6/5/2020 – Today, young kids are becoming very strong very early and some even become grandmasters at the age of twelve and thirteen. They take to chess like a fledgling bird learning to fly. But can you start a serious chess career at the ripe old age of seventeen? Yes, you can, says one player, who managed just that. Let Shivananda tell you how this worked. Maybe you can do the same?!

6/5/2020 – Round 3 of the AVRO Tournament 1938 brought a number of remarkable games. Mikhail Botvinnik convincingly outplayed Samuel Reshevsky, and Alexander Alekhine showed against Max Euwe why he is considered to be one of the best attacking players in chess history. Reuben Fine and José Raúl Capablanca drew after both had missed good chances. With 2½/3 Fine continues to be sole first. | Photo: Alexander Aljechin

6/5/2020 – On June 9, a chess match between Space and Earth is scheduled to take place in the main hall of the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics. The event is co-organized by the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics, the Roscosmos State Corporation, and the Chess Federation of Russia. The match is timed precisely to celebrate the half-century anniversary of the first Space – Earth game of chess played on June 9, 1970. | Photos: Archives of the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics and Chess in the USSR magazine

6/5/2020 – In the diagram position White played 36.Kh3 and after 36...Qd3 37.Kh4 Qc2 37.Kh3 the game ended in a draw. Trying to continue the fight with 36.h3? (instead of 36.Kh3) is not a good idea - do you see why?

6/5/2020 – A memorable and dearly missed event for chess fans — the Melody Amber Tournament took place each year since 1992 until 2011. In its fourteenth edition, Vishy Anand won both sections outright, blindfold and rapid. This was the second time a player managed to do it. But who was the first one to do it? Vishy himself! He achieved the same feat back in 1997.

6/4/2020 – On August 31, 1970, an experiment began that continues to this day. The first chess tournament for computers was held as part of the ACM’s National Conference. The interest generated was tremendous, leading to ACM sponsoring an annual event until 1994. Professor Jonathan Schaeffer has provided us with a retrospect of what it was like at this pioneering time, which was the beginning of a 50-year project to build a chess program capable of competing with (and, eventually exceeding the abilities of) strong human players. The experiment continues to this day and for the foreseeable future, he says.

6/4/2020 – This week Robert Ris takes a look at the Four Pawns Attack in the Alekhine Defense, a variation that can lead to fascinating positions. "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. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/4/2020 – The new ChessBase Magazine Extra #195 offers a lot of chess highlights, including a review by Ju Wenjun who talks about her narrow victory against Aleksandra Goryachkina in the last Women's World Championship match. Georgios Souleidis shows the power of the "Firouzja-Express" and opening surveys, endgame and middlegame columns and lots of other training materials help you to sharpen your game. A must for every serious chess player.

6/4/2020 – In the early 1990s, International Master Stuart Rachels was one of the very best US chess players. He played games against Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Nigel Short, Anthony Miles and Boris Spassky, only to name a few. His chess adventures are funny, beautiful, interesting and honest. His book "The Best I Saw In Chess" which just came out, is a blast to read. We conducted an interview with Rachels about the book, the chess greats he met, his decision to quit chess and the ego of chess players. | Photos: Stuart Rachels

6/4/2020 – Reuben Fine started well into the AVRO tournament. After his win against Mikhail Botvinnik in round 1 Fine also defeated his old rival Samuel Reshevsky in round 2. Max Euwe outplayed Salo Flohr and scored the second win of the round. José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine drew as did Paul Keres and Botvinnik. With 2.0/2 Fine is now sole leader. | Photo: Tartakower, Keres, Fine and Euwe analyse at the beach with a pocket chess set.

6/4/2020 – The preparations for the 53rd International Chess festival Biel continue and take into account the Corona requirements. In a press release the organisers said that they are preparing for the key event, the Grandmaster Tournament (GMT), a main tournament (C-HTO) and a youth tournament, including Swiss championships. However, some tournaments and events including the Master Open (MTO) will be cancelled. | Photo: Biel International Chess Festival 2019

6/4/2020 – Daniil Dubov defeated Hikaru Nakamura to become the champion of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge. In the third, deciding rubber of the final, Dubov was the first to score a full point, in game two. Nakamura bounced back with an impressive win and, after a draw in game four, Armageddon was all that was left. An opening catastrophe for Nakamura gave Dubov a winning position as early as move 13 — the Russian duly converted his massive advantage and clinched the title. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko / World Chess