Gotcha!

5/18/2024 – 19...Ra6?? in the diagram position attacks the white knight... and loses the game on the spot! Can you prove why this move deserves two question marks?

Sharjah: Three co-leaders, Tabatatabei misses big chance

5/18/2024 – Draws on boards 1-4 in Friday’s fourth round at the Sharjah Masters allowed Hans Niemann, Aravindh Chithambaram and Saleh Salem to remain as co-leaders atop the standings. Twelve players now stand a half point behind, including Arjun Erigaisi, Alexey Sarana and Vladimir Fedoseev, who all won in round 4. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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Grivas on Underdog Crushes!

5/17/2024 – It is a great way to study chess: follow the notes of a world-class coach, analysing an exciting game from a running event, click on the notation to get a special replayer, where you can start an engine that will assist you in your own analysis, and study the strategy that brought about the final result. Here's an example by GM Efstratios Grivas analysing a stunning upset that occurred in the 7th Sharjah Masters, after a top seed player misjudged his opponent’s attack.
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Will Singapore host the World Championship match?

5/17/2024 – The Straits Times, the largest daily newspaper in Singapore, reported that the Singapore Chess Federation is interested in organising the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Dommaraju Gukesh. According to SCF executive director Kevin Goh, it is hoped that this will create a boom for chess in the country. However, the cost of organising the event is high.
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Magnus Carlsen will play in the German Bundesliga!

5/17/2024 – In Germany, the name FC St. Pauli has a special ring to it. Located near Hamburg's famous red light district, the club has a reputation for having a strong social culture and is one of Germany's most famous football clubs. Last season, St. Pauli's footballers and chess players enjoyed great success: both teams qualified for the top division, the Bundesliga. Now chess fans in St. Pauli, Hamburg and Germany have even more reason to be happy: with the help of Freestyle chess sponsor Jan Henric Buettner, Magnus Carlsen has been persuaded to play for St. Pauli. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Sharjah: Salem beats Fedoseev in wild encounter

5/17/2024 – Hans Niemann, Aravindh Chithambaram and Saleh Salem have perfect scores after three rounds at the 88-player Sharjah Masters. In Thursday’s round 3, Niemann got the better of Nikolas Theodorou (who came from upsetting Arjun Erigaisi), Aravindh beat Marcin Krzyzanowski, and Salem defeated ninth seed Vlamidir Fedoseev from the black side of what turned out to be a fierce tactical struggle. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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FIDE International Chess Day Art Contest announced

5/16/2024 – The World Chess Federation FIDE, which stands for Fédération Internationale des Échecs, was founded on 20 July 1924 in Paris, France, and is celebrating its centenary this year - with many interesting events. One of them is the "International Chess Day Art Competition". It takes place on FIDE's birthday, 20 July.
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European Senior Team Championship 2024: Three gold medals for England

5/16/2024 – England won no less than three gold medals at the European Senior Team Championships: in the 50+ and 65+ events and in the 50+ women's competition. The gold medal in the 65+ women's competition went to Germany. | Photos: Lukas Rilej (ECU)
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Firouzja takes down Carlsen to win Chess.com Classic

5/16/2024 – Alireza Firouzja beat Magnus Carlsen to claim overall victory in the second event of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour, the Chess.com Classic. Since Firouzja reached the deciding match from the lower bracket, beating Carlsen in the 4-game Grand Final only forced a Reset — which the youngster went on to win as well. Firouzja won both matches in Armageddon.
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Sharjah: Theodorou upsets Arjun, Niemann hunts down Vakhidov’s king

5/16/2024 – Nikolas Theodorou scored the biggest upset of the second round at the Sharjah Masters, as he defeated top seed Arjun Erigaisi with ease after the latter misjudged his opponent’s attack. Theodorou is one of eight players tied for first place with 2/2 points. Also in the leading group is Hans Niemann, who obtained an eye-catching, attacking victory over Jakhongir Vakhidov. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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Back to the Future with Casablanca Chess!

