Austria no.1 Markus Ragger teaches Grunfeld Defence

2/9/2022 – There are plenty of openings to choose from and learn. Which one to prepare and where to begin? We are here to solve that dilemma. Austria no.1 and FIDE Trainer Markus Ragger explained the basics of the Grunfeld Defence. He even included his most recent games in this two volume ChessBase DVD. The opening course has been created with thorough research and utmost care because he himself plays it in his career. Check out the 100+ minutes long interactive session with IM Sagar Shah where Markus Ragger shows and explains a lot of lines of the popular opening and answers audience questions too. Photo: ChessBase India

University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley wins 2nd Annual Kasparov Chess Foundation University Cup

2/9/2022 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation organized the second annual KCF University Cup which was played on lichess.org and hosted on chessstream.com on the weekend of February 5 and 6, 2022. The tournament attracted students from every continent and from over thirty countries. With nearly 700 participants, the event was a resounding success. | Photo: Garry Kasparov | Photo: ChessBase

Congratulations! Yury Averbakh turns 100!

2/8/2022 – Yury Averbakh is the world's oldest living Grandmaster. In his prime, he was one of the strongest players in the USSR and the world, and in 1953 he took part in the legendary Candidates Tournament in Zurich. After his active career Averbakch worked as author, editor, theoretician, second and official. Today, 8 February, he turns 100! Congratulations! | Photo: Averbakh at the match USA vs. USSR, New York City, 1954 (via D. Griffith)

Tallaksen Ostmoe, rated 2466, holds Magnus Carlsen to a draw

2/8/2022 – After gaining 3.1 rating points by scoring a brilliant 9½/13 at the Tata Steel Masters, Carlsen gave up 4.1 rating points by drawing a single game in Norway. Geir Sune Tallaksen Ostmoe, an International Master and chess composer, showcased his endgame abilities to defend an inferior position with the black pieces until getting an outstanding 84-move draw against the world champion. | Screenshot: Sjakkforbundet / Twitch

The Winning Academy 5: What to do with a bishop pair?

2/8/2022 – The pair of bishops can be a powerful weapon. If you know what to do with them. In the fifth installment of "The Winning Academy" Jan Markos shows what you should do to convert the advantage of having the pair of bishops into a winning position.

Berlin GP: So and Fedoseev score crucial wins

2/7/2022 – Round 4 of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin saw three games ending decisively, each of them in a different group. Going into the rest day, three of the four pools have sole leaders — Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian and Welsey So — while in pool B Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Vladimir Fedoseev (pictured) are sharing first place after the latter obtained a convincing victory over Grigoriy Oparin. | Photos. World Chess

Safety first

2/7/2022 – Passed pawns are particularly powerful in queen endgames because the mobility of the queen helps to support the advance of the pawns. However, king safety is also an issue. In the diagrammed position Black's a-pawn is far advanced, but Black's king has to find a way to hide from the enemy checks. How can Black protect her king, queen the pawn and win the game?

Karsten Müller’s Endgame Magic Show #181 - with Mihail Marin: Endgame highlights of Wijk 2022

2/7/2022 – The well-known author and Grandmaster Mihail Marin is Karsten Müller's guest in the Endgame Magic Show #181, and Mihail and Karsten look at highlights from the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee 2022. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

New: The Hippopotamus system of defence

2/7/2022 – What is the Hippopotamus system of defence? The idea is that, at the beginning of the game, Black develops within his own first three ranks. He constructs a solid, flexible and hopefully stable position, awaiting events. At the right moment, he will strike back! The Hippopotamus was given the name by an eccentric English amateur player JC Thompson, back in the 1950’s. It seems as good a name as any. Given the right conditions, Black will emerge from the chessboard swamp and crush all before them.

Battle of the Sexes: Men triumph!

2/7/2022 – The final round (ten) of the Battle of the Sexes match-tournament, held at Gibraltar, saw the men’s team win by 6½-3½ to finish overall winners by 53-47. The winners on the final day were Bobby Cheng, who beat Jovi Houska; Ravi Haria, who beat Olga Girya; and Bilel Bellahcene, who defeated Marie Sebag (her only loss of the event). Balazs Csonka drew his game with Marsel Efroimski and this was enough to secure his second grandmaster norm.

