9/30/2024 – In the Endgame Magic Show #285 Karsten Müller looks a endgame highlights from the Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest. Karsten focuses on rook endgames, the kind of ending that most often occurs in practice. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

9/30/2024 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 197th episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to look at the career of Veselin Topalov. | Photo: Pascal Simon

9/30/2024 – Ian Nepomniachtchi is the winner of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shunsa, Azerbaijan. He won the rapid chess tournament and came second in the blitz - enough to take first place overall. The other two places on the podium were taken by Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Richard Rapport, who started the tournament in second place after day one, finished last of the eight players. | Picture: gashimovchess.com

9/30/2024 – The Chess Olympiad 2024 was held in beautiful Budapest, Hungary, 10 to 23 September 2024. It was the 45th edition for the Open Section and the 30th for the Women Section. As it is natural, a lot of interesting games were played, out of a total of nearly 8,000 games! Here are some treats, selected and annotated by international trainer Eftratios Grivas.

9/28/2024 – Eight top players start in the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Azerbaijan to play blitz and rapid against each other. After the rapid tournament Ian Nepomniachtchi is in the lead and he will try to defend this lead in the blitz tournament today. It's a double round blitz 3+2 and all 14 rounds will be played today. The action starts at 15:00 local time (13:00 CEST, 5:00 ET). Follow the games live. | Photos: Shahid Ahmed (ChessBase India)

9/28/2024 – The new 2024/25 Bundesliga season begins this weekend in Kirchweyhe, a week before the official start. Team Düsseldorf, promoted from the 2. Bundesliga, had asked for an earlier start because many of their players are involved in the Global Chess League in London the following weekend. This suggests that the coming season will be one of the strongest, if not the strongest, ever. Countless top players hope to help a German club win this year's Bundesliga. A preview.

9/24/2024 – The members of the Chess History and Literature Society held their annual conference during the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. At the invitation of the Hungarian Chess Federation, around 20 members and guests met in the historical premises of the host, discussed exciting questions of chess history in lectures and also commemorated the great Hungarian chess players. Herbert Bastian and Frank Hoffmeister report. | Photos: Herbert Bastian, Henry Serruys

9/24/2024 – Two rooks on the seventh (or second) rank are usually strong. In the diagram position it is White to move and win. What should he do?

9/24/2024 – On 21-22 September, FIDE conducted its General Assembly meeting in Budapest. The meeting saw votes on new members for the Constitutional Commission, Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, and Verification Commission, alongside decisions on proposals from member federations. | Photos: FIDE

9/23/2024 – The Chess Olympiad has a well-established history for revealing young talents on the rise, and while the focus in Budapest 2024 has deservedly been the astounding domination by India, other nations have shown glimpses of possible rivals for the future. One notable is Türkiye, whose team is bolstered by two teenage grandmasters aged 15 and 13. We are witnessing a golden age unfolding. | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

9/23/2024 – If you don't know your opening variations inside out, you can be shipwrecked right from the start. If you don't know how to build a fortress, you will end up resigning some of your games without needing to. In the last issue of ChessBase Magazine, Dorian Rogozenco started his series “The fortress”, which will gradually develop into a systematic collection of classical fortresses. In the new issue CBM #221, he presents two related motifs from the endgame bishop+pawn vs. pawn. The former coach of the German national team starts by explaining the motifs in the video. This is followed by no less than five interactive videos in which you can playfully put your building skills to the test. Take a look at the CBM reading sample of the week!

9/23/2024 – Can you mate with two bishops? And how about with bishop and knight? Really, can you do it, if it comes up in a tournament game? Before that happens, it would be well to check. You can do it easily by playing it against our diagrams. And if you have trouble, let Gauri Shankar, chess trainer from Chicago, give you instructions. In addition try and solve our puzzle by finding the long-range strategic solution.