5/7/2019 – Saint Petersburg's "Bronze Horsemen" won all five matches so far at the Russian Team Championship to take a two-point lead over Sima-Land and Molodezhka — the leaders have not faced either of the chasing teams yet. In the women's section, SShOR — also from Saint Petersburg — defeated Yugra in round four and are now in clear first place. Monday was a rest day in Sochi. | Pictured: Gata Kamsky (Ladya) | Photo: Irina Chibikova

5/6/2019 – Last time our columnist wrote on the life and career of Oleg Pervakov. This week he offers a glimpse of the eminent composer’s work from a recently published collection of endgame studies. He also sets a challenge for readers to solve three of them. Your move! | Photo: ChessPro.ru

5/6/2019 – In this Simon Says we have a mixed bag of goodies. First up we take a look in at the recent gambit mentioned in Jonathan Speelman's latest column, 'The Bryntse Gambit'. Then pawns, puzzles and more. On-demand starting at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

5/6/2019 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave would have remained undefeated in the recently concluded Grenke Chess Classic tournament had it not been for the final round loss against Magnus Carlsen. One of the most talked about points of their encounter was the French grandmaster's move 10...b5, a move that left many puzzled. In an exclusive interview with DHANANJAY KHADILKAR for ChessBase, the 28-year-old speaks on a variety of subjects from playing against Carlsen to his hopes of qualifying for next year's Candidates tournament. And, he also explains why he made that particular move.

5/5/2019 – After three rounds, two players co-lead the TePe Sigeman & Co Tournament in Sweden's third largest city, Malmö. Top seeds Gawain Jones and Pentala Harikrishna drew two and won one to position themselves ahead of the field on 2/3. Meanwhile, Nihal Sarin wasted a big chance to take down Ivan Saric in round one — still, the 14-year-old Indian became the youngest 2600+ rated player in the world (in the live ratings). SAGAR SHAH analysed two of Nihal's games. | Photo: Official site

5/5/2019 – This week JON SPEELMAN marvels at an obscure queen sacrifice in the opening (on move six!) that USA expert Dana Mackenzie used to ensnare two titled players in over-the-board tournament games! 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!

5/1/2019 – The Sicilian Najdorf is one of the most popular openings in chess! But what do you do if you wish to enter the Najdorf universe for the first time? What would be the right way to learn such complex opening? Grandmaster Victor Bologan proposes this repertoire to answer all the main lines, and sidelines. The Najdorf is a dynamic opening which matches those players who like to play with intensity. But a less well-known rationale is that if one wants to become stronger as player, then the Najdorf is a gym for the budding chess mind! Thanks to a wealth of ideas, strategic themes and tactical patterns, the Najdorf has all one needs to learn how to play the middlegame.

5/1/2019 – On the last weekend of May an unusual tournament will be played in Scotland. Four top players, Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Ding Liren, and a fourth player who is not yet known, will play a rapid tournament in the Lindores Abbey Distillery, once a famous monastery and perhaps the place where Scotch whisky had its origins. | Photo: Lindores Abbey Distillery

4/30/2019 – On the show today, IM Lawrence Trent looks at the monstrously good performance of World Champion Magnus Carlsen at the Grenke Chess Classic. Live at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) and free to watch on-demand for a limited time with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

4/30/2019 – "A bit of sun and five degrees" — that's how IM ALINA L'AMI begins her photographic tour through the GAMMA Reykjavik Open 2019. In her characteristic way she blends beautiful photography and highlights from the chessboard to paint a picture of one of the most visually stunning tournaments in the world. | Pictured: IM Tania Sachdev who finished with 5½/9 | All photos: Alina l'Ami

4/30/2019 – Which is the most popular chess video on the Internet? How many people watched the record-breaking YouTube video? And who is the star of the show? Magnus Carlsen? Garry Kasparov? Neither. It is a 13-year-old boy named Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Really! A single video of him beating a 2650 GM in blitz chess was watched by close to 21 million viewers — chalking up 82 million watch minutes. And that's not all: other games by Pragg have been watched many millions of times as well.

4/30/2019 – Knights can be very agile and strong but against far advanced pawns they are sometimes surprisingly helpless.