3/22/2026 – The Sicilian has long been one of the most popular openings. It therefore makes perfect sense for White to consider 1.c4. ChessBase author Nico Zwirs takes a look at similar, but reversed structures. His 60 Minutes course is aptly titled “Reversed Sicilian Power.” And since the Sicilian cannot be played without tactics, this new February release also fits the theme perfectly: Oliver Reeh’s new Master Class tactics volume offers exercises for players of all levels, regardless of their opening repertoire. | All photos: ChessBase

3/21/2026 – ChessBase´26 offers many possibilities for organising databases so that they contain all the important information, while remaining clear and user-friendly. In this episode, learn how to use ChessBase features to improve your game.

3/19/2026 – A world star up close: Ukrainian legendary grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk created an extraordinary chess celebration in Salzgitter-Bad. In a simultaneous exhibition at the Salzgitter-Bad grammar school, he faced 31 opponents at once - pupils, teachers and club players. The former world number two scored wins on all 31 boards. | Photos: Carolin Köpp

3/18/2026 – The international chess festival in the Slovenian resort town of Bled, staged for nearly a century, has concluded. Lithuania's Zanas Nainys (pictured, right) emerged as the clear winner of the event, which catered especially for ambitious titled players, amateurs and rising juniors. A powerful finish saw him overtake Leon Mazi - who had defeated him in round four - to claim first place. | Photos: Bled Chess Festival

3/15/2026 – Do you know the feeling? Over time, more and more databases accumulate in ChessBase: How do you keep track of them all? It's best to get organised right from the start – but how? In this tutorial, we'll show you how to organise and systematically save your own material so that you can always find everything quickly. It's not that complicated and it's actually fun!

3/12/2026 – For almost a century, the Slovenian spa town of Bled has held a special place in international chess history. With the chess festival currently running until the weekend, this traditional venue continues the legacy of great tournaments – combining its historical prestige with an event for ambitious title holders, amateurs and young players. | Photos: Chess Festival Bled / Luka Rifelj

3/8/2026 – Analyses with ChessBase´26 are flexible: insights gained can be added to or changed at any time. This often leads to a re-evaluation of variations. In this tutorial episode, we will therefore explain how you can upgrade variations and insert or change evaluations. We will show how practical this is with the quick access bars next to and below the notation.

3/6/2026 – Drama at the Prague Masters. Many had already resigned themselves to two draws and an unchanged situation at the top of the table. But then Jorden van Foreest lost the long-balanced game against Aravindh Chithambaram, surrendering his lead in the standings to Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The Uzbek GM was able to capitalise on a blunder by the previously in-form David Navara to secure the win. The duel between world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Vincent Keymer ended in a draw after a long battle, as did the game between Nodirbek Yakubboev and Parham Maghsoodloo. Hans Niemann managed to score his first victory in his game against David Anton. The final round begins four hours earlier than usual, at 11 a.m. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase

3/4/2026 – David Navara is playing an excellent tournament in his hometown. After round six of the Masters in Prague, he is only half a point behind the leader, Jorden van Foreest, together with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The direct encounter between Van Foreest and Navara ended in a draw. At the other end of the table, a player stands alone: none other than Gukesh Dommaraju. The world champion, still without a win, has lost his third game of the tournament. Against his compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram, he squandered a good position while in time trouble. Hans Niemann and Vincent Keymer drew the longest game of the day. | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival

3/2/2026 – Mikhail Antipov won the Saint Louis Masters ahead of Fabiano Caruana. The Russian-born grandmaster, playing under the US flag, scored an impressive victory over Andy Woodward in the final round. He had gone into the last round level on points with the rating favourite. However, Caruana was only able to add half a point to his tally after drawing with Francesco Sonis, despite having reached a winning position. As a result, Caruana finished half a point short - the same half point he had voluntarily given up by requesting a bye in round five. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/1/2026 – With ChessBase´26, you can not only analyse your own games professionally – as we have already shown in the first four parts of the tutorial – you can also comment on them individually. There are several methods for doing this, and they can be linked together. The comments can be entered as text or using the commonly used chess symbols. In this fifth part of our tutorial series, we will show you how easily you can integrate all types of comments into your notation.

2/22/2026 – When you work with a programme on a regular basis, you should make that work as pleasant as possible. ChessBase´26 offers endless possibilities - and that goes for the look too. Make your workspace individual and pleasant. In part 4 of our new series of tutorials we will show you how easy it is to design your individual notation so that analysing with it is a maximum pleasure.

2/15/2026 – We have a new author at ChessBase: Harshit Raja. And the Indian grandmaster is ambitious – he offers a complete 1.d4-repertoire! In addition, new episodes of Ivan Sokolov’s Middlegame Strategy series were released in January, and ChessBase Magazine fans can look forward to CBM Extra #229, packed with a rich "Lucky Bag". | All photos: ChessBase

2/14/2026 – If you've only been using ChessBase for a short time and want to benefit from as many of its unique functions as possible, our series offers you valuable, short and easy-to-digest tips for a successful start with ChessBase´26. In the third part of our new tutorial series, we show you how easily and conveniently you can insert variations from the engine analysis and the references into the notation (see the first two tutorial episodes) with ChessBase´26.

2/8/2026 – ChessBase´26 offers a unique range of professional features. This series gives users of ChessBase tips for the first important steps. In the first part of this series we showed you how to enter and save your own games. In part 2 of our tutorial we will show you how to add new variations to a game in ChessBase´26. These can be your own moves or those of an engine, which you might want to add.

1/31/2026 – Let's go: In part 1 of our new tutorial series, we will show you how to quickly enter and save your own games. Just follow the explanations and screenshots and gradually build up your own database of games.

1/22/2026 – The Floripa Open, part of the Brazil Chess Series, is taking place on 17-25 January as a 10-round Swiss open in Florianópolis. Niclas Huschenbeth recently announced that he would be competing in the popular Brazilian event. After six rounds, he has realised how difficult it is to consistently live up to the role of being among the top seeds. | Photo: Niclas Huschenbeth at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam | Photo: Lennart Ootes

1/19/2026 – The streamer match between IM Levy Rozman and IM Julien Song in Madrid opened with two draws in the classical games. In rapid and blitz, however, Rozman, known as Gotham Chess, clearly took control: he won two of the four rapid games, drew one and lost one, then scored six wins in the blitz while Song managed only two. Under the tournament’s scoring system, the final score was 14–8. | Photos: David Martinez/Chess.com