11/7/2021 – 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 52nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the pleasures of having a space advantage. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

11/7/2021 – Draws on the top 13 boards in the final round of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss meant Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana qualified to the next edition of the Candidates Tournament. Firouzja was the clear winner with a remarkable 8/11 score, while Caruana tied on points with Grigoriy Oparin but got a better tiebreak score than his Russian colleague. In the women’s event, Lei Tingjie had secured tournament victory with a round to spare. Elisabeth Paehtz and Zhu Jiner finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

11/7/2021 – A few weeks ago, Karsten Müller treated ChessBase readers to another endgame riddle. Charles Sullivan had come across an interesting endgame with opposite-coloured bishops that occurred in Botvinnik vs Pachman, Chess Olympiad Leipzig 1960, and Charles was curious whether Pachman had a draw with best play. The ChessBase readers came up with more than one answer.

11/7/2021 – Alireza Firouzja beat David Howell to reclaim the sole lead in the open section of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. Two players stand a half point back before the last round — Fabiano Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin. Lei Tingjie secured tournament victory in the women’s section with a round to spare. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

11/7/2021 – In his first opening video for ChessBase Magazine Markus Ragger takes up an idea that the World Champion tried out at the FIDE World Cup this summer. In the Moscow Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4) White almost always recaptures the d4-pawn with the queen. Carlsen played 5.Nxd4 against Wojtaszek instead and answered 5...Nf6 with the remarkable 6.0-0. In the new ChessBase Magazine Markus Ragger explains the potential of the new concept in a half hour video. From simple stumbling blocks (why can't Black just win the pawn with 6...Sxe4?) to tricky double attacks and positional exchange sacrifices, everything is possible! Here's an excerpt from Ragger's analysis.

11/6/2021 – In the diagram position, Black's has just played 16...Qg4, threatening 17...Nxg2+ while preventing 0-0-0. So, White's king is in a fix, and in the game it ended up getting checkmated on ... a5! Enjoy!

11/6/2021 – In an exciting twist, Fabiano Caruana beat former sole leader Alireza Firouzja in the open section of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss to set up a thrilling final weekend in Riga. Now Caruana and Firouzja are sharing the lead with David Howell, while no fewer than ten players are standing only a half point back — the fight for the two spots in the next edition of the Candidates has heated up considerably! Meanwhile, Lei all but secured tournament victory in the women’s section, as she incredibly collected a fourth win in a row by beating Alexandra Kosteniuk with the black pieces. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

11/5/2021 – In November 1991 ChessBase launched its first chess playing program for PCs. It was a modest start, but one that went on to completely change the chess world. Today, we start retracing the steps that led to the development of a fledgling chess program that went on to become one of the most powerful entities that has ever played the game – one that top players consult when preparing for their next tournament or match.

11/5/2021 – In this week’s show, GM Daniel King re-examins a classic, the game Keres vs Smyslov, Zuerich 1953. Smyslov won this crucial game and went on to win the tournament and challenged Botvinnik for the title. But what do modern computers have to say about his defensive play? The attacking ideas in this game are very much worth investigating and can be applied in other situations. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

11/5/2021 – Lawrence takes us on a ride to discover how creativity can be used for tactical patterns. The more often we repeat the exercises, the better we understand the tactics. Furthermore, Lawrence and Arne try to achieve over 2100 rating points in the ChessBase training section.

11/5/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at a an interesting positional pawn sacrifice in the Flohr-Mikenas Attack (1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.Nf3 b6 8.c5!?), which Jorden van Foreest used to beat the strong Indian Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly at the Grand Swiss in Riga in just 32 moves. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/5/2021 – Alireza Firouzja and Lei Tingjie have a full-point edge over their closest chasers in the open and women’s sections of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss taking place in Riga. Both sole leaders won in round 8, with Firouzja beating Krishnan Sasikiran and Lei scoring her third consecutive victory by defeating Alina Kashlinskaya. Rating favourite Fabiano Caruana joined a 10-player chasing pack in the open section, and will face Firouzja on the top board in Friday’s ninth round. | Photo: Anna Shtourman