12/8/2020 – The Russian Superfinals, for men and women, are 12-player single round-robin events currently taking place at the Central Chess Club in Moscow. After three rounds, the one player in both tournaments to have kept a perfect score is Polina Shuvalova (pictured), who remarkably defeated Alina Kashlinskaya and Alexandra Kosteniuk in consecutive rounds. Meanwhile, in the open tournament, Sergey Karjakin is the sole leader on 2½/3. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

12/7/2020 – A few weeks ago ChessBase 16 appeared and chess fans all over the world are enthusiastic about it. One of them is Carl Portman. He had a look at the program and concluded: "ChessBase serves not only as a source of enjoyment in trying times but it is a fantastic information management tool to improve your chess."

12/7/2020 – A few days ago, Poland won the 1st FIDE Online Olympiad for People with Disabilities. Second place went to Russia while Ukraine won bronze. The photo shows the players of the Polish winners, who of course had to play the tournament from their respective "home offices".

12/7/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/7/2020 – Good news! The organisers of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee just published a press release to confirm that the traditional tournament will take place, from January 15 to 31st, 2021 - despite the corona crisis. However, the Masters, a round-robin with 14 top grandmasters, will be the only tournament, the Challengers and other tournaments had to be cancelled. But the line-up of the prestigious Masters is not certain yet.

12/7/2020 – After indulging in extreme violence with some of his favourite “hacks”, star columnist Jon Speelman changes gears and looks into a set of very interesting endgames. He focuses on zugzwangs, noting that “were it not for the obligation to move then almost all endgames with rook and pawn v rook would be drawn”.

12/6/2020 – The now traditional Chinese chess tournaments in Danzhou are taking place this year despite the pandemic. An 8-player double round robin with all male participants is running on December 3-9, while a 10-player single round robin women’s tournament — with a faster time control — was played on Friday and Saturday. Hou Yifan, the rating favourite, finished in clear first place, a full point ahead of Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Tan Zhongyi. | Photo: Official site, retrieved from chess.com

12/6/2020 – 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 fourth part of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving" Herman takes a look at kings in the corner. | Photo: Hans Hoornstra

12/6/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/6/2020 – In "Rapid Interview" I talk with personalities of chess, in the course of us playing a rapid game. Grandmaster Jonathan Levitt is my first victim, and it turns out not being so easy to answer all questions confidently, while facing the Albin's Countergambit. Levitt has done a lot for chess in the 80s and 90s, reaching his Grandmaster title in 1994. He wrote chess books, invented tricky chess puzzles, and coached successfully. Why did he suddenly stop playing chess? And how come he wrote a brand-new book? This, and other questions will be answered in the Rapid Interview.

12/5/2020 – This year we are launching our "Christmas Fritztrainer Calendar". For the next 24 days, you can open one of our Fritztrainer doors daily, and guess: Which Fritztrainer is this? If you send us the correct answer by email, you are participating in a raffle to win plenty of prizes, including our big Christmas surprise packages!

12/5/2020 – A lot of movies have been made where chess was either a backdrop, centerpiece or just one of the key elements to a mystery or climax. But there has not been any mainstream drama series where chess is the main focal point in a series. Netflix decided to adapt The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis into a seven episode mini-series. Special Consultants are Garry Kasparov and Bruce Pandolfini. So you can be rest assured that there won't be odd chess board orientation or or incorrect checkmates. Photo: Pinterest