2/27/2025 – Tata Steel 2025: Analyses by the tournament winners, Praggnanandhaa and Nguyen, as well as Abdusattorov, Giri, Harikrishna, L'Ami, Mendonca, Suleymanli, Van Foreest and Yakubboev + video review by Blohberger - Chess legend Viktor Kortschnoj: exclusive collection of 24 annotated games from 1960 to 2006 plus video by David Navara – Modern Petroff: Balázs Csonka sheds light on the Damiano Variation 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4!? - “The fortress - rien ne va plus!”: Dorian Rogozenco shows a classic fortress motif with queen + pawn against rook + pawn - The cheeky queen: Surya Ganguly shows in the video that 4.Qxd4 is also an option against the Sicilian with 2...e6! and much more.

2/27/2025 – Four decisive games in round eight of the Monaco Women's Grand Prix had a major impact on the tournament standings. Kateryna Lagno, the sole leader going into the round, drew her game, allowing Batkhuyag Munguntuul and Aleksandra Goryachkina to catch up after scoring key victories. Tan Zhongyi also won, keeping her title chances alive. With only one round remaining, three players share the lead, while two others remain within striking distance. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

2/27/2025 – Composer and musician Jason Kouchak draws much of his musical inspiration from his love of chess, which he shares with many friends. Last autumn Kouchak found inspiration for a composition while walking along London's King's Road, and in the New Year he repeated the journey of the Lewis Chessmen - with music and in the opposite direction. | Photos: Julian Paix, unless otherwise indicated

2/26/2025 – On Wednesday 26th February at 15:00 the first round of the Masters will start at the Prague Chess Festival. The tournament has a strong field, the festival is an event. Reason enough for Johannes Fischer and Arne Kähler to take a look at the tournament in their new episode of 'Two Knights Talk' - they introduce the participants and wonder who will win. They also come up with a tactical task from last year's festival and offer a quiz to test your chess and language skills.

2/26/2025 – The highest in chess history was achieved by Magnus Carlsen. It was Elo 2882, recorded in May 2014, breaking the record that had previously been set by Soviet and Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov. D Gukesh thinks it is possible to surpass this peak, but that it will be “very challenging” for him or any other player to achieve the feat in the near future. Firstpost interviewed the reigning world champion.

2/26/2025 – World Chess PLC, a global chess company and the operator of ChessArena.com, has announced the launch of The World Chess Show, a dedicated global TV program now airing in 156 markets across 53 networks. The show is the first of its kind – a major sports media property bringing chess to mainstream audiences beyond the chess community. The World Chess press release includes a 23-minute video of the first show. Just sit back and watch.

2/26/2025 – The seventh round featured dramatic events at the Women's Grand Prix in Monaco. Tan Zhongyi and Kateryna Lagno played an exciting and long game with a total of six queens appearing on the board. The game between Humpy Koneru and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh ended curiously. The Spaniard gave up in a draw position - not for the first time. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

2/25/2025 – Did you know how you can change the style and icon colour with ChessBase 18? There is a ‘Style’ tab at the top right. Click on it and you can select the dark mode, for example. Just watch the video to see how it works!

2/25/2025 – At the end of the Freestyle Chess tournament in Weissenhaus, Magnus Carlsen had the opportunity for a short interview with Alexandra and Andrea Botez. The three talked about Carlsen's wedding, how to find love, talent and hard work, how to improve, why chess should be fun, Freestyle Chess, and much more.

2/25/2025 – In endings with bishops of the same colour it is often good for the attacking side to put their pawns on squares of the opposite colour. This gives the king room to maneuver and the enemy pawns can be attacked. As Black demonstrated in the diagram position - what would you do?

2/25/2025 – Svitlana Demchenko is sharing a game from the Canadian University Chess Championships, where she faced International Master Nicholas Vettese from the University of Toronto. Despite a strong start and some exciting tactical moments, the game ended in a loss. Svitlana walks through key moments, including her opening choices, the decision to play aggressively or defensively, and the importance of managing time and evaluating critical moments. Reflecting on the game, she highlights areas for improvement and emphasizes the valuable lessons learned from this loss.

2/25/2025 – Round six of the Monaco Women's Grand Prix saw two decisive games, as Aleksandra Goryachkina and Tan Zhongyi (pictured) claimed victories to shake up the standings. Sole leader Kateryna Lagno held a quick draw to maintain her lead, while Humpy Koneru and Sara Khadem suffered defeats. Goryachkina's endgame technique allowed her to overcome Humpy, while Khadem faltered in a difficult defensive position against Tan. With three rounds remaining, Goryachkina and Batkhuyag Munguntuul now trail Lagno by just half a point. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga