12/27/2022 – The World Rapid Championships 2022 kicked off on the 26th of December 2022 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Five rounds were played in the open section and four rounds in women. We have four leaders in the open with 4.5/5 and they are Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi, Vladimir Fedoseev and Jorden van Foreest. Meanwhile in the women's section we have a sole leader after four rounds on 100% score - Valentina Gunina. We bring you the full day one report along with pictures, analysis, videos and much more.

12/26/2022 – GM Alexandr Fier and FM Juliana Sayumi Terao obtained outright victories at the Brazilian Championships (open and women’s, respectively). The events took place on December 15-23 at the Hotel Jangadeiro in Recife, the capital of Pernambuco. Fier grabbed his fourth national title by scoring 9½/11 points, while Terao dominated the women’s field and obtained a perfect 9/9 to claim her sixth national title. | Photo: Albert Silver (2018)

12/26/2022 – The World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2022 kick off in Almaty, Kazakhstan on the 26th of December 2022. On 25th of December, one day before the start of the event, there was an opening ceremony held at the venue. The first thing you notice when you enter the premises of the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace is how massive it is and how spacious it is going to be for the players. Next you get to see the Kazakh culture in the opening ceremony and the love for chess that the country possesses. Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal have filed a large pictorial report from Almaty.

12/25/2022 – The young Uzbek team winning this year’s Olympiad came as a pleasant surprise, but it is not an isolated example in the recent shift of world chess power. Uzbek boys, Kazakh girls, Azeri youth, Chinese, Indian and Iranian young phenoms ever more frequently lit the chess sky. What do their countries have in common? They all once lined the Silk Road.

12/25/2022 – 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 105th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to explain why it is good to study and to play the Sicilian. | Photo: Pascal Simon

12/25/2022 – ChessBase wishes all chess friends a Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Stay healthy and enjoy chess! | Picture PublicDomainPictures by Pixabay

12/25/2022 – To help you enjoy your seasonal feast, we have a turkey, a tree and a turbulent priest; a circus trip, a corkscrew and a silent (k)night – and lots more for your festive chess delight! Graham Phythian presents some fun and challenging positions to help you while away the festive period. They all appear in the Christmas section of CHESS Magazine, which has a special gift ready for you. You can download the entire magazine to read, free of charge! In any case we all wish you a Merry Christmas – CHESS and ChessBase.

12/24/2022 – The 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spasski is regarded as one of the most critical moments in the history of chess, occurring 50 years ago. To present you with this year's Christmas calendar in the proper setting, Arne swiftly constructed a time machine, and went back 50 years. Of course, the 1972 World Cup is the main calendar focus this time! You have the opportunity to guess, count, and conduct research every day for a chance to win one of 90 ChessBase prizes. Your chances of winning one of the major prizes increases, the more questions you can correctly guess. | Photo: Original by World Chess Hall of Fame

12/24/2022 – In the diagram position Black threatens ...Rh8, but he doesn't have the sole right to use the h-file. White to play and win!

12/24/2022 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov dominated the field at the Gashimov Memorial in Baku. The 18-year-old from Tashkent was the top scorer in the rapid and finished the blitz in third place. Since none of the players who had ended the rapid near the top of the standings performed strongly in the blitz, Abdusattorov managed to clinch first place with five rounds to spare! | Pictured: The players visited the grave of Vugar Gashimov on Wednesday.

12/23/2022 – This week Robert Ris presents a fine attacking game by Kirill Alekseenko, the winner of the Sitges Open, who showed the potential of the Steinitz Variation of the Ruy Lopez. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

12/23/2022 – With nine chess playing members, the Peglau family from Dippoldiswalde, a small town in Germany, is probably the world's largest chess family. But it definitely is one of the strongest. As the successes of the Peglaus at the recently finished European Blitz and Rapid Championships show. | Photos: Henrik Teske