8/14/2026 – Today marks the halfway point in St Louis. Round five of the Cairns Cup gets under way today at 7.30 pm CEST, with Tan Zhongyi the sole leader. Yesterday, she defeated Vaishali Rameshbabu in a game that was not entirely error-free. Alice Lee, who had been level with Tan at the top after four rounds, lost to Stavroula Tsolakidou, while Carissa Yip and Divya Deshmukh, who were just behind them, drew their game. As a result, the Chinese representative now has a full-point lead. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/13/2026 – The World Championship match between Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren demonstrated how important it can be to catch your opponent on the wrong foot in the opening. In her 60-minute course, Svitlana Demchenko shows how this can be achieved with both colours and very little theory. | Photos: Nils Rohde

8/13/2026 – After three decisive games in each of the first two rounds, things were a little quieter on the third day of the Cairns Cup: India's Divya Deshmukh was the only winner. She handed former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk her third defeat. Such a disastrous start must be hard to find anywhere else in the career of the Swiss representative. There was no change at the top of the standings: Alice Lee and Tan Zhongyi dropped their first half-points but remain in front. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/10/2026 – Elham Amar (pictured, right) won the main open tournament at the Dortmund Chess Festival. The Norwegian GM went into the final round with a half-point lead over two pursuers. He drew against one of them, Surya Ganguly, while the other, Sumiya Chinguun, lost to Amilal Munkhdalai. Amar's 7 points were enough to secure clear first place, half a point ahead of a group of five players. In the Women's International Tournament, a draw in the final round was enough for Song Yuxin to grab outright victory. The B Open was won by Max Pick on tiebreaks, ahead of Oleksandr Kasapchuk Jr. and Thomas Peter. | Photo: Dariusz Gorzinski

8/9/2026 – It’s often the small tricks that make training clearer and more effective. One such feature in ChessBase´26 is the ability to insert null moves. This can be especially helpful in chess training or analysis. In this short and concise tutorial, you'll learn how to use null moves effectively.

8/6/2026 – In the International Women's Tournament at the Dortmund Chess Festival, Dinara Wagner (pictured) moved into first place after defeating the previous leader, Nataliya Buksa. As Klaudia Kulon, who had been level on points with Wagner, lost to Song Yuxin, Wagner now holds a half-point lead after three of six rounds. In the A Open, defending champion Matthias Bluebaum also looked well-prepared and defeated the previous sole leader, Amilal Munkhdalai. Bluebaum now shares the lead with Kacper Piorun and Yu Tian Poh. | Photo: Official website

8/5/2026 – "Playmakers on the chessboard" was the title of the high-profile blitz tournament used to determine the tie-break standings in the women's event. Song Yuxin won ahead of Nataliya Buksa and Klaudia Kulon. Dinara Wagner had to settle for fourth place. In the A Open, defending champion Matthias Bluebaum conceded his first half-point against IM Yu Tian Poh. The young German IM Luka Schwitkowski could have taken the outright lead after a strong game, but eventually lost a theoretically drawn endgame. As a result, his opponent Amilal Munkhdalai is the sole leader after four rounds. | Photos: Dariusz Gorzinski / Nils Rohde

8/4/2026 – Defending champion Matthias Bluebaum remains among the leaders in the A Open after claiming his third win in as many games, with the leading group now reduced to seven players. The second German in the top seven is IM Luka Schwitkowski. Rasmus Svane, meanwhile, has dropped out of the leading group after conceding half a point against Ebrahim Ahmadinia. In the International Women's Tournament, both Song Yuxin and Dinara Wagner, as well as tournament leader Nataliya Buksa (pictured) and Klaudia Kulon, agreed draws. | Photos: Dariusz Gorzinski

8/2/2026 – ChessBase´26 offers a wide range of technical features and training tools. To get the most out of them, it helps to know where to look. In this tutorial, we show you how just a few clicks can enhance your ChessBase experience. Explore the "View" menu across different sections of the program to design your own personalized ChessBase environment. Take a look and try it out — because in the end, it’s all a matter of personal preference...

7/30/2026 – With a large number of extremely successful students, not least the World Championship candidate Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Indian chess coach Ramachandran Ramesh is regarded as a remarkable coach, the Pep Guardiola of chess. In his recently launched FritzTrainer “Improve your pieces: A winning system you need to know”, he shares the secret of his chess training. Stefan Liebig reviews the course.

7/26/2026 – The Mega Database 2026 contains over eleven million games — an impressive archive of chess knowledge. And it keeps growing. Thanks to the weekly Mega Update service, you receive about 5,000 new games each week, directly from tournaments around the world. As with ChessBase´26, keeping the Mega Database up to date requires just a few clicks. In this tutorial episode, we’ll show you how.

7/19/2026 – Working with ChessBase´26 is so enjoyable because it builds on the experience of the developers from 18 previous versions. But you don’t have to wait for the next release — you’ll receive ongoing improvements directly to your computer through the free update service. And don’t worry: staying up to date with the latest updates takes just a few clicks. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how.

7/18/2026 – Whether your focus is strategy, technique or opening theory, ChessBase's June releases have something for everyone. Renowned authors such as Adrian Mikhalchishin and Andrew Martin share a wealth of practical advice, while ChessBase newcomers Kostya Kavutskiy and Andy Woodward make an impressive debut with their first courses. The month also brings new Powerbase and Powerbook titles on the Slav and the Semi-Slav. Take a look at all the new releases from June!

7/16/2026 – The tension continues to mount after round two of classical chess in the Masters and Generations Challenge Triathlongs at the Biel International Festival. At the top of the Masters standings, Le Quang Liem caught Levon Aronian after defeating Matthias Bluebaum. The Generations Challenge may be somewhat overshadowed by the main event, but its youngest participant is making a major impression. Sixteen-year-old Vaclav Finek of the Czech Republic has produced the best performances so far in both the rapid event and the two classical games, and now leads by a 3½-point margin. | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

7/15/2026 – The first round of classical chess in the Masters and the Generations Challenge Triathlons at the Biel International Chess Festival was played on Tuesday. Each event produced two draws and one winner. Matthias Bluebaum (pictured) drew his game against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, while Le Quang Liem defeated Jose Martinez. In the Generations Challenge, Alexandra Kosteniuk beat Carissa Yip. In the Masters Open, Christian Gloeckler surprisingly dropped half a point as early as round two. | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

7/12/2026 – Let's continue with ChessBase´26's powerful training tool "Replay Training": Replay Training! We already introduced you to this super feature in the last article, and in this tutorial, we'll show you some additional features that will help you noticeably improve your playing strength in a fun way. Let's continue ...!

6/14/2026 – You can find the perfect games for your training in no time: using the shortcut CTRL+F, you can search your databases specifically for players, game phases, or strategic and tactical themes. These search results let you focus your training exactly where you or your students want to improve.

6/12/2026 – What the mouse can do! Following on from the aesthetic aspects covered in the last ChessBase´26 tutorial for beginners, this time we show you how you can use the mouse in different ways. The scroll wheel and mouse buttons can be used in a variety of ways. Here, too, it is a matter of personal preference which settings you choose.