11/3/2020 – At the Young Champions Tournament in Uppsala the opening choices of the young Dutch FM Siem Van Dael surprised again and again, particularly when he was playing with White. Van Dael tried 1.a4, 1.h4, 1.h3, 1.a3 and 1.g3 g6 2.Bg2 Bg7 3.Na3, and these unorthodox openings brought him 4 points out of 5 games and helped him to win the tournament. | Photos: Tournament page

11/3/2020 – Starting October 31 until November 8, the Tegernsee Masters tournament is taking place near the shore of Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria, Germany. The event is a 10-player single round robin with 5 German players and 5 international players hailing from the Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil, India and Belgium. Unfortunately, Vincent Keymer withdrew from the tournament after finding out one of his classmates tested positive for Covid-19. | Photos: Sebastian Siebrecht

11/3/2020 – Rooks are of course stronger than bishops, and there is a reason why giving up a rook for a bishop is called exchange "sacrifice". But of course there are many positions in which a rook is not stronger than a bishop. In the middlegame and in the endgame. The diagram shows one example. Can you find way to save the position for Black?

11/2/2020 – In this "Simon Says" the Ginger GM takes a look at an aggressive and modern variation in the English Opening. | Watch "Simon Says" on-demand and with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 14:00 ET).

11/2/2020 – Lubomir Ljubojevic is a living legend. In the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the world's best players, who famous for his creative, daring and brilliant attacking chess. Today, November 2, 2020, Ljubojevic celebrates his 70th birthday. Dagobert Kohlmeyer remembers highlights of a remarkable career. | Photos: Dagobert Kohlmeyer, Dutch National Archive, David Llada

11/2/2020 – Variety is the spice of life, and the new ChessBase Magazine #198 entertains with two more "Specials": Anish Giri starts his new column "All in One" (more information to come soon), and the training columns focus on "Kasparov as a challenger". Enjoy one example: Karsten Müller's article "The role of the bishop pair on Kasparov's way to the first WCh match".

11/2/2020 – All chess players know the "Meran Variation", even if they do not play it. But how did this line of the Semi-Slav Defence got its name? Roger Lorenz did some research and found the games that gave the line its name. He also knows where they were played - in the South Tyrol spa town of Meran. As the photograph taken at the Meran spa gardens proves, our writer did his research on site!

11/1/2020 – Former world number 4 and long-standing columnist Jon Speelman shares one of the most complicated games he has ever played — a win he got over Britain’s first grandmaster Tony Miles when he was 19 years old. How did he do it? Speelman concludes his analysis: “There’s no point in looking for consolidation when the board is awash with lava.” | Pictured: Tony Miles (sitting) and Michael Stean at the Zonal Tournament 1978 in Amsterdam | Photo: Dutch National Archive

11/1/2020 – Anish Giri's life story is simply amazing. He is a Dutch citizen right now, but has a Nepali father, a Russian mother, and a Georgian wife. He is world no.10 and one of the absolute best in chess! Today, at 2:30 p.m. Anish will do a live interview on YouTube. It's the life story of the Dutch legend, described in his own words! Don't miss it. Currently Vishy Anand is being interviewed!

10/31/2020 – Chess composition in Israel can be traced back to 1924. Throughout the years the small country gained relevance in the field of endgame studies. Columnist Siegfried Hornecker presents short bios and notable studies of six remarkable Israeli composers, plus a study he composed with helpmate specialist Paz Einat. | Pictured: Ruins of the ancient synagogue in Kibbutz Bar'am in Northern Israel. The ruins are located within the site of the ancient village of Kfar Bar'am, about three kilometers from the Lebanese border.

10/31/2020 – To honor Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk on his 37th birthday, October 31, National Master Mike Walder shares a recipe for a dish that Grischuk might enjoy. Walder also annotates one of Grischuk’s favorite wins, over Grandmaster Vugar Gashimov. WIM Alexey Root tells why Grischuk is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/31/2020 – On Wednesday (October 28), we had a special event. Two top female players played against amateurs for 1½ hours on Playchess. The games were commented on by host Sagar Shah, and you could hear the two discussing what to play. A wonderfully entertaining – and instructive -- session. If you missed it live you can watch it all on YouTube. And replay the games they played, following the moves with an engine running in the background. It's fun, and you can learn a lot. The girls are thoroughly delightful.