11/2/2023 – After the sixth round of the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss, every chess player should know all participants who remain in the top 20. Unless, Ramaza Zhalmakhanov shows up! The young talent from Kazakhstan is probably playing his best tournament ever, with draws against Giri, Sevian, Sarana, and Firouzja, and two wins against Pichot and Bassem! Let's see if the IM can keep up with the elite until the final round. His win against Amir Bassem, in the Ruy Lopez, is a tactical masterpiece.

11/1/2023 – Magnus Carlsen is still the clear world number one, but his lead over the other world class players has shrunk somewhat, although it's still impressive. World number two Fabiano Caruana is the only player in the top 12 to have gained Elo in the last month, and with a good result in the Grand Swiss Tournament on the Isle of Man he could break the 2800 barrier again. Here's the FIDE Ranking as of 1 November 2023.

11/1/2023 – In the Endgame Magic Show #253 Karsten Müller and endgame aficionado Ted Jewell analyse endgame highlights from the first two rounds of the German Bundesliga. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

11/1/2023 – World-class chess explained in video: Dorian Rogozenco shows two win by Magnus Carlsen from the World Cup 2023 – From a surprise weapon to a fashionable variation: Luis Engel shows why 6.Rg1 is being used by more and more top players against the Najdorf Variation (video) – Analyses of Nijat Abasov, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi, Ferenc Berkes, Jan Krzysztof Duda, Andrey Esipenko, Nils Grandelius, Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, Praggnanandhaa, Peter Svidler et al. from the World Cup 2023 – “Special” on Hou Yifan: exclusive collection of 22 encounters with detailed commentary from the period from 2008 to 2020 – "Crushing the Benoni": Petra Papp recommends the attack with 6.e4 g6 7.f4! – Carlsbad 1923: Mihail Marin surprises us with how modern the old masters already laid out the game 100 years ago, incl. two interactive videos – "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part #6: Karsten Mueller reveals tips and tricks in the endgame with more than two pawns on one wing and much more.

11/1/2023 – It is the halftime at the World Senior Chess Championship 2023, and after six rounds the participants were enjoying a day off. After visiting the city of Palermo the players are getting ready to continue battles for the titles in second half of the tournament, starting on November 1. | Photos: Denis Burko

11/1/2023 – India is on its way to becoming the biggest super-power in chess. Some of the credit goes to ChessBase India, which has organized a large number of projects to foster this development. CEO Sagar Shah is now on a mission to make chess a subject of the regular school curriculum, not just to generate further champions, but to foster the social and learning skills of students. Currently he is holding a seminar on how to implement chess in schools across entire states. Here are his talking points.

10/31/2023 – Zachary Saine is thechessnerd, a 22-year-old content creator and Twitch streamer. The Canadian is a student at Amsterdam University and is playing in as many European chess tournaments as he can. Zach, as he likes to be called, has chalked up 138 million views on YouTube. Recently we sent him a copy of ChessBase 17 and Mega Database 2023, and he used it to prepare for a game against a higher-rated opponent. The software provided him with radar vision. Here is Zach's video description of how the game went.

10/31/2023 – Chess stalemates in the middle games reveal the intricacy and beauty of this uncommon occurrence, offering various unique and engrossing endgame analyses. To show the variety of inventiveness and strategic nuance present in these unusual circumstances, Siegfried Hornecker presents a number of examples of midboard stalemates. These range from complex endgames to complicated compositions by well-known chess composers like Vladimir Bron and Emil Melnichenko. | Photo: Midjourney

10/31/2023 – Going into the rest day, the Women’s Grand Swiss has a sole leader in Anna Muzychuk, who defeated Bibisara Assaubayeva with the white pieces on Monday. In the open, eight players are sharing the lead with 4½/6 points each, as Fabiano Caruana, Vidit Gujrathi, Javokhir Sindarov, Alexandr Predke and Radoslaw Wojtaszek grabbed full points to join the leading pack. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

10/31/2023 – Knowing when and how to exchange pieces is an important skill - not only in the endgame. In the diagram position it is Black to play and draw. What should Black do?

10/30/2023 – From 14 to 22 October, the Ukraine 2023 National Club Championships took place in Vinnytsia (Ukraine). It was the first championship since 2021: in 2022 there was no championship due to the war and in 2020 it was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic. This year, despite the war, Ukrainian chess players came together to compete for their team championships in classical, rapid and blitz chess. The team from the Dnipro Region Chess Federation was crowned champion in all disciplines. Grandmaster Mikhail Golubev reports. | All photos courtesy of Lana Chess Photography

10/30/2023 – The story is in all the major international news outlets: Ohad Munder-Zichri "celebrated" his 9th birthday last Monday. Not at home, with his family and friends, but in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza, together with more than 200 hostages taken during the devastating Oct. 7 incursion. Ohad is a chess champion and a champion with the Rubik's cube. He has sent out an invitation to friends to celebrate with him.