4/25/2024 – The TePe Sigeman & Co tournament has been held in Malmö since 1993 — it was only cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The organisers have once again put together a very interesting 8-player field for the 2024 tournament: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer, defending champion Peter Svidler (pictured), Nils Grandelius, Anton Korobov, Marc’Andria Maurizzi and women’s world champion Ju Wenjun. | Photo: David Llada

4/25/2024 – Have all playable alternatives in the early opening been discovered? Despite the huge number of possibilities, there seem to be no surprises in the first moves of a chess game, right? Well, I think I might just have blown that theory out of the water. Yes, I believe that I have discovered a new opening! Let me present you with the Wirral-Squirrel Variation, which introduces an entirely new idea as early as on move 4.

4/25/2024 – In his Game of the Week show #616, Merijn van Delft takes a look at the crucial game Gukesh won in the penultimate round of the Candidates against Alireza Firouzja - a game which helped Gukesh to win the Candidates Tournament 2024. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

4/25/2024 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look at our recent issue, CBM 218. 540 games from Tata Steel Chess and Chessable Masters 2024, 12 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Wei Yi, Anish Giri, Nordibek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Richard Rapport, with 28 annotated games. | Pictured: Gukesh D playing white against Ding Liren in Wijk aan Zee | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024

4/24/2024 – The top duels in the fifth round of the Women's European Championship ended in draws. This allowed 15-year-old Ukrainian WCM Bozhena Piddubna (pictured) to catch the leaders with a win. Piddubna is now sharing the lead with Ulviyya Fataliyeva (Azerbaijan) and Marta Garcia (Spain). Piddubna will play black against Fataliyeva in Thursday’s sixth round. | Photos: European Chess Union

4/24/2024 – Cheating in chess took centre stage when Magnus Carlsen lost to Hans Niemann in September 2022, and then tweeted about it. Now, top grandmasters Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana are sharing numbers about how many cheaters there are. What is being debated, what is known, and what is only a feeling? In its latest issue, New In Chess magazine deals with a subject that concerns us all.

4/24/2024 – It is a famous game, played between Siegbert Tarrasch and Akiba Rubinstein in 1911. It ended in a draw, and is given as a model example for an active defence in rook endings in the books of Levenfish/Smyslov and Averbakh. However, matters are not that easy. Can you find the mistakes in the game play strategy?

4/24/2024 – Records were shattered and history was made at the 2024 FIDE Candidates. Two events — open and women’s — took place simultaneously for the first time at the same hall. We saw the first brother-sister duo, R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali, participating. In the end, D Gukesh broke a number of records: he was the youngest ever to win the Candidates Tournament and thus become the youngest ever challenger to the World Championship. Gukesh was interviewed by Sagar Shah in what turned out to be a conversation lasting close to two hours. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/23/2024 – A couple of weeks ago Leon Mendonca turned 18. After many spectacular successes — like a 9.0/9 score in a very strong GM Open a year ago and winning the Challegers group in Wijk aan Zee — Leon just won the Spring Chess Classic 2024 at the Saint Louis Chess Club – outright. The round robin event had ten grandmasters with an average rating of 2625. This remarkable young player has recorded a very interesting FritzTrainer for us. | Photos by Austin Fuller

4/23/2024 – The eternal duel knight vs bishop is one of the many things that make chess so interesting. In the diagram position, White's knight is better than Black's bishop. But White still has to find a way to win. What should he do?

4/23/2024 – During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior position to draw the game rather than lose. In more complex positions, stalemate is much rarer, usually taking the form of a swindle that succeeds only if the superior side is inattentive. Chess Trainer GM Efstratios Grivas shows us how a "mad rook" can complicate matters for the superior side.

4/23/2024 – The FIDE Candidates Tournament, which captivated audiences for three weeks, is in the books. The closing ceremony was held at 1 Hotel Toronto, the residence of the players for almost a month. The champions, Gukesh D and Tan Zhongyi, were honored with unique trophies crafted from reclaimed Toronto wood, symbolizing their achievement and the enduring connection with the city they’ll carry home. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza