2/18/2025 – The Freestyle Chess tournament at Weissenhaus attracted many prominent visitors from the chess world. Among them was the well-known and popular commentator Danny Rensch, chess.com's Chief Chess Officer. In an interview with Arne Kähler Rensch talked about Freestyle, fitness programmes, why he rarely plays chess anymore, the art of relaxation and revealed why he came to one round in his bathrobe.

2/18/2025 – The Chessable Masters Play-In saw 174 players compete for eight spots in the final knockout stage, where they will join top grandmasters such as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. Wei Yi secured direct qualification by winning the Swiss event, while the remaining seven spots were decided through placement matches. Five of these were resolved in Armageddon, with Sam Sevian's victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave standing out as the biggest surprise. Alongside Wei and Sevian, Yu Yangyi, Anish Giri, Andrey Esipenko, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladislav Artemiev and Alexander Grischuk also advanced.

2/18/2025 – Knights often need outposts to defend against bishops. In the diagram position Black's knight has no safe outpost and this allows White to win. How?

2/17/2025 – In his Endgame Magic Show #289, Karsten Müller looks back to 2024 and presents a highly subjective selection of endgames that have impressed him in the last year. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

2/17/2025 – Did you know how to play freestyle chess with ChessBase 18? By clicking on the board, and after that on "new game", a new tab opens with some options to choose from. One is Chess 960! Have fun playing against Fritz.

2/17/2025 – Anna Cramling is one of the most popular chess streamers, and she also streamed from the Freestyle Chess Tournament in Weissenhaus. Arne Kähler took the opportunity to interview Anna, and she shared her bittersweet feelings about the end of the Freestyle Chess event, expressing how much she would miss the atmosphere and the people. She also reflected on her experience of playing against Alexandra Botez, emphasising how Freestyle Chess made her think from the very first move. Anna also discussed her journey as a chess streamer, how her content has evolved through travel and street chess, and her excitement at winning the Twitch Streamer Award. She revealed plans for extensive travel, including a secret event in Paris, and expressed hope for more women's freestyle chess tournaments in the future.

2/14/2025 – Vincent Keymer has done it. After knocking out Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen, the German number one in classical chess also won the final against Fabiano Caruana. After winning the first game of the match on Thursday, Keymer achieved the draw he needed in the second game. | Photo: Freestyle Chess / Lennart Ootes

2/14/2025 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy connects with its audience by providing the subscribers with unparalleled learning experiences during live training sessions with chess stars. Continuing this tradition, the KCF Academy is excited to announce an exclusive live lecture featuring GM Veselin Topalov on Sunday, February 16, 2025, at 6 pm CET.

2/14/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious episode, Robert Ris presents a game, in which Shakhriyar Mamedyarov sacrificed his queen and showed how he likes to play against 1.b3. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

2/14/2025 – The inaugural tournament of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam is taking place in Weissenhaus, Germany on 7-14 February. The elite participants, including Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh Dommaraju, first play a single round-robin with a 10+10 time control. Eight out of ten players then move on to the knockout stage, played with a classical time control. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 13.00 CET (7.00 ET, 17.30 IST)

2/14/2025 – In 2025 the Spanish city of Valencia commemorates its special role in the history of chess. To mark the occasion, a presentation has been created in 'La Lonja de la Seda', highlighting the revolution in the rules that led to modern chess. The city will soon be hosting tournaments, conferences and exhibitions with prominent personalities such as Viswanathan Anand. This tribute underlines the role of Valencia in the development of world chess.

2/14/2025 – Despite all the current excitement about Freestyle Chess, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a classical game in his new Game of the Week show. He analyses the game Gukesh lost against Arjun Erigaisi in the final round of the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee - a game, in which Erigaisi showed his attacking skills. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.