7/1/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri kicked off their semifinal matchups with wins of different nature. While Giri got a clean 3:1 victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen played an eventful mini-match against Ding Liren — the Chinese disconnected and lost a drawn position on time in game 1, to which the world champion responded by politely resigning on move 4 in the next encounter! Two draws followed, and Carlsen won the set by scoring 1½ points in hard-fought blitz tiebreakers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/30/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at Giri’s performance vs Grischuk at the Chessable Masters, with a special focus on Giri's win with Black in game four of their second match. But Lawrence will also give a more general roundup of the action. | 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: Alina l'Ami (Archive)

6/30/2020 – Round 8 of the Jubilee Tournament in Bamberg saw bitter fights and eight of the nine games ended with a decision. Paul Keres won the top encounter against Borislav Ivkov and with 6½/8 he is now sole leader. The best German players are Wolfgang Unzicker and Lothar Schmid with 5.0/8 each. | Photo: Marketplace in Bamberg

6/30/2020 – Chess engines are programs with character and each engine has its own way of playing. That is why it makes sense to analyze with different engines and that is how grandmasters get the maximum out of the engines. Houdini is an engine with a marked character and on the occasion of its 10th birthday Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a look at its development. @StockfishLegalNotice

6/30/2020 – In an interview with the Russian news agency TASS, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich has announced that the match for the World Chess Championship will be postponed until 2021. Originally it was supposed to take place in Dubai at the end of the year. | Photo: FIDE/ Alexander Scherbak (TASS)

6/30/2020 – Pawn endgames are the foundation of endgame theory. Knowing the importance of "opposition" and "key squares" is the key to master pawn endgames - and it helps to save a lot of points.

6/30/2020 – Ding Liren will play Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals of the Chessable Masters after taking down Hikaru Nakamura in three sets. The Chinese ace had won the first set and, after losing the second mini-match in Armageddon, scored a convincing 2½:½ victory in Monday’s decider. The semis kick off on Tuesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/29/2020 – In this "Simon Says" English Grandmaster Simon Williams looks at some of Alekhine's best attacking games and discusses how attacking play developed due to his influence on the game. | 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). | Photos: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

6/29/2020 – The seventh round of the jubilee tournament in Bamberg saw a lot of decisive games. Borislav Ivkov, Rudolf Teschner, Wolfgang Unzicker, Helmut Pfleger and Heikki Westerinen all won though the top encounter between Paul Keres and World Champion Tigran Petrosian ended in a peaceful draw. This allowed Ivkov to catch up to Keres and with 5.5/7 each the two now shared the lead. | Photo: Borislav Ivkov (Dutch National Archive)

6/29/2020 – Anna Ushenina, the classical World Champion in 2012, defeated Valentina Gunina in the final, leaving the score 7-4 in her favor. The Ukrainian outplayed her rival and was a deserved winner: a better opening preparation gave her the upper hand in most of the games, and she was also more accurate. Taking an early lead in the match was also an important factor that conditioned the rest of the final. | Photo: Anna Ushenina (UKR) by David Llada

6/29/2020 – ChessBase Magazine is the most comprehensive and most sophisticated chess magazine there is. World-class players analyse their brilliancies and explain the ideas behind the moves to you, opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and offer exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in the fields of tactics, strategy, and the endgame show you the tricks and techniques a successful tournament player needs! DVD with several hours of video + booklet. Also available for download including the booklet in pdf!

6/29/2020 – "Nana Dzagnidze is one of my most loyal and closest companions," writes Elizabeth Pähtz, Germany's top female player. "Our paths first crossed in 1995 during the European Children's Championships in Verdun, France. I hardly remember any of my nine encounters there, but the one with Nana was so special that even today I still have to smile when I think of it." Nana is now one of the world's top ten, with excellent chances to qualify for the Candidates and maybe challenge the Women's World Champion. Portrait by Elli Pähtz.