Cunning ladies

4/24/2020 – In the diagram position White played 25.f6 (opening the diagonal g4-d7) and after 25...Rxf6 26.Nxe5 an interesting position appeared on the board. But who do you favour here (White or Black) and why?

Rovinj/Zagreb, Round 15: Walter Browne draws against tired tournament winner Fischer

4/24/2020 – Bobby Fischer, who has dominated the 2. Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb from the beginning, seems to be tired. In round 15 he was close to a loss against Walter Browne (pictured) but miraculously saved a draw. However, Viktor Kortschnoi fared even worse against Mario Bertok. But tired or not, with his draw against Browne Fischer is now certain to win the tournament. With two rounds to go he leads with 12.0/15 and is two and a half points ahead of Kortschnoi, Vassily Smyslov, Svetozar Gligoric and Vlastimil Hort who all have 9.5/15.

Germany and Romania play online-match with top grandmasters!

4/24/2020 – On Saturday, April 25, Germany and Romania will play an international match on playchess.com, and both federations start with almost all of their best players. At noon CEST the junior teams will kick off the event and three hours later, at 15.00 CEST, the A-teams will start to battle it out.

Throwback Thursday: Morozevich astonishes in Pamplona

4/24/2020 – At the end of 2006, the capital city of Navarre in Spain organized the 16th edition of the "Magistral Ciudad de Pamplona". The eight-player single round-robin featured a mix of fearless tacticians and rising stars. Top seed Alexander Morozevich — number five in the world at the time — won the event after scoring five wins and two draws. Dmitry Jakovenko and Alexei Shirov finished second and third in a tournament filled with exciting tactical battles. | Pictured: Morozevich in Biel, 2017. | Photo: Pascal Simon

Magnus Carlsen Invitational: Wins for Ding and Nepomniachtchi

4/24/2020 – The third round of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational concluded on Thursday. Ian Nepomniachtchi inflicted Anish Giri's third straight match loss without tiebreaks, while Ding Liren took down Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Armageddon after their four rapid encounters ended drawn. With four rounds to go, Magnus Carlsen is the sole leader of the event. Round-up show by IM Lawrence Trent. | Photo: Official site

Fundraising for Child Foundation with Chess and Chat

4/23/2020 – Want to join a strong grandmaster in supporting a good cause? Iran has one of the highest casualty rates for doctors and nurses due to CoVID-19. It is mainly due to the lack of access to necessary medical equipment, sometimes basic ones. GM Elshan Moradiabadi will stream from 1-10 pm on Friday April 24th, on this twitch page, raising money for those who are fighting to save lives in Iran. This is a global problem! Thank you for your support in advance!

Fast and Furious: Neo-Archangelsk with 7.a4 Rb8 8.Nxe5

4/23/2020 – Robert Ris takes a look at the Neo-Archangelsk, a sharp line of the Ruy Lopez that has recently been tried by Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen. "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.

"Chess makes me happy": An interview with Boris Gelfand

4/23/2020 – For decades Boris Gelfand has been one of the best chess players in the world. He is known for his deep analyses, his passion for chess and his admiration for Akiba Rubinstein. In an interview with ChessBase Gelfand talks about the Candidates, why modern players study the classics and why chess makes him happy. | Photo: Russian Chess Federation

Rovinj/Zagreb, Round 14: Fischer wins, but does not convince

4/23/2020 – In round 14 of the Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb Bobby Fischer scored his tenth victory in the tournament but needed a lot of help from his opponent to do so. Vlastimil Hort (pictured signing autographs after the game), former World Champion Vassily Smyslov and Viktor Kortschnoi also won their games. With three rounds to go Fischer now leads with 11.5/14. Kortschnoi follows two points behind with 9.5/14, Hort and Svetozar Gligoric share places three and four with 9.0/14 each.

Chasing the rainbow

4/23/2020 – ChessBase offers a window to the world of professional chess. We carry reports of tournaments big and small. There are games by IMs and GMs. We have carried tales of great players, past and present. But what about aspiring players who have just commenced the journey? Our columnist Nagesh Havanur sees it through the eyes of a young player trying to make the norm.

Garry Kasparov will be captain in Online Nations Cup

4/23/2020 – In a press release the International Chess Federation FIDE and Chess.com just announced the Online Nations Cup, a team competition held May 5-10, 2020. Six teams are due to take part in this competition: Russia, USA, Europe, China, India, plus a team representing the "Rest of the World." Garry Kasparov will be the captain for the European team, Vishy Anand will defend the first board of the Indian team.

Magnus Carlsen Invitational: Carlsen beats Caruana, takes the lead

4/23/2020 – The protagonists of the 2018 World Championship match faced each other in round three of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Carlsen played his best chess of the event thus far to beat Fabiano Caruana 3:1 and take the sole lead in the standings table. In the other match of the day, Hikaru Nakamura defeated Alireza Firouzja after a disconnect in game one apparently upset the youngster's concentration. Round-up show by GM Daniel King. | Photo: Official site

Game of the Week: Alireza Firouzja vs Magnus Carlsen

4/22/2020 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game Alireza Firouzja played against Magnus Carlsen at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational to judge the strength of the 16-year old who currently has an Elo of 2728 and is number 21 in the world. | You can register a Premium account here. 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.

Queen of Chess - a documentary about Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov

4/22/2020 – "Queen of Chess" is documentary about Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov that is scheduled for release at the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022. In six episodes the documentary tells the story of the encounters and battles between Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time, and Garry Kasparov, who many consider the best male player of all time. In an interview with ChessBase Peter Stern, the producer of "Queen of Chess", reveals details about the project and his passion for chess.

Rovinj/Zagreb, Round 13: Eight draws, one win

4/22/2020 – Round 13 of the 2. Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb was very peaceful. Eight games ended in draw, five of them before move thirty. The only win of the round was scored by Dragoljub Minic who was lucky when Wolfgang Uhlmann blundered in time trouble. After 13 of 17 rounds Bobby Fischer leads with 10½/13 (+9, =3, -1), two points behind follow Viktor Kortschnoi and Svetozar Gligoric. | Photo: Bobby Fischer in round 12.

Magnus Carlsen Invitational: Caruana and Carlsen share the lead

4/22/2020 – Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi won their round-two matches in sudden death at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Both of them did it after winning their fourth rapid encounters on demand. Caruana defeated Ding Liren, while Nepomniachtchi took down Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. With two rounds completed, Caruana is sharing the lead with Magnus Carlsen on five points — incidentally, the co-leaders will face each other on Wednesday. Round-up show by GM Yannick Pelletier | Photo: Official site

The Weekly Show: Firouzja vs Carlsen

4/21/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at some of the games Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja played against each other at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational 2020. | Lawrence' show is available at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Rovinj/Zagreb, Round 12: Fischer wins and wins

4/21/2020 – After 11 rounds the Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb moved from Rovinj to Zagreb but tournament leader Bobby Fischer continues to win. In round 12 he defeated Mijo Udovcic and with 10.0/12 (+9, =2, -1) he is now two points ahead of Svetozar Gligoric and Viktor Kortschnoi.

Anand ambassador of WWF India

4/21/2020 – With delight, the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) confirmed that the five time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand joined the conservation organization as an ambassador for the environment education programme. Anand was always very active with his social commitment, besides becoming one of the greatest chess players of all time. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Powerful passed pawns

4/21/2020 – Pawn endgames might seem relatively simple – after all there are no pieces on the board – but they can be very tricky. And they require precise calculation.

Magnus Carlsen Invitational: Carlsen beats Firouzja

4/20/2020 – After Monday's round, the Magnus Carlsen Invitational has a sole leader in the world champion himself. Magnus Carlsen got a 2½:1½ victory over 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja, thus gaining three points for the overall standings. Firouzja did get to win a game, when Carlsen blundered the game away in one move. In the other match of the day, Hikaru Nakamura defeated Anish Giri. Round-up show by GM Daniel King. | Photo: Official site

Simon Says: Amazing endgames!

4/20/2020 – In this Simon Says we take a look at some amazing endings. | Watch 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).

Rovinj, Round 11: Fischer defends his lead

4/20/2020 – In round 11 of the 2. Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb Bobby Fischer used his defensive skills to beat Bojan Kurajica in a Sicilian. Fischer now leads with 9.0/11 and is one and a half points ahead of Svetozar Gligoric who won against Mijo Udovcic.

The Opening Encyclopaedia 2020: a video review by Sagar Shah

4/20/2020 – Whether you want to learn or new opening or whether you want to sharpen your repertoire or just find some new ideas in your favourite lines – the new ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia 2020 offers help. In a 17-minute video IM Sagar Shah shows what you can do with the Opening Encyclopaedia 2020 and how useful and comprehensive it is.