5/24/2026 – Demanding weeks for a number of elite grandmasters: Vincent Keymer, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu get just one day off between their appearance at the GCT event in Bucharest and the start of the super-tournament in Norway. They will once again face a lineup of world-class players, led by world number-one Magnus Carlsen and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. In the women's tournament, world champion Ju Wenjun will be competing. The six participants in each event will play a double round-robin tournament. | Photos: Norway Chess / Michal Walusza

5/24/2026 – We've compiled some additional tips for our latest tutorial. These allow you, for example, to quickly open endgame positions from Karsten Müller's articles in ChessBase, and compare structures you're interested in with positions from the Mega Database. Check out the example and use these practical features for your training!

5/23/2026 – The 25th edition of the European Women's Chess Championship begins on 25 May in the Georgian city of Batumi. The tournament will take place at the Euphoria Convention & Casino Hotel. More than 150 players from more than 30 European federations have registered to participate. Ten players have an Elo rating above 2400. The defending champion, IM Teodora Injac of Serbia, has not entered the eleven-round Swiss-system tournament, which will be broadcast live on ChessBase. | Photos: Mark Livshitz, Jim Laga (European Chess Union) / Title image: Uwe Brodrecht, Wikimedia Commons

5/20/2026 – Strategy, repertoire work and modern trends: five current ChessBase products provide fresh inspiration for training and tournament practice. From Ivan Sokolov’s structural middlegame understanding to Isaac Garner’s practical repertoire ideas, as well as compact solutions against the London System and data-driven Powerbooks, the result is a versatile selection for modern chess training — well-founded, practice-oriented and tailored to different playing styles. | All photos: ChessBase

5/19/2026 – David Navara and Joanna Worek won the 2026 Czech Chess Championships. Navara, aged 41, thereby secured his fourteenth title, as the rising star Václav Finek, 25 years his junior, finished in second place. For Worek, it was her second national title, after having won her maiden title in 2016. | Photos: Czech Chess Federation

5/17/2026 – You want to analyse a position without having to enter all the moves first? No problem: with ChessBase´26, the position is quickly displayed on the board and you can analyse it with or without an engine, or import other game positions using FEN code. Learn how to use the “Position Setup” menu to start immediately at the point that interests you, and find out what FEN is all about...

5/11/2026 – With a superb performance, a 15-year-old prodigy dominated the international Baku Open: Sina Movahed (pictured left in the title photo) won seven games and drew twice. The young Iranian GM thus won the strong tournament with 8/9, finishing a point and a half ahead of the rest of the field. The best tiebreak scores among the players tied for second place were achieved by IM Santhosh Parvathareddy Ajay — the Indian is also still an U16 player — and Khazar Babazadar (AZE), ahead of five other players on the same score. | Photos: Organizers / Azerbaijan Chess Federation

5/10/2026 – When you are on the move, it is particularly important that your computer does not consume too much power when analysing. With ChessBase´26, you can conserve your battery and connect to top-quality hardware via a remote engine whenever you need it. This means that the engine installed on your computer can remain off and the computing power is provided by an Internet server. But there are advantages at home too: the wide selection is sure to include engines that are more powerful than the one on your own computer, and the fan stays quiet. In this tutorial series, you will learn how convenient and resource-efficient you can analyse with your engine of choice.

5/8/2026 – What drama at the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament in Malmö: for a long time it looked as though there would be a three-way tiebreak. Surprisingly, Arjun Erigaisi had his back to the wall against Andy Woodward, while the game between long-time dominant force Magnus Carlsen and young star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus was drawn. But then Erigaisi escaped with a draw and Carlsen won in his inimitable style. So there was a playoff between Carlsen and Erigaisi - and Carlsen prevailed. | Photo: Peter Doggers / Official website

5/3/2026 – Would you like to make the most of ChessBase´26, especially in the opening, to improve your repertoire? With the Powerbooks and Powerbases, you will always be one step ahead of your opponents. Learn how to use these comprehensive and up-to-date databases with ChessBase and how to train your favourite openings with Fritz.

5/1/2026 – Ding Liren took a long break from classical chess after losing the World Championship title in December 2024. He lost the title to Gukesh Dommaraju and was thereafter only occasionally active in online or rapid tournaments. For his comeback, the former world champion chose the Chinese Team Championship. At the tournament in Daqing, he played five games for his team, won thee times, drew twice and achieved a performance rating of almost 2800 points. | Photos: Heilongjiang Provincial Sports Bureau

4/19/2026 – The Opening Encyclopedia 2026 has been released. Countless hours of detailed work have gone into creating the latest edition of this annual compendium. The encyclopedia is impressive and a must-have for effective tournament preparation. Further new releases come from experienced ChessBase authors: Elisabeth Pähtz on her speciality, the London System, and Andrew Martin, who focuses on the Vienna Game. Also included are the Fritz Powerbook 2026, a series of 60 Minutes courses, ChessBase Magazine 230, and more. | Photos: ChessBase

4/19/2026 – ChessBase´26 offers great possibilities for analysing with several menu windows at the same time. Having been introduced to the practical options in the last tutorial, today you will learn about options that will take your analysis to a new level.

4/17/2026 – Three wins and nine draws in twelve games - not a bad record for the winner. Remaining unbeaten, Hans Niemann left no doubt during his match in Paris against Awonder Liang. Niemann (pictured at the Grenke Open 2026 in Karlsruhe) won games three, eight and nine in the all-American clash, in which Liang was unable to score a single win. | Photo: ChessBase / Nils Rohde

4/13/2026 – Nihal Sarin claimed outright victory at the Masters section of the Open Chess Menorca 2026. He ultimately finished half a point ahead of Ruslan Ponomariov and Richard Rapport. A further point behind finished world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Leinier Domínguez. What conclusions the world champion can draw from this performance regarding his form is something only he can assess. | Photo: Saji Mathew

4/12/2026 – ChessBase´26 also impresses with its clarity: Analysing with multiple menu windows without losing the overview is no problem. Are you familiar with the six standard layouts or do you prefer your own? Explore the options and try them all out. You will be amazed at how you can use this ChessBase feature to visually organise your analysis in a meaningful and effective way.

4/11/2026 – At the Menorca Chess Festival, one player is naturally in the spotlight: reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. While on another, more easterly Mediterranean island his World Championship match opponent is being determined, the 19-year-old is taking part in a small but highly competitive rapid chess tournament. Following a series of disappointing results and his decision to significantly reduce his tournament schedule, he announced that he would forgo his place in this year's Grand Chess Tour. | Photo: Saji Mathew

4/2/2026 – Amin Tabatabaei won the Reykjavík Open in dominant fashion. After securing seven consecutive victories at the start, he clinched the winner's trophy with two draws in the final rounds. In second place finished US grandmaster Zhou Jianchao, half a point behind. Third place went to the Ukrainian legend Vasyl Ivanchuk, who had the best tiebreak score among a group of seven players on 7 points. | Photo: Jökull Úlfarsson