5/15/2024 – This weekend, the grand chess spectacle will begin in Morocco. Four top grandmasters – Carlsen, Nakamura, Anand, and Amin – will test the new Casablanca Chess Variant, introduced by the Casablanca Stock Exchange. They will start their rapid games from carefully selected positions derived from historical games.
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Vishy Anand shines in Plus City Grand Prix

5/15/2024 – The Plus City Grand Prix took place in Pasching, Austria, last weekend. Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand graced the event with his presence. He was part of a FIDE delegation that took part in the team competition. Anand scored 12.0/13, but this was not enough to secure first place, which went to the team from ASV Linz. | Photo: Michael Stöttinger, President of the Austrian Chess Federation, opens the tournament. | Photos: Fotomeisterei.at/ Laura Gelbmann
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Chess.com Classic - Live!

5/15/2024 – The 2024 Chess.com Classic is the second of four events preceding the Champions Chess Tour in-person Finals. Day 5 of the event sees Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer facing each other in the Division I winners’ bracket final. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Denis Lazavik, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alireza Firouzja remain in contention in the lower bracket. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 18.30 CEST (12.30 ET, 22.00 IST)
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European Senior Team Championships: live

5/15/2024 – The European Senior Team Championships 50+ and 65+ are currently being held in Terme Catez (Slovenia). Over 50 teams and a number of well-known grandmasters are taking part, including players such as John Nunn, Alexander Beliavsky, Adrian Mikhailchishin, Johann Hjartarsson and Rainer Knaak. Live games from 15:00 local time (9:00 ET). The last round starts at 14:00 local time.
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Sharjah Masters: Erigaisi starts with a win to become India's number one

5/15/2024 – Defending champion Arjun Erigaisi tops the seeding list at the 7th Sharjah Masters and in the opening round on Tuesday he defeated Eltaj Safarli. With this win Erigaisi overtook Gukesh in the live rankings and is now India's new number one - at least for one day. | Photos: ChessBase India
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Game of the Week #619: N. Abdusattorov - A. Giri

5/15/2024 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft presents a theoretically interesting game, in which Nodirbek Abdusattorov showed his attacking and his tactical skills. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
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Chess.com Classic: MVL beats So in exciting confrontation, wins Division II

5/15/2024 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave prevailed in an exciting pair of matches against Wesley So to win Division II of the Chess.com Classic. So reached the Grand Final by winning the losers’ bracket, which meant he needed to beat MVL twice to claim the title. The US grandmaster did win the first 4-game match in Armageddon, but was then defeated by his French colleague in the Grand Final Reset.
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Pranav V wins Masters in Dubai

5/14/2024 – Two players from the leading quintet won their games in the final round of the Dubai Masters on Sunday: Aravindh Chithambaram (with Black against Alexander Donchenko) and Pranav V (with White against Abhimanyu Puranik). With 7.0/9 each, the Indians Aravindh and Pranav shared first place, but thanks to his better tiebreak Pranav V won the tournament. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
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Endgame Magic #267 - With Nihal Sarin

5/14/2024 – In his Endgame Magic Show #267 Karsten Müller has a prominent guest: Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin. They enjoy endgame highlights from Nihal's career! | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

Chess.com Classic: Firouzja knocks out Duda and Keymer

5/14/2024 – Alireza Firouzja set up a showdown against Magnus Carlsen by winning the losers’ bracket of Division I in the Chess.com Classic. On Monday, Firouzja knocked out Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vincent Keymer to reach the Grand Final of the online tournament. The deciding match between Firouzja and Carlsen will take place on Wednesday. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes
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Aronian's arrows

5/14/2024 – In queen endings king safety is often crucial. How can Black draw in the diagram position?

Game of the Week #618: V. Keymer - N. Abdusattorov

5/14/2024 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at an exciting and decisive game Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, two of the world's most promising young talents, recently played at the TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmö, Sweden. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
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Sipke Ernst: A practical repertoire for the positional player after 1.d4 Vol. 1-3

5/13/2024 – The newest Fritztrainer series from our beloved chess coach Sipke Ernst is here! Three volumes with hours, and hours of comprehensive insights about 1.d4, and all its positional continuations, by the Dutch Grandmaster. On our discount day, for a great price!
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A mysterious rook move

5/13/2024 – The new engines are not only producing new opening ideas, they are also reviving more and more old opening systems. One example is the Rubinstein System (4.e3) against the Nimzo-Indian Defence. What does a broken structure matter if you get dynamic options in return! In CBM #219 IM Balázs Csonka analyses the so-called Peralta Variation 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Nc6 8.Rb1!? - our free CBM reading sample of the week for your web browser!
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