4/22/2025 – Magnus Carlsen claimed victory at the 2025 Grenke Freestyle Chess Open with a flawless 9/9 score - an exceptional achievement at this level of competition. The event, held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 17 to 21 April, featured a nine-round Swiss format and classical time control in the Freestyle (chess960) variant. Carlsen secured first place with a round to spare and finished two points clear of the field. Seven players tied for second place and will play a tiebreaker to determine Grand Slam qualification. | Photo: Dariusz Gorzinski

4/21/2025 – Humpy Koneru seized the lead at the Women's Grand Prix in Pune with a crucial win over Zhu Jiner in Monday's round seven, turning the tournament standings on their head with just two rounds remaining. Divya Deshmukh also impressed, scoring a dominant victory to stay in contention ahead of her key clash with Zhu. While three other games ended in draws, they were far from uneventful, with tactical complications and endgame fortresses keeping things exciting across the board. | Photo: Abhilash Shinde

4/21/2025 – In the Endgame Magic Show #294, Karsten Müller and Arne Kähler look at endgames from the European Championship that was won by German Grandmaster Matthias Blübaum. German Grandmaster Frederik Svane finished in second place. In the course of the tournament, both showed their endgame skills. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

4/21/2025 – Baden-Baden has a long chess history, mainly thanks to great classics from the early days of tournament chess: Baden-Baden 1870 and Baden-Baden 1925. Hartmut Metz brings back the super tournament from 1925 on the occasion of the grenke Open. It was the time of the "hypermodernists".

4/21/2025 – The Grenke Freestyle Chess Open is taking place from 17 to 21 April at the Karlsruhe Convention Centre in Germany. The tournament follows a nine-round Swiss format with a classical time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. Players from the parallel Grenke Chess Open could switch to the Freestyle event between rounds two and five while keeping their scores. | Follow the games live with expert commentary.

4/20/2025 – Renowned US chess trainer and International Master John Watson had a close look at the recently released ChessBase 18 for a review in Chess Life. He concluded: "Casual online players will understandably not feel the need for such a powerful tool, but anyone serious about significantly improving their chess will almost certainly benefit from this program". The review first appeared in Chess Life 4/2025. Reprinted with kind permission.

4/18/2025 – Round four of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Pune saw a thrilling day of chess, with four decisive results and standout endgame performances from Indian stars Humpy Koneru and Divya Deshmukh. Zhu Jiner remains in the lead on 3½/4, closely followed by Humpy and Divya. The round featured impressive technical finishes, a near-win in a dramatic Harika–Vaishali draw, and strong showings from Salimova and Zhu. With five rounds remaining, the tournament remains wide open. | Photo: Abhilash Shinde

4/17/2025 – You want to understand chess? Who doesn't? – To make the path to that goal a little easier, GM Robert Ris explains in two more episodes of his strategy series what he believes is important. Understand his ideas, and it will be easier for you to develop good plans of your own.

4/17/2025 – Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov played five matches for the world championship. The fourth match was played in Seville in 1987. After 23 games, the score was 12–11 in Karpov’s favor, putting Kasparov in a must-win situation to retain his title. The final game was adjourned after five hours of play, to be resumed the next day. The sealed position is the subject of this article.

4/16/2025 – The Classical Sicilian remains one of the most resilient and strategically rich responses to 1.e4. In this new ChessBase course, Grandmaster S.P. Sethuraman offers an in-depth guide to this time-tested defence, covering key lines such as 6.Bg5, 6.f3 and 6.Bc4. Designed for ambitious club players and competitive improvers alike, the course balances theoretical depth with practical insight, featuring model games, tactical drills and move-order nuances. With over five hours of video content, it’s a comprehensive repertoire for Black.

4/16/2025 – In a very one-sided match, Ju Wenjun defended her title as women's world champion against Tan Zhongyi. Although the challenger took the lead in the second game, she suffered four consecutive defeats from the fifth game onwards. A draw in the ninth game today was enough for Ju Wenjun to win the match - played to the best of twelve games - early and defend her title. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

4/16/2025 – After the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, FIDE set up a Fair Play Commission aimed at preventing cheating in chess. The commission received sweeping powers, over and above those of the arbiters or chess tournaments. Is that necessary and justified? Malcolm Pein, writer for The Daily Telegraph, takes vigorous offence at the working of the commission in the editorial of the London-based magazine CHESS.