Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.
7/13/2024 – Unbelievable but true! Svitlana Demchenko and Arne Kaehler are celebrating their 100th episode of "Svitlana's Smart Moves". It all started in April 2021, and has now reached a magical number. In the video, Svitlana and Arne take a look at some superlatives of the past episodes: the most and least viewed, the shortest, the longest, the most and least liked, and more. Their looks have changed a little, but the format improved over time, thanks to you, dear viewers! Finally, we play a blitz game on an actual wooden chessboard.
7/11/2024 – We all love the dragon for it's attacking play against the king on the queen-side. But how can one attack the king on the king-side? Chris Ward has not only an answer to that, but actually dives deep into the the psychology of king-side attacking, and how to actually get an advantage on the queen-side instead. Furthermore, the example game shows nicely how a material imbalance harmonizes against White. | Photo: John Upham
7/4/2024 – Recently, a Chinese chess player won the Arona International Chess Festival. Surprisingly, the winner has no title yet, and started at rank 29. Alan Pichot, Bartosz Socko, and Felix Blohberger couldn't keep up with Haowen Xue. Last year, the then 15-year-old, beat Hans Niemann in the Dubai Open 2023. Time to have a more profound look at this Underdog, before he has 2700+!
7/2/2024 – In an interview with Nico Zwirs at the ChessBase studio in Hamburg, the Dutch IM shares insights into his recent tournament experiences, his journey in the chess world, and his thoughts on balancing competitive play with coaching. He also discusses the intricate dynamics of chess training and preparation, the personal and professional growth of a chess player, and the balance between maintaining a competitive edge while nurturing the next generation of players.
6/25/2024 – The famous Biel International Chess Festival will take place again, from the 12.07. – 26.07.2024. It is still enough time to spontaneously plan to participate, book travel tickets + hotel, and invest a little time to brush up your openings. Whatever you enjoy the most in chess, the Biel festival has you covered: from Blitz, to Rapid, to several Classical events, up to a Simultaneous match against Abhimanyu Mishra, a 960 event, and even more formats for younger players, and Physicians only! | Photo: Pixabay
6/21/2024 – Svitlana was showcasing material imbalances in chess a couple of times already, and features plenty of interesting examples on her first Fritztrainer. But the legendary queen sacrifice which Magnus Carlsen pulled off against David Navara at the Biel Chess Festival 2018, remains one of the most beautiful imbalance games. Rook, knight, and pawn, are an interesting compensation for the queen, and the endgame skills of the Norwegian GM can never be underestimated. Also, we are so close to our 100th episode, and have a little surprise for you in the first week of July!
6/17/2024 – Our beloved WIM from Canada picked up streaming chess games online a couple of months ago, and became a Twitch partner in no time. Thousands of chess friends are watching her, playing blitz and bullet games, or solving puzzles. Svitlana gained nearly 6000 followers, who she even plays against on stream, at times.
6/12/2024 – In this very instructive, and informative game, Svitlana managed to draw against a strong, Canadian IM. But the truth is, she almost had to forfeit the game! The reason for Svitlana arriving far too late to the game, and what you can learn from the opening, middle game with hanging pawns, and endgame technique, you will see in the video.
6/7/2024 – Bodhana Sivanandan is another name on the list of super talents, which you should keep in the back of your head. The 9-year-old girl, playing for England, beat WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan from Armenia. Roughly 300 Elo points, and 10 years of age, separated the two players. Robert Ris shows us how this happened.
6/6/2024 – Three wonderful features are presented in the game, which Chris Ward has chosen for us. Interestingly, he found a game, in which "The ChessNerd" streamer Max Weidenhoefer lost against the Sicilian. In this particular game, a variation of the Dragadorf is used, in which the King stays in the centre for quite some time. And that can be excellent, at times! Chris explains it all in the video. | Photo: John Upham
5/22/2024 – In this Episode, Svitlana presents to us the fundamentals of openings, with an example played by Paul Keres. With a cunning sacrifice, White gains some advantage. Or not? How to actually evaluate a position best? The Canadian WIM tells us about the six rules of evaluation!
