7/2/2022 – Between 1985 and 2000, Garry Kasparov played no fewer than eight matches for the World Championship title. The living legend is, without a doubt, an expert on the topic. During round 12 of the Candidates, the Russian joined the Saint Louis Chess Club webcast, and gave his opinions on Ian Nepomniachtchi’s performance, Alireza Firouzja’s bullet binge, and the likelihood of Magnus Carlsen agreeing to play the next match for the crown.

7/2/2022 – Chess legends Paul Morphy, Adolf Anderssen, Henry Bird, Ernst Falkbeer, and Johann Löwenthal were star sign cancer in the age of romantic chess. With Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Gelfand, Anish Giri, Alexei Shirov, Alexander Morozevich, and of course Ian Nepomniachtchi, we have the almost 200 year older equivalent in the present time. Of the players listed, their merciless attack is often in focus. Does cancer really feel most comfortable with fire on board, or does the aggressive strategy have other reasons? | Photo: Pixabay

7/2/2022 – In the diagram position, White's 37.Rd6 attacked the queen b6 which is guarding the Ne3. Now only one move puts Black on the winning track - perhaps you'll need to think for some time to find it!

7/2/2022 – In the one decisive game of round 12, Teimour Radjabov stopped Ding Liren’s winning streak by beating him from the black side of a Nimzo-Indian Defence. Much earlier, less than ten minutes after the round started, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura signed a 14-move draw by repetition. The day’s results left Nepo two points ahead of his closest chasers with two rounds to go. The Russian is now a half point away from securing tournament victory. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

7/1/2022 – In his "Power Play Show" Daniel King examines a classical game between Alexander Alekhine and Fred Yates, in which the former world champion dominated his opponent by taking control of the open file and the dark squares. He also looks at a similar game from 1972 featuring the great Yuri Averbakh. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

7/1/2022 – It has been more than a year since Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL) finished second in the Candidates tournament. Ideally, the French Grandmaster should have been playing in this year’s edition too. However, he missed out following disappointing performances in the Fide Grand Prix events. With the 2021 Candidates tournament relatively fresh in mind, Dhananjay Khadilkar spoke to MVL on a range of issues including his pick for the 2022 Candidates, skipping this year’s Olympiad and the possibility of Magnus Carlsen not defending the world championship title.

7/1/2022 – This week Robert Ris takes a look at the game Firouzja-Nepomniachtchi in which we again got to see Nepo's favorite Petroff. Firouzja opted for the interesting sideline with 5.c4, which eventually led to a non-typical Petroff structure. In the game Firouzja lost quickly but there are different, and better, ways to play this line. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/1/2022 – The two most relevant games for the standings finished decisively in round 11 of the Candidates Tournament. Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Alireza Firouzja with black, while Fabiano Caruana first failed to make the most of a better position and then went astray against Ding Liren. This was Ding’s third straight victory, which leaves him in sole second place, 1½ points behind Nepo. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

6/30/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show #522 Merijn van Delft looks at a positional masterpiece, in which the knights got dancing and the pawns pushed ahead. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

6/30/2022 – Alireza Firouzja had a brilliant 2021. The youngster reached the second spot in the world ranking and qualified to the Candidates Tournament. Expectations were high after Magnus Carlsen hinted that he would gladly face him in a World Championship match — unlike other opponents. Things have not been going according to plan in Madrid, though. After his round-10 loss, the 19-year-old played over 300 bullet-chess games online, and not during a rest day. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

6/30/2022 – European Individual Championship 2022: Analyses by the new champion Matthias Bluebaum as well as Gabriel Sargissian, Ivan Saric, Ruslan Ponomariov, Aryan Tari, Ivan Cheparinov, Rasmus Svane, Yuriy Kuzubov, Maxime Lagarde and others - Looking for a fighting concept against Trompowsky? In her opening article, Petra Papp relies on 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5!? - "Special" on the FIDE World Championship 1997: exclusive collection of 22 extensively annotated games + articles on strategy and endgame highlights - Don't miss: Jan Markos' new training series "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" Vol. I: "Time management" - Or jump straight into interactive training with Robert Ris and replay a current master game "Move by Move" with video feedback!

6/30/2022 – Fighting chess was the rule rather than the exception in round 10 of the Candidates Tournament. All the players — except Ian Nepomniachtchi, naturally — chose fighting lines, attempting to win at all costs, as the event is coming to an end and first place is all that matters. In the end, Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura won and caught up with Fabiano Caruana in shared second place, as the latter overplayed his hand and was defeated by Jan-Krzysztof Duda. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage