7/28/2020 – Russia, India, USA or China are big countries with extraordinary good chess players. "The Best In..." series takes a look at some of the best players of countries which are far smaller by size and population. Some places are exceptional though, like Armenia. We had the chance to interview one of Armenia's best female players - Lilit Mkrtchian. | Photos: Lilit Mkrtchian

7/28/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at a great win by Ukrainian star Vassily Ivanchuk, who defeated Ding Liren in style during the Legends of Chess tournament. Referring to Ivanchuk, Lawrence said: "He's one of the very true universal players in the world of chess, maybe the most universal player of all time — him and Spassky come to mind". | Lawrence' show is available at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST, 13:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / World Rapid Championship 2016

7/28/2020 – After the rest day, the grandmasters showed themselves to be in a fighting mood in the invitational tournament. Harikrishna won the top game of the day, while Vincent Keymer’s balance sheet reads like a binary code: 1 0 1 0 1. Sebastian Siebrecht reports. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust, Sebastian Siebrecht

7/28/2020 – Coming from taking first place at the Soviet Chess Championship, Mikhail Botvinnik faced Salomon Flohr in a 12-game match played in Moscow and Leningrad. In one of the games, Flohr showed the chess world how to force a win in the 2B vs 2N endgame. But did he really, or did Botvinnik simply misplay it? We asked our readers to help settle the historical debate. And they helped endgame expert GM Karsten Müller to settle the question. | Pictured: Flohr and Botvinnik in 1935

7/28/2020 – Pawn endgames always must be calculated carefully. | Endgame theory constitutes the foundation of chess. You realize this in striking clarity once you obtain a won endgame but in the end have to be content with a draw in the end because of a lack of necessary know-how. Such accidents can only be prevented by building up a solid endgame technique.

7/28/2020 – With two rounds to go in the preliminary stage of the ‘Legends of Chess’ online tournament, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi have already secured their spots in the four-player knockout phase. Anish Giri climbed to third place with a 2½:½ victory over Ding Liren, while, among the veterans, Vishy Anand and Vasyl Ivanchuk played enterprising chess to defeat Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik respectively. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/27/2020 – In this "Simon Says", Simon leaves the sharp tactics aside and focuses on simplicity. In order to do so, he analyzes four games by Swedish endgame virtuoso Ulf Andersson! | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EST). | Pictured: Andersson playing Anatoly Karpov in 1983. | Photo: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo

7/27/2020 – Some might say chess is at its peak of popularity due to the coronavirus. People who have never played chess before are thinking, “There is no better time than now to learn how to play chess”. And they are right! I myself have been asked by a lot of friends if I could teach them how to play. Thanks to PlayChess.com I can teach more than one student at a time with ease. I quickly explain the steps needed to set up a coaching session in a short video!

7/27/2020 – Magnus Carlsen leads the preliminary stage of the ‘Legends of Chess’ tournament after a smooth victory over Ding Liren. Ian Nepomniachtchi is in second place — the Russian defeated Viswanathan Anand in Armageddon on Sunday. Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler also won in the sudden-death decider, while Anish Giri got the better of Peter Leko 2½:1½. | Photo: Justin Kellar

7/27/2020 – The main theme for this logic riddle is the world of Combinatorics. Although it requires some calculations, it is a lot of fun to try to correctly compare probabilities. Of course, we also have the solution for Logic Riddle #5 available!

7/26/2020 – Blitz chess was played on Saturday at the Festival in Biel as part of the ‘Grandmaster Triathlon’. After 14 rounds, Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Michael Adams collected 11 points each. In this order, Wojtaszek ahead of Adams, are placed atop the overall standings of the triathlon — the Polish GM has a comfortable four-point lead. Vincent Keymer only scored 4½ points, which prompted him to drop from third to fourth place. Sebastian Siebrecht reports from Biel. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust

7/26/2020 – How far away are you from the World Champion, in terms of handshakes? Have you shaken hands with someone who has shaken hands with him? How far from Boris Spassky? Capablanca? Morphy? We asked about this a couple of weeks ago, and it led to some fascinating historical research, all the way back to European experts/authors who lived in the 1500s and 1600s. And we have a winner!