10/2/2022 – Today is Jonathan Speelman’s sixty-sixth birthday, so he allowed himself a certain amount of self-indulgence, as he decided to present a selection of his favourite games and studies. His criterion: “A preference for either the breathtakingly simple or the mind-bogglingly complex”. Happy birthday, Jon! | Pictured: Julian Hodgson and Jonathan Speelman

10/2/2022 – 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 93rd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to discuss structures that are typical for 1.e4 e5 openings by showing a Fischer-classic. | Photo: Pascal Simon

10/2/2022 – In studying the classics, we get to know the elementary strategies and tactical motifs of the game, and thus we deepen our understanding of chess. At the same time, we gain an insight into chess history and chess culture. Dorian Rogozenco presents the most beautiful classics on his new FritzTrainer. Phillip Hillebrand has reviewed the training course.

10/1/2022 – Kateryna Lagno took clear first place at the Women’s Grand Prix in Astana, Kazakhstan. A 12-player single round robin, the event featured a number of remarkable confrontations. GM Karsten Müller analysed three of the most interesting endgames and shared his insights with us. Instructive and entertaining! | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

10/1/2022 – Mikhail Tal was the third of the twelve World Chess Champions whom Frederic met. In our new weekly series he tells us how he met and befriended the top players, and the adventures they experienced together. Frederic has written a new book, together with Professor Christian Hesse, with fascinating chess stories from the last 50 years. It will appear (first in German) in October.

10/1/2022 – Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez and Sam Shankland all have something in common. They play for the US national team, and they are all Libra. Although many Libra grandmasters play excellent chess, none have won a world championship title, except for Ruslan Ponomariov, who won the FIDE title in 2002. Even legends like Ossip Bernstein, Viacheslav Ragozin and New York-born Reuben Fine were close, but not close enough. Maybe it's because Libras bring too much lightness to the game? | Photo: Pixabay

9/28/2022 – In his “Game of the Week” show #535 Merijn van Delft shows how Magnus Carlsen won a fine and patient attacking game against Arjun Erigaisi in the finals of the Julius Bär Generation Cup. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

9/28/2022 – Castling is a privilege which both sides have in each game. Despite the choices being two, a player can castle only once in the entire game. The choice often determines the fate of the game. It might seem easy, yet the underlying consequences of a correct or a misjudgement can be long term. GM Sundararajan Kidambi shows two examples of former world champions’ games where one of the contenders made an incorrect call. Check out the grandmaster’s detailed analysis and enrich your knowledge.

9/28/2022 – The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the 5th Chess in Education Lecturer course. The course will be held online on 28-30 October, in English. Those who successfully pass the course will receive the title of Lead School Instructor (LSI). The course is limited to a maximum of 20 people (first come, first served).

9/28/2022 – When chess gets featured extensively in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and even VICE, while Elon Musk also weighs in and when it’s the subject of sketches by Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert in the same week, you’d normally think this was good. This time round, in his editorial in the October issue of CHESS Magazine, Malcolm Pein is not totally sure.

9/28/2022 – Kateryna Lagno grabbed the sole lead at the Women’s Grand Prix in Astana after scoring a fourth win in a row on Tuesday. Lagno defeated Zhu Jiner with the black pieces, while former co-leader Aleksandra Goryachkina signed a quick draw in her game against Zhansaya Abdumalik. Alexandra Kosteniuk and Polina Shuvalova also scored full points in round 9. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

9/27/2022 – From building character to sharpening cognitive abilities to meliorating neurological disorders like Autism, the benefits of the ancient game of chess are many and wide-ranging. In fact, having evolved through one and a half millennia, it is more than just a game today. It is a cultural and intellectual phenomenon: an inspiration for visual artists, a playground for experimentation for scientists, and a pedagogical tool for educationists; but more than anything else, it is a common tongue connecting people across gender, ethnicity and generation. Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival is an event that is held every year in Budapest, Hungary, to celebrate this very diversity of chess. It is a gala that invites not only players but professionals from various other disciplines with the sole aim of promoting chess in all its myriad facets. This year the singular event is taking place on the 8th of October. We walk you through its different planned activities and present four original studies for solving that are part of its special program, Chess Artistry Adventure, in memory of the late Pal Benko.