8/24/2020 – The Top Division section of the FIDE Online Olympiad was played from Friday to Sunday this week. Three teams from each pool qualified either to the quarterfinals directly or to the preliminary stage. India, Azerbaijan, Russia and the United States are already in the quarterfinals while eight teams will fight for the remaining four spots in the first knockout stage of the playoffs. | Photos: Niki Riga / John Saunders

8/23/2020 – In a recent article mathematician Christian Hesse described the concept of the "winchain" – is there a player you have beaten, who has beaten someone, who has beaten someone, who beat a World Champion? It is astonishing how close you can get – like a 2144 player, Fabian Brinkmann, being just three steps away from Magnus Carlsen. Fabian has written a nice little ChessBase app which will help you search for your winchains.

8/23/2020 – The Carlsen Chess Tour is over. What a pity, because the finals between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura were outstanding! The most used opening by far was the Ruy Lopez, leaving the Sicilian opening behind. A clear sign of how much this opening is in fashion momentarily, and we all know that everybody will jump on the Ruy Lopez train sooner or later this year. To prepare you in the best way possible, I highly recommend taking a look at Fabiano Caruana's: Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol. 1-3.

8/22/2020 – On August 10, Praggnanandhaa turned 15 years old. On that day he received a message by IM Sagar Shah: "Would you like to test yourself today?" Without hesitation Pragg agreed. Normal 15-year-old kids would prefer to have a party or spend time with their friends on their birthday. But Pragg is different. He is ready to give up all that if he can spend some time learning a new trick or two on the chessboard. And, so the test began! Fifteen positions were solved in less than an hour. It turned out to be a tremendous test — give it a go! | Photo: Leon Masters website

8/22/2020 – The top international chess superstars are set to battle online from September 11-19 in two exciting tournaments hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club — the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX and the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. World champion Magnus Carlsen will play in both events, while living legend Garry Kasparov will be among the participants of the Fischer Random event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

8/21/2020 – The "Best-of-Seven" final of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura was a dramatic duel on equal terms that was decided in the very last game of the entire tour: Carlsen drew with Black in the Armageddon game to win the match and the tour. In two videos Daniel King reviews highlights of the gripping showdown of an epic encounter.

8/21/2020 – Seven days of intense chess fights ended with Magnus Carlsen drawing the Armageddon decider with black in the deciding set of the final against Hikaru Nakamura to win the tournament and the $140,000 first prize. Carlsen won four out of the five events that made up the Magnus Carlsen Tour, a series of online tournaments organized by the world champion during the coronavirus crisis. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/21/2020 – In the diagram position White has just played 17.f4! creating the threat Qh3, and after 17...e5 he strikes. Can you find Fischer's continuation... five times?

8/21/2020 – Live games are especially interesting, when exciting tactics are on the board, when "my" opening is played, and when innovations are tried out! The new ChessBase Live Ticker shows you these games! From thousands of live games the ChessBase Live Ticker determines which are particularly on point and exciting at the moment! One click and you are in the game! And everything can be combined with the ChessBase Web Apps for your opening training or tactics training. Try it!

8/20/2020 – What has already become a landmark in the world of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club, opened in July 2008 and hosted the US Championship for the first time in 2009. A 21-year-old Hikaru Nakamura won his second national title that year, scoring 7 points in the 9-round Swiss. Robert Hess, then 17 years old and not yet a grandmaster, and Alexander Onischuk shared second place a half point behind. | Photos: Betsy Dynako

8/20/2020 – The Finals of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour are taking place on August 9-20, with a prize fund of US$300,000 at stake and US$140,000 reserved for the winner. Magnus Carlsen levelled the score for a third time in the sixth set. The match will be decided in Thursday’s seventh and final set (see the full report on set 6!). Action kicks off at 16:00 CEST (14:00 UTC, 10:00 ET). | Photos: David Llada / Niki Riga

8/20/2020 – "Yet another extraordinary encounter!" That is how Daniel King described game 1 of the sixth set of the match between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura in the final of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Carlsen played with White and after the opening he sacrificed two pawns to threaten Black's king with his two bishops. This led to fascinating complications and a strong mating attack. Daniel King took a closer look.