1/20/2025 – Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu won in the second round of the Tata Steel Masters. All three of them joined the leading pack, which also includes Vincent Keymer and Gukesh Dommaraju. In the Challengers, seven players (exactly half the field) are sharing first place with 1½ out of 2 points. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

1/19/2025 – Vishy Anand’s legendary career is inseparable from his extraordinary achievements at the prestigious Wijk aan Zee chess tournament. With five tournament victories spanning three decades, the Indian grandmaster showcased his brilliance in a field of the world’s best players. As the 87th edition unfolds, we look back at Anand's remarkable performances, from his debut triumph in 1989 to his enduring displays in the Corus era, cementing his legacy in one of the most iconic chess events in the world. | Photo: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo (1989)

1/19/2025 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In episode 213 of his "Understanding before Moving" show Herman looks at the career of Ruslan Ponomariov, FIDE World Champion 2002. | Photo: Pascal Simon

1/19/2025 – Thrilling chess action unfolded on opening day at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, as world champion Gukesh Dommaraju secured a dramatic victory in his first game since claiming the title, while Vincent Keymer and Pentala Harikrishna also scored full point in the Masters section. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, youthful talent shone brightly, with 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi and 16-year-old Ediz Gürel among the standout performers. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/18/2025 – Indian chess celebrates a remarkable milestone as Gukesh Dommaraju and Vantika Agrawal are honoured with prestigious national awards for their outstanding achievements. Gukesh, the youngest undisputed world chess champion in history and a double gold medallist at the 45th Chess Olympiad, received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2024. Vantika, who also clinched double gold at the Olympiad and a silver at the 19th Asian Games, received the Arjuna Award 2024.

1/18/2025 – Can White play 11.e4 in the diagram position to consolidate his space advantage - or will it backfire because of 11...Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Nxe4? Your verdict, please!

1/16/2025 – Vincent Keymer had an eventful year. He rose to the top of the world rankings and helped Dommaraju Gukesh win the World Championship at the end of the year. For Deutsche Welle, Holger Hank spoke to the German number one about various aspects of top-level chess. Here's the first part of the two-part interview. | Photo: Niki Riga/ ECU

1/15/2025 – The problemist's art has always been a bit of a mystery to chess players. Are chess problems merely puzzles with unique and rather curious solutions, or is there something more to them? Join Satanick Mukhuty, ChessBase India's Composition Editor, as he dissects the art of chess problem-solving in his new blog, "The anatomy of chess solving". The inaugural episode showcases four meticulously curated problems designed to illuminate the subtle nuances and clever craftsmanship of problem chess. To get the most out of this article, take 10 minutes to study each position before reading the explanatory text. This will help you develop your problem-solving skills and appreciate the artistry behind each chess composition.

1/15/2025 – 176 players took part in the International Grandmaster Open in Chennai in the first week of the New Year. Indian GM Inyan PA led the field and went on to win the tournament, beating Deepan, who had been leading the field, in the final round. | Photos: IA R Anantharam

1/15/2025 – The International Dortmund Chess Days will take place from 2 August to 10 August 2025 in the heart of the Ruhr region. The 52nd edition will once again be a chess festival for players of all classes with A-Open and B-Open. In the Open, top German players will compete with international grandmasters for a €20,000 prize fund. The two best German female chess players will play in parallel in an international women's tournament. Elisabeth Pähtz and Dinara Wagner will face 15-year-old Lu Miaoyi, one of the world's greatest young chess talents. | Photos: Dortmunder Schachtage

1/14/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious episode, Robert Ris remembers German Grandmaster Robert Hübner, who died on 5 January 2025, by looking at one of Hübner's contributions to chess theory: the Hübner Variation in the Nimzo-Indian, a line that helped Bobby Fischer to win his World Championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

1/14/2025 – The Swiss System entered our lives in order to avoid a situation of unpractical number of rounds compared to the Round Robin System. With the advent of computers, pairing players in a Swiss became simple and automatic. But there was a controversy about "forbidden pairings". People could – and often would – prevent certain pairings. International Arbiter Alon Shulman tells us what he thinks of the system.