6/24/2023 – In the diagram position Black's 17...0-0?? allowed White a classical raid featuring two clever continuations. Can you calculate the lines?

6/24/2023 – Ray Robson joined Vincent Keymer in the lead of the Prague Masters tournament after beating Boris Gelfand in what turned out to be the only decisive game of round 3. Both Robson and Gelfand are known for favouring principled, theoretical lines, and that is precisely what they did in their direct encounter. The young US grandmaster prevailed following an engaging strategic battle. In the Challengers, Mateusz Bartel beat Vaclav Finek and is now the sole leader with 2½/3 points. | Photo: Anežka Kružíková

6/23/2023 – The highly anticipated match of the day was between SG Alpine Warriors and Ganges Grandmasters. The sole reason could be deduced: it featured the battle between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand. We got a glimpse of the Carlsen we are familiar with — one tiny positional inaccuracy and he will punish you. However, that win did not turn out enough for the team as Richard Rapport and Bella Khotenashvili scored important victories over D Gukesh and Elisabeth Paehtz, which meant SG Alpine Warriors had lost to Ganges Grandmasters (6-11). Balan Alaskan Knights bounced back after their loss against SGAW by defeating upGrad Mumba Masters by a huge margin (5-14). Four matches will be played tomorrow, starting with SG Alpine Warriors vs Triveni Continental Kings from 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. | Photo: Tech Mahindra Global Chess League

6/23/2023 – The Saint Louis Chess Club announced the appointment of Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan as its Chief Commentator and Spokesperson. Now a Saint Louis resident, Yasser joins more than twenty other grandmasters who call the city home, one of just a few cities in the world with as many grandmasters in residence. Yasser is a four-time U.S. champion, a former world championship candidate and an inductee to the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.

6/23/2023 – In his new Power Play Show, GM Daniel King tests the viewers’ killer instincts. In the last-round game from Norway Chess between Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, a position arose which was highly tactical and could have led to a swift conclusion! | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

6/23/2023 – All five games in the Masters section of the Prague Chess Festival finished drawn, leaving Vincent Keymer in the sole lead. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, Matuesz Bartel and Benjamin Gledura both won with white to join Vaclav Finek in the lead with 1½/2 points. Bartel obtained a fine win over Czech IM Richard Stalmach, whose approach in the French Defence proved ineffective against Bartel’s energetic play. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

6/19/2023 – In this week's show, Karsten Müller looks at endgame highlights from the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Nicosia, which was surprisingly won by Dinara Wagner, the lowest-rated player in the field. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

6/19/2023 – In the ninth and final round of the Teplice Open, all the encounters on the top five boards ended in draws and that secured clear first place for German GM Frederik Svane (pictured), who had a half-point lead going into Sunday’s round. He scored 7½ points and obtained an Elo gain of 15.8 points, thanks to his 2743 tournament rating performance. Rasmus Svane, the champion’s brother, finished in fourth place with 7 points to his name. | Photo: Official website

6/19/2023 – GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzbekistan) and WGM Divya Deshmukh (India) emerged as the winners of the 2023 Asian Continental Chess Championships. The event, with a prize fund of $100,000, held in the open and women’s sections, took place from June 3-12, 2023, in Almaty, Kazakhstan and brought together 129 players from 18 national federations. | Photos: Official website

6/19/2023 – Richard Rapport emerged victorious in the Armageddon Championship Series, dominating the world’s top players and winning the Europe & Africa qualifier. This victory secured his spot in the Grand Finale in September, where he will be joined by the tournament’s runner-up, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, alongside a formidable lineup of finalists including Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Gukesh D, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Bibisara Assaubayeva, and Humpy Koneru. | Photos: World Chess

6/18/2023 – When a strong player looks at a position (in a real game of chess, not a problem) he or she will automatically see it not as a random collection of pieces but as a series of chunks — patterns that are recognisable and have known features. And the patterns will also generate ideas of moves which may be profitable. Curiously, sometimes apparently insignificant changes can be crucial, and today I’m focussing on an instance of this phenomenon. | Pictured: Mikhail Tal

6/18/2023 – The European Pair Blitz Championships will take place on 19 June 2023 in the Opera House of Krákow, Poland. The competition is an accompanying event to the 2023 European Games. The championships will feature top male and female chess players from eight European federations: Poland, Azerbaijan, Israel, Romania, Spain, Armenia and the Netherlands. Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Oliwia Kiolbasa will represent the host country. | Pictured: Łukasz Turlej and Shohreh Bayat