12/22/2018 – Right before Christmas, it is now usual for the Nutracker Tournament to take place in Russia. A squad of young talented players from the largest country in the world (Princes) face a team composed by older stars from around the globe (Kings). This year's edition finished with a tie in points, but the Princes were declared winners due to the fact that they had won the classical portion of the Scheveningen match. In a parallel event, a team of even younger Russian boys defeated their female counterparts. | Photos: Vladimir Barsky / Russian Chess Federation

12/22/2018 – Playing in big open tournaments and watching top grandmasters in action is fine. But playing a small open for fun can also be a chess experience to enjoy. AGNIESZKA MATRAS-CLEMENT knows this and it is what attracts her to the Banff Open in Canada. | Photo: Banff National Park | www.pixabay.com

12/22/2018 – The year 2018 comes to a close and it was filled with great events, strong tournaments and fantastic games. Now, at the end of the year we invite you to vote for the player of the year (male and female), the newcomer, the game, the combination and the endgame of the year. What do you think: what was the best game of 2018?

12/22/2018 – Playing blitz is a lot of fun. But is it useful? This is the question on the minds of many chess players, parents and trainers. The answer is a resounding "Yes!" We have a great instructional video by IM and chess trainer Sagar Shah, who shows how you can make the best use of your blitz games using the normal ChessBase tools. It's a 16-minute tutorial that you shouldn't miss. Follow his instructions and watch the rating points pour in.

12/22/2018 – The week-long Penang Chess Festival 2018 took place from December 3rd to the 9th in the Malaysian city of Penang. This was the tenth edition of the event, which included both an Open and a Challengers section, a blitz turnament and the Wah Seong Penang Chess League. Despite the presence of a GM and several IMs, FIDE Master Muhamad Agus Kurniawan took first place in the main section after scoring 7½ points in nine rounds. | Photos: Penang Chess Association

12/21/2018 – In the diagram position Black can snatch a pawn with 20...Bxf2. But why be so petty-minded... better start a mating attack instead! Can you play like the 8th world champion?

12/21/2018 – Friday at 18:00 CET (17:00 UT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free, and on-demand free with a ChessBase Basic account for a limited time! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

12/21/2018 – The Lidums Australian Young Masters tournament in Adelaide gives Australian talents an opportunity to gain experience against strong international players. This year the tournament took place from December 8 to December 14 but the international players proved to be too strong. Russian GM Vasily Papin won the GM tournament and GM Arvola Benjamin Notkevich won the IM tournament. | Photo Vasily Papin | Photo: Sabrina Koetsier

12/21/2018 – Each season the Saint Louis Chess Club organises two ten-player strong round robins that include players from all around the globe mixed with young American talents. This year's winter edition was won by Cuban Yuniesky Quesada and Armenian Zaven Andriasian. The mix of ambitious players and excellent playing conditions generated many interesting battles over the board. GM EUGENE PERELSHTEYN participated in the B group and sent us a report with highlights and analyses. | Photos: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

12/20/2018 – With top players such as Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura or Wesley So the national of the USA is one of the strongest in the world. But now it gets even stronger. In a press release the US Chess Federation announced that Cuban Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez will from now on play for the US. | Photo: Leinier Dominguez | Photo Lennart Ootes

12/20/2018 – To celebrate the festival we are offering you a €10 ChessBase voucher for the ChessBase online shop. It is valid for all product groups. One is of particular topical interest: the London System. We have started a new product series: Powerbase. It gives you high-quality edited games, many annotated — perfect for getting to know an opening system and the ideas behind it thoroughly. Take a look and get yourself the Christmas gift best suited to your needs. You have 48 hours to retrieve the voucher!

12/19/2018 – The Asian Continental Championship remained wide open until the very end. At the conclusion of the final round, all of the top three finishers — Wei Yi, Amin Tabatabaei and Le Quang Liem — were tied for first and it wasn't until the application of the tiebreaks that Wei Yi was declared the winner. In the women's group, too, Padmini Rout was caught in the lead after the final round by Gong Qianyun but clinched the title nonetheless as she had won the direct encounter against Gong in round 6. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and Surya Shekhar Ganguly took the fourth and the fifth spots respectively to book their berth into the 2019 FIDE World Cup. | Photo: Peter Long