German top tournament starts with a surprise

4/6/2021 – The "Kader-Challenge", where ten of the best German players meet over-the-board in Magdeburg, began with a surprise. Frederik Svane (pictured), a FM with a rating of 2421, convincingly outplayed Germany's current number one Matthias Blübaum and took the lead as the four other games all ended in draw. In the women's tournament, Germany's number one women player, Elisabeth Pähtz, fared better than Blübaum and won the first round with Black against Annmarie Mütsch. | Photo: Bernd Vökler (Archive)

ChessBase India Talent Test

4/6/2021 – In 2017 IM Sagar Shah travelled to the house of R. Praggnanandhaa in Chennai and gave the youngest IM in the world a set of test positions to solve. This ritual then continued with more talents, like Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani and others. Even experienced GMs like Adhiban and Ganguly have dipped their feet into ChessBase India's talent test. Now Sagar presented a set of twelve positions to a new talent – and filmed the entire process. See if you can compete with the twelve-year-old.

The Weekly Show: A strong performance by Pepe Cuenca

4/6/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will be taking a look at the victory of his "ex-flatmate and good friend GM Pepe Cuenca Jiménez" at La Nucia over the Easter weekend. | Lawrence's show is available at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12:00 ET) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Trapped?

4/6/2021 – The duel knight against bishop is often deep and full of surprises. In the diagram position Black's knight on d1 seems to be in danger to get caught. But can White profit from its precarious position?

The Polgar Challenge for young stars kicks off Thursday

4/5/2021 – Chess legends Judit Polgar and Vladimir Kramnik have joined forces with Play Magnus Group to launch a new elite online tour designed to support rising young players and advance gender equality in the sport. The first event, dubbed the Polgar Challenge, kicks off on April 8. The lineups of Team Polgar and Team Kramnik have been revealed.

‘Urban Chess’ initiative continues to expand in the Netherlands

4/5/2021 – Jesús Medina Molina’s initiative to promote the placement of public chess tables in open spaces has expanded in the Netherlands. Tables in The Hague, Dordrecht and Groningen were recently inaugurated. Medina invites more countries to follow this initiative, which intends to make chess more accessible, especially for kids.

José Cuenca prevails in La Nucía

4/5/2021 – José ‘Pepe’ Cuenca was the clear winner of the “Semana Santa” tournament that took place on Easter weekend in La Nucía, Alicante. The 34-year-old from Granada was the only player to score 7½ points in the 9-round Swiss tournament. No fewer than eight players finished half a point behind, with Aarón Alonso and Marc Narciso getting second and third places on tiebreak criteria. | Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Anand and Humpy win Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Decade in Sportstar Aces Awards

4/4/2021 – On April 3, Sportstar premiered the ‘Sportstar Aces Awards 2021’ on their YouTube channel. Vishy Anand was nominated for ‘Sportsman of the Decade Non-Olympic Sport’ along with Pankaj Advani (billiards) and Rajat Chauhan (compound archery). Koneru Humpy was nominated for ‘Sportswoman of the Decade Non-Olympic Sport’ along with Harika Dronavalli and Jyothi Surekha (compound archery). Arjuna Awardees Dibyendu Barua and Tania Sachdev presented the awards to Anand and Humpy respectively. | Photo: Sportstar

Starting Monday: Kader-Challenge in Magdeburg

4/4/2021 – With ten players in the men’s section and eight participants in the women’s category, the Kader-Challenge — organized by the German Chess Federation — kicks off on Monday at Magdeburg’s Maritim Hotel. A number of measures will be in place to deal with the current sanitary crisis. Matthias Bluebaum and Alexander Donchenko are the top seeds in the men’s event, while Elisabeth Paehtz and Josefine Heinemann are the highest-rated players among the women.

Understanding before Moving 21: Strong knight vs bad bishop - (1)

4/4/2021 – 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 21st instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows a classic example of a strong knight who fights against a bad bishop. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

Spurning the morsel

4/4/2021 – In the mid-nineteenth century, sacrifice was king, and it was supposedly considered “ungentlemanly” to disdain the tasty bait which the opponent proffered. In today’s column, Jon Speelman looks at three examples of the decision-making process behind accepting or not a sacrifice made by the opponent. | Pictured: Vasily Smyslov | Photo: Dutch National Archive

40 years ago: Kavalek wins in Bochum

4/3/2021 – When a chess club reaches a nice round anniversary, a proper celebration is called for. And what better way to celebrate than with a grandmaster tournament? That’s what the ‘SG Bochum 31’ club did in 1981, when it celebrated its 50th anniversary with the “International German Championship” held at Stadtpark Restaurant. Those who were already active chess fans at the time will certainly look back and remember one or two of the participants — among them was Lubomir Kavalek, who in fact won the tournament! It all happened 40 years ago to the day. | Photo: Gerhard Hund, via Wikimedia Commons

Instructive endgames from the European Club Cup

4/3/2021 – The Schachfreunde Deizisau won the European Chess Club Cup a few days ago. The star-studded tournament was undoubtedly a top-class event. Good reason for Karsten Müller to examine the extensive game material in detail. During his research, he found bishop-related examples: he discovered an imprisoned bishop, saw how another one fought alone against a number of pawns, and found a pure opposite-coloured bishops endgame that was not a draw. | Photo: Pascal Simon

Mario Matous's Mad Queen

4/3/2021 – Take a look at this position. Can White (to play) win? It is a truly remarkable study by a truly remarkable composer. Mario Matouš gives us a wonderful position to solve. The theme is a rampaging queen which wants to sacrifice itself to stalemate the black monarch. Can you solve it? The composer was born in Czechoslovakia in 1947, and died 2013. Here's a memorial by Emil Vlasák.

Uhlmann's Unfinished

4/3/2021 – 26...Rxh4! in the diagam position was very strong, however, after 27.gxh4 Black failed to crown his combination and take the game home. Can you do better?

Movsziszian perfect in Alicante

4/3/2021 – A 9-round over-the-board tournament is taking place in La Nucía, a municipality in the comarca of Marina Baixa, Alicante in Spain. No fewer than 180 players registered to participate, 11 of which have a 2400+ Elo rating. After 5 rounds, 58-year-old Armenian grandmaster Karen Movsziszian is the sole leader. | All photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Capablanca v Lasker 1921

4/2/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at a game from the Capablanca-Lasker World Championship match played 100 years ago (give or take a few days)! | 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.

Japan Chess Championship Qualifiers (Part I)

4/2/2021 – The months of February and March are quite busy with excitement in Japan’s chess calendar. Qualifying tournaments are held in various regional chess clubs to select candidates for the strongest event of the year, held in May — the Japan Chess Championship, a FIDE-rated event. Mayur Gondhalekar brings you all the news and updates from Japan in a two-part report. | Pictured: The playing hall at the ‘En Passant Chess Club’ in Osaka

Outdoor Chess at the Gold Coast in Australia

4/2/2021 – Australia’s Gold Coast metropolitan region is known for sandy beaches and surfing. And a simul. International Master Alex Wohl took on 20 chess players in an outdoor simultaneous exhibition. Woman International Master Alexey Root and Wohl report on chess activity at the Gold Coast’s Burleigh Market. | Photo: Kgbo [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

SF Deizisau convincingly wins the European Club Cup

4/1/2021 – With a commanding performance, Schachfreunde Deizisau secured victory in the European Chess Club Cup. The winning team, consisting exclusively of German players, kept a series of top clubs at bay: Clichy (France), Mednyi Vsadnik (Russia) and Odlar Yurdu (Azerbaijan), among others. This was probably one of the most remarkable successes ever achieved by a German club. | Pictured: Vincent Keymer | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: Najdorf with 6.Qd3!?

4/1/2021 – In this week’s show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at the move 6.Qd3!? against the Najdorf, which recently has given Black a lot of trouble and led to fascinating games. | “Fast and Furious” is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

New: Arne Kaehler - The Discombobulating Bongcloud Attack

4/1/2021 – As José Raúl Capablanca famously said: ”You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.” The Bongcloud attack might be the perfect opening for you to become a better player! While the main idea is to “shock” your opponent, the move 2.Ke2 signals your intention to plunge one of the most vulnerable pieces right onto the middle of the action. The king bravely states: ”Here I am folks! Try to get a piece of me.” The Bongcloud is a deadly weapon, and once you manage to pull it off, your opponents will be smoked.

The Magnus Carlsen Story on YouTube

4/1/2021 – Magnus Carlsen was born on 30 November 1990 and played his first tournament when he was eight and a half years old. At the age of 13 he became a Grandmaster, and since July 2011 he has been the world's number one. In 2013 Carlsen became World Champion. His successes have made him a star, his way of playing and presenting chess has changed the chess world. Now, "The Magnus Carlsen Story" was published on YouTube, seven short videos that review Carlsen's amazing career. | Photo: Screenshot from the video series

Epic chess match: Hawking vs Rudd

4/1/2021 – Quantum Chess is a variant of regular chess in which every piece is endowed with quantum powers. The game is real and the stakes are high, as the future of humanity hangs in the balance. Was actor and comedian Paul Rudd able to beat Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest minds of our generation, in a game of chess that will determine the future of humanity? Take a look!