Norway Chess: Rapport wins again

9/15/2021 – There were three decisive games in the seventh round of the Norway Chess Tournament. Richard Rapport defended his lead with a win over Segery Karjakin. Alireza Firouzja staked a claim as the next world challenger with a win over Ian Nepomniachtchi, while Magnus Carlsen gave another endgame lesson against Aryan Tari. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The wonderful world of chess machine emulators

9/15/2021 – Even if it is from before your time, any chess player will know there was a time when standalone machines were the dominant computer opponents, ranging from compact plastic jobs to large wooden boards to fill any player with envy. That time is gone, and many of the machines are disappearing, but you can play any one of them, free, thanks to the amazing chess emulators.

The Weekly Show: A typical Carlsen victory

9/14/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at the Norway Chess Tournament and the game of the day is Carlsen's endgame masterpiece against Firouzja – winning a seemingly unwinnable position. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival

9/14/2021 – A musician paying tribute to female chess players. An engineer, who researches the “emotional” side of chess. A grandmaster of creativity, who wrote a book about the advantages of thinking like machines. What do they have in common? They will all be there at Global Chess Festival 2021, which will be brought to life in a hybrid, on- and offline form by Judit Polgar, the best female chess player of all time.

Norway Chess: Rapport extends his lead

9/14/2021 – Richard Rapport has a 3-point lead over Ian Nepomniachtchi with four rounds to go at the Norway Chess Tournament (a win in classical chess is worth 3 points). The Hungarian star beat Aryan Tari with the white pieces in round 6. Magnus Carlsen also won his classical game, while Sergey Karjakin got the better of Nepomniachtchi in Armageddon. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The wrong pawn

9/14/2021 – Sometimes, the trio king, bishop and pawn cannot win against a lone king: if the pawn is a rook pawn, the enemy king makes it to the corner and the bishop does not control the queening sqare of the pawn. Knowing this might help you to save positions that seem to be entire lost. In the diagram position it is White to move and draw. How?

Robert Ris: Calculation Training in Attack & Defence Vol. 1 + 2

9/13/2021 – Do I have to defend against my opponent’s threat, or can I simply ignore it and look for my own chances? A typical question which has often been asked during practical play. This two volume series on Calculation in Attack & Defence is the ideal guide to develop a good sense for attacking play, while keeping an eye on your opponent’s defensive resources and possible counterplay against your own king. At the same time you’ll be challenged to defend against your opponent’s threats and, given the chance, turn the tables by launching a devastating counter-attack yourself.

Norway Chess: Karjakin takes down Carlsen

9/13/2021 – An eventful fifth round at the Norway Chess Tournament saw Sergey Karjakin beating Magnus Carlsen in their classical encounter. Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja also won his classical game and Ian Nepomniachtchi got the better of Richard Rapport in Armageddon. At halftime, Rapport is still in the sole lead, a point ahead of Nepomniachtchi. Carlsen stands in fourth place, below Karjakin. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Anish Giri wins Tolstoy Cup

9/13/2021 – The 12th of September marked the end of the first-ever international tournament held in honour of the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. It was won by the tournament rating favorite Anish Giri of the Netherlands, with a remarkable result of 8 out of 9 points.

Karsten Mueller’s Endgame Magic #160: Endgame highlights from the World Cup in Sochi

9/13/2021 – The World Cup in Sochi 2021 saw a huge number of fascinating endgames, and for his "Endgame Magic Show #160" Karsten selected mostly rook endgames. Interesting, instructive, and practically relevant. | Endgame Magic is on air most Mondays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

Using the Live Database from the browser

9/13/2021 – The Live Database is the full database by ChessBase, stored online, that can be searched from both the ChessBase program, as well as the browser. With it you can search for any position, player, tournament, or game, and see all the statistics such as the win/loss percentage, the Live Book data, and even search with an engine, all straight from the browser. Read on to learn more!

Historical ridde: Botvinnik vs. Pachman

9/12/2021 – The Soviet team scored 11 wins in as many matches at the 1960 Chess Olympiad in Leipzig. Czechoslovakia came in fifth place. The direct clash between these two countries took place in round 8, with Mikhail Botvinnik playing white against Ludek Pachman on top board. Botvinnik won an opposite-coloured bishop endgame a pawn to the good. But was Botvinnik’s win flawless, or could have Pachman saved himself? Help Karsten Müller find an answer to this historical riddle!

2021 Hardware Buyer's Guide

9/12/2021 – Your computers and computer components are feeling a bit long in the tooth, and although still good (or not), you know you are behind the curve. Or perhaps you are buying a dedicated machine for chess and unsure what will be best for you. Either way, this long-awaited guide will help you plan your purchase with confidence for all budgets.

Norway Chess: Nepomniachtchi climbs to second place

9/12/2021 – Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Sergey Karjakin on the rest day of the Norway Chess Tournament. The round-1 game had to be rescheduled after Nepo could not make it in time to Stavanger due to visa issues. Thanks to the victory in the classical game, the next challenger for the World Championship climbed to sole second place in the standings table. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Tolstoy Cup - Live!

9/12/2021 – The Tolstoy Cup is taking place at the Yasnaya Polyana cultural centre on September 11–12. The tournament is a 9-round single round-robin event with a time control of 15 minutes for the whole game plus a 10-second increment per move. Anish Giri, Boris Gelfand, Anton Korobov and Nikita Vitiugov are among the participants. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Leinier Dominguez wins Champions Showdown in Saint Louis

9/11/2021 – Four players reached the final round of the Champions Showdown tournament tied for first place. Only Leinier Dominguez managed to score a win in his last game, though, and thus claimed clear first place and $37,500 in prize money. Garry Kasparov was among the four players sharing the lead after eight rounds, but a loss against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave left him in fifth place in the final standings. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

Twenty years ago...

9/11/2021 – Twenty years ago, on September 12, 2001, we launched our brand new database-driven news page. The very first report we were forced to file was about the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York, which had been perpetrated on the previous day. It had a special meaning for chess. Six years earlier the World Chess Championship had been staged on the Observation Deck on the 107th floor.

Fatal activity

9/11/2021 – In the diagram position Black's attacked rook should definitely not leave the back rank - after 35...Rc2?? White has a forced checkmate. Enjoy!

Norway Chess: Carlsen beats Nepo in Armageddon

9/11/2021 – Richard Rapport beat Alireza Firouzja in their round-4 classical encounter to increase his lead atop the standings of the Norway Chess Tournament. In the stellar contest of the day, Magnus Carlsen beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Armageddon decider after drawing the classical game out of a Berlin Defence. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Online Olympiad: On to the play-offs

9/11/2021 – The Top Division of the Online Olympiad finished on Friday after three days of intense top-level chess. Three weeks after the tournament began, we are closing in on the final stage of the event: the play-offs. The pairings in the quarterfinals starting Monday are Kazakhstan vs USA, Ukraine vs India, Russia (pictured) vs Hungary and China vs Poland. | Photo: Boris Dolmatovsky

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: The Spanish

9/10/2021 – In this week’s show, GM Daniel King focuses on the Spanish Opening, using a game between Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen as his main example and going through some of his own games to explain his take on the popular setup. | 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.

Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX - Dominguez wins

9/10/2021 – Ten grandmasters, including living legend Garry Kasparov, are the protagonists of Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX, a rapid tournament played at the Saint Louis Chess Club. The event, taking place on September 8-10, is being played in Chess 9LX style, also known as Fischer Random, with a $150,000 total prize fund. The action kicks off at 14.00 local time (21.00 CEST, 15.00 ET). | Photo: Crystal Fuller

Chess 9LX: Dominguez leads, Kasparov on a roll

9/10/2021 – Leinier Dominguez scored a perfect 3 out of 3 on the second day of action at the Champions Showdown Tournament, leapfrogging Fabiano Caruana atop the standings table with three rounds to go. Meanwhile, Garry Kasparov collected 2½ points and climbed to shared third place! | Photo: Bryan Adams

"My favourite Nepomniachtchi game"

9/10/2021 – In April 2021, Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates Tournament in Ekaterinenburg and thus gained the right to challenge world champion Magnus Carlsen in a match to be staged later this year. A perfect occasion to present the challenger's skills in the "Special" of ChessBase Magazine #203. Our authors (including Adhiban, Berg, Edouard, Krasenkow and others) annotated their favourite game by the 31-year-old Russian. This has resulted in an exclusive collection of 21 high-class encounters played between 2002 and 2021. One of them — Nepomniachtchi-Carlsen from the Legends of Chess Final in 2020 — is presented in this article, annotated by IM Robert Ris. "A wonderful prelude to their upcoming World Championship match". Enjoy!