The Weekly Show: Hello 2020!

1/7/2020 – Before Lawrence hits the road again, a recap of some of the recent chess action including Hastings, Shanghai and a preview of Wijk aan Zee. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's Black to move! | Lawrence is on-demand this week beginning at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

Memorial for pioneering woman

1/7/2020 – Krystyna Hołuj-Radzikowska (born February 5, 1931 in Lemberg, died November 29, 2006) was a pioneer among women chess players and won a total of nine Polish Championships. She represented Poland five times at the Chess Olympiad and in 1957 in Emmen she won gold as the best single player. In honour of Hołuj-Radzikowska, the best Polish players competed against a team of women from the "rest of the world" in Wroclaw last month. The "world" won, but narrowly. | Pictured: Happy participants with photographer Maria Emelianova | Photo: Wojciech Zawadzki

Endgame Magic: Best endgames of 2019

1/7/2020 – Wrapping up the last year, Karsten dedicates this show to a review of the best endgames of 2019. Live at 13:00 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!

Why there’s a separate World Chess Championship for women?

1/7/2020 – The Women’s World Chess Championship match is from January 5-26, 2020. The first six games will be played in Shanghai, China and the remaining six games, plus any tiebreak games, will be played in Vladivostok, Russia. The match features Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun of China against challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, of Russia. Here, Alexey Root, a lecturer teaching courses about chess in education at The University of Texas at Dallas, answers questions about the Women’s World Chess Championship. | Photo: Lewis Liu

An amazing knight

1/7/2020 – Sometimes knights appear slow and sluggish. But knights can also be nimble, swift and very versatile. To wit, see how this valiant steed in the diagram below does battle against a veritable hoard of black pawns.

Two draws to start the Women's World Championship

1/6/2020 – The Women's World Championship between defending champion Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina is being played over 12 games, half in Shanghai and half in Vladivostok. The second game ended today in a draw. FIDE Vice President GM Nigel Short (pictured) made the ceremonial first move before his live commentary duties. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Lewis Liu, Michael Friedman

NEW: A nightmare for the Najdorf

1/6/2020 – The Najdorf is one of the most dangerous variations of the Sicilian Defence. Fighting against it is always difficult, but GM Sergei Tiviakov demonstrates a very effective way to combat this popular opening.

Kramnik and Gelfand train top juniors

1/6/2020 – Fourteen of the brightest talents of Indian chess will train with two of the legends in the world of chess: Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand. The Microsense Kramnik Gelfand chess program runs from January 8th to the 17th, 2020, in Chennai. This is the second training camp, after the successful completion of the first one in August 2019. Joining the original six students are eight more, all hand picked by Kramnik and Gelfand to receive intensive training over the next ten days. Microsense Private Limited is the sponsor of the program, while ChessBase India founders Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal manage the camp.
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Magesh Chandran dominates Hastings Congress

1/6/2020 – There was no stopping Magesh Chandran Panchanathan at the 95th edition of the Hastings International Chess Congress. The Indian grandmaster finished in clear first place with an outstanding 7½ out of 9 score. Second place went to Romain Edouard, who was the only player to end the tournament a half point behind Magesh. Four players shared 3rd to 6th on 6½. | Pictured: Magesh (left) during the 2017 Reykjavik Open | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Speelman's Agony: An English, a London, a Morra

1/5/2020 – "How could I refuse the author of my favourite endgame books, so I decided to submit four games", writes Justin Baptie. GM JON SPEELMAN provides his instructive comments on four club-level games. | 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!

Hovhannes Gabuzyan grabs North American Open

1/5/2020 – Close to a hundred chess players spent the last days of 2019 participating in the 29th edition of the North American Open at the Bally's Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Zviad Izoria finished atop the standings on 7 out of 9 — Gabuzyan took home the bonus prize money reserved for the winner, as he had a higher score in the second tiebreak criterion. GM RUIFENG LI sent us a report with expert analyses and a selection of noteworthy games. | Photos: Crystal Jiuzhou Gu

Ken Thompson: Moscow adventures (2)

1/5/2020 – In the early 1980s, FREDERIC FRIEDEL spent a week in Moscow with Unix pioneer Ken Thompson, who was supposed to demonstrate his computer chess world champion machine Belle to the Soviet Chess Federation, and to former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who was developing a rival strategy in chess programming. He takes us on a trip down memory lane. Read part 1.

