1/19/2021 – Lubomir Kavalek was born in Prague in 1943. He left his country in 1968 and found a new home in the USA. In the 1970s he was one of the world's best players and also successful as a second and coach, including helping Bobby Fischer in Reykjavík. He was also a prolific writer, with dozens of well-read chess columns, including one he shared on ChessBase over the years. Kavalek passed away on January 18 at the age of 77. He will be sorely missed.

1/10/2021 – He's a 14-year-old lad, mischievous and full of fun. For a full year now Leon and his father Lyndon, who hail from Goa, India, are stuck in Europe, due to severe Covid restrictions. But Leon, aged 14, used this exile wisely: to gain his grandmaster title. Today at 3:30 p.m. CET you can challenge him on Playchess. But do be gentle with him – he is rated just 2538! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

1/4/2021 – In our December 31 puzzle page we showed you problems ranging from mate in one to mate in 203 – expecting this record from decades ago to have been broken. And indeed it was: there is now a direct mate problem in which you have to play 226 accurate moves to mate the opponent (i.e. it is dual-free). In our second solutions page we also provide the answer to the ominous train problem, which has eluded some of the brightest minds in the world.

1/2/2021 – From Christmas Day, December 25th 2020, until New Year 2021, we published four installments of chess puzzles for you to solve. They were mostly computer resistant, which meant you couldn't simply start and engine to work them out. Today we bring you the solutions of the first three puzzle pages, with the fourth to follow soon. How many did you solve?

12/31/2020 – We end 2020, not the greatest year ever, with part four of our yearly Christmas puzzles. You must forgive us for using unorthodox problems – it was an attempt to give you something that requires more than a press of the Alt-F2 key or clicking a fan icon to find the solution. Most of today's problems are fairly computer-resistant, including one that has nothing to do with chess. Enjoy and keep safe during the New Year transition.

12/27/2020 – She was a remarkable lady: an Armenian from Karabakh, living in Azerbaijan. After the early death of her husband she brought up her son alone – and what a job she did! She recognized his talent at an early age and quit her job to devote herself completely to the task of helping him become World Chess Champion. She passed on Christmas day 2020, and her son Garry Kasparov writes: "I am bereft. She was my role model, my greatest champion, my wise counsel, and the strongest person I will ever know."

12/29/2020 – The main subject today is the selfmate – sometimes also called sui-mate. In this form of chess problem White must force Black to mate him, while his opponent will do everything he can to avoid that happening. And the self-stalemate requires White to stalemate himself against the will of Black. Does this all sound irrational and frivolous? Well, don't be put off, but accept the challenge of solving some uniquely imaginative problems.

12/27/2020 – In the venerable tradition of our Christmas Puzzles, a tradition that has endured for over twenty years, we always strive to provide you with "computer-resistant" problems. You must not be able to solve them by pressing Alt-F2 or clicking on a fan icon. They should also be different from traditional chess problems. Today you have to add a piece or retract a move. Today's problems present logical challenges.

12/25/2020 – Do you know how many chess variants there are? In 1994 David Pritchard counted 1,450. Many are complex and require long explanations of the rules. Here's a variant that takes just a few seconds to explain, but completely changes the spirit of the game: Checkless Chess! Try it over the holiday season with friends – or solve a few brain-numbing puzzles. A Merry Christmas to all our readers!

12/22/2020 – Recently music brought a critic and a guest together in a conversation about Bach, Beethoven: she a journalist of the New York Times, he a relatively well-known chess grandmaster. Each participant suggested a single piece of music for the other to listen to ahead of the chat, where they vigorously discuss classical music. Your task was to guess, from snippets of the conversation, who the grandmaster was. | Photo: alto

12/18/2020 – Dr Harold van der Heijden composes chess studies, but for decades he has also been collecting (and meticulously documenting) them. Just before his 60th birthday, he has released the latest version of his studies database, the largest in the world. You guess how many studies it contains, and how long it would take you to play through all of them.

12/15/2020 – The opening night of the Russian production of the musical CHESS took place in the Broadway Moscow Theatre in October. It is scheduled to become the first and only large-scale musical premiere in Russia this Fall, if and when the restrictions on presentation of theatrical productions have been lifted by the authorities. We have some videos from the premiere for you to watch. That is something you really should not miss.

12/11/2020 – Earlier this year five-time World Champion Vishy Anand spent three months stranded in Germany, waiting for a flight back to India. Now he is with his family – in lockdown in his apartment in Chennai. But "chess has enjoyed a surprise boom during the pandemic," he said in an Economic Times interview yesterday. "And it has been helped by the runaway success of 'The Queen's Gambit'. People sitting at home seem to have discovered the game of chess."

12/8/2020 – ASD stands for Autism Spectrum Disorder, a complex developmental condition that leads to challenges in social interaction, speech and nonverbal communication, and restricted or repetitive behaviors. People with autism or Asperger's often have special interests to which they apply themselves with great dedication. One such interest can be chess, and that provides opportunity and benefits – as described from personal experience by a young man with ASD. | Illustration by Bobby Lopez

12/2/2020 – Shortly before the death of former World Champion Bobby Fischer his Icelandic bodyguard during the Spassky match in 1972, Saemundur Pálsson, participated in the production of a documentary entitled "Vinur minn Bobby" (“My Friend Bobby”). Fischer protested, stating that the material used in the film was obtained by fraud. Now for the first time the full film is available in YouTube. You can watch it – but warning: it contains harsh language!

11/19/2020 – When you start playing chess, when you are still a beginner, it is useful to know a few openings tricks – move sequences that lead your opponent astray and give you a quick win. It is equally important to know such traps so that your opponent cannot use them on you. We start you on a course that is useful and at the same time quite entertaining. Take a little time to learn dozens of traps you can use in your club tournaments.

11/10/2020 – The Candidates 2007 took place in "City Chess" in Elista, Kalmykia, a large residential complex devoted to chess and chess competitions. It was built by the then President of the country, and then President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who invited Frederic Friedel to attend the tournament. After the event was over Ilyumzhinov showed him around the city. Pictorial impressions.

11/6/2020 – Today, Friday, November 6, at 2:30 p.m. (in Europe) there will be another Blitz Challenge on Playchess. The player to beat is 18-year-old Iniyan Panneerselvam, who recently won the World Open, and played a 72-hour online Blitz Marathon to raise funds for the COVID crisis. The Playchess challenge games will be commented by host IM Sagar Shah, who will also be analyzing them with Iniyan afterwards. You too can play against him too, or simply watch and learn.