess! Try it over the holiday season with friends – or solve a few brain-numbing puzzles. A Merry Christmas to all our readers!

Ivan Cheparinov prevails in Sitges

12/24/2020 – With a last-round win Ivan Cheparinov clinched clear first place at the over-the-board open tournament in Sitges — Cheparinov scored 8 points in 10 rounds. Jules Moussard, Jaime Santos, Alexandr Fier and Vladislav Nevednichy finished a half point behind. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo wins European Women’s Clup Cup

12/24/2020 – The European Women’s Club Cup was played online on December 19-22. The favourites from Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo won the event despite losing their direct encounter against the tail-enders from SK Schwäbisch Hall. Two Russian teams, UGRA and Gambit Volgograd, completed the podium.

For free: Get your brand-new 60 minutes video course

12/24/2020 – You still have time to get it! This special ends on Dec 25 at 23:59. Get your brand-new 60-minute video by none other than the Ginger GM himself, Simon Williams. These gambits aren’t sound and there are ways for your opponents to get an advantage. Still the gambits are growing in popularity especially in online blitz.

The Fritztrainer Christmas Calendar - Door 24

12/24/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!
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“Indian” chess set added to chess museum’s collection in Russia

12/24/2020 – Elena Burmistrova has presented the CFR Chess Museum with a unique art gift for the New Year. It comes from a limited edition of handmade chess sets titled “Indian”, manufactured at the porcelain enterprise “Delta-X” of Kislovodsk in the 1990s. To design the chessmen, A. Lyubkin resorted to ancient legends and tales’ motives. Pieces of gilt and overglaze painting join the combat on a chessboard of marble and serpentine stone.

Game of the Week: Coaching a world champ!

12/23/2020 – In his Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft celebrates the fact that one of his students, Eline Roebers, has won the Girls U14 World Rapid Championship! He analyses a tense game from Roebers’ final match against Zsoka Gaal. | Merijn's show is available at 16.00 UTC (17:00 CET, 12:00 EDT) and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Harry Gielen

My experience with ChessBase

12/23/2020 – We started this series with two articles describing the situation of a young man with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and his interest in chess. After first email encounters we sent Simon some ChessBase software to play around with. His reaction was, to put it mildly, pure delight. In this final article he describes how ChessBase 15 opened new dimensions for him, and how he found a new approach to improve his understanding of the game he loved.

The Fritztrainer Christmas Calendar - Door 23

12/23/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!
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You can play blitz against Elshan Moradiabadi today!

12/23/2020 – Just a quick reminder! Today GM Elshan Moradiabadi will participate in our video blitz tournament at 15:00 CET. The good news is that we still have two open seats available! If you apply, you will be raffled and might take part in our little tournament.