11/17/2023 – Fritz 19 is in the lead again with 2.5 to 1.5. But maybe our strong club level player Jan Jettel, perhaps better known as Schachnotizen, can defeat the tricky engine opponent. You either love, or hate to play against an ultra-aggressive club player, who pushes pawns forward non-stop, and sacrifices pieces with delight. The Swindler is exactly this. In the dramatic battle with Jan Jettel, the fox character pulls off a couple of tricks in typical swindler fashion. A game, Jan will probably never forget!

11/17/2023 – Despite a last round loss Grandmaster Ray Robson ended up winning the rapid portion of the 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, with a score of 11.0/18 heading into the blitz tomorrow. Tied for second were GMs Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, both on 10.0/18, with several players (Firouzja, Nepomniachtchi, Giri, Liem) trailing closely behind with an even 9.0/18. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

11/16/2023 – Baskaran Adhiban had quite a rough start in the FIDE Grand Swiss, but that did not prevent him from returning to his trademark creative style in round six against Eduardo Iturrizaga. We don’t want to give too many spoilers, but Paul Morphy would have been proud! In Game of the Week #594, Merijn Van Delft takes a closer look at this encounter. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/16/2023 – At the age of 29 years, Vidit Gujrathi did something very special: he won the FIDE Grand Swiss outright and with it a spot in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024. In an personal conversation with Sagar Shah, Vidit speaks about what the title means to him, the role of his family and parents, and reveals his trainers. This Podcast gives an insight into the personal side of this world class GM.

11/16/2023 – The second day of rapid started off slow with ten straight draws, before an explosive final round left GM Ray Robson at the top of the standings after an important win over GM Alireza Firouzja. Heading into the final day of rapid, Robson leads with 8.0/12, while GMs Maxime Vachier Lagrave, Anish Giri, and Le Quang Liem trail closely behind with 7.0/12. | Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

11/16/2023 – Three more games to go, and the score between humans vs. Fritz 19 is now 1.5 to 1.5, after Robert Ris conquered the aggressive bull. Svitlana Demchenko's opponent is the turtle, an endgame aficionado. This animal is considered one of the more challenging Fritz 19 characters, and difficult to break. In the Sicilian Kan Variation, the Canadian WIM cannot really advance, until a material imbalance shows up out of nowhere! But things aren't getting easier ...

11/16/2023 – Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, author, organiser, commentator, chess book collector and editor-in-chief of the renowned chess magazine "New in Chess", has conducted numerous interviews with top players over the last four decades. When Sagar Shah, founder and director of ChessBase India, recently visited Holland, he changed roles and interviewed the experienced interviewer. This led to an entertaining conversation about chess books and memories of meeting players such as Kasparov, Karpov, Tal, Anand and many others.

11/16/2023 – Germany beat Armenia to grab the sole lead after five rounds in the open section of the European Team Championship. Wins for Vincent Keymer and Matthias Bluebaum, both with black, gave the Germans match victory. Four teams are sharing second place a match point back, including Romania, who defeated the former co-leaders from Poland. In the women’s championship, France and Azerbaijan scored convincing wins to remain as co-leaders going into the rest day. | Photo: Paul Meyer-Dunker / German Chess Federation

11/15/2023 – It can happen so quickly. Yesterday Vincent Keymer was the second best 18-year-old chess player in the world, today he is the world's best 19-year old - today, 15 November 2023, Keymer is celebrating his 19th birthday. As befits a chess professional, at the board.

11/15/2023 – Fritz 19 leads with 1.5 to 0.5, against the humans, by beating Leon Mendonca, and drawing with Elisabeth Paehtz. Robert Ris is now facing the aggressive bull at strong club player level. And quickly, The Dutch IM has a piece more against Fritz 19! Unfortunately, the bull storms towards Robert with countless threats! Who will prevail?

11/15/2023 – In chess, blunders are inevitable. Of course, you might try to minimize them with tactical training, but you will never be able to get rid of them altogether. The same is true for unpleasant surprises. Whatever you do to be fully prepared for anything that might happen at the board, your opponent will still be time to time able to play a nasty unexpected move that gets you in a state of shock and horror. | Photo: A shocked Magnus Carlsen, analysing a game he played against Levon Aronian at the Grand Chess Tour tournament in Zagreb 2019 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/15/2023 – No more teams have perfect scores in either section of the European Team Championships. In the open tournament, Armenia joined Germany and Poland in the lead thanks to a 3-1 victory over Israel. In the women’s tournament, Germany joined Azerbaijan and France thanks to a 2½-1½ victory over Hungary. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen scored his third win of the event, as he helped Norway to grab 2 match points in their match against Finland. | Photo: Mark Livshitz