4/26/2019 – As in the previous year we decided to abandon our decades-long tradition of tricking our readers with false stories on April 1st. For those who are disappointed by this decision we brought you a really fun (and fully genuine) task proposed by Pal Benko for this auspicious day. Initially there was an error in the task, but after we corrected that we received valid solutions. The best came from Mihály Berkics from Hungary, who receives a special prize.

4/25/2019 – After winning in Shamkir, Carlsen’s live rating was up to 2861, his best since June 2015. After five rounds in Grenke, that's exactly where he remains today (well 2861.6 to be precise!). IM SAGAR SHAH recently took a look at how he's climbing back towards his all-time peak. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis (author of The Open Games - A detailed overview)

4/25/2019 – Enjoy top class training and the new layout! ChessBase Magazine is the most comprehensive and most sophisticated chess magazine there is. World class players analyse their brilliancies and explain the ideas behind the moves to you, opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and offer exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in the fields of tactics, strategy, and the endgame show you the tricks and techniques a successful tournament player needs! DVD with several hours of video + booklet.

4/25/2019 – Most games are decided by tactics and the better you are tactically, the more points you make. The ChessBase Magazine helps you to sharpen and improve your tactical abilities. With a regular tactics column and with interactive games with training tasks. Here's a brief guide on the tools available to help you improve your tactical acumen. | Drawing: ChessBase

4/25/2019 – A chess bonanza in Poland, the Katowice Chess Festival, anchored by the Polish-Hungarian Friendship Chess Tournament attracted players from many countries and 20 grandmasters, over 1000 in attendance in all. Side events included Polish Individual and Team Championship in blitz. PRESS RELEASE | Pictured: One of the most memorable moments of the Festival | Photo: M. Walusza

4/25/2019 – Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen drew games of very different nature to maintain the lead at the 2019 GRENKE Chess Classic; Peter Svidler could not make the most of an opening edge against Paco Vallejo; while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian repeated the position three times in the early middlegame. In the meantime, after having lost four games in a row, Vincent Keymer got his first super-tournament victory, a welcomed reward for his uncompromising play so far in Karlsruhe. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

4/24/2019 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT). On this week's show: Giri vs Harikrishna from the ongoing Shenzhen Masters. The live show 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.

4/24/2019 – For a player who wants to learn a wide range of different middlegame positions, the English should definitely be high on the list. Flexibility in move orders can mean the difference between quiet or aggressive play. Reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO takes a deep dive into the new FritzTrainer by GM Mihal Marin, who previously authored one of the biggest literary works on the English opening and has now brought his experience to the video format in a new, updated repertoire. Glimpse his deep knowledge, acquired through years of practice, in order to gain confidence in this new opening weapon suitable in every type of setting, from long time control tournaments to online blitz.

4/24/2019 – Karsten is joined by the second youngest grandmaster ever, the Indian prodigy D. Gukesh who's fresh off a phenomenal result at the Grenke Open. Join Karsten and Gukesh live at 14:00 UTC (16:00 CEST, 10:00 AM EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!

4/24/2019 – Four out of five games saw the higher-rated player getting a win in round four of the GRENKE Chess Classic. Only Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen drew, after continuing the theoretical battle in the Sicilian Sveshnikov that began last year during their match in London. Meanwhile, Vishy Anand defeated Paco Vallejo and joined Magnus in the lead. Arkadij Naiditsch, Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also won. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

4/23/2019 – There's a whole lot of chess going on in Europe at the moment, but we shouldn't forget about the double round-robin tournament taking place to the Far East in Shenzehn, China. Pentala Harikrishna leads the field with 4½ points after his fourth consecutive win in today's sixth round. Anish Giri trails a half a point behind. IM Sagar Shah annotates Harikrishna's latest exploits. | Photos: cca.imsa.cn

4/23/2019 – Daniel Fridman won the Grenke Open 2019 thanks to having the best tiebreak score among eight players finishing with 7½/9. Three other German grandmasters shared the same score as did the 12-year-old Indian phenom D. Gukesh. Yuliya Shvayger was the top scoring woman. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis