Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: The Belgrade Gambit

10/7/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris looks at a way to spicen things up in the Scotch Four Knights - the Belgrade Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5!?. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

The Elo ratings: Inflation or Deflation?

10/7/2021 – In a recent article Walter Wolf took a close look at the current development of the Elo ratings. IM Dirk Sebastian and IM Martin Voigt, who are both from Hamburg, have also examined the trends in the recent developments of the Elo ratings and try to answer the question whether there currently is an inflation or a deflation of Elo?

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Bold sacrifices might not work

10/7/2021 – Congratulations to Svitlana, who just turned 18 years old. Since she is a year older now, maybe we rename the format to "Svitlana's Smarter Moves"? But not much has changed luckily, and it is time to make some bold sacrifices, and figure out, if they are even working. Svitlana shows us a famous example by Emmanuel Lasker, and an interesting variation in the Caro-Kann.

US Championships: Favourites escape

10/7/2021 – The US Championships, again taking place over the board, kicked off on Wednesday. The open section saw Ray Robson (pictured) and John Burke grabbing the early lead, while among the women Irina Krush, Katerina Nemcova, Ashritha Eswaran and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova scored full points on the first day of action. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

How to automatically create tactical quizzes

10/7/2021 – Solving tactical puzzles can be fun, but what if you could automatically create your own, even from your own games? Nothing could be easier thanks to the analysis tools in both the Fritz interface or ChessBase. In fact, it can be a fun way to review your online games and be tested on the moves where you or your opponent missed a shot. Read on to learn how!

Fabrizio Bellia becomes first Italian to win the European Senior Championship

10/7/2021 – Four Senior European titles were awarded in Budoni, Sardinia. In the over-50 group, Fabrizio Bellia (photo) became the first Italian to win the title, while German GM Klaus Bischoff came second. The over-65 title went to Nathan Birnboim. Two-time GDR national champion Annett Wagner-Michel won the women’s title. | Photo: Scacchierando

Game of the Week 484: Giri vs Carlsen

10/6/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft shows an instructive game in which Magnus Carlsen defeated Anish Giri with the black pieces after navigating a position with a curious material imbalance. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Final rounds of the Bundesliga to be played in Berlin

10/6/2021 – On October 14-17, the last seven rounds of the 2019/2020 Bundesliga season will finally be played. The second half of the interrupted season will take place at the Hotel “Maritim proArte” in Berlin. At the halfway point, the two favourites for the championship title, Baden-Baden and Hockenheim, are tied at the top of the standings table without any losses. | Pictured: Peter Heine Nielsen and Peter Svidler during the final event of the 2019 season. | Photo: Maria Emelianova

Biofeedback in Chess – Part 1

10/6/2021 – Did you know that playing competitive chess affects your heart rate and increase your blood pressure? That you can burn hundreds of calories just sitting at the chess board for a couple of hours? Ashwin Subramanian is a Software Engineering Manager in the Hi-Tech Industry. He is an avid chess player, and is studying the value of biofeedback in chess during his personal time.

Magnus Carlsen: world champion, comedian, party animal

10/6/2021 – How does Magnus Carlsen spend his time when he is not playing chess? He is quite active, in fact! For example, he is one of the contestants on a Norwegian reality show — in “Ikke lov å le på hytta”, the contestants try to make the other residents of the house laugh while not laughing themselves. And this is only one of his many side activities.

The Weekly Show: Carlsen on the attack

10/5/2021 – In his “Weekly Show” IM Lawrence Trent will look at yet another great attacking win by Magnus Carlsen from the Finals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Lawrence also talks about the Women’s World Team Championships in Sitges. | Lawrence’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

The third coming of Bobby Fischer?

10/5/2021 – The story captured headlines twenty years ago. Many people believe that Bobby Fischer has returned to chess and was performing miracles on the Internet. Nigel Short said he was "99 per cent sure" he has had played Fischer, author Tim Krabbé, who was initially sceptical, went on to see the light. In September 2001 we took a closer look at the evidence.

Champions Chess Tour Final: Radjabov and Aronian reach the podium

10/5/2021 – Magnus Carlsen, who won the Champions Chess Tour with plenty of time to spare, ended his short losing streak with a win over Wesley So. The Filipino-bornd grandmaster dropped to fourth place as Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian won their matches.

US Championships to kick off Wednesday

10/5/2021 – The Saint Louis Chess Club, headed by Rex Sinquefield, has done a lot for chess in the United States, and they continue to organize top tournaments. Beginning Wednesday, the club will host the national championships. With players such as Caruana, So, Dominguez, Shankland, Xiong, Krush and Yip, both tournaments are strongly contested, though Hikaru Nakamura is missing from the lineup. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

The power of passed pawns

10/5/2021 – Passed pawns can be very powerful in the endgame. In the diagram position Black is a pawn and a knight down but he has a strong passed pawn on d2 that can save the game. It is Black to move and draw. How?

Study chess with me - the video series

10/4/2021 – Chess improvement at any level requires chess instruction, study, and practice. Thanks to technology, chess instruction of the highest quality is readily available, even in the pages of this news page. However, no matter how many lectures you watch, they do not dispense with actual study, which is often a lonely affair. This is what this new video series hopes to change.

Champions Chess Tour, Round 9 - Results and standings

10/4/2021 – Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian won in the last round of the Champions Chess Tour Finals to secure second and third places behind tour champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen beat Wesley So, leaving the Filipino-born grandmaster in fourth place. | Results, games and standings. Full report to follow shortly.

Chess Federation of Russia wins the Women’s World Team Championship

10/4/2021 – At the Women’s World Team Championships in Sitges, Spain, the Russian team won the gold medal on Saturday by defeating India in the final match. The Russian players in the photo from left to right: Alina Kashlinskaya, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Polina Shuvalova, Kateryna Lagno and Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photos: Niki Riga

Karsten Mueller’s Endgame Magic #163: Highlights of the Hou Yifan Challenge

10/4/2021 – From 18 to 21 September, 17 of the world's best juniors played a round robin rapid online tournament, the Hou Yifan Challenge, which is part of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour. In the "Endgame Magic Show #163" Arne Kaehler and Karsten Mueller look at endgame highlights from this tournament that was won by Vincent Keymer, who finished two points ahead of Christopher Yoo and Praggnanandhaa.| Endgame Magic is on air most Mondays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

Jon Speelman: The joys of Codgerdom

10/3/2021 – Yesterday, 2 October 2021, Jon Speelman turned 65. Congratulations! The English Grandmaster and former World Championship Candidate, who in January 1989 was the world’s number four, used this occasion to look back on his career and to select some of the most interesting games he played as an up-and-coming player. | Photo: David Llada

Understanding before Moving 47: The target on h6

10/3/2021 – 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 47th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows how to use "the target on h6". | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Magnus Carlsen wins the "Meltwater Champions Chess Tour"

10/3/2021 – After the 7th round of the final tournament of the "Meltwater Champions Chess Tour" played on Saturday, Magnus Carlsen is now the "Tour Winner". Although neither the World Champion nor his direct rival Wesley So scored, So cannot catch up to Carlsen's seven-point lead with only two remaining rounds. Carlsen lost to Teimour Radjabov 1:3, while So lost to Levon Aronian 0.5:2.5 after just three games. Radjabov is now only half a point behind So and could challenge him for second place - the prize money difference between second and third place is USD 20,000. | Graphic: Play Magnus Group

World Women's Team Championship, Final: Live

10/2/2021 – The CFR team and the Indian team play in the final of the World Women's Team Championship in Sitges, Spain. In the semifinals CFR won against Ukraine and India narrowly defeated Georgia. The final match also consists of two rounds (starting at 14:00 and 17:00 CEST), followed by a blitz play-off (19:30 CEST) in case of a tie. Follow the games live.

Champions Chess Tour Final: Carlsen at the finish line

10/2/2021 – In the 6th round of the "Meltwater Champions Chess Tour" played on Friday Wesley So has suffered a significant setback, which may prove to be decisive: In his 1:3 against Teimour Radjabov, Wesley So, 2nd in the standings, failed to score, while Carlsen, still occupying the top spot, extended his lead by two more points in the overall ranking thanks to his victory (in a tiebreak) against Anish Giri. The world champion's lead over So is now 7 points - almost insurmountable given that there is only a maximum of 9 points still to be earned. The tournament organizers might therefore soon proclaim Magnus Carlsen as the "world's top online chess player" as the potential winner of the tournament. | Fotos: Play Magnus Group