Asian Games: Iran and China win team competitions

10/9/2023 – The Asian Games, held from 23 September to 8 October in Hangzhou, China, included individual and team chess tournaments for men and women. The winners of the team events were Iran (men) and China (women).
More...
 2

Gender Bias in Chess: Study finds Parents and Mentors shortchange Girls’ Potential

10/9/2023 – The renowned New York University has taken a scientific approach to the omnipresent question marks around the effects of gender bias in chess. It concludes: "This study provides the first large-scale investigation of bias against young female players and holds implications for the role of parents and mentors." | Logo: Courtesy of the New York University
More...
 7

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Giuoco Piano victory in Mexico

10/9/2023 – Svitlana Demchenko celebrated her 20th birthday recently, marking this year's World Junior Championship in Mexico as her final appearance. She enjoyed the tournament atmosphere, and met many chess friends. In this episode, she shows us a well-prepared Italian Game.
More...
 1

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: Nihal Sarin attacks!

10/9/2023 – In the new episode of his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris presents a fine attacking game Nihal Sarin played at the European Club Cup, which finished last weekend. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Endgames from Amsterdam

10/8/2023 – The star-studded Levitov Chess Week rapid tournament saw Ian Nepomniachtchi grabbing the title ahead of Vishy Anand and Peter Svidler. GM Karsten Müller followed the games closely and found five remarkable endgame positions. Find here the compilation of his pragmatic, instructive and enjoyable analyses!

Carlsen’s Offerspill clear winners at European Chess Club Cup

10/8/2023 – An exciting final round of the European Club Cup in Durrës saw Offerspill and Superchess grabbing gold medals in the open and women’s sections, respectively. In the open, the Norwegian team, led by Magnus Carlsen, beat Asnieres with wins by Pranav Venkatesh and Aryan Tari, while in the women’s tournament, Superchess beat Garuda Ajka in a close match, thanks to victories by Dinara Wagner and Marsel Efroimski. | Photo: Niki Riga
More...
 4

Understanding before Moving 146: Chess history in a nutshell (28)

10/8/2023 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 146th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to take a look at the ideas and games of Alexander Alekhine. | Photo: Pascal Simon
More...
 1

U.S. Championships: Niemann beats Sevian, shares the lead with Abhimanyu

10/7/2023 – In the second round of the US Championships in Saint Louis, Hans Niemann won with black against Sam Sevian, who had beaten Ray Robson one round earlier to take the lead. For the time being, Niemann is sharing the lead with Abhimanyu Mishra, who won against Andrew Tang. Niemann and Abhimanyu now both have a 1½/2 score. In the women’s section, a quartet consisting of Carissa Yip, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Nazi Paikidze and Tatev Abrahamyan (all on 1½/2 points) are topping the standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 2

Intercontinental Championship for Prisoners: Over 100 teams registered

10/7/2023 – Over 100 teams from 50 countries will take part in the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, a three-day event that starts on October 11. The championship is a part of the Chess for Freedom Program, launched two years ago to promote chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons worldwide.
More...
 5

European Chess Club Cup - Live!

10/7/2023 – The 2023 European Club Cup is taking place at a resort in Durrës, Albania, from 30 September to 7 October. Magnus Carlsen is playing for the Norwegian club Offerspill, while Superchess from Romania have the highest rating average, with Vishy Anand and Richard Rapport playing on the top boards. | Follow the games live with computer-assisted analysis starting daily at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST)
More...
 13

Spot the motif

10/7/2023 – In the diagram position, Black's two centralized major pieces create a serious threat - which White did not see. He played 22.Ra4??, allowing Black to strike. How would you punish this rook move?

Euro Club Cup: Deac wins with 1.a3, Offerspill and Superchess co-leaders

10/7/2023 – The round-6 clash of co-leaders between Superchess and Offerspill ended in a draw, with wins for Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Superchess) and Pranav V (Offerspill). This allowed six teams to close the gap with the co-leaders to 1 match point going into Saturday’s final round. Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, Superchess and Garuda Ajka obtained crucial victories to climb to shared first place, and are set to face each other in round 7. The final round stars one hour earlier than usual. | Photo: Niki Riga
More...
 2

Chess for fun and entertainment

10/6/2023 – A few days ago, we presented you with a set of unusual and interesting positions. They are clever and somewhat difficult to solve. But all of them are fun. Today you get the solutions, presented in a way that is particularly easy to follow. You do not have to be a champion player or problem expert to follow.

U.S. Championships: Sevian and Paikidze start with wins

10/6/2023 – Sam Sevian and Nazi Paikidze are the sole leaders in the open and women’s sections of the U.S. Championships, respectively. Sevian beat Ray Robson with black, while Paikidze got the better of Ashritha Eswaran with white in the first round of the national championships. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 2

Euro Club Cup: Carlsen beats Keymer, Offerspill and Superchess co-leaders

10/6/2023 – Magnus Carlsen’s Offerspill and Vishy Anand’s Superchess are sharing the lead in the open section of the European Club Cup. Both teams have a perfect 10/10 score after beating Novy Bor and Asnieres in closely contested matches. Meanwhile, SP Gaz Ukraine grabbed the lead in the women’s tournament after beating former sole leaders TAJFUN SK Ljubljana. | Photo: Niki Riga
More...
 3

Game of the Week #588: Kuipers vs Bauer

10/5/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #588, Merijn Van Delft looks at a fine attacking game, in which the Dutch International Master Stefan Kuipers punished double-edged opening play by French GM Christian Bauer. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
More...
 2

Statement of the Saint Louis Chess Club

10/5/2023 – Allegations of abuse against Alejandro Ramirez, who was a commentator and coach at the Saint Louis Chess Centre, have shaken the chess world. The Board of Directors of the Saint Louis Chess Club now admits that it did not act early enough and has published improvements to its policies in a statement.
More...
 10

Euro Club Cup: Four co-leaders, big matches coming

10/5/2023 – The favourites keep on winning in the open section of the European Club Cup, as the four top seeds share the lead with 8/8 match points going into the fifth round. On Thursday, Vishy Anand’s Superchess is set to face MVL’s Asnieres, while Magnus Carlsen’s Offerspill will play against Vincent Keymer’s Novy Bor. In the women’s section, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana lead the standings as the only team with a perfect score. | Photo: Niki Riga
More...
 1

Start of the U.S. Championships in Saint Louis

10/4/2023 – On Thursday, 5 October, the US National Championships and the US Women's National Championships will begin in Saint Louis, each with 12 participants. Everyone with a name and a place in US top chess will be there. Only Hikaru Nakamura is missing.
More...
 5

The legendary Geurt Gijssen

10/4/2023 – Geurt Gijssen, born in 1934, is one of the most famous chess arbiters in the world of chess. He was the chief arbiter for the World Championship match between Kasparov and Karpov in 1987. He has been the top arbiter for several world championships, Olympiads and also the chairman of the FIDE rules commission for 20 years! What makes him so special? In this interview IM Sagar Shah sits down with Geurt and gets to know all about his life story. Towards the end Geurt also gives his advice to young and budding people who want to become chess arbiters.

Euro Club Cup: Magnus plays 1...a6, wins

10/4/2023 – Nine teams still have a perfect score after three rounds in the open section of the European Club Cup in Albania. Offerspill, led by Magnus Carlsen, is one of these nine teams. The former world champion won his second consecutive game after replying to 1.e4 by 1...a6 against IM Bojan Maksimovic. In the women’s section, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana and Garuda Ajka BSK are sharing the lead with 6/6 match points each. | Photo: Niki Riga
More...
 5

The Max Euwe Centre Amsterdam

10/3/2023 – Hundreds of thousands of people in the Netherlands play chess or are interested in one of its numerous aspects. Some 20,000 are organized: they belong to a chess club. Quite a few people have found the way to the Max Euwe-Centrum, but many have no idea at all of its facilities and possibilities. ChessBase India's Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal, who were reporting on the Levitov Chess Week, visited the tournament venue and the chess museum, and give us a complete video tour!

Chess for fun and entertainment

10/3/2023 – Chess is normally a battle between two intellects. But the game is so rich and multifaceted that it offers much more. For instance, you can create a wealth of imaginative studies and problems, positions that do not occur in regular games. They can be very profound, very difficult, but also highly entertaining! Here are three that will test your skill and imaginativeness in really fun ways.

Two bishops and two queens

10/3/2023 – The diagram position, in which Black is to move, is extremely sharp: Black has two bishops for the queen but both sides have far advanced and dangerous passed pawns and this allows Black to win. How?