10/15/2021 – Our beloved IM from London returns, but not with the "News Review" show. Lawrence's "Trent's Tactics" is teaching us about the world of tactics. In this episode, Lawrence will show us different tactics about the back-rank mate. And even though we know the motif now, some of the examples which Lawrence picked are still very challenging! In the last ten minutes, we start from basically "zero" and raise the rating to over 2000, in the ChessBase training section.

10/14/2021 – Svitlana is fascinated about the psychological aspects of chess. But the more chess is discovered, and theory knocks in, the more the things like the daily mood, or a posture for the next game are important. The Canadian WIM with the FIDE rating of meanwhile 2285 (2089 when we started), shares a personal story about the winning mindset, and how it improved her games. Furthermore, we dive into a decisive game between Xiong and Nakamura.

10/7/2021 – Congratulations to Svitlana, who just turned 18 years old. Since she is a year older now, maybe we rename the format to "Svitlana's Smarter Moves"? But not much has changed luckily, and it is time to make some bold sacrifices, and figure out, if they are even working. Svitlana shows us a famous example by Emmanuel Lasker, and an interesting variation in the Caro-Kann.

10/1/2021 – Yes, it is true. But not to worry, the news review crew will be back next week with an "upgrade" of this format. Lawrence and Arne will pick a chess related theme to talk about thoroughly. In the last news review episode, Lawrence takes a look at three major tournaments: TePe Sigeman, Sharjah Masters, and the Meltwater finals, the progressing of the "elo" ranking, and the Steinitz/Lasker resting places.

9/29/2021 – This episode is about the very interesting subject of how to "swindle" your way out of lost positions. Probably, you have managed to turn a game around once, or twice already? And likely, an opponent has done the same? Even a top player is not safe, as Svitlana can demonstrate in one of her played games against a Grandmaster.

9/24/2021 – Lawrence Trent has taken a well-deserved holiday, but doesn't want to forget the good times and travels to the Bahamas in the News Review. Jokes aside, he takes a closer look at the lawsuit of Nona Gaprindashvili and the Netflix show "Queens Gambit". Furthermore, the British IM wants to watch the new film about Karpov and Korchnoi, not only because he played against Korchnoi in the past.

9/15/2021 – Svitlana's Smart Moves conquers some easier, advanced, and even high level examples for getting better at chess. Sometimes it is good to take a huge leap back, and start with the absolute basics. Probably everybody has heard of the "Philidor Position" and "building a bridge", and some players might even know these positions by heart. Unfortunately, Arne is confronted with these postions for the first time in his life, and fails miserably. This episode is especially for people who have trouble with rook endings as they will learn and never forget these important concepts.

9/8/2021 – Ask your chess friends or colleagues, “What is the most difficult part for you to understand in chess?” The answer is often: middlegames. Once you have reached the middlegame, it is difficult to make a plan. But luckily, we are blessed with some of Svitlana’s Smart Moves once again. Today we try to figure out how to hold the tension in the middlegame, why to hold it, and how to break through with your pawns in the right moment.

9/3/2021 – The ChessBase News Review is back, and Lawrence shares his thoughts about Alireza Firouzja, who played rather bad tournaments recently, but seems to be back on track in the Aimchess Open. Furthermore, he talks about MVL, the winner of the last Sinquefield Cup, and how important this tournament was for the French Grandmaster. Lawrence also has some sad news - the Gibraltar Open might pause or come to an end. This episode ends unexpectedly. After Lawrence braggs about his "bullet chess" skills, Arne immediately challenges him to a three-game bullet match on Playchess. And this match is not as easy for the English IM as you might expect.

9/1/2021 – The Scandinavian opening is controversial. Some hate it, others love it. But if Magnus Carlsen and many other Grandmasters play this opening occasionally, it wouldn't harm to take a closer look at it. Especially the "Portuguese Variation" is worth discovering. This tricky line is full of tactics, and heavy development on Black's side. Furthermore, Svitlana teaches us some more ideas from a blindfold match between Gelfand and Morozevich. After all, it is a great idea to try out openings you have never ever touched before, to get the most out of this beautiful game called chess.

8/13/2021 – Lawrence and Arne predict the winners of the Kramnik Challenge, RTU, St. Louis Rapid, and the EIWCC. While doing so, they start philosophizing about how many professional chess players actually love their job. While the elite players can mostly make a living, if they win many chess games in tournaments, thousands of GM's have to struggle their way through chess life. Or not? Is chess a sport so far away from golf or football, that they shouldn't even be compared with each other at all? This, and other interesting topics, are being discussed in the last episode of August. "ChessBase News Review" will continue in September.

8/10/2021 – Svitlana sets up a classic position between Nigel Short and Jan Timman. But before we start with the famous position, we derail a bit to the Alekhine Opening. It turns out, Svitlana Demchenko has a genuinely good score when playing the Alekhine Defense as Black. After the popular example, Svitlana shows us a similar technic from one of her own games, which she played in her chess club in Ottawa.

8/6/2021 – Messi left Barcelona, Grealish is going to Manchester City for 100 million pounds, but how is a "transfer" working for chess players, and does playing in a chess league grant you a enough income? Lawrence Trent states, the coronavirus was troublesome for many chess players, relying on playing league games. What about Duda, winning the World Cup and receiving 110000 dollars? Besides the money business, Trent takes a close look at the two last World Cup games, and obviously Carlsen's game against Fedoseev, shouldn't be missed by anyone.

8/3/2021 – After analysing her first game of the World Cup in the last episode, today Svitlana Demchenko takes a more in-depth look at the second game. The game starts with the Petroff, which is considered one of the most drawish opening choices out there. After most of the pieces have been exchanged, a couple of pawns, two knights and two kings remain on the board. Now the endgame is very difficult for Svitlana. But luckily, we all know, she has some smart moves in her repertoire.

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.

7/27/2021 – Svitlana Demchenko is back to present us her smart moves, especially after playing chess constantly in the last couple of weeks. The 17-year-old WIM left Canada, to travel to Serbia, Sochi, Moscow, and finally to Mykolayiv, Ukraine. She competed in the Serbian Open, and fought hard in the World Cup in Sochi, against a more than 300 rating points stronger opponent. Finally, she is playing a tournament in the Ukraine. Nonetheless, she made some time for a new episode, in which we take a look at her whole travel experience, her World Cup game, and play three blitz games against each other. | Photos: Svitlana Demchenko

7/16/2021 – This was an exciting week of chess upsets, and not only because of some lower rated players winning their games in the World Cup. First, chess is being played in Dortmund, with the two veterans Anand, and Kramnik, battling it out, without castling. Second, in the same city, the German Grand Prix takes place, with Pavel Eljanov in top form. Third, the World Cup in Sochi has unfortunate covid cases to deal with. Lawrence Trent also has an anecdote, why he had a hard time to play against a smelly chess opponent, and how he dealt with it.

7/9/2021 – Lawrence Trent is looking forward to Sunday, when Italy will face England in the Euro 2020 final. But there is more to come, like the no-castling chess event in Dortmund and, of course, the World Cup in Sochi. Trent and Arne Kaehler talk about Nihal Sarin, who keeps on winning tournaments; Pia Cramling, who is not far away from winning the Swedish Championship, and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is dominating in Croatia. Furthermore, we talk about the English opening 1.c4, and dive into the "Chess Train" events. Will we ever be able to play chess on Mars?