7/29/2026 – A year ago problem composer Werner Keym issued a challenge: compose a study in which White is winning – but one that can be shifted and mirrored vertically and horizontally, with all vertically shifted and mirrored positions drawing, and all horizontally shifted and mirrored positions losing. Here is the elegant solution, which reminds us of the famous Babson task.

7/28/2026 – And eleven-year-old British chess player has become the youngest girl to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600, breaking a 38-year-old record previously held by Hungarian all-time great Judit Polgar. Bodhana Sivanandan defeated a French grandmaster rated 2628, and the international news media went wild over this extraordinary feat. Bodhana is a special member of the ChessBase family and will most likely play in the Hamburg Bundesliga team.

7/27/2026 – Last Thursday the current FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich has abandoned his candidacy for reelection, after been sanctioned by the European Union. We were informed by ther Chess Federation of Russia that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who had served as FIDE president for 23 years, received their full support as a candidate. And just as we were about to report this story we learn that he is not among the three candidates the FIDE Office received before the deadline. Turbulent times.

7/27/2026 – In the early 1980s, as a fledgling TV journalist, I did a report on the fastest computer in the world. The Cray-1 cost eight million dollars and could do 130 million floating point operations per second. That was enough to calculate the weather, but also to win two consecutive world computer chess championships. How much faster are today's supercomputers? Take a guess – you are definitely not going to get it right.

6/22/2026 – Were you able to solve the problems we gave you last Sunday? Find the absurd-looking key 1.Kh3 to solve the position shown here? We brought you four tricky mating positions, with the diagrams defending – refuting any bad moves you played. Today we bring you all the solutions, with full video explanations. And a full replayer which allows you to go through all the lines. Learn and enjoy.

6/14/2026 – Take a look at this position. The black king is completely trapped and will soon be mated, but can White do it in just three moves? Try and work it out in your mind. Spoiler: it begins with an absurd-looking move. Test your skills on this and on three more tricky mating positions. In each case the diagrams will defend and refute any bad moves you play. Solutions to the problems, with full video explanations, will come in a week. Learn and enjoy.

5/5/2026 – So many top chess tournaments taking place, all at the same time. How can you keep abreast? We will tell you how ChessBase provides you with all the live games. Take for example this exciting FIDE event, with former World Championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, marking a rare appearance in an open. To follow this or many other tournaments, you just need to go to the ChessBase Live Broadcast page. Try it out.

4/27/2026 – He is one of the most remarkable figures in the world of chess. Born in a rural village in British India, and receiving only rudimentary schooling, Sultan Khan became very adept at the game. When he moved to England he won numerous prestigeous tournaments, and beat the likes of U.S. Champion Marshall and World Champion Capablanca. A new book by his oldest son and his granddaughter is due for release in July. We had a preview. | All pictures shown courtesy of chesshistory.com.

4/22/2026 – Thirty-three years ago an unknown player took part in the World Open in Philadelphia. He called himself John von Neumann, beat a FIDE master, and drew grandmaster Helgi Ólafsson from Iceland. His opponents became suspicious when they heard something in his pocket buzzing. The player fled the tournament after the tournament director asked to test him. His identity was never revealed – until it has now been uncovered by Wired Magazine.

4/20/2026 – As we reported, 14-year-old Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş has just become the the youngest player in history to surpass the 2700 rating mark. By beating former world champion Veselin Topalov 5-1 he reached a live Elo rating of 2709.4 and is clearly on his way to join the group of the top-ten players in the world. But will he be the youngest to do so? We checked.

4/3/2026 – That is an endgame that is most often seen in chess. And if you can handle it well, you can score well against opponents who falter. So today we provide you with four positions that will test your skills - and perhaps teach you how to better handle the endgame. In two positions you are asked to win against a defending diagram, in two you are all on your own. Full video solutions will be provided in a week.

3/9/2026 – We all know about the explosive growth of Indian chess: super-talents springing like mushrooms in the rain. But have you noticed that there are first signs of a similar development in Turkey? Is that going to be the next great chess hub? Well, yes, if things go the way investor and entrepreneur Evren Üçok has planned. Here's what he is doing for Turkish – and international – chess talents.

3/9/2026 – Can you stop the black pawn on a2 from promoting – and in fact win this position for White? Today we have a new challenge that will tell you if you can handle pawn promotions like a master. Test your skills on four tricky positions. The solutions, with full video explanations, will come in a week. Learn and enjoy.

2/20/2026 – Who is your favourite chess player – we asked you recently. Whose games do you enjoy the most? We got a lot of feedback, and will show you the choices that human chess players make – and compare them with what a chess AI chooses, after it has played through and evaluated millions of games.

2/19/2026 – Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman, an elite player from the 1970s, a nine-time national champion and former world number two, has passed away at the age of 74. He was known for his imaginative and attacking style of play, and his creative writings as a chess author. Timman was twice married and had two children. He will be sorely missed. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (2019)

2/9/2026 – Who is your favourite chess player – of all time, from the history of chess? Whose games do you enjoy the most? Is it one of the greats from the 19th century, the world champion legends of the twentieth? Or is it a player who is still active? Tell us your choices – and we will compare them with what a chess AI chooses, after evaluating millions of games.

1/7/2026 – In the final sections of our Christmas Puzzle Week we brought you a variety of famous and less well-known puzzles. Among them a mate problem that solves itself – literally. And one that looks deceptively simple, but requires a very subtle strategy to find the win. In no less than 46 moves! Can computers solve it?

1/5/2026 – Did you solve the famous retractor by T.R. Dawson? You had to retract White's last move and then deliver a mate in two. And the solution? Take back the move h2-h4 and then play exactly the same move: 1.h2-h4! g4×h3 e.p. 2.B×g6#. Outrageous! Today we bring you a second instalment of solutions from our Christmas Puzzle Week. With retractors, reflectors, missing pieces and more. Hoping you like such out-of-the-box puzzles.