The ratings gap and gender: Analyzing U.S. Chess Championships (Part II)

4/18/2021 – Comparing the average ratings of the U.S. Championships and U.S. Women’s Championships from 1972–2000 shows a 300+ point difference between the former and the latter, as detailed in part one of this two-part series. In this part two, Ashley Yan and Alexey Root offer a possible explanation for this gender-based ratings gap.

Vivendi and Garry Kasparov team up

4/17/2021 – Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and global media company Vivendi announced today the launch of Kasparovchess.com, a new multimedia content platform for chess lovers of all skill levels, built to offer features for all players, whether they are enthusiasts or beginners. It includs thousands of chess puzzles, online matches, in-depth tutorials, articles, documentaries, and even an exclusive masterclass with Kasparov himself. Press release.

April Chess Bonanza in Belgrade

4/17/2021 – Chess players who ventured to go Belgrade this April are spoilt for choice among chess events which take place literally every single day of the month. We are halfway through the Belgrade Chess Spring Festival that has started on 2 April and will finish on 30 April. | Photos: Official website

Missed knockout

4/17/2021 – In the diagram position, 32...Qf3+! 33.Kh3 would have led to victory for Black, a "wow move" included. Enjoy!

The ChessBase News Review (09.04. - 16.04.)

4/16/2021 – 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 some topics are the gender gap, and if it even exists, who Max Bluemich is, and what his connection to Alekhine is, and of course who will win the Candidates Tournament. Caruana, or Giri?

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Can you play like Capablanca?

4/16/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King continues to look at the World Championship match Capablanca-Lasker played 100 years ago in Havana and invites you to find out whether you can play like Capablanca. | 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.

Who played it first?

4/16/2021 – The Dutch IM Robert Ris loves sharp play and he loves to play gambits. In a recent article in the ChessBase Magazine Ris talked about the pros and cons of a "new" gambit against the Classical Sicilian. "Wait a minute," German Grandmaster Stefan Kindermann (pictured) thought, when he read the article. "Didn't I play that back in 1978?"

Isabelle Sztrauch Choko, French Champion 1956

4/16/2021 – Izabela Sztrauch née Galewska was born in 1928 in Poland, where she spent a happy childhood. During the pogroms of the second world war she was sent to the Łódź Ghetto, and then to the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. She survived, typhoid stricken and weighing just 25 kg, recovered in Sweden and finally found a home in France. There she nurtured her love for chess, and in 1956 she won the French Women's Championship. Read her inspiring story as told by Georges Bertola in Europe Échecs.

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: a surprise weapon against the Sicilian

4/15/2021 – In this week’s show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at an interesting attempt to fight against the Sicilian: The line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5!? dxe5 5.Nxe5 that offers White surprising possibilities. | “Fast and Furious” is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

New: The flexible Open Spanish by Sipke Ernst

4/15/2021 – The Open Spanish is considered to be one of the soundest systems in modern opening theory. It remains a popular choice among superstars such as Mamedyarov, Caruana, So and Giri and was used in World Championship matches by Kortschnoi and Anand. This is the first Fritztrainer by Grandmaster Sipke Ernst from the Netherlands.

Daniel King shows classics

4/15/2021 – 111 years ago, on 15 April 1910 Miguel Najdorf was born in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, which at that time belonged to the Kingdom of Poland, which in turn was part of the Russian Empire. After the Chess Olympiad 1939 in Buenos Aires he did not return to Europe and became Argentinian. On his YouTube channel Daniel King shows Najdorf's most famous game and two other classics.

Two grandmasters will play in the "European Parliamentary Friendship Online Chess Tournament"

4/15/2021 – On Friday, 16 April 2021, the European Chess Union will organise the "European Parliamentary Friendship Online Chess Tournament", which is open for all members of European parliaments and members of the European Parliament. Two well-known and strong Grandmasters will take part.

Endgame riddle: The eternal duel - bishop vs knight

4/15/2021 – The International Master Ole Jakobsen (19 October 1942 - 30 June 2010) from Denmark is not particularly well-known but from 1960 to 1980 he was one of the best players of his country and in 1969, 1971 and 1980 he won the Danish Championship. In 1973 he finished fourth in the IBM-B Tournament in Amsterdam, where he defeated Eugenio Torre, who was soon to become one of the world's best players, in an interesting endgame bishop versus knight. Karsten Müller has taken a closer look at this endgame and invites you to help analysing it.

Game of the Week: M. Bluebaum vs A. Heimann

4/14/2021 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at another duel from the German "Kader-Challenge" in Magdeburg: a positional masterpiece by Matthias Bluebaum. | Merijn's show is available at 16.00 UTC (17:00 CET, 12:00 EDT) and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Parham Maghsoodloo wins Iranian Championship

4/14/2021 – 14 points out of 15 games and an Elo-performance of 2843 - Parham Maghsoodloo won the Iranian Championship 2021, a 16-player round-robin tournament, in impressive fashion. However, Maghsoodloo was also pushed by his rival Pouya Idani, who scored 13.0/15 and finished second. | Photo: Iranian Chess Federation

Mad bishops and knights

4/14/2021 – Recently we showed you a unique theme in chess endings: the defending side puts his king into a stalemate position, after which the remaining piece – a rook or even a queen – becomes suicidal, offering itself for capture. Many readers found that fascinating, and asked for more. Today we look at two other pieces that can do the same. Have fun with some astonishing new examples.

The Weekly Show: Praggnanandhaa!

4/13/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will be taking a look at the finale of the Polgar Challenge which the young Indian talent Praggnanandhaa won convincingly. Lawrence will particularly focus on Praggnanandhaa's nice win against Bjerre in round 13. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Addressing Sexism in Chess: A Guide to Making Chess More Inclusive

4/13/2021 – Nature or nurture? Much more men play chess than women and with a rating of 2658 Hou Yifan is the world's number one women player but on the world ranking list she is on place 85. The numbers alone suggest that there is a gender gap in chess. But why? And how should the chess world deal with this situation? Amanda Chen, chess fan and a student of Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University shares a few observations and ideas.

Arkady Dvorkovich: "We are absolutely ready to start the Candidates Tournament"

4/13/2021 – 13 April 2021, six days before the resumption of the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, the FIDE organised a press conference on the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Moscow, at the Rossiyskaya Gazeta Media Center. The speakers answered questions of journalists from all parts of the world, who were attending the event online. A press release by the FIDE has some details.

The Candidates Tournament 2020-21 resumes

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.

New: Opening Encyclopaedia 2021

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.

Parham Maghsoodloo leads at Iranian Championship

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

Which pawn to take, which way to go?

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?

A glimpse into the past: the story of a picture

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