The quest for a third IM norm

1/4/2020 – Improving one's chess rating is a tough task at every level, especially when one reaches an apparently insurmountable plateau. As we go up the rating ladder, things only get more difficult, as Anatole Vlachos (pictured) and Thal Abergel explain in this article by DHANANJAY KHADILKAR. A look into what it takes to go from FM to IM, and from IM to GM. | Photo: Dhananjay Khadilkar

Coming soon: Ju Wenjun vs Aleksandra Goryachkina

1/4/2020 – The new chess year 2020 starts with a World Championship. World Champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina compete for the title of World Champion for women in a match split between Shanghai and Vladivostok. The first of a total of 12 games will be played on Sunday, January 5th. | Photos: cca.imsa.cn

Ken Thompson: Moscow adventures (1)

1/4/2020 – In the early 1980s, FREDERIC FRIEDEL spent a week in Moscow with Unix pioneer Ken Thompson, who was supposed to demonstrate his computer chess world champion machine Belle to the Soviet Chess Federation, and to former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who was developing a rival strategy in chess programming. Unfortunately Thompson's computer did not arrive with him in Moscow. But in spite of this, the trip turned out to be quite an adventure.

The Best of 2019

1/3/2020 – At the end of 2019 ChessBase readers were invited to vote for the player, the female player, the game, the combination, and the endgame of the year. A lot of readers took part in the votes and here are the results — the favourites of our readers. | Photo: Maria Emelianova

The Power Play Show: Unconventional Korobov

1/3/2020 – Power Play in 2020! On the show today: Anton Korobov's Najdorf. 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...

Kunin collects in Zürich

1/3/2020 – There are several prominent opens held over the Christmas and New Year holidays. One of the long-running traditions is the Christmas tournament in Zurich which took place for the 43rd time. In all, 90 players, including ten grandmasters took part, and first prize went to Vitaly Kunin. | Photo: Gerd Densing

Dubov's king chase

1/3/2020 – In the diagram position, Black must give his queen on e6 to stay in the game - instead, 29...Kc6? 30.Qf3+ Kb5 sends his king on a journey of no return. Happy hunting!

Magesh Chandran clear leader in Hastings

1/3/2020 – Six out of nine rounds of the Hastings Chess Congress have been completed, and a player has emerged as the undisputed leader. Indian grandmaster Magesh Chandran Panchanathan has a full-point lead over a five-player chasing pack after having collected an astounding 5½ points. The player from Madurai already faced the three top seeds of the event, beating David Howell and Erik van den Doel, and drawing Romain Edouard, who is currently part of the group on 4½. | Photo: Official site

Fast and Furious: Scandinavian 3...Qd6

1/2/2020 – Welcome to 2020 Fast & Furious! IM Robert Ris checks out the theoretical implications of a Carlsen win from the World Rapid Championship. 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!

ChessBase Magazine: A gateway to chess improvement

1/2/2020 – ChessBase magazine is a great training tool, but a very important feature not to be overlooked in today's modern world is that it's a time-saver! Want to find the best endgames played in the last couple of months, or the latest opening novelties? It's all well packaged in one neat product, the latest ChessBase Magazine 193! Loads of videos cover the needs of those who are visual learners. Prolific reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO (known by his students as Mr. Checkmate) gives us the details.

Friedel on Anand — the makings of a genius

1/2/2020 – Viswanathan Anand has not only achieved the highest honours in the game of chess but has also led India to become one of the chess superpowers in the world. But how was he when he was young? FREDERIC FRIEDEL (pictured), co-founder of ChessBase, has been a very close friend of his for decades. He has seen him grow from a prodigiously talented teenager into a mature and highly accomplished man. In a recent interview with IM Sagar Shah, Frederic related many of his interesting experiences with a young Vishy when he was still climbing to the upper echelons of the chess world. He winds back the clock and take you on a journey which is as nostalgic as it is insightful.

Game of the Week: A Carlsen clash

1/1/2020 – Kicking off 2020, IM Merijn van Delft reviews a game from the absolute elite: Aronian vs Carlsen from the World Rapid Championship in Moscow. 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).