12/28/2020 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King takes a look at Daniil Dubov's play at the Russian Championship in December. Dubov is known for his creative tactical style but he is also able to play strategic masterpieces.

12/27/2020 – The Airthings Masters starts with a 12-player round robin preliminary tournament, in which the eight best players qualify for the knock-out stage. This mode of play invites caution, and on day 2 of the prelimary tournament only three of the 24 games were decided. Now, after eight rounds no less than six players share the lead with 4.5/8, and though tailenders Anish Giri and David Anton will need a strong finish on day 3, theoretically all twelve players can still qualify for the knock-out stage. The most entertaining player on day 2 was Daniil Dubov (pictured). | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

12/27/2020 – For 24 days, you could guess who our distorted and blurred Fritztrainers were. We received over 6000 emails in total! That's great! Thank you very much. From all the entries, we randomly selected three winners for each day. Furthermore, we raffled off T-shirts and masks with a ChessBase motif, as well as a few DVDs with signatures of grandmasters. Those who guessed all 24 days correctly, also entered into our super raffle. Maybe you are one of them? After all, there were 90 prizes to be won.

12/27/2020 – She was a remarkable lady: an Armenian from Karabakh, living in Azerbaijan. After the early death of her husband she brought up her son alone – and what a job she did! She recognized his talent at an early age and quit her job to devote herself completely to the task of helping him become World Chess Champion. She passed on Christmas day 2020, and her son Garry Kasparov writes: "I am bereft. She was my role model, my greatest champion, my wise counsel, and the strongest person I will ever know."

12/27/2020 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the seventh part of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving" Herman shows how strong a strong pawn center can be. | Photo: Hans Hoornstra

12/27/2020 – In the venerable tradition of our Christmas Puzzles, a tradition that has endured for over twenty years, we always strive to provide you with "computer-resistant" problems. You must not be able to solve them by pressing Alt-F2 or clicking on a fan icon. They should also be different from traditional chess problems. Today you have to add a piece or retract a move. Today's problems present logical challenges.

12/23/2020 – We started this series with two articles describing the situation of a young man with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and his interest in chess. After first email encounters we sent Simon some ChessBase software to play around with. His reaction was, to put it mildly, pure delight. In this final article he describes how ChessBase 15 opened new dimensions for him, and how he found a new approach to improve his understanding of the game he loved.

12/23/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/23/2020 – Just a quick reminder! Today GM Elshan Moradiabadi will participate in our video blitz tournament at 15:00 CET. The good news is that we still have two open seats available! If you apply, you will be raffled and might take part in our little tournament.

12/22/2020 – Vishy Anand has ruled the number one spot in Indian chess for over three decades now. The five-time World Champion is now 51 years old and is still very much one of the best in the world. But Anand also wants to ensure that there are youngsters in India who rise quickly to the top of the world rankings in the years to come. It is with this objective in mind that the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy has been created. Nihal Sarin, Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani, Gukesh and Vaishali are the five youngsters who received a fellowship and will be personally mentored by Vishy Anand.

12/22/2020 – In his “Weekly Show” IM Lawrence Trent looks at a couple of games from the over-the-board tournament taking place in Sitges, paying special attention to the remarkable victory obtained by 17-year-old Hans Niemann over Matthieu Cornette in round 6. | Lawrence's show is available at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12:00 ET) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/22/2020 – The second event of the Champions Chess Tour — an online series of tournaments organized by the Play Magnus Group — will kick off on December 26. Unlike the Skilling Open, which was a ‘Regular’ event and included 16 players, the Airthings Masters will have 12 players in its lineup, as it is the first ‘Major’ in the schedule. The tournament will run until January 3.