7/31/2021 – In a multifaceted column, Siegfried Hornecker looks at a young Austrian chess player who went missing in the Alps and never returned, how geometry on the chessboard is vastly different from a Euclidean two-dimensional plane, a curious episode from the 1951 World Championship match between Botvinnik and Bronstein, and a couple of endgame studies created by women composers. | Pictured: Julius Perlis

7/31/2021 – Sergey Karjakin knocked out Sam Shankland in the only match of the quarterfinals that was decided in a rapid and blitz playoff at the open section of the FIDE World Cup in Sochi. Meanwhile, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured) advanced to the final in the women’s section after knocking out Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk respectively. Saturday is a rest day for both categories. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

7/31/2021 – Gata Kamsky is leading the GM Triathlon at the Biel Chess Festival, with Maxime Lagarde and Kirill Alekseenko as his closest chasers. The blitz section of the tournament is taking place on Saturday, a double round robin with a time control of 3 minutes plus 2-second increments. | The action starts at 14:00 CEST (8:00 ET, 12:00 UTC). Follow the games live with expert commentary by Arturs Neiksans and Dina Belenkaya.

7/31/2021 – Two legends met yesterday at the Biel Chess Festival: Gata Kamsky and Boris Gelfand, both former World Championship runners-up and World Cup winners. With a draw, Kamsky defended his lead in the overall standings. Frenchman Maxime Lagarde is the new runner-up, as the Frenchman defeated Kirill Alekseenko in round 4. | Photos: Official site

7/31/2021 – Rarely was a headline more appropriate - this is a crucial position of one of the most exciting games I have seen recently. In the diagram position White continued with 25.Rxe6 Rxe6 26.exd5 which gave Black a chance to win. Enjoy!

7/30/2021 – In the summer, "ChessBase News Review" with Lawrence Trent will have a couple of breaks here and there. One of them was last week. Back on time, IM Trent takes a more profound look at the Arkhangelsk Ruy Lopez game between Vidit and Duda. Furthermore, Lawrence and Arne talk about The beautiful Fontainebleau chess festival, and the tournament in Biel. They also mention the "winning fist gesture" of Fedoseev, the New York Post article about Karjakin's GM title, and the behaviour of Niemann as a GM.

7/30/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King takes a look at games from the World Cup, including a a decent answer to the London System, and offers tactics and endgames. | 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.

7/30/2021 – Alongside the U.S. Open are five tournaments of state chess champions, for different age and grade categories. Each state affiliate may nominate one player for each tournament. Participants in the five tournaments compete together in blitz. Woman International Master Alexey Root previews the state champions tournaments from a Texas perspective. | Photos: Niki Riga / Texas Chess Association

7/30/2021 – The new ChessBase Magazine Extra #202 again contains a wealth of material, e.g. opening videos presenting new ideas in the Sicilian Four Knights and in the English Opening (almost an hour total playing time), plus 29 extensive analyses by Peter Heine Nielsen, Praggnanandhaa, Mariya Muzychuk, Elisabeth Pähtz, Michal Krasenkow, Igor Stohl and others. ChessBase Magazine Extra is available on DVD or for download – as a single issue or as an annual subscription (6 issues per year).

7/30/2021 – Three years ago Vincent Keymer defeated Boris Gelfand at the Isle of Man Open in a sensational game. In round 3 of the Grandmaster Tournament in Biel Gelfand, Vice World Champion 2012, now took a form of revenge and outplayed the young German Grandmaster. In the second decisive game of the round Noel Studer won against Maxime Lagarde. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

7/30/2021 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda will face Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup. The Polish grandmaster knocked out Vidit after the latter erred in a sharp endgame. Russian GMs Vladimir Fedoseev and Sergey Karjakin also won on Thursday — the former moved on to the semis, while the latter levelled the score in his match against Sam Shankland. In the women’s section, both semifinal encounters finished drawn. | Photo: Eric Rosen

7/29/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at Sam Shankland's spectacular victory against Peter Svidler at the World Cup. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 Shankland played 3.h4!?, a move that discourages Black from playing the Grunfeld. Svidler tried a King's Indian setup instead but without much success. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.