4/1/2022 – Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So moved on to the final of the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin after getting 2-0 victories in the tiebreaks of the semifinals. The American duo showed excellent rapidplay skills, moving quickly and confidently even in somewhat inferior positions. Nakamura’s pair of wins allowed him to climb to first place in the rapid-chess live ratings list. | Photos: World Chess

4/1/2022 – In this week’s edition of the Power Play Show, GM Daniel King focuses on a battle in the main line of the Rossolimo between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Magnus Carlsen. Outstanding tactical finishes from the Charity Cup are also presented! | 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.

4/1/2022 – Opening videos: Robert Ris shows the latest trends in the Hennig-Schara Gambit. Mihail Marin presents a Fianchetto setup against the Gruenfeld and King's Indian. Total playing time of the videos: just under one hour. "Lucky bag" with over 80 analyses by Anish Giri, Nijat Abasov, Romain Edouard, Marie Sebag and many others. In "The brilliancy" between the new rapid chess champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov and world champion Magnus Carlsen - commented by Anish Giri! - with 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e4 Bb4 a trendy variation of the English Opening appeared on the board. ChessBase Magazine Extra is the perfect complement to ChessBase Magazine. Available as a single issue or by subscription (6 issues per year). Available as download or on DVD.

4/1/2022 – Rashid Nezhmetdinov was largely considered to be one of the sharpest players in the chess world, although he never reached the Grandmaster title. Certainly, it is worth to spend a few days in the Mega Database browsing through his 500+ games.

4/1/2022 – Two years ago, to the day, we reported that Garry Kasparov had launched a project called "Corochess", introducing a new chess table that would enforce full social distancing during the pandemic. Now a Russian leader has taken it a step further. His table is designed to ensure that he cannot be physically attacked during a game. Take a look at what his future mastches will look like.

4/1/2022 – A heavy underdog, Amin Tabatabaei continues his excellent run at the third leg of the Grand Prix series in Berlin. The Iranian star bounced back in his semifinal match against Wesley So by scoring a remarkable 30-move victory to take the encounter to tiebreaks. Meanwhile, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura drew for a second day in a row and will also decide their match in rapid and blitz. | Photos: World Chess

3/31/2022 – Vladimir Putin uses athletes for his propaganda. But Russian chess grandmaster Daniil Dubov is standing up to the Russian leader and the war in Ukraine. In an interview with Europe's premier news magazine, the 25-year-old explains why he is willing to take that risk. "Nuclear war could break out and I could miss the end of the world while analysing the Italian opening." | Photo: Jacek Prondzynski/Newspix/Imago

3/31/2022 – This week Robert Ris takes an in-depth look at the miniature Predke vs. Vachier-Lagrave from the Grand Prix series in Berlin, featuring a sharp line in the Symmetrical English. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

3/31/2022 – If we were to assume that there really is something to astrology — that people born in autumn really do tick a little differently from those born in spring — might we have a useful clue to our opponent’s strategy in a chess game by asking about their star sign? Perhaps we would also involuntarily expect for a typical Dutchman to prefer a different strategy than a full-blooded Sicilian.

3/31/2022 – Starting today, all Fritz 18 users will receive an additional engine as a free update: Fritz 18 Neuronal. The new engine Fritz 18 Neuronal achieves an increase in playing strength of about 120 ELO points compared to the classic Fritz 18 engine at shorter time controls. Simply start Fritz 18 and start the automatically offered update! Then the new engine will be installed!

3/31/2022 – Wesley So beat Amin Tabatabaei in their first semifinal encounter at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, and now only needs a draw on Thursday to reach the final of the two-week event. In the other semi, Hikaru Nakamura could not get much with white against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a game that was agreed drawn after 30 moves. | Photos: World Chess

3/31/2022 – One system ruffled up the chess world in the last decade - the London System. Svitlana couldn't stay away from this system either, and it is now a part of her repertoire. How to play it? What to take care of? Time for some smart moves!