1/24/2023 – Dutch author and International Master Willy Hendriks just published "The Ink War: Romanticism vs Modernity in chess". The book analyses the rivalry between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, who in 1886 played the first official World Championship match. But Hendriks also looks at chess history and challenges a number of accepted views about chess improvement and the development of chess knowledge. In an interview with Johannes Fischer Hendriks talks about Steinitz, Zukertort, chess history, the pleasures of studying the classics, and why studying the openings helps you to improve in chess.

12/14/2022 – The history of the U.S. Women's Chess Championships contains a wealth of information about chess in America and countless fascinating stories about champions from all walks of life. A groundbreaking work about the U.S. Women's Chess Championships and the 29 women who won the title between 1937 and 2020 has been published by McFarland. Johannes Fischer wanted to know more and interviewed Alexey Root, the author of the book.

11/11/2022 – With an Elo rating of 2718, Yu Yangyi (pictured) was the top seed in the strong Fall Chess Classic in Saint Louis and he lived up to this role: with a convincing final-round win against Grigoriy Oparin he finished with 6.5 points from 9 games (+4, =5, -0) and secured sole first place. Vidit Gujrathi followed half a point behind with 6.0/9, third place went to Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who scored 5.5/9. Hans Niemann was fourth with 5.0/9. | Photo: Austin Fuller (Archive)

10/18/2022 – The Lex Fridman Podcast has over two million subscribers on YouTube and is considered one of the most exciting, challenging and best podcasts in the world. It explores topics such as artificial intelligence, technology, history, consciousness, love and power. In the most recent episode of the podcast, Lex Fridman had Hikaru Nakamura as his guest. The American Grandmaster and streamer showed his "Immortal Game" and talked about "the best player of all time", crises and setbacks, Magnus Carlsen, the Hans Niemann case and revealed that for him love is "the most important thing in life".

10/14/2022 – Under the name "C-Squared" Fabiano Caruana and Cristian Chirila recently launched a new chess podcast. Episode five featured Alejandro Ramirez, Costa Rica's first grandmaster, ChessBase author, trainer and popular commentator. The three talked about Ramirez's career, chess in Costa Rica, but above all about the Hans Niemann case. Asked whether he believes Niemann cheated when playing over-the-board, Ramirez said: "It does seem very likely."

8/9/2022 – In 1982, when he was 15 years old, Simen Agdestein won the Norwegian Championship for the first time and became the youngest Norwegian Champion of all time. Three years later, in 1985, he became a Grandmaster, the first Norwegian ever to secure the title. Now, in the 2022 Norwegian Championship, which took place in mid-July, Agdestein set another record: The 55-year-old won the tournament with 8 out of 9 to become the oldest player ever to win the Championship. | Photo: Anniken Westby

8/5/2022 – The young Indian Gukesh is one of the stars of the Chess Olympiad 2022 in Chennai. In the first six rounds he won all of his games, which adds up to an Elo-performance of 3329. But Gukesh is not the only player who started with 6 out of 6 in Chennai. Oliwia Kiolbasa from Poland (pictured) and the young FM Kazybek Nogerbek from Kazakhstan also achieved this feat. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/15/2022 – In 2019, the Prague Chess Festival took place for the first time and currently, the 4th Prague Chess Festival is played - with two interesting grandmaster tournaments, the Masters and the Challengers, an Open, the Futures, a tournament for young players, and a number of side events. In an interview, Petr Boleslav, organiser and tournament director of the Prague Chess Festival, talks about the background of the tournament and reveals why he decided to become a chess organiser. | Photo: Petr Boleslav at the opening of the Chess Festival | Photo: Petr Vrabec

6/7/2022 – With an impressive win in the classical game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Magnus Carlsen grabbed the sole lead at the Norway Chess Tournament. After six rounds, Carlsen has collected 12½ points, one more than second-placed Vishy Anand, who on Monday won with black in Armageddon against Anish Giri. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/28/2022 – 75 years ago, on 28 May 1947, the American Grandmaster and renowned writer Andrew "Andy" Soltis was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. In an extensive interview Soltis talks about his chess and his writing career, chess in New York, the Marshall Chess Club, playing blitz against Bobby Fischer and about Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen. | Photo: Marcy Soltis

4/13/2022 – Who am I? Tactician or position player? Attacker or defender? Should I play 1.d4 or 1.e4? Sicilian or French? If you know your strengths and weaknesses you will score more points and you will be more successful. In their "Player Types" ChessBase course Karsten Müller and Luis Engel take a close look at playing styles, and in an extensive interview Karsten Müller reveals a few things they discovered.

4/7/2022 – The German Grandmaster Matthias Blübaum is the new European Champion. In the final round of the European Championships he played against GM Ivan Saric from Croatia, who needed to win this crucial game to become European Champion, but a draw secured Blübaum the title. After eleven rounds he and GM Gabriel Sargissian from Armenia both had 8.5/11 but Blübaum had the better tiebreak and won the tournament. | Photos: ŠZS/Luka Rifelj

1/30/2022 – When Boris Spassky, World Champion from 1969 to 1972, had to play the Sicilian with the white pieces, he seemed to get particularly inspired. Today, the living legend from Leningrad turns 85, and to celebrate him we share a selection of brilliant games he played with 1.e4 c5 during his illustrious career. | Photo: Gerhard Hund

1/11/2022 – Paul Keres (January 7, 1916 – June 5, 1975) was the clear favourite in the 1942 Estonian Championship in Tallinn. At the time he was considered a possible challenger to World Champion Alexander Alekhine and was the only world-class player in the field. Nevertheless, it is astonishing how clearly Keres dominated the tournament: he won all 15 games without conceding a single draw. | Photo: Valter Heuer (Archive)

12/23/2021 – The King's Gambit continues to pose puzzles. The opening evokes memories of glorious sacrificial games from the romantic era, but at the same time it is regarded as somewhat unsound — as theoretically incorrect. But even today the move 2.f4 after 1.e4 e5 leads again and again to unusual positions rich in content. As the games of King’s Gambit expert Joe Gallagher demonstrate! | Photo source: British Chess News

12/16/2021 – In 1865 Gustav Neumann (15 December 1838 - 16 February 1881) scored 34 points from 34 games in the club tournament of the "Berliner Schachgesellschaft", the Berlin Chess Society. Neumann had not yet played a single international tournament at that time, but he was one of the leading players in Germany and thus one of the leading players in the world. Neumann's opponents in this club tournament were not particularly strong, but to win 34 games without losing or drawing shows ambition and the will to win. Neumann had both.

12/16/2021 – On Monday, the 8th Sunway Sitges Open began near Barcelona. 31 players in the strong field have an Elo-rating of more than 2500, but Anton Korobov (pictured), the winner of 2019, is top seed and again among the favourites. He started the tournament with three wins - as did 18 other players. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/14/2021 – Peter Heine Nielsen has been Magnus Carlsen's head coach and second since 2013, and in an in-depth interview with IM Sagar Shah the Danish grandmaster and ChessBase author has now revealed some background on Carlsen's World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi: Nielsen reviews the critical moments of all eleven games, discusses what makes a good coach and talks about the upcoming World Championship cycle and Alireza Firouzja's chances in it. | Photo: Hartmut Metz | Archiv