6/6/2024 – The Sicilian Defence is one of the most popular and sharpest replies to 1.e4. After 1.e4 c5, an exciting, unbalanced position is assured, where Black can play for a win from the very start of the game. The Open Sicilian describes all variations where White plays an early d2-d4.

6/5/2024 – Two classical games ended decisively in round 8 of the Norway Chess Women tournament, with Ju Wenjun beating Pia Cramling and Lei Tingjie beating Humpy Koneru, both with the white pieces. The remaining encounter saw R Vaishali prevailing in Armageddon against former sole leader Anna Muzychuk. These results left Ju in the sole lead, 1½ points ahead of Muzychuk. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess

6/5/2024 – Round 8 of the Norway Chess tournament saw Magnus Carlsen extending his lead over Hikaru Nakamura to a full point, as he got the better of R Praggnanandhaa in Armageddon, while Nakamura was defeated by Alireza Firouzja in the rapid tiebreaker. In the remaining encounter of the day, Ding Liren missed winning chances both in the classical game (which ended drawn) and the ensuing tiebreaker against Fabiano Caruana — a second draw with black in Armageddon granted Caruana 1½ points. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess

6/5/2024 – It is a passionate game. There have been studies which have demonstrated that in dramatic positions with chances on both sides the adrenalin levels and the pulse rates of the players involved can rise to heights experienced by paragliders, extreme mountaineers or deep sea divers. Hence, it is not surprising that some people actually have died at the chess board when the setting became extremely stressful and prolonged.

6/5/2024 – Faustino Oro is breaking records left, right and centre. In 2023, the 10-year-old Argentinian, who was born on 14 October 2013, became the youngest player ever to break the 2300 Elo mark at the age of 9. He also achieved his first IM norm earlier than anyone else and now, after another IM norm at the Continental Americas Championship 2024, he has a good chance of becoming the youngest IM of all time. | Photo: Faustino Oro at the Sunway Sitges Tournament 2023 | Photo: David Llada

6/5/2024 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist, Nagesh Havanur, takes a look at our latest issue, CBM 219. 217 games from the Prague Chess Festival and the American Cup 2024, 12 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Nodirbek Abdusattorov, R Praggnanandhaa and David Navara, among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Fabiano Caruana with 26 annotated games. | Photo: ChessBase India

6/4/2024 – The position shown is taken from a game in the current Dubai Open. White has just captured on d7 with his king, and is playing to win. Black has seven move, all with his king. Only one allows him to hold a draw. Can you tell where the black king must go? Let international trainer Efstratios Grivas explain it all to you and help you understand exactly how this kind of endgame works. You can also register for the interactive training program of the Grivas Chess International Academy, starting June 2024.

6/4/2024 – In queen endings it is often a good idea to centralise your queen and king safety plays a crucial role. In the diagram position, which is from a game Vaishali played against Aleksandra Goryachkina at the Women's Candidates, it is White to move and win. What should White do?

6/4/2024 – In the clash of co-leaders at the Norway Chess Women tournament, Anna Muzychuk defeated Ju Wenjun with white in Armageddon to go into the final three rounds atop the standings. Meanwhile, Humpy Koneru got the better of R Vaishali in their classical encounter and Lei Tingjie beat Pia Cramling in the Armageddon tiebreaker. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess

6/4/2024 – An exciting round in Stavanger saw Hikaru Nakamura beating Magnus Carlsen on time in the Armageddon decider to close the gap to the world number one in the standings — Naka now stands a half point behind Carlsen in sole second place. R Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja also prevailed in Armageddon, against Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana, respectively. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess

6/3/2024 – In the Endgame Magic Show #270 Karsten Müller and Arne Kähler continue to take a look at endgame highlights from the strong tournament in Sharjah, focusing on zugzwang positions. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

6/3/2024 – The World Championship Match 2024, in which the reigning champion Ding Liren (China) and the youngest challenger in chess history, Gukesh D (India), will fight for the title, is provisionally scheduled between November 20 and December 15, 2024. After opening the bidding procedure to host the event, FIDE received three applications that met all the criteria. These bids came from New Delhi (India), Chennai (India) and Singapore, vying to host the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024. In an interview, Sagar Shah of ChessBase India discussed these developments with FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky.