7/17/2020 – Last Monday one of our favourite chess prodigies Nihal Sarin celebrated his 16th birthday – not by enjoying a nice evening with family and friends. Nihal is no ordinary youngster! He is a full GM and rated 2620! On his birthday Nihal decided to spend roughly around an hour and a half with ChessBase India solving sixteen positions that IM Sagar Shah had handpicked for him! You can watch him doing it, and join him in his efforts. There is a lot to learn.

7/17/2020 – To celebrate the International Chess Day, on 20 July (10:00-12:00 EST), top chess personalities, including the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich (pictured), Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, and Hou Yifan, will take part in a high-level virtual event - "Chess for Recovering Better".

7/17/2020 – In the diagram position White is under immense pressure, and if 28.f3 (blocking the long diagonal and hitting the knight on g4) does not work, White sure is busted. Well, 28.f3 in fact does not work - but why?

7/17/2020 – Buddhibal Kreeda Trust (BKT) under the mentorship of Prakash Kunte (father of GM Abhijit Kunte and WIM Mrunalini Kunte) has organized over 150 tournaments. After having two successful online events since April, they are be back and this time with a bigger prize fund of ₹50000. The tournament is organized in memory of Late IA Moreshwar Bhagwat. This will be their second consecutive Fischer Random (Chess960) tournament having the first prize of ₹12000. With rating category prizes and prizes for women, it's a tournament you cannot afford to miss. It will take place on Saturday 18th of July at 8 p.m. IST in Chess960 Tournaments under Thematic Chess room on Playchess. Entry is FREE for GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. For everyone else Entry fee is ₹350. 50% of the entry fee will go to PM Cares fund. Registration is on. Photo: Maharashtra Chess League

7/17/2020 – The chess world has changed greatly the last few years, and the amount of modifications has increased exponentially due to the pandemic. One of the consequences prompted by this situation is that the chess community has become more interconnected through social media. Juga di Prima, who came to fame among chess fans almost two years ago, has used this opportunity to connect with super-GMs Anish Giri and Vladimir Kramnik, as each of them wrote lyrics to a couple of ‘chess covers’. | Juga’s official website

7/16/2020 – This week brings a very special edition of Robert Ris' "Fast & Furious" show, as Robert recently released his new book "The Modernized Sveshnikov", in which he presents a Black repertoire against 1.e4 that is based on one of the most reliable variations of the Sicilian. "Fast and Furious" is available from 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 15:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/16/2020 – Join in and have fun by analysing a historically important endgame: At the Candidates Tournament 1962 in Curacao Mikhail Tal lost a tricky rook endgame against the eventual tournament winner and World Champion to be Tigran Petrosian. But was the endgame really objectively lost or did Tal lose only after one or more mistakes? Karsten Müller asks for your help!

7/16/2020 – The Australian artist and goldsmith Colin Burn has created a chess set that is currently considered to be the world's most expensive chess set. The pieces are made of 18-carat white gold, decorated with diamonds, sapphires and South Sea pearls. Purchase price: 4 million dollars. | Photo: Colin Burn

7/16/2020 – The Chess Festival Biel has a long tradition which it will continue despite the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. On Saturday, 18 July, the Festival will start with the Accentus Chess 960 Tournament while the Grandmaster Tournament will begin one day later, on Sunday, 19 July. The Grandmaster Tournament has a strong line-up and is played as a "triathlon" with seven rounds of classical chess, seven rounds of rapid chess and 14 rounds of blitz.

7/16/2020 – Due to Covid-19 most of us are confined inside our home. Some people are creating content, while some are watching that content. So the question arises: what to choose and what to skip? Six-time consecutive National Champion GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly started his own series, and his first guest was none other than the one and only Vishy Anand. Ganguly is a former second of Anand, who helped him in numerous World Championships. But where did their journey begin? Four episodes, packed with stories and never-before-seen questions, make up the incredible series with the ‘Tiger of Madras’. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/15/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show Merijn van Delft takes a look at the classics and presents a game between Wilhelm Steinitz (pictured) and Louis Paulsen, in which Steinitz comes up with amazing positional concepts. | Merijn's show is available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/15/2020 – Many experts think that Garry Kasparov is the greatest chess player of all time, and though he retired from the tournament arena in 2005 he still tirelessly promotes chess and supports and trains promising young players. But how to train these talents in the times of corona? The Kasparov Chess Foundation found a way. | Photos: Kasparov Chess Federation