2/9/2024 – The games of the Weissenhaus G.O.A.T. Challenge begin on Friday, 9 February, at 1 pm. But before the tournament begins, there will be a press conference at which the participants will answer questions from spectators and journalists. Follow the press conference live.

2/9/2024 – To the surprise of everyone he won the 2023 World Championship in Astana, but then disappeared from public view. Ding Liren played just a very few games – until the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk ann Zee. There he did not do well at all. We invited him, like so many others, to come to Hamburg to do a refresher course in the use of the ChessBase software, which he did. Frederic Friedel reports. | Photos ©Nils Rohde/ChessBase

2/9/2024 – The Tata Steel 2024 tournament is over, and the masters tournament had at least one clear Underdog with Ju Wenjun, as the only player with a rating under 2600! But despite this setting, she won against the third highest rated player - Alireza Firouzja. Master coach Robert Ris describes perfectly well, why this happened, what went wrong for Alireza, and what Ju Wenjun accomplished delightfully.

2/9/2024 – A new super tournament starts in Weissenhaus, near Hamburg, Germany, today. But it is not just any other super tournament. This event is introduced by none other than the World no.1 Magnus Carlsen himself and it will be in Fischer-Random format or as Carlsen likes to say, Freestyle. Hence, the name WEISSENHAUS Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge. Carlsen's handpicked opponents for this eight-player tournament are: Fabiano Caruana (USA), Ding Liren (CHN), Alireza Firouzja (FRA), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), D Gukesh, Vincent Keymer (GER) and Levon Aronian (USA). There will be four rounds of Rapid games played today in Playoffs. Round 1 starts today at 1 p.m. CET, 5:30 p.m. IST, 7 a.m. EST. | Photos: Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

2/9/2024 – The World Chess Hall of Fame is known for its wonderful exhibitions on various subjects related to chess. Now, the Hall of Fame announced its new exhibition: Donna Dodson's "Match of the Matriarchs and other Amazonomachies". It will start on 15 February and centers on women’s stories and lives, and the history of women in chess.

2/8/2024 – MegaBase 2024 is Chess History in action. Regularly updated every month, the Main Database currently offers 10.6 million games, many of them annotated. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur offers a review with focus on chess in the 21st Century.

2/8/2024 – Chess960 or Freestyle chess will soon be the centre of attention. The 1st German Chess960 Championship will take place in Berlin, Germany, on 9 February and in the German spa Weissenhaus at the Baltic see the world's best chess players will compete in the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge. But who invented this form of chess? Chess historian Hans D. Post has been searching the archives. | Picture: Philip Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt, who probably was the first to come up with the idea of Chess960 or Freestyle chess.

2/8/2024 – In his new Fast & Furious episode, Robert Ris takes a look at the final of the Chessable Masters, in which Magnus Carlsen won against Alireza Firouzja. But it was a close and exciting match, in which Firouzja showed how dangerous he is. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

2/8/2024 – A new super-tournament is about to start at the Weissenhaus Luxury Resort in Germany. The Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge is an 8-player, innovative event featuring, among others, world number one Magnus Carlsen and world champion Ding Liren. A single round-robin with a rapid time control will be followed by a knockout tournament with a classical time control. The event will take place on February 9-16. | More info here!

2/8/2024 – The ChessBase Trading Card Market is a nice field of activity for all chess fans who enjoy chess topics. And there are so many themes and new things to discover. And it's especially great if you have a complete series. You don't necessarily have to buy trading cards with ducats, you can also swap them. Here's how it works:

2/7/2024 – Magnus Carlsen won the Chessable Masters after defeating Alireza Firouzja in the Grand Final Reset of Division I. Firouzja started the day with two wins in a row, and obtained a draw in game 4 to set up a rematch. In the Reset, however, it was Carlsen who scored first. Firouzja then failed to make the most of an advantageous position, as he allowed Carlsen to turn the tables and get a 2-0 final victory.

2/7/2024 – In his World Chess Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, which made him the 17th World Champion in the history of chess, Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren won the sixth game by threatening a checkmate with rook and knight. Let us see how that checkmate was utilized in endgame studies. | Photo: Midjourney