1/21/2022 – Returning from the rest day, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Richard Rapport scored full points to join Vidit Gujrathi in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters tournament. Andrey Esipenko and Magnus Carlsen stand close behind, as the world champion both lived dangerously and got winning chances in his (drawn) game against Nils Grandelius. Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi won again in the Challengers, and now has a one-point lead in the standings table. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

1/20/2022 – The Kvika Reykjavik Open will return to its normal setting in the Harpa music and conference center in 2022 – which has been billed as the best playing venue for an open tournament ever! The dates are from the 6th of April until the 12th of April, with nine rounds in seven days! Many world class players have taken part in then tournament in recent years. The total prize-fund in the 2022 edition will be €15.000, including many special prizes for various age and rating categories, in addition to the traditional top women’s prize.

1/20/2022 – This week Robert Ris will have a look at the fantastic game between Daniil Dubov and Vidit Gujrathi from the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Dubov played provocatively out of a Giuoco Piano, Vidit gladly accepted the challenge, and an incredible struggle ensued! | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

1/19/2022 – The International Chess Federation has declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. According to the FIDE Women’s Commision, this is a chance to take a leap forward in their mission of forming gender equity policies, practices and programs. | Pictured: Eva Repkova / Chair of FIDE Women’s Commission

1/19/2022 – "It was special for me to present my journey with 1Kind [Crypto portal] in a series of NFTs that traced my life from childhood through my ever-busy ‘retirement,’" writes Garry Kasparov. "The project was all the more meaningful for me because 10% of the proceeds will go toward setting up a scholarship fund at the Kasparov Chess Foundation, dedicated to my late mother Klara, that will support all the great talents raised by single mothers like her." Read his interview in CoinDesk.

1/19/2022 – A core of chess is the correct prophylaxis. That doesn't mean, that we have to brush our teeth twice a day, since I hope we all do this any way. But, as I heard Yasser Seirawan once say:"I tend to play a conscious move, before my opponent plays the threat". Svitlana shows us the smartest moves in difficult situations, and explains how to approach a rough position like this.

1/15/2022 – The Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship is a university championship in which, as the name suggests, teams from both the Americas and the Caribbean are allowed to participate — but in fact most of the participating teams come from the United States. This year’s tournament was won by the Saint Louis University, which was the only team to emerge victorious from all six matches they played. | Photo: Bill Simmons

1/15/2022 – In the diagram position Black has just played 32...Qf5, threatening to harass the white king with ...Qb1+. But White has a way to combine attack and defence which leads to victory. Your call!

1/14/2022 – At the end of 2013, a match facing chess legends from the 20th century against young female talented players was organized in Podebrady, the Czech Republic. A 20-year-old Alina Kashlinskaya was the top scorer in the winning team of the Snowdrops, while Boris Gulko and Iossif Dorfman were the strongest for the Oldhands.

1/14/2022 – Among ChessBase products the Big DataBase stands in its own right. Unlike the MegaBase it has no annotations. This paves the way for independent study and preparation, and helps the player to hone skills on his own. The present edition offers 9.2 million games from 1475 to 2021. In this vast collection there are games from world championships, famous tournaments, past and present, not to mention little-known events that deserve greater recognition. There are magnificent battles, brilliancies and unknown gems all waiting to be discovered. Our columnist here introduces a few rare lines in e4-openings.

1/14/2022 – "I am getting so much better at tactics!" Arne mentions right at the beginning of the show. Little did he know, that this episode might be the low point of his chess career. The puzzles are merciless, and every move seems to miss the point. The goal was to reach 2400 in the tactic's section today, but apparently some technical difficulties, and more bad ideas lead to an actual loss of rating points! Have fun watching Lawrence and Arne getting crushed.

1/14/2022 – In the second part of the series, Joshua Doknjas examines opening system influenced by the neural network engines and discusses the modern battle between two well-prepared players. | Graphic: Europe Echecs