4/13/2021 – Probably the Candidates Tournament 2020-21 will go down in history as the longest over-the-board chess tournament of all time. It started on 17 March 2020 and was interrupted for more than a year after the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. Now, it is scheduled to resume next Monday, 19 April 2021, in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

4/13/2021 – The new Opening Encyclopaedia 2021 is a collection of all the opening articles from all the issues of ChessBase Magazine and with more than 1,200 articles it covers the whole range of openings. An enormous treasure trove of ideas and high-level analysis! In the new edition, as usual the number of articles has increased – compared to the previous year 66 new opening articles as well as 349 new opening surveys have been added. The menu structure offers comfortable access to all tutorials and articles. Under the main categories “Open games”, “Semi-open games”, “Closed openings”, “Semi closed openings”, “English Opening and Reti” and “Flank openings” you will find all the recommendations and analyses classified according to the names of the openings.

4/13/2021 – The Iranian National Championship is currently being held in Tehran. 16 mostly young players are competing in a round-robin and after 13 of 15 rounds Elo-favourite Parham Maghsoodloo is leading the field with 12.0/13. But Pouya Idani (11.5/13) is only half a point behind and still has chances to catch the leader. | Photo: David Llada

4/13/2021 – The diagram position is very sharp as both sides have dangerous passed pawns. It's White to move but should White take the pawn on g5 or should White play Rg3+ to win the pawn on h3?

4/12/2021 – On his Twitter account, Scottish chess fan Douglas Griffin regularly publishes historical photos of famous chess players. Photographs that awaken memories and keep them alive, pictures that allow views into the past. On 28 May 2019, Griffin published a photo that shows Max Blümich and Alexander Alekhine playing against each other in the 1941/1942 Krakow/Warsaw tournament. A picture that raises questions: How did the game go, who won, who was Max Blümich and who else is in the photo? | Photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl

4/12/2021 – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu kicked off the final day of action in the Polgar Challenge with three consecutive wins to secure first place with a round to spare. Four players finished 1½ points behind — Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh D, Nihal Sarin and Volodar Murzin. | Photo: Alina l’Ami

4/11/2021 – The Kader-Challenge came to an end on Sunday. Draws were seen on all boards in the men’s section. At the top of the table finished Alexander Donchenko, Dmitrij Kollars, Matthias Bluebaum and Daniel Fridman, each with 5½ points, with Donchenko getting tournament victory on tiebreak criteria. Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, Jana Schneider drew Elisabeth Paehtz with the black pieces and thus remained half a point ahead of her last-round opponent in the final standings. | Photos: Sandra Schmidt, Frank Hoppe

4/11/2021 – The Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour gives young stars a chance to take centre stage. The Polgar Challenge is one of four challenges in which each player faces all 19 other players once at rapid chess — 10 minutes per player per game, with a 5-second increment after each move. The tournament takes place on April 8 to 11. | Follow the games live starting at 16:00 CEST!

4/11/2021 – 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 22nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows another example of a strong knight who fights against a bad bishop. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

4/11/2021 – It isn't often one sees a game between top programs in which a queen is trapped in the middlegame, but just such a thing happened in a game shared by Peter Grayson. What stood out was how both programs differed on a key juncture, leading him to comment, "Fat Fritz 2 exhibits almost human-like qualities to threaten the snaring of the queen". Enjoy this fun tussle and his kind analysis. | Photo: National Portrait Gallery, London

4/11/2021 – The German Chess Federation is holding two over-the-board classical tournaments — one for men and one for women — on April 5-11. The punultimate rounds in both sections kicked off today, Saturday, at 14:00 CEST. | Follow the games live!

4/11/2021 – Saturday saw the top games of Round 8 — Rasmus Svane v Matthias Bluebaum and Dmitrij Kollars v Alexander Donchenko — ending in draws. Daniel Fridman seized the opportunity, as he managed to catch up with Bluebaum, Kollars and Donchenko with a win over Andreas Heimann. The tournament ends on Sunday with the ninth round (starting at 10:00 CEST). In the women’s tournament, Jana Schneider defended her lead in the standings with a win against Antonia Ziegenfuß. | Photo: Frank Hoppe