9/21/2023 – The French Defence is very popular and is considered a solid opening for Black. How do you manage to gain an advantage with White against it? What are typical plans and how do you remember which idea to use and when? What should you know about the complex positions? German WGM Jana Schneider answers these questions on this video course. An expert practitioner of the Advance Variation with both colours, she shows typical plans and ideas to turn the space advantage in the centre into a victory.

9/21/2023 – The World Junior Championships will take place from September 21 to October 1 at the Hotel del Prado in Mexico City. Two US representatives, Hans Niemann and Carissa Yip, are the top seeds in the open and the women’s section, respectively. The event is an 11-round Swiss Open. Former champions of the prestigious under-20 championships include Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Humpy Koneru (women’s). | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

9/21/2023 – Polish grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda emerged victorious in the thrilling 2023 Armageddon Championship Series, clinching a remarkable €80,000 prize. Wesley So secured the runner-up position with a commendable €20,000 prize. This championship marks a significant milestone in the world of chess, highlighting the growing importance of short-form chess formats and broadcasting innovations. | Photos: Max Avdeev / World Chess

9/20/2023 – IM Andrew Martin recently produced his upcoming Fritztrainer on the Black Knight Tango opening at the ChessBase Headquarters in Hamburg. We seized the opportunity to chat with him and delve into his extensive chess journey. Born and raised in London, Andrew turned to chess as a solace during a challenging childhood. This passion shaped his entire life around the captivating game. He's done it all: from authoring multiple books, collaborating closely with ChessBase, competing in tournaments, mentoring students, to even setting a simultaneous play world record against 321 opponents. The conversation with Andrew is profoundly insightful, offering listeners a wealth of knowledge.

9/20/2023 – The Grand Finale of the Armageddon Series is taking place on September 14-20 at the World Chess Club in Berlin. On Wednesday, Wesley So and Nodirbek Abdusattorov will battle for the right to face Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the tournament’s grand finale. | Follow the games live with expert commentary by GM Simon Williams and IM Jovanka Houska, starting at 19.00 CEST (13.00 ET, 22.30 IST).

9/20/2023 – This year’s Portuguese Chess Tour concluded with the Maia Chess Festival at the beginning of September. The Open tournament was a great success, both in terms of quality and popularity. Victor Mikhalevski won with 7½ points. On the sidelines of the Open, a conference was also held on the Tecmaia Campus under the motto Strong Minds. Stefan Löffler chaired it and sent us a report. | Photo: Streamer James Canty / Official website

9/17/2023 – Recently, I’ve been looking at some of my old middlegame books, both as potential teaching material and for the pleasure of reminding myself what the bods had to say. A few of the found jewels: Max Euwe and Hans Kramer’s two-volume work on the middlegame; three volumes of “Complete Chess Strategy” by Ludek Pachman; “A Contemporary Approach to the Middlegame” by Alexei Suetin; and three different editions of Aron Nimzowitch’s “My System” (one in Russian).

9/17/2023 – My readers, and all my friends in the chess world, know that I am fond of puzzles. I keep giving the most talented chess players non-chess problems to solve, and they keep coming back for more. Here's one I tormented some of my 2600+ friends with. Warning: it can only be solved by a certain section of our readers. Their reactions, like that of 2750-Gukesh, are priceless.

9/17/2023 – 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 143rd 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 legacy of José Raúl Capablanca. | Photo: Pascal Simon

9/17/2023 – On Day 3 of the World Chess Armageddon Grand Finale, the tournament took a decisive turn as it entered the elimination phase. In two exciting encounters, GM Sam Shankland and IM Bibisara Assaubayeva were defeated by GM Wesley So and GM Richard Rapport, respectively, marking the end of their participation in this prestigious competition. | Photo: World Chess

9/16/2023 – The Netherlands hosted Eurochess, a now traditional bankers’ tournament, and offered the guests from Europe a nice visiting programme. The host team from De Nederlandsche Bank (the Netherlands’ central bank) won the team competition, while Razvan-Alexandru Sebe-Vodislav finished first in the individual standings. Gerd Densing played for the Bundesbank and found time to prepare a fine pictorial report. | Photos: Gerd Densing

9/16/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #584, Merijn Van Delft analyses a typical win by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — the winner of the Tata Steel India Rapid event showed his ability to deal with complicated positions in his game with black against Vidit Gujrathi! | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.