2/15/2019 – Live games and commentary beginning at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET, 14:00 EST) by GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade. Ten of the world's top female chess players compete at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis from February 6th to 16th. The tournament is similar to the Sinquefield Cup, but for women. Official site: USChessChamps.com

2/15/2019 – Immediately after the Cairns Cup (February 5 to 16) the Saint Louis Chess Club hosts another top class event: the Champions Showdown. From February 20 to February 24 ten top players show their skills in five rapid and exhibition matches. Press Release. | Picture: Saint Louis Chess Club

2/15/2019 – Kramnik's sudden retirement from tournament chess caused great consternation among chess fans and his fellow professionals alike. Numerous players have commented on Twitter, and so have ChessBase readers. We sample the growing body of reactions, as we celebrate the release of a new entry in our Masterclass video series.

2/13/2019 – After Vladimir Kramnik's announcement to retire from tournament chess the Grand Chess Tour now revealed the names of the 12 players who will be competing as full tour participants in 2019. In an interview with Maurice Ashley, Michael Khodarkovsky, the GCT Spokesperson, talked about the new format of the GCT.

2/7/2019 – An energetic and exciting repertoire after 1.f4. IM Lawrence Trent uncovers "a number of groundbreaking theoretical novelties and new ideas that will soon have scorners of this romantic system regretting they ever doubted its soundness." Even World Champion Magnus Carlsen has taken a shine to the opening, joining a whole host of top grandmasters.

2/5/2019 – A new tournament is launching in Prague next month from March 5th to 16th by the organisers behind the Czech Novy Bor Chess Club. Similar to the Tata Steel Chess model, the 1st Prague International Chess Festival 2019 will feature a Masters tournament, and a Challengers tournament, plus multiple open events for players of various rating classes. The full roster of players in the Masters was announced today.

1/31/2019 – The Gibraltar International Chess Festival 2019 takes place from January 21st to 31st at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. The Masters is always incredibly strong and this year there are 14 players Elo rated over 2700. Traditionally, many of the world's best women players also take part and this year World Champion Ju Wenjun is among them. Live games and commentary on Round 10 by IM Jovanka Houska and GM Simon Williams from 10:00 UTC (11:00 CET, 5:00 AM EST).

1/28/2019 – One of the most popular side-events of the Gibraltar Chess Festival is the evening "masterclass", in which top stars are invited to give a moderated lecture from the live webcast studio. It's a relaxed atmosphere and a lot of fun, but also instructive. This year's guests have been Hikaru Nakamura, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and — on Monday evening — Indian GM Adhiban Baskaran.

1/28/2019 – Sergei Tiviakov, grandmaster, diligent author and busy chess trainer, added new opening DVDs to his ChessBase oeuvre last week. Earlier this year, he ran a training camp in Belarus and described his impressions to the Belarus Chess Federation. We're giving his interview here in translation from Russian. | Photo: André Schulz

1/27/2019 – The 81st Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place from January 12th to 27th in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands (and two "on tour" locations). The "Masters" has an average Elo of 2753. The "Challengers" weighs in at 2582. Both are 14-player round-robin tournaments. Round-up show live at 20:00 UTC (21:00 CET, 3:00 PM EST) Live commentary by IMs Sopiko Guramishvili and GM Robert Hess from 12:30 UTC (13:30 CET, 7:30 am EST) | Photo: TataSteelChess.com

1/11/2019 – A few weeks ago we launched reader polls with nominations for the best players of 2018. In addition to overall player and best female, we added "newcomer" of the year. The latter proved to be a close contest between World Junior Champion Parham Maghsoodloo and German IM Vincent Keymer. Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun easily took the "female player of the year" honours, and Fabiano Caruana edged World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the readers' minds for "player of the year". Here's to an even greater 2019! View the results...

1/11/2019 – This year's European Championship is open to all players from member federations of the European Chess Union and will be held from March 17th to 30th in Skopje. Details and Press Release. Registration deadline is February 17, 2019. | Photos: Patricia Claros

1/11/2019 – The annual "Tata Steel Chess Tournament" starts on Saturday in the Dutch North Sea town of Wijk aan Zee. The "Masters" is super-strong this year: Of the 14 participants in the round-robin tournament, only the local hero GM Jorden van Foreest has an Elo rating below 2700; three players are over 2800 including World Champion Magnus Carlsen, the defending champion and six-time tournament winner. The average Elo of the tournament is 2753. The participants in the "Challengers" also has a mouthwatering field. Here you'll find all the details! | Photo: TataSteelChess.com

1/10/2019 – A few weeks ago we launched a reader poll with nominations for the best game, endgame and combination of 2018. The results are in! The "endgame of the year" was hotly contested, and best game of the year contest was virtually a dead heat. Games of Kramnik, Carlsen and Caruana were the top vote-getters in that category. But readers clearly felt that Ivan Cheparinov deserved to be recognised for the best combination of 2018 for his brilliant rook sacrifice way back in January at the Gibraltar Masters. Take a look...

1/8/2019 – “The best things in life are free.” This puzzle came to us by way of Joaquim Crusats of the Spanish Society of Chess Problemists (SEPA). It's a problem that, unlike money itself, you really can take with you. Perhaps you'd like to print it out and bring it with you to your next chess club meeting? We tweeted this out last week, but now present the solution.

1/5/2019 – Final round action from Stockholm, with live commentary by IM Jonathan Westerberg & WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni. GM Tamir Nabaty (pictured right) won with Black in the final round against US young-talent GM Awonder Liang (pictured left). The only other player who could theoretically win clear first was Swedish GM Tiger Hillarp Persson who trailed Nabaty by half a point. He has White against Indian GM Karthikeyan Murali. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

12/30/2018 – The 2018 World Blitz Championship took place December 29th and 30th in St. Petersburg Russia, with live commentary by GMs Peter Leko and Evgeny Miroshnichenko. Magnus Carlsen defended his 2017 Blitz title. Kateryna Lagno won the Women's tournament. The winners of the Rapid Championship were the 25th seed GM Daniil Dubov in the Open and Ju Wenjun among the women, adding the Rapid World Champion's title to her list of accolades. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/28/2018 – The 2018 World Rapid Championship were played over three days in St. Petersburg Russia, with live commentary by GMs Peter Leko and Evgeny Miroshnichenko. In the Open sections, the reigning champions Viswanathan Anand (Rapid) and Magnus Carlsen (Blitz) were back in action. In the women's rapid tournament, Anna Muzychuk is the top seed followed by World Champion Ju Wenjun. The winner of the open section was the 25th seed GM Daniil Dubov, while among the women, Ju Wenjun added the Rapid World Champion title to her list of accolades. | Photo: Lennart Ootes