6/4/2019 – The two grandmasters Niclas Huschenbeth (pictured) and Dmitrij Kollars were dominating the 90th German Championships which were part of the German Chess Congress 2019 in Magdeburg. Both players finished the tournament with 8/9 but Huschenbeth had the better tiebreak and became German Champion 2019. | Photos: German Chess Federation / Frank Hoppe

6/4/2019 – White is almost in zugzwang but the diagonal a2-g8 happens to be just long enough for White's bishop.

6/4/2019 – The 2019 Altibox Norway Chess Tournament officially kicked off Monday in Stavanger. The traditional Blitz Tournament, which takes place in lieu of the drawing of lots, was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman overpowered Magnus Carlsen in their final round deciding match-up and became the highest-rated player in the blitz ratings list. Levon Aronian and Carlsen shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

6/3/2019 – The Candidates tournament for the Women's World Championship technically began in May, but it's primarily a June affair. Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen is in action in Stavanger for the seventh time, and World Chess is trying a new format in Moscow that also involves Armageddon. You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage as well.

6/3/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for June 2019 starts with World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who has a chance to break his own all-time rating record this month. That would go a long way towards cementing a claim on the greatest-of-all-time honours. Pictured, however, is Cuban-born Leinier Dominguez, who now plays for the USA, and after a long hiatus is now knocking on the door of the Top 10 at 2760, just 8 points shy of his personal peak rating. That was set back in May 2014, when he briefly hit 2768. Do you know who else was at his peak that month five years ago? Magnus Carlsen! | Photo: Justin Kellar / Saint Louis Chess Club

6/3/2019 – Grandmaster Simon Williams says give the Torre Attack the ole college try! He'll show you the main ideas to whet your appetite for his latest DVD on this popular opening for amateur tournament players. Watch live for free starting at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

6/3/2019 – All four games favoured White in round three of the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. Both co-leaders — Nana Dzagnidze and Aleksandra Goryachkina — were among the winners, which leaves them on top of the standings with a remarkable 2½/3 score before the first rest day of the event. Meanwhile, Valentina Gunina bounced back from her round two loss and Tan Zhongyi got her first win of the tournament. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/2/2019 – This week our columnist JON SPEELMAN shares his own agonizing loss from over 40 years ago as a fine example of the "tension between structure and energy". Plus, in this study from GM John Nunn (pictured) it's White to play and draw! | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material 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!

6/2/2019 – An exciting round in Kazan resulted in two decisive games at the 2019 Women's Candidates. Nana Dzagnidze played bravely with Black and defeated Anna Muzychuk, while Aleksandra Goryachkina took down Valentina Gunina in 92 moves, after the latter stubbornly defended an inferior position for hours on end. Both co-leaders will have the white pieces on Sunday, when round three will be the last one before the first rest day. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/1/2019 – Many will know the Austro-Hungarian (and later Czechoslovakian) Richard Réti as a world-class player, but also as a great composer of endgame studies, so — in time for his 130th birthday — we continue our exploration of European chess composers with him. (Read part 1) | Photo: Ernst & Cesanek, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

6/1/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament started on Friday in Kazan. All four games of round one were drawn, but a couple of them could have easily finished decisively. Valentina Gunina faltered in time trouble against Kateryna Lagno, but later showed great resourcefulness to save the half point, while Aleksandra Goryachkina missed a couple of chances against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Anastasya Karlovich

5/31/2019 – For years Elisabeth Paehtz (born January 8, 1985) has been the clear number one chess player among German women. Since 1998 the World Youth Champion U18-Girls and World Junior Girls Champion 2005 has been playing for the German National Women's team, but in a press release from May 29 she announced her decision to quit, citing the "unequal treatment of women" compared to men in German chess and in the German Chess Federation. One day later the German Chess Federation replied. | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund