Goldmoney Asian Rapid: A tough field

6/28/2021 – Two thirds of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid preliminary stage have been completed. With five rounds to go, Ding Liren and Levon Aronian are sharing the lead on 7/10. Some strong players, such as Daniil Dubov, Alireza Firouzja and Peter Svidler are currently in the bottom half of the standings table. They will have to fight hard on Monday if they want to move on to the knockout stage of the tournament. | Pictured: Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Sitges

Judit Polgar on chess and politics at Monocle’s ‘The Foreign Desk’

6/27/2021 – In the latest episode of Monocle 24’s ‘The Foreign Desk’, host Andrew Mueller delves into the parallels between chess and the political arena. To do so, he was joined by Judit Polgar, the strongest-ever female chess player; David Edmonds, author of ‘Bobby Fischer Goes To War’; and Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the current Managing Director of FIDE.

Understanding before Moving 33: To trade or not to trade (2)

6/27/2021 – 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 33nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman asks again whether "to trade or not to trade". | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Goldmoney Asian Rapid: Five leaders after five rounds

6/27/2021 – The first five rounds of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid tournament were played on Saturday. Five players are currently sharing the lead on 3½/5 points: Vladislav Artemiev [pictured], Daniil Dubov, Levon Aronian, Ding Liren and Mangus Carlsen. The 16 participants are fighting to finish the preliminaries in the top half of the standings table, as 8 of them will move on to the knockout stage of the online event. | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

Summer knight city

6/26/2021 – In a fascinating look at the possibilities granted by knight moves in endgame studies, practical games and mathematical problems — exploring, among others, underpromotions, stalemates and magic squares — columnist Siegfried Hornecker demonstrates the width of potential finesses that can be created with one of the two types of minor pieces appearing on a chessboard.

Cold blooded defence

6/26/2021 – In the diagram position Black has a strong attack and threatens 30...Qxg2#. But with careful play White can defend and win the game. How?

Top 12: Bischwiller and Clichy still perfect

6/26/2021 – The French Team Championship, also known as Top 12, is taking place in Châlons-en-Champagne. Only two teams have managed to score victories in the first two rounds: Bischwiller, with Markus Ragger and Etienne Bacrot on top boards, and the team from Clichy, led by Jorden van Foreest. | Photos: Official site

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Play like Bobby Fischer

6/25/2021 – In this Power Play Show GM Daniel King looks at the game Fischer-Gheorghiu - a beautiful and typical strategic squeeze from the American World Champion, played in his golden period in 1970. | 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.

Players lists and full pairings of FIDE World Cups published

6/25/2021 – The final lists of the FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Women’s World Cup’s participants have been published. The knock-out events will be held from July 10 to August 8 2021 in the Gazprom Mountain Resort in Sochi. The two finalists of the open event will qualify for the 2022 FIDE Candidates Tournament, whilst the three best players of the women’s competition will get spots in the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament. Top seed in the open section is World Champion Magnus Carlsen, top seed in the women's tournament is Aleksandra Goryachkina.

Top female players battle at the Women’s Speed Chess Championship

6/25/2021 – The 2021 Women’s Speed Chess Championship has reached its final stages. While Kateryna Lagno already made it into the semis after beating Nana Dzagnidze, six more players, including the likes of Hou Yifan and Anna Muzychuk, are set to play their quarterfinal matches on Friday and Monday. The semifinals are scheduled to take place on July 1-2 while the final match will be played on Saturday, July 3.

Throwback Thursday: Karjakin beats Svidler in rollercoaster World Cup final

6/24/2021 – In one of the most memorable finals played in a World Cup, Sergey Karjakin beat Peter Svidler in a match brimming with ups and downs. After winning the first two classical games, Svidler only needed a half point in the next two games to secure tournament victory — the player from Saint Petersburg went on to miss winning chances in game 3 before losing both that encounter and the next one. Blunders also played a big role in the tiebreaks, with Karjakin finally emerging as the winner.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: MVL beats the French

6/24/2021 – This week, the well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look how Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won a spectacular game against Ian Nepomniachtchi and the French Defense. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

International top players take part in French Team Championship

6/24/2021 – The crème de la crème of French and international chess currently meet in Châlons-en-Champagne in France, where the French Team Championship will be played from 24 June to 4 July. Top Grandmasters such as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Veselin Topalov, Shakhriyar Mamdyarov, Pentala Harikrishna, Alireza Firozja, Bassem Amin or Jorden van Foreest to name just a few will support their French teams. This afternoon the 1st round will be played.

Game of the Week: Vachier-Lagrave vs Radjabov

6/23/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look how Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won a fine positional and attacking game in a popular opening line against Teimour Radjabov at the Grand Chess Tournament in Paris. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Anything But Average

6/23/2021 – The new edition of one of our favourite books, by problemist Werner Keym, now contains 400 famous examples of brilliant games, remarkable, sometimes outrageous studies, and preposterous chess problems. The book includes a lot of subsidiary diagrams that makes it particularly easy to read. We bring you a number of entertaining examples: for instance, can you find a forced mate in two in this position? There is only one key move that will do it.

Asian players to face Carlsen & Co. at Goldmoney Asian Rapid

6/23/2021 – The seventh leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour will be played from June 26 until July 4. Dubbed the Goldmoney Asian Rapid, the event will feature a $100,000 prize fund. Remarkably, the highest-rated woman player in the world, Hou Yifan, will take part in the tournament. Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So, currently placed first and second respectively in the tour standings, will also participate.

The new ChessBase video portal: 5,000 videos online!

6/23/2021 – We have renovated: the ChessBase video portal presents itself in a new look. But the most important thing: you will now find what you are looking for much faster! Over 5,000 training videos are ready for you! All of them are fully indexed, so that you can use the search board to search all the videos for positions. Content has also been cleaned up: while we now offer "chess entertainment" on our YouTube channels, the focus on the video portal is now on chess training. High-quality training material on openings, middlegames, endgames. We regularly publish new training lessons from top trainers such as Daniel King, Karsten Müller, Herman Grooten, Robert Ris or Lawrence Trent. Real premium content for premium users! Come in!

Wesley So triumphs at the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament

6/23/2021 – Thanks to a remarkable performance in the second half of the blitz section, Wesley So won the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament with one round to spare. The Filipino-born grandmaster finished the tournament three points clear of second-placed Ian Nepomniachtchi, after losing only one out of the 27 games played in the French capital. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The Weekly Show: Chess in Las Vegas

6/22/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will take a look at the National Open in Las Vegas, focusing on the game Levy Rozman vs Christopher Yoo in round 5, a superb attacking display by the "internet's chess teacher". And Lawrence will talk about the Paris Rapid & Blitz tournament and the Prague Masters. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Chess in Literature: "Writers & Lovers" and the Immortal Game

6/22/2021 – 170 years ago, on 21 June 1851, Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky played one of the most famous games of all time: the so-called "Immortal Game", in which Anderssen sacrificed a large part of his army to mate the enemy king. Since then this game has been included in countless anthologies, it continues to be a popular choice for live exhibition games, it has been quoted in films, and the decisive position has been printed on T-shirts. It also played a role in the novel "Writers & Lovers" by American author Lily King.

Paris Rapid & Blitz - Wesley So wins!

6/22/2021 – Thanks to a remarkable performance in the second half of the blitz section, Wesley So won the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament with one round to spare. The Filipino-born grandmaster finished the tournament three points clear of second-placed Ian Nepomniachtchi, after losing only one out of the 27 games played in the French capital. | Full report to follow shortly. | Pictured: So next to Gilles Betthaeuser, founder of AOS in 1997 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Paris Rapid & Blitz: Firouzja strong in the blitz

6/22/2021 – After three days of rapid chess, the blitz section of the Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament kicked off on Monday. Alireza Firouja was the strongest in the first half of the blitz phase, while Vladimir Kramnik had a rough time facing his younger opponents. Wesley So still leads the overall standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Arthur Guo wins National Open in Las Vegas

6/22/2021 – In the National Open in Las Vegas five players shared first with 7.0/9. The 15-year-old Arthur Guo had the best tiebreak and won the tournament. | Photos: Tournament page National Open

A versatile knight

6/22/2021 – Knights that fight against pawns in the endgame can be versatile or very clumsy. In the diagram position the black knight turned out to be very versatile. How did it help Black to win the game?