3/18/2020 – The first round of the Candidates Tournament was very exciting: the audience saw four complex games and two of them ended with a win – for Black. Malcolm Pein took a close look. | Photo: FIDE

3/17/2020 – The long-anticipated Candidates Tournament kicked off with two surprising results, as both Ding Liren and Anish Giri lost with the white pieces, against Wang Hao and Ian Nepomniachtchi respectively. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave v Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk v Kirill Alekseenko were hard-fought games that finished drawn, with Grischuk going into his usual extreme time trouble. Video round-up by GM SIMON WILLIAMS and GM BORIS GELFAND analysed the all-Russian clash. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/17/2020 – It is St. Patrick's day today, if you didn't know already. This St. Patrick's day is different from all the others we had so far. The coronavirus disease makes us stay home to avoid social contacts as much as possible. So what to do? How about checking out some of our greenest chess trainings?

3/17/2020 – You might not believe it but if you played any competitive chess in your life you probably would have good chances to win should you ever play against Carlsen, Caruana or another top player. Well, sort of! Don't believe us? Try the ChessBase WinChain! | Photo: Public Domain via Pixabay

3/17/2020 – IM Lawrence Trent checks on the recent World Senior Team Championship and offers his thoughts on the Candidates tournament. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, Did Black miss a shot here? | Lawrence is on-demand his week from 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12 Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can always register a free 90-day account to watch.

3/17/2020 – Pawn endings require precise calculation. White to play and win.

3/17/2020 – Do you know what is the Centurini's rule? Do you have an Anti-Reti in your opening repertoire? Would you like to have an IM pose some interactive questions, and test your tactical vision? Do you know how to evaluate a position with no minor pieces, but with queens and rooks on the board? Are you aware of common opening traps in the Caro-Kann, Philidor, English and Sicilian? Do you want to update your opening repertoire with the latest recommendations? If these topics have you intrigued, and interested in knowing more, ChessBase Magazine could become your addictive chess reading while as you self-isolate!

3/16/2020 – A poem written in Valencian by Francesc de Castellví, Bernat Fenollar and Narcís de Vinyoles was the first literary work to describe a game with the modern rules — the queen could move multiple squares in all directions and the scope of the bishops widened importantly. SERGIO NEGRI tells us the story. | Image: A chessboard illustrated in Jacobus de Cessolis' "De ludo scachorum".

3/16/2020 – The Candidates Tournament is one of the most anticipated events of 2020, particularly now as major events are being cancelled left and right! Simon gives you his take on the players and their chances. | Watch for free live and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).

3/16/2020 – Miaoyi Lu might be a name well worth remembering. The Chinese player was born in 2010 but is already surprisingly strong. In March, she won a women's grandmaster tournament in Belgrade and that was not her first success — and will probably not be her last. | Photo: David Halter (USChess.org)

3/16/2020 – The candidate tournament in Yekaterinburg is a major highlight in the eventful chess year 2020 and one of the few current events that has (so far) not been heavily affected by the Coronavirus epidemic. The opening is on Monday and the first of fourteen rounds follows on Tuesday. The winner will play Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship at the end of the year. | Photos: FIDE

3/15/2020 – Many young players used the Aeroflot Open to gather some tournament experience. Some of their names are not so familiar. One of them, 14 year old Aydin Suleymanli, made himself a name by simply winning the tournament. THORSTEN CMIEL introduces the next generation. | Photo: ChessBase India

3/15/2020 – In his last "Preview on the Candidates 2020" Daniel King takes a look at the chances of Fabiano Caruana to win the Candidates and to challenge Magnus Carlsen again. Currently, Caruana is the world's number two but that is not the only reason why he is a favourite to win in Yekaterinburg. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

3/15/2020 – Roven Vogel won the U16 Youth World Championship 2015 and at the beginning of this year he qualified for the next Tata Steel Challengers Tournament in Wijk aan Zee by winning the Qualifiers in Wijk. To get a better understanding of how the best players study and work, he took a close look at Caruana's DVDs about the Ruy Lopez. Which he considers to be entertaining and helpful for chess players of all levels.

3/15/2020 – When Misha Tal was young, amatory conquest was as important to him as conquest over the chess board. Some liaisons were fleeting and others lasted longer. The affair with "Actress L." was perhaps the most “scandalous” of them all. Who was she? Our columnist makes some astonishing discoveries. | Photo: kino-teatr.ru

3/14/2020 – Chess is all about striking blows but usually only in the cerebral sense. It's different with chess boxing. This discipline was actually once a gag by the artist Enki Bilal, but it morphed into a popular and active community. On Saturday evening, Chessboxing London will stream the fight for the World Middleweight Championship live online. Chess for boxing fans! Coronavirus be damned!

3/14/2020 – The World Senior Team Championships in Prague ended prematurely, Thursday, after 7 rounds due to the looming Coronavirus epidemic. In the 50+ tournament, the favoured USA team lived up to expectations by winning with a full point margin. The top 65+ team, Russia, also took top honours, but only on better board point tiebreak over the second-placed French. GM Evgeny Sveshnikov, who played a fantastic tournament with 5½/6 shortly after his 70th birthday. | Report and photos: ALEX YERMOLINSKY

3/14/2020 – After the flood of cancellations in the sports and chess world due to the Corona crisis, it is no longer a surprise: The GRENKE Chess Open 2020 is canceled. We have attached the statement by the tournament director, Sven Noppes. The organisiers are still trying to save the elite round-robin tournament that started in Baden-Baden in 2014, but it remains an open question whether it can be held. | Photo: Eric van Reem