10/9/2018 – Many will know the name of Viacheslav Ragozin above all as the eponym of the Ragozin variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Ragozin was a successful tournament player in the 1930s to 1950s, becoming the second correspondence chess World Champion in 1958 and was active as a journalist, arbiter and official. Yesterday was the 110th anniversary of his birth. | Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

10/9/2018 – Joining Karsten for a look some recent endgames from tournament practice today is Romanian GM Mihail Marin. This week's show is live at 15:00 CEST (13:00 UT; 9:00 AM EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!

10/9/2018 – Most players love to sacrifice their queen and win a spectacular game. Maybe that is why they often do not have enough faith in the strength of their strongest piece. Which will cost valuable points. Sometimes, far advanced passed pawns are strong enough to cope with a queen. But queens are dangerous and kings should never feel comfortable when the enemy queen is close. Here, the game ended with a draw. White could have won, but how?

10/8/2018 – The closing ceremony of the Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018 was a power-packed one. Prizes were not only given to the top three performing teams and their players, but there were so many other medals, including individual board medals and also gold medals for teams in Groups A to E. We bring you videos, photos and descriptions to give you a feel for how wonderfully this closing ceremony was conducted. | Pictured: The Chinese men and women's team took the front two rows in the auditorium | Photos: Amruta Mokal

10/8/2018 – Live from 18:30 CEST (16:30 UT) is the Play Magnus: Play Live Challenge from the Hamburg headquarters of Der Spiegel. Twelve players took on the World Champion in a clock simul (30 minutes per player for the whole game). Live commentary (in English and German) was provided by Grandmaster Daniel King. This is the fourth edition of what has become an annual event, and Carlsen has yet to drop even one-half point. He won all twelve games of the 2018 edition.

10/8/2018 – In this Simon Says, Simon takes a look at the most interesting games from the second half of the Olympiad. Simon is live this week, so tune in at 18:00 CEST (16:00 UT / Noon EDT) for free access to this popular ChessBase show, or try a Basic ChessBase account for on-demand replay. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

10/8/2018 – Blitz is often bad-mouthed and thought as damaging a player's development. The historical evidence shows the contrary. Most legendary names like Fischer, Bronstein, Tal, were all avid blitz players. The benefit of blitz is easy to understand: within the short span of time of a blitz game, one can see the defects in thought-process, opening repertoire and of course, missing endgame knowledge. Especially at the amateur level, blitz can be a fundamental tool to improve one's own chess. A blitz tournament at the chess club is also a chance for that human interaction, which unfortunately was taken away being modern chess played mainly online. Chess is definitely more pleasant, and exciting when played face to face over the board, and of course more painful!

10/7/2018 – “Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly”. This phrase, extracted from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s ‘Little Prince’, has travelled all around the world, like its author had done while alive. The French writer and aviator was, incidentally, also very fond of chess. SERGIO NEGRI compiles quotes, anecdotes and interpretations that confirm this compelling, albeit unsurprising, connection.

10/7/2018 – The FIDE Presidential election was not the only heated contest at the FIDE Congress. The African Chess Confederation held an election for its President and deputies as well, which proved to be much closer than the FIDE election and included its own case of "withdraw and endorse" at the eleventh hour. But unlike Nigel Short, ACC candidate Tshepo Sitale's plea to support insurgent candidate Essoh Essis failed to tip the scales sufficiently to stave off Lewis Ncube — an Ilyumzhinov loyalist who supported Dvorkovich — who was narrowly re-elected to a new term. | All photos: Macauley Peterson

10/6/2018 – The excitement levels had gone off the charts for the final round of the Batumi Olympiad 2018. The strongest teams were fighting against each other to decide who would take gold. USA and China were pitted against each other in the open section and China and Russia faced off against each other in the women's. The matches ended in 2-2 draws with a lot of drama surrounding them. The tiebreaks favoured China in both the sections and they went home with a double gold! In the Open, the USA took the silver and Russia the bronze while in the Women's Ukraine had to be content with silver, and bronze went to Georgia's first team. Full report from Batumi by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

10/5/2018 – Vladimir Petrovs had a tragic life. He was born in 1907 and became one of the strongest players in Latvia. His biggest success was the international tournament in Kemeri 1937 where he finished joint first with Reshevsky and Flohr, ahead of Alekhine and Keres. When Germany occupied Latvia in WW II he fled to Moscow but after critical remarks about the commuist regime he was arrested and in August 1943 he died in a Soviet labour camp. | Photo: Vladimir Petrovs with his wife Galina (Russkije.lv)

10/5/2018 – From the diagram position White's rooks display amazing flexibility to outsmart Black's passers. Things start with 1.Ra3+ Kb4 2.Rab3+ before the ways (mate nets) divide. Enjoy!