12/28/2021 – Usually, in open positions a bishop is stronger than a knight. But in chess there's no rule without exception! In the diagram position it is White who has the knight, and it is White to move and win. What would you do?

12/27/2021 – In the history of the Chess World Championships Viktor Korchnoi is an extremely successful player, even if he was ultimately denied the title. If you count the 1974 Candidates Final for challenging Fischer, he played three 'World Championship matches'. The era of Korchnoi's participations in the WCh cycle stretches from the Curacao Candidates Tournament in 1962 to the 1991 quarterfinal match against Timman, which he played at the age of 60. The dramatic fight against Anatoly Karpov in Baguio City in 1978 stands out in particular: hypnosis, cheating accusations with blueberry yoghurt, X-ray examinations on chairs, mirror glasses worn at the board, Korchnoi's comeback to 5-5 after trailing 4-1 are a few of the external circumstances involved!

12/27/2021 – The first five rounds of the World Rapid Championship were played on Sunday. Three players are sharing the lead on 4½ points: defending champion Magnus Carlsen, local hero Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Baadur Jobava from Georgia. On the women’s tournament, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Valentina Gunina have a perfect 4/4 score after the first day of action. | Foto: Michal Walusza

12/26/2021 – It was just a few weeks ago that Markus Ragger published a complete repertoire on two FritzTrainers for his favourite opening against 1.d4: the Gruenfeld Defence. In the new ChessBase Magazine #205 he provides an update on the variation with 5.Bd2, since the new idea of 5...c5 has recently proved very attractive at the highest level. Among others, it was used by Carlsen, Giri and Dubov. While Markus Ragger in his FritzTrainer still recommends the common and still fully valid continuation 5...Bg7, his appeal in ChessBase Magazine is clear: "Let's make 5...c5 the main line against 5.Bd2!" You can watch an excerpt from his video analysis here!

12/26/2021 – 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 59th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman talks about the battle between static and dynamic factors. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

12/26/2021 – In November we launched a new edition of our flagship program, Fritz. Version 18 has a special mode in which Fritz allows its opponent to actually win games, if he is able to find clever moves. Many amateurs and club players have sent in games that they won with brilliant ideas. But how about grandmasters? Fritz determines the playing strength of its opponent, and makes him find more difficult brilliancies. Iniyan Panneerselvam, a young GM, has written a report on his experience with Fritz 18.

12/23/2021 – Lawrence is busy, but still managed to continue Trent's Tactics from the UK, with an improvised setup. Good enough to conquer a remarkable tactical masterpiece by Vishy Anand against Veselin Topalov, in the World Championship in Sofia from 2010. Lawrence and Arne also try to reach the 2350 Rating in the ChessBase training section, but will they succeed?

12/23/2021 – The King's Gambit continues to pose puzzles. The opening evokes memories of glorious sacrificial games from the romantic era, but at the same time it is regarded as somewhat unsound — as theoretically incorrect. But even today the move 2.f4 after 1.e4 e5 leads again and again to unusual positions rich in content. As the games of King’s Gambit expert Joe Gallagher demonstrate! | Photo source: British Chess News

12/23/2021 – The "Special" in the new ChessBase Magazine #205 is dedicated to Robert Huebner, the best German player since Emanuel Lasker: an exclusive collection of 16 games, with analyses by Michal Krasenkow, Romain Edouard, Viktor Moskalenko, and others. And there's the best of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2021: tournament winner Alireza Firouzja annotates his victory against Nijat Abasov, and Grigoriy Oparin, Yu Yangyi, Alexandr Predke, Samuel Sevian, Nikita Vitiugov, and others annotate their best games. In a video Markus Ragger reveals a brand-new update in the Gruenfeld Defence with 5.Bd2. Plus 11 opening articles ("Surprise in the London System: 6...e5!", "Benko Gambit with open centre: 5.b6 e6!?", "News in the French Tarrasch: 8...g5" ), as well as training columns on tactics, strategy and endgame.

12/23/2021 – The youngest GM ever, played the move Nf3+. Although the game was played this year, it is already a classic. On the penultimate day, there is a fast-paced task in which a white king has to find the right square. Can you help?

12/23/2021 – The Gashimov Memorial 2021 is a rapid and blitz chess tournament taking place on December 18-23 in Baku. Eight players, including Vishy Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin and Shakriyar Mamedyarov, are participating in the six-day event. Follow the action live starting at 15.00 local time (12.00 CET, 6.00 ET, 16.30 IST).

12/23/2021 – Legend has it that a player who once was analysing with Dr. Tarrasch (pictured), a great believer in the power of the bishops, gave his bishop for a knight and remarked: "Winning the small exchange!" Tarrasch, probably with good reason, felt provoked, and said: "You obviously mean losing the small exchange!" Exchanging minor pieces is a fine and difficult art indeed. Jan Markos knows more!