5/10/2021 – The Russian Team Championships were decided in the penultimate round: The Iron Horsemen of St. Petersburg win the Open Championship, the Moscow Chess Team wins the Women's Tournament. However, there is still one round to play in which the other teams fight for the places. It starts at 14:00 CEST (8:00 am EDT, 1 pm BST). Follow the games live.

5/10/2021 – Already one round before the end of the event, the Russian team champions in the Premier League as well as in the women’s competition have been decided. In the Premier League, the Mednyi Vsadnik from St. Petersburg secured their fourth consecutive title after winning seven out of seven matches. The women’s tournament was similarly won by the Moscow Chess Team, which also has a perfect score. | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

5/9/2021 – Reading seems to have become a dying habit. With the advent of gadgets, distraction lurks around every corner and resisting the temptations has become increasingly difficult. A true bibliophile knows the essence of reading from a physical book — the smell of a newly printed one cannot be replaced by a digital version. Four-time Indian women’s champion, Asian continental champion and Olympic individual gold medallist IM Padmini Rout reflects on Daniel King’s book about Sultan Khan. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

5/9/2021 – 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 26th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows examples of a good cooperation between queen and bishop. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

5/9/2021 – The Russian Team Championships are being played on May 1-10 at the Hotel Zhemchuzhina in Sochi. Besides the Premier League, a 9-team round robin, the Women’s League and the Higher League are taking place as Swiss tournaments. Both in the Premier League and the Women’s Tournament, the clear favourites have managed to win all of their matches — the Mednyi Vsadnik (Iron Horsemen) led by Nikita Vitiugov and the Moscow Chess Team led by Kateryna Lagno. | Pictured: Aleksandra Goryachkina | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

5/8/2021 – He learnt the rules of chess when he was two and a half years old. He became the youngest national expert at the age of seven, and the youngest National Master in the US at the age of nine. In late 2019, he beat R. Praggnanandhaa's record of becoming the youngest IM ever. Meet Abhimanyu Mishra, a youngster who lives in New Jersey, USA. Abhimanyu is an amazing talent and is now going after the record of becoming the youngest GM in history. In spite of the Covid pandemic. And you can help him achieve his goal!

5/8/2021 – Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Klaudia Kulon prevailed in the open and women’s sections of the 2021 Polish Championships, played over the board in Bydgoszcz. This was Wojtaszek’s fourth victory in the national championship, while Kulon won the women’s title for the first time in her career. | Photos: Official site

5/8/2021 – Four (out of nine) rounds of the Mitropa Cup have alerady been played. After a 3-1 victory over Hungary in round four, the German team is currently in second place, only one team point behind the leading Czechs. In the women’s category, Italy has won every single match so far and has a two-point lead over Hungary and Germany. | Photos: Claudia Münstermann

5/8/2021 – If Black plays 30...Nxc3 in the diagram position he attacks White's rook on b1 and opens the bishop's diagonal a8-g2. So, everything seems fine for Black - unless White can spoil the fun with 31.Bc5. Well, can he?

5/7/2021 – Lawrence Trent and Arne Kaehler talk about what happened chess-wise last week. They give their opinions on various topics, and encourage you to think about the subject, analyse games, or read the articles thoroughly yourself. This week we discuss chess in prison, analyse a game by Fat Fritz 2.0, take a look at some past Grandmasters, and finally find out, why noodles and spring rolls cost a fortune in Iceland, if the timing is wrong.

5/7/2021 – Constant tactical training is vital if you want to improve or just maintain your playing strength. In his ChessBase Magazine column "Tune your tactics", tactics expert IM Oliver Reeh regularly presents about 30 tactical tasks, from opening, middlegame and endgame, from simple to super-difficult, with questions far beyond the scope of the conventional "X to play and win". Moreover, Reeh presents his personal favourites in interactive Fritztrainer videos. In ChessBase Magazine #201, these favourites include three classics and a recent example. Take the test and enjoy!

5/7/2021 – Rapid interviews are fun: interviewer and guest face each other in an epic rapid chess battle. The chess guest not only has to face the interviewer's questions, but also concentrate on the chess game at the same time. This leads to surprising answers and sometimes to curious chess positions. Cécile Haussernot is probably one of the most attractive titled chess players. I asked her if this ever lead to jealousy from other players, or hate comments, and how she deals with these factors. Furthermore, I wanted to know how it is for the French WIM to live in Tbilisi, Georgia, and what her future goals are in chess. | Photos: Cécile Haussernot