5/19/2024 – The Sicilian Dragon is full of options for White, after the first 8-12 moves have been played. One of them is, to place the Knight on e4. But is this a good idea for White? Chris Ward doesn't think so, and shows us a couple of ideas for Black to deal with this unusual progression. Luckily, a Dragon player is in for some fun because some tactics are rolling in. | Photo: John Upham
5/11/2024 – Svitlana and Arne will participate in the Biel International Chess Festival this year! Last year, the masters section had some stunning tactics on the board, and Svitlana picked some of her favourites for your delight. Le Quang Liem, who won the last two events consecutively, has played the majority of interesting tactics! But this year, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa, Javokhir Sindarov, Haik Martirosyan, and Abhimanyu Mishra will join the Triathlon masters, to give you even more interesting games to watch.
5/7/2024 – With all the Indian Grandmasters popping up, it is getting difficult to keep track. One of them is the talented Nihal Sarin, who became the 53rd GM in India, at the age of 14. In March 2024, he was a Super grandmaster for a couple of days, but it won't be long, until he crosses the 2700 mark for good. He visited the ChessBase office because he was playing for the Hamburger SK chess club that weekend. In the short interview with Arne Kaehler, Nihal's passion for chess is crystal clear - enjoyment!
5/3/2024 – Now, all of us chess players know that the World Championship is battled out by Gukesh and Ding Liren. Both players faced each other in classical chess only twice before, in Wijk aan Zee 2023, and 2024. One of their games was fairly interesting, and Svitlana is analysing it.
4/29/2024 – After the little excursion to plenty of Anti-Sicilians, and how Chris Ward suggested countering them, we got back on track with a real Dragon game. Real? Well, this time, the British GM chose a very positional game, and points out, that it doesn't always have to be a tactical back and forth in this opening. Uncomplicated, straightforward chess is possible!| Photo: John Upham
4/14/2024 – Anish Giri's Opening Fritztrainer's are available 18th of April. But we added a sneak peek to his take on the Caro-Kann and King's Indian openings. Since this is still quite a new feature, we made a video which explains the setup in just 3 minutes.
4/12/2024 – Arne recently played in a chess tournament, and one of his opponents played the unusual 1.f4, which was quite a surprise. Sadly, he didn't film this Smart Moves episode before the tournament, to get to know the surprising answer Nh6!? The so called - Horsefly Defence in the Bird Opening. Even the engines think that this counter is absolutely legit, and the Mega Database shows excellent results as well. Svitlana shows, why it is a powerful move!
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
The Triceratops system is an ancient and dependable strategy, requiring White to prepare for only three potential reactions from Black—significantly less work compared to preparing for the Grünfeld and King's Indian defences.
Unlock the excitement of the Beefeater Variation (1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3 5.bxc3 f5?!) in this 60-minute video course! Dive into an aggressive and daring strategy where Black gives up the dark-squared bishop early.
2024 Candidates Tournament with analyses by Gukesh, Pragg, Vidit, Firouzja and Giri. Kasimdzhanov, Engel and Marin show opening trends from Toronto in the video. 10 repertoire articles from English to Queen's Indian and much more!
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
The Triceratops system is an ancient and dependable strategy, requiring White to prepare for only three potential reactions from Black—significantly less work compared to preparing for the Grünfeld and King's Indian defences.
Unlock the excitement of the Beefeater Variation (1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3 5.bxc3 f5?!) in this 60-minute video course! Dive into an aggressive and daring strategy where Black gives up the dark-squared bishop early.
2024 Candidates Tournament with analyses by Gukesh, Pragg, Vidit, Firouzja and Giri. Kasimdzhanov, Engel and Marin show opening trends from Toronto in the video. 10 repertoire articles from English to Queen's Indian and much more!
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
Knights add irrational content to any position. However, in this video tutorial you will learn how to tame them.
€34.90
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