Berlin GP: Aronian in full control

2/7/2022 – Fighting chess has been the rule rather than the exception at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, as Sunday’s third round marked the halway point of the group stage. Round 3 saw half the games ending decisively, with Levon Aronian becoming the first player to score two wins in the event. Aronian now has a full-point lead over Vidit Gujrathi in group C. | Photos: World Chess

Dirty forks and dead parrots

2/6/2022 – A talk with his son Lawrence got Jon Speelman thinking about how many Monty Python sketches he could link to specific chess themes. He thus came up with ‘dirty forks’, ‘dead parrots’, ‘four Yorkshiremen’ and ‘the Ministry of silly walks’. Enjoy!

Understanding before Moving 65: Prophylaxis

2/6/2022 – 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 65th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the concept of "prophylaxis". | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Player Types - The Reflector

2/6/2022 – The Grandmasters Dr. Karsten Mueller and Luis Engel have set a ball rolling in Germany with their latest Fritztrainer. GM Lars Bo Hansen designed the four-player model in 2005, and was perhaps ahead of his time. In the 5-part interview with Dr. Karsten Mueller, all four player types are discussed in detail. Today - The Reflector.

Berlin GP: Rapport bounces back with brilliant win

2/6/2022 – In an exciting second round at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, three players obtained full points in remarkable style. Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez won to take the lead in their respective groups, while Richard Rapport bounced back from a first-round loss by taking down Vladimir Fedoseev in a game that featured a positional piece sacrifice and exceptional tactical accuracy. | Photos: World Chess

Endgame riddle: Fischer vs Spassky - Game 10

2/5/2022 – The sharp endgame seen in game 10 of the 1972 match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky has been analysed countless times. But there are still many open questions and new discoveries to be made. Karsten Müller invites you to help him solve the riddles emerging from this fascinating endgame.

Bogoljubow's tricky minority attack

2/5/2022 – In the diagram position Black's active rooks are hitting f2, his queen g5 is eyeing the Rc1 - and yet White unperturbedly continued 30. b4-b5! Can you spot the idea behind this advance?

Berlin GP: Dubov escapes

2/5/2022 – The FIDE Grand Prix series kicked off on Friday in Berlin. Out of the eight games played in the first round, three finished decisively, although perhaps two of the draws were the most entertaining to follow live — Daniil Dubov escaped against Vincent Keymer (pictured), after the latter entered a sharp opening variation, while Alexander Grischuk failed to find a killer blow in an endgame against Andrey Esipenko. | Photos: World Chess

Can Artificial Intelligence identify your playing style?

2/4/2022 – Ashton Anderson, a computer scientist at the University of Toronto, wanted to know whether chess players have a unique playing style. To answer that question, he and his team gathered more than "50 million human games played on the Lichess website. They collected games by players who had played at least 1000 times and sampled sequences of up to 32 moves from those games. ... [Then] they gave the system 100 games from each of about 3000 known players, and 100 fresh games from a mystery player. The system ... identified the mystery player 86% of the time." An article in "Science" takes a closer look at the pros and cons of this experiment. | Photo: Xi Jian/stock.com | Source: "Science"

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Two Tata classics

2/4/2022 – In his Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at two Tata Steel classics, played seven years apart, but in the same opening. It's interesting and worth comparing the strategies of the two victors, Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi. | 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.

Ivanchuk starts streaming

2/4/2022 – Vasyl "Chucky" Ivanchuk is one of the most original of all top players, but for more than a year he has not played an official game. However, he is still enjoying chess and is now trying his hand at streaming. On his new YouTube channel "IvanchukChess" the former world's number two explains and analyses current games. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / World Rapid Championship 2016

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: The Scotch Four Knights with 5...Nxe4!?

2/3/2022 – This week Robert Ris shows how Black can spice up things in the Scotch Four Knights (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4), a line that enjoys the reputation of being very solid for White, by sacrificing a knight on move five. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Battle of the Sexes: Men triumph!

2/3/2022 – In the final round the men's team needed four points to be sure of overall success. They managed to go undefeated as three of their number won their games to reach a score of 6½. The winners on the final day were Bobby Cheng, who beat Jovi Houska; Ravi Haria, who beat Olga Girya; and Bilel Bellahcene, who defeated Marie Sebag (her only loss of the event). Balazs Csonka drew his game with Marsel Efroimski and this was enough to secure his second grandmaster norm. Interim report and photos by John Saunders.

Fighting for the last two spots in the Candidates

2/3/2022 – The Candidates Tournament is scheduled to take place in Madrid later this year, and there are only two spots still up for grabs, with these two qualifiers set to be decided at the FIDE Grand Prix Series. The first leg of the series kicks off tomorrow in Berlin, only three days after FIDE announced that Ding Liren and Dmitry Andreikin will not make it to the German capital — Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Andrey Esipenko are their replacements.