12/22/2023 – Today's episode is about two Dutch grandmasters playing the French defence. Friso Nijboer is facing Jan Timman, and the position is quickly advancing to a very interesting middle game. A tactical masterpiece is ready to be solved by the viewer!

12/22/2023 – Davide Nastasio loves chess - and when he had a weekend off to play, he was delighted to have the new Fritz 19. In a review he describes what you can do with the engine: "The new Fritz 19 has given me endless hours of fun, thanks to games played against it, as well as games played against other engines and chess bots on the internet."

12/21/2023 – D Gukesh drew his final-round game against Pentala Harikrishna. Arjun Erigaisi defeated Sanan Sjugirov. Both Gukesh and Arjun ended up with the same 4½/7 score. Gukesh won the Chennai Masters on tie-breaks, Arjun was placed second. Pavel Eljanov drew against Levon Aronian. Thus, Harikrishna and Eljanov finished with 4/7 each. Harikrishna secured third place. The objective of organizing this event was certainly a huge success. The top three places were claimed by Indian players. This triumph has moved Gukesh ahead of Anish Giri in the FIDE Circuit leaderboard. Sai Akhil Anand designed and helped with the 'Draw of Lots' in the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony was graced by the one and only Vishy Anand. It goes without saying that the tournament brought a lot of Anand (meaning joy) to all. | Photos: Shahid Ahmed

12/21/2023 – The chess year 2023 will end with a particularly exciting event: the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, which will take place from 26 to 30 December in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Almost the entire world elite will be competing, with Magnus Carlsen the favourite in both tournaments. | Photos: Lennart Ootes, Maria Emelianova/Chess.com

12/21/2023 – It is totally accepted that the 20th FIDE World Champion Magnus Carlsen makes any ending look like a piece of cake! And this is simply based on good knowledge and understanding, two great assets that are wrongly interpreted as intuition and sometimes, even magic! A world leading chess trainer and analyst, GM Efstratios Grivas, shows us how Magnus handles the endgame. You can learn from it!

12/21/2023 – In his new game of the week show Merin van Delft takes a look at a game Sanan Sjugirov and Gukesh played at the Chennai Grand Masters Tournament in India - Gukesh impressed with calm and strong play. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

12/19/2023 – FIDE has issued a statement in response to the last-minute series of matches in Chartres, France, which began on Monday 18th December and in which Alireza Firouzja is playing three much weaker opponents in an attempt to gain the necessary Elo points that would secure him a place in the 2024 Candidates Tournament.

12/19/2023 – Four players are sharing the lead with 5½ points each after six rounds of play at the Chessable Sunway main tournament in Sitges. Sethuraman S.P. (India), Dominik Horvath (Austria), Brandon Jacobson (United States) and Iniyan Pa (India) are the current co-leaders in the 10-round open event. Two side stories from Sitges dominated the news cycle these days, though: Leinier Dominguez’s withdrawal and Faustino Oro’s participation in Sunday’s blitz tournament. | Photo: David Llada

12/18/2023 – There are still two places available in the 2024 Candidates Tournament. One of these places will go to the player with the highest Elo rating in the January 2024 world rankings who has not yet qualified for the Candidates Tournament. A tournament was therefore organised at short notice in Chennai, India, to give Erigaisi and Gukesh a better chance to qualify. Leinier Dominguez tried his luck at the Sunway Sitges Open, while Alireza Firouzja now suddenly has a chance to gain Elo in a series of matches in France.

12/18/2023 – D Gukesh scored his first win of the event against Alexandr Predke in the fourth round of the Chennai Grand Masters. Gukesh joined Pentala Harikrishna in the lead with 2.5/4 points each. Harikrishna had a well contested draw against Levon Aronian. Parham Maghsoodloo also scored his first win of the event, against Sanan Sjugirov. Arjun Erigaisi had a well contested draw against Pavel Eljanov. Five players are trailing the leaders at 2/4 each. They are Aronian, Eljanov, Maghsoodloo, Sjugirov and Arjun. | Photos: Shahid Ahmed

12/18/2023 – In the Endgame Magic Show #259 Karsten Müller shows endgame highlights from 2023. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

12/18/2023 – In a decision aimed at promoting inclusivity and support for displaced persons, a team representing refugees will take part in the 45th Chess Olympiad set to take place in Budapest, Hungary, in 2024. The team of refugees will be carefully selected through a supervised process and endorsed by the UNHCR to compete in both the Open section and the Women’s section of the most prestigious team chess tournament. | Photos: Stev Bonhage