5/11/2024 – Svitlana and Arne will participate in the Biel International Chess Festival this year! Last year, the masters section had some stunning tactics on the board, and Svitlana picked some of her favourites for your delight. Le Quang Liem, who won the last two events consecutively, has played the majority of interesting tactics! But this year, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa, Javokhir Sindarov, Haik Martirosyan, and Abhimanyu Mishra will join the Triathlon masters, to give you even more interesting games to watch.

5/11/2024 – Four precise moves by White out of the diagram position, so that Black has to lay down his arms because of a loss of material - can you manage that?

5/11/2024 – The knockout phase of the Chess.com Classic kicked off on Friday. Division I saw Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vincent Keymer and Denis Lazavik advancing in the winners’ bracket. Lazavik got the better of Ian Nepomniachtchi — though Nepo is much higher rated than his young opponent, it is by this point not a big surprise that the 17-year-old beat a nominally stronger player. | Photo: chess.com

5/11/2024 – After scoring three wins in as many games on Thursday, Wei Yi grabbed two more consecutive wins (before signing a draw in round 9) to secure first place in the rapid section of the Superbet tournament in Poland. Going into the 18 rounds of blitz, set to take place on Saturday and Sunday, Wei leads Magnus Carlsen by a full point, while R Praggananandhaa stands at a 2-point distance from the world number one. Carlsen was the only player to remain unbeaten in the rapid. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

5/10/2024 – In their search for ways to throw their opponents off balance and create unusual positions, players such as the American GM Brandon Jacobson and Magnus Carlsen have recently tried out the so-called 'Meadow Hay Gambit' in blitz games: 1.a4 e5 2.Ra3!? An offer to win the exchange that Black cannot really refuse though White gets a surprising amount of compensation. Gambit expert Robert Ris has now made a 60-minute video course on this variation, and ChessBase readers who want to surprise their opponents with this sacrifice - or don't want to be surprised by it - can get this course for free now until Sunday.

5/10/2024 – With 5.0/6 each, the Indian Grandmasters Aravind Chithambaram and Visakh N R are still the leading duo at the Dubai Masters. Top seed Yu Yangyi, Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun and chess legend Vasyl Ivanchuk belong to the group of 11 pursuers with 4.5/6. | Photo: Aravind Chithambaram (right) at the start of his game against Vladislav Artemiev in round 6. | Photos: Aditya Sur Roy (ChessBase India)

5/10/2024 – On the second day of the Chess.com Classic the knockout rounds of the play-in were played to decide who would make it to Division I. After dramatic knockout matches Velimir Ivic (pictured), Denis Lazavik, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexey Sarana and Jan-Krzysztof Duda qualified, but co-favourites Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana will have to be content with playing in Division II.

5/10/2024 – Each issue of ChessBase Magazine honours an outstanding chess player with a portrait. The current issue is dedicated to Fabiano Caruana. Several authors shed light on the qualities of the 2018 World Championship runner-up. Stefan Liebig took a look at the issue. | Photo: FIDE

5/10/2024 – Magnus Carlsen and Wei Yi emerged as co-leaders after the second day of action at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament in Poland. Carlsen grabbed two wins and then failed to make the most of clear winning chances against D Gukesh, while Wei obtained three wins in a row to recover from his somewhat underwhelming performance on Wednesday. Former leader Kirill Shevchenko and R Praggnanandhaa stand a full point behind the leaders (wins are worth 2 points in the rapid section of the event). | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

5/9/2024 – Leon Luke Mendonca is one of the up-and-coming Indian grandmasters on his way to the top of the world rankings. In his FritzTrainer course, he reveals his fondness for classical openings and presents a solid weapon for Black, the stable Queen’s Indian Defence — one of Anatoly Karpov’s favourite weapons. Stefan Liebig is enthusiastic about the product.

5/9/2024 – Kirill Shevchenko, the clear rating underdog, grabbed the lead after the first day of action at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament in Poland. Shevchenko defeated D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer to end the day with a perfect 6/6 score (wins grant 2 points in the rapid section of the event). Standing at a 2-point distance are Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

5/8/2024 – Currently the ‘Dubai Police Global’ event that is being held in Dubai (03-13.05.2024), with a total of 361 players from 42 different countries – 37 from the UAE, 109 from India. Our friend and frequent new page contributor, international chess trainer GM Efstratios Grivas, is the lone Greek player. After a bad start, he played a very instructive game in Round 3, which he has extensively commented for us. You would do well to study his use of the Classical Attack.