11/12/2021 – The 23rd edition of the European Team Championships will take place on November 12-21 at the Hotel Toplice in the Terme Čatež Spa Complex, in eastern Slovenia. An open championship and a women’s championship will be played concurrently, with each event a 9-round Swiss tournament. Both Russian teams arrive in Slovenia as the defending champions and rating favourites.

11/11/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at a game between Boris Gelfand and Sergei Movsesian from the Grand Swiss in Riga. It was a fantastic battle, with four queens appearing on the board as early as on move 11. Not to be missed! | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/11/2021 – The World Rapid and Blitz Championships, one of the most awaited events in the calendar for chess fans, will take place on its traditional dates: December 25-30, 2021. The tournaments will be hosted by the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and will be played in Nur-Sultan, the capital of the country (formerly known as Astana). | Photo: FIDE

11/11/2021 – Judit Polgar is generally regarded as the best female chess player of all time. Playing almost exclusively in men's tournaments, she advanced inexorably to the top of the world. In 2004, at the age of 28, she climbed to 8th place in the world rankings. The following year she took part in the tournament for the Men's World Championship and reached an Elo high of 2735. In the new ChessBase Magazine #204 our authors comment on their personal favourite games of the great Hungarian. The result is an exclusive collection of 23 (mostly very spectacular!) victories from the period spanning from 1989 until 2014. Polgar's was well-known for her furious attacking style. A fine example is her win against Vadim Ruban from 1993, annotated by IM Robert Ris. We hope you enjoy it!

11/11/2021 – The Royal Hideaway Sancti Petri is a 5-star hotel located in Cadiz, Spain. Recently, world champion Magnus Carlsen visited the resort and was presented as ambassador of “The Maître’s Gambit”, a recurring activity in which Guillermo Garcia, a former Spanish Junior chess champion, plays simultaneous exhibitions against guests of the hotel. In an interview, Carlsen talked about grandmaster preparation, his early years as a chess player and “The Queen’s Gambit”

11/10/2021 – The 2021 Forester Open, with a planned $20,000 prize fund and norm opportunities, will take place on November 24–28 in Grapevine, Texas. Its organizer is Blakeman Chess, founded by 20-year-old Cole Blakeman. He plans to expand Blakeman Chess outside of Texas and build its reputation as one of the biggest U.S. chess tours.

11/10/2021 – If you have a favourite book, or a favourite film, our guess is, you have read or watched them more than once. Without a doubt, one of the greatest chess games ever played is the one between Garry Kasparov and Veselin Topalov from 1999 in Wijk aan Zee. A game which you probably looked at more than once already. But how well do we know this game by heart? Svitlana gives us the chance to guess the correct move in eleven crucial moments of the game. How many can you guess?

11/10/2021 – Elisabeth Paehtz played an outstanding tournament in the Women’s Grand Swiss, where she came second. Her performance granted her a spot in the next Grand Prix, and she also scored a GM norm, but it is not entirely clear whether this was her second or third norm. In an interview, she explains why and talks about the factors that helped her improve during the last year or so. | Photos: FIDE

11/9/2021 – The ‘Magician from Riga’, Mikhail Tal, enchanted the chess world in the 1950s and 1960s with his amazing combinations. He was ill all his life, but nevertheless belonged to the absolute top of the chess world for decades, even after losing the World Championship title. Today is the 85th anniversary of his birth. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

11/9/2021 – In November 1991 ChessBase launched its first chess playing program for PCs. After a modest start it picked up strength and started challenging the best players in the world. In 1992 the reigning World Champion Garry Kasparov played 35 blitz games, on his notebook, a beta of Fritz 3. He won 31, the computer won four. In 1994 Fritz was equal first with Kasparov in the strongest blitz tournament of all time (17 GMs, Elo average of 2625). In a supreme effort, Garry won the playoff.

11/9/2021 – In his “Weekly Show” IM Lawrence Trent focuses on the Grand Swiss, which was won by wunderkind Alireza Firouzja, who got a spot in the next Candidates Tournament at 18. Are we entering a new era of chess greatness? | Lawrence’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

11/9/2021 – Following the Grand Swiss tournaments in Riga, a blitz tournament was held in honour of Mikhail Tal, whose 85th birthday anniversary is celebrated today. The young Ukrainian Kirill Shevchenko (19-years-old) got clear victory. Fabiano Caruana came second, ahead of Arjun Erigaisi. | Photos: Mark Livshitz and Anna Shtourman