7/13/2023 – In the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia we saw a true masterpiece by Magnus Carlsen. The former World Champion played super accurate moves, while his Polish opponent showed poor understanding and a lack of knowledge of classical games of the Catalan. Learn more about this opening and the strategy behind it from chess trainer GM Efstratios Grivas.

7/13/2023 – Magnus Carlsen advanced to the Grand Final of the Aimchess Rapid online tournament by getting a clear victory over Nodirbek Abdusattorov. In the Grand Final, Carlsen will face the winner of the losers’ bracket, where Wesley So and Eduardo Iturrizaga are set to face each other in a fight to get the right to play Abdusattorov. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

7/13/2023 – Leonid (Zvulon) Gofshtein was a Grandmaster and a strong player, who played an important role for chess in Israel. He was born 21 April 1953 in Kiev, Ukraine, but later moved to Israel, where he died from cancer on 25 December 2015. To remember and to honour Gofshtein, the Bat-Yam Chess Club organised a strong tournament, which was won by Evgeny Postny.

7/12/2023 – After losing game 5, Ju Wenjun took no risks in the last encounter of the Women’s World Chess Championship played in Shanghai. Ju’s approach with white led to a quiet endgame after an early exchange of queens. The game ended in a draw on move 48. The World Championship now moves to Chongquin, where it will resume on Saturday. | Photos: Stev Bonhage / FIDE

7/12/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #576 Merijn van Delft takes a look at an instructive game Richard Rapport won against Constantin Lupulescu at the Croatia Blitz & Rapid Grand Chess Tour Tournament in Zagreb. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/12/2023 – Momentarily, Ju Wenjun is fighting for the title against Lei Tingjie, Who just took the lead! Svitlana found one of Wenjun's most beautiful games against Kateryna Lagno, which was a big part of her winning the Women's World Championship in 2018. In the Sicilian Rossolimo, The Chinese GM played for the initiative, and found a convincing attack against Lagno, which is worth replaying.

7/10/2023 – Simen Agdestein emerged as the winner of the 2023 Norwegian Championship Championship and took his ninth national title. Aged 56, Simen beat his own record set last year and again became the oldest Norwegian champion of all time. | Photo: Helge Brekke (tournament page)

7/9/2023 – In the longest game of the Women’s World Championship match so far, Lei Tingjie surprised Ju Wenjun in the opening. Ju struggled at first, but later got to put pressure on her opponent in the endgame. A fourth draw in Shanghai means the score remains tied in what has so far been a high-quality, tense confrontation. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / FIDE

7/9/2023 – 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 133rd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to talk about the skills and the legacy of Emanuel Lasker. | Photo: Pascal Simon

7/9/2023 – In the current ChessBase Magazine #214 you'll find three opening videos with a total playing time of over an hour. Ivan Sokolov presents Gukesh's novelty and pawn sacrifice 9.Qc2 in the Catalan from the Menorca Open 2023 - "excellent preparation by Gukesh!” Sipke Ernst examines the novelty 8.h4 in the Ragozin Variation of the Queen’s Gambit, which was discussed in the duel between his compatriots Van Foreest and Giri at the Tata Steel Tournament 2023. And Mihail Marin takes up the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.Be2 Nc6 5.0-0, which came up on the board in the 12th game of the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi, among others. You can watch an excerpt from Ivan Sokolov's analysis here!

7/9/2023 – The final day of action at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament sees a host of strong players trying to keep up with Magnus Carlsen, who leads the standings after scoring a perfect 9/9 on Saturday. Follow the games live and with commentary from the Saint Louis Chess Center. | Rounds start at 15:00, 16:30 and 18:00 CEST.

7/9/2023 – Kazakhstan, host of the World Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, has a lively and thriving chess scene and continues to organise attractive tournaments. The Uralsk Open (20-29 July) and the World Schools Team Championships in Aktau (3-8 August) are in the pipeline, but below is a report on the recently concluded Aktobe Open, which took place from 19-28 June and was won by Iranian grandmaster Daneshwar Bardiya. | Photo: The main square of Aktobe | Photo: Kazakhstan Travel