4/7/2020 – The Benoni Defense leads to asymmetrical, double-edged positions that give Black good chances to play for a win. On his new DVD, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, coach and second of Fabiano Caruana, shows why the Benoni is much better than it's theoretical reputation and that it is an entirely solid line which offers Black a lot of dynamic possibilities.

4/3/2020 – If you want to keep up with all the newest developments in chess and in opening theory the ChessBase Magazine Extra is a must. In the current edition you do find a lot of recommendations for your repertoire and Mihail Marin shows you a strong line against the Grünfeld. The magazine also offers instructive analyses on video and in databases. Last, but not least: the issue comes with 35,000 recently played games.

4/2/2020 – In a press release the organisers of the Grand Chess Tour announced that they will cancel the Season 2020 before it has even started. The worldwide corona epidemic would not allow any planning and the health of the players is more important. The tour is scheduled to continue in 2021.

4/2/2020 – The ten best players of the Soviet Union play against the ten best players from the "Rest of the World". Today we will see the decisive fourth and last round. After three rounds the Soviet team leads 15.5-14.5. Live transmission of the games starts at 17.00 pm CEST (11.00 EDT, 15.00 UTC). With commentary by IM Merijn van Delft.

4/1/2020 – The new monthly list of the FIDE is a bit weird. Only a few players had the opportunity to play before tournaments came to a halt. Magnus Carlsen is still number one and Fabiano Caruana is still the world's number two, but there are a few small changes in the current rankings.

3/30/2020 – In our third tutorial, focusing on our playchess.com virtual rooms, we see how to have an online training session with you as a chess coach. In our tutorial series, we already took a look at how to create a virtual room for your chess club. Furthermore, we had another tutorial about online tournaments in your virtual room. These offers are an excellent option to keep up with your chess activities.

3/27/2020 – The new issue of "New in Chess" is out and offers a wide and entertaining mix of reports, reviews, training and chess trivia but focuses on Fabiano Caruana's success at the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee 2020 in which Caruana scored seven wins, equalling the record scores of Carlsen and Kasparov. In an extensive interview with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam Caruana shares thoughts about his play in Wijk, about the Candidates and about other topics. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

3/26/2020 – Alexander Grischuk, currently number four in the world, was one of the Candidates in Yekaterinburg but he nevertheless vehemently criticized the decision to go forward with the tournament in the times of Corona. During the tournament he more than once was in favour of cancelling the event. And he also had a number of memorable moments in the press conferences after the game. | Photo: Screenshot of the live-transmission from Yekaterinburg

3/26/2020 – The Candidates Tournament is postponed! In a statement from March 26, 8:42, the FIDE announced that the "FIDE President decided to stop the tournament. It will be continued later, with the exact dates to be announced as soon. ... The results of the 7 rounds played remain valid, and the tournament will be resumed in the same composition starting with the games of the 8th round."

3/25/2020 – Ian Nepomniachtchi went into the second rest day of the Candidates Tournament leading by a full point. The tournament has been suspended. The only other player with a plus score was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In round seven the two played each other, and Vachier-Lagrave, who had the white pieces, outplayed the Russian and caught up with him in the standings table, a full point ahead of the field. The remaining three games ended drawn. | Live games and commentary from 11:00 UTC (12:00 CET / 7:00 EDT). | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/25/2020 – Originally, the 44. Chess Olympiad was scheduled to take place from 5-17 August 2020 in Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk. But yesterday, 24 March, the FIDE declared in a statement that it decided to postpone the Olympiad "to the summer of 2021 at the same locations".

3/25/2020 – Chess fans follow the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg closely: they enjoy live-commentary of the games by top grandmasters, they read the daily reports, they check the analyses of the games and they want to know which novelties were played. However, as almost all big sport events in the world have been cancelled due to the coronavirus other media also report about the Candidates. Here's a short selection of articles.

3/24/2020 – The first six rounds of the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg brought a number of opening duels and saw a number of interesting novelties. On her new YouTube channel Elisabeth Pähtz takes a closer look at these novelties and their theoretical value.

3/22/2020 – Here's a brief tutorial on how to get the most out of ChessBase's live broadcast game viewer. Learn about all the powerful features and buttons that make ChessBase's live tournament watching experience one of the best around. Did you know it's all embeddable on your own web site too!?

3/20/2020 – In baseball trainers used a live video feed to decipher the signs of opposing catchers, and then banged on a trash can to signal the next pitch to the batter. Smartphones, buzzers, even yogurt — chess has nearly seen it all in both live and online tournaments. And just as in baseball, technology only makes it harder to root out. | Image: New York Times

3/19/2020 – All sports events in the world have been cancelled to contain the spread of COVID-19. The only big event that currently takes place is the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg. Ivan Ljubicic (@theljubicic), the coach of tennis star Roger Federer, wants to follow Caruana & Co. and recommends: "Stay home everyone. Chess keeps us sane." | Photo: Ivan Ljubicic

3/18/2020 – Covid-19 keeps the world grounded. Uncomfortable as that may be it is a chance to play some chess. To help you cope with the "stay-at-home-challenge" we organised a number of tournaments on Playchess! You can win membership-days on the server. Download the Windows Client, which is included in programs such as Fritz, Komodo or Houdini and ChessBase ! Then check the tournament schedule!

3/18/2020 – The first round of the Candidates Tournament was very exciting: the audience saw four complex games and two of them ended with a win – for Black. Malcolm Pein took a close look. | Photo: FIDE