8/4/2020 – Far advanced connected passed pawns are often very dangerous in the endgame.

8/4/2020 – It was a thrilling first set in the final of the ‘chess24 Legends of Chess’ tournament. Ian Nepomniachtchi played the same sharp line against Magnus Carlsen’s Sicilian the three times he had the white pieces, winning once and losing twice. In the end, Carlsen got a 4:2 victory after winning both blitz tiebreakers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/3/2020 – In this "Simon Says" Simon continues to look at the games of Swedish Grandmaster Ulf Andersson who is famous for his endgame technique and his smooth solid play. The show is an extension of Simon's previous show, but this time Simon looks at Ulf's play with the Black pieces. | 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). | Photo: Ulf Anderssen at the Hoogovenschaaktoernooi, Wijk aan Zee 1971 | Photo: Bert Verhoeff / Anefo / CCO

8/3/2020 – One thing is certain – if you work with computers, data loss is not a matter of IF, but WHEN. However careful you are, there is no way to guarantee that you are safe. The answer is simple - back up your work. Or as we say in chess – “back up your chess databases”. This week Nick Murphy takes you through the thrilling world of backing up in ChessBase 15.

8/3/2020 – The 28-year old Polish Grandmaster Kacper Piorun is five-time World Champion in problem solving but also a very strong over-the-board player. At the end of July he won the 77th Polish Championships in Warsaw. This year, the Polish Championship was a knockout tournament and in the final Piorun won against Daniel Sadzikowski. But the match was close and was only decided in the Armageddon game. | Photos: Polish Chess Federation / Krzysztof Ćwik

8/3/2020 – Star columnist Jon Speelman tells a story from the old days, when Soviet tournaments were long and inordinately slow. In it, he mentions Leonid Yurtaev, a fierce attacking player who in 1996 became Kyrgyzstan’s first-ever grandmaster and sadly died in 2011 aged just 52. Speelman then goes on to analyse two of Yurtaev’s finest efforts. | Pictured: The city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

8/3/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi moved on to the final of the ‘chess24 Legends of Chess’ online tournament. While Carlsen made quick work of Peter Svidler, beating him in straight sets, Nepomniachtchi missed chances in the second set and only got the victory over Anish Giri in the blitz tiebreakers of the third. The final will be played from Monday to Wednesday (or Tuesday, if someone wins the first two sets). | Photo: Niki Riga

8/2/2020 – Near the end of March, the world came to a halt — even FIDE had to cancel the second half of the Candidates Tournament, the last sporting event taking place amid the corona crisis. It’s been four months and the chess world has almost turned completely to online events. Great conditions have been given to those at the very top of the rating ladder, but how has this impacted the rest of chess professionals? Daniel Gormally sent us his take in his usual painfully honest, self-deprecating style. | Photo: John Upham / British Chess News

8/2/2020 – The virus is not gone, but here and there chess players have ventured out of domestic isolation and played a few games “over the board”. The International Chess Festival in Biel/Bienne only ended a few days ago. The changes in the world ratings list published by FIDE on August 1st compared to the one published on April 1st are nevertheless still minimal - but they do exist! Pentala Harikrishna [pictured] gained 13 points, while Alexander Donchenko is now the higest-rated German player. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust

8/2/2020 – What do you get when you celebrate a birthday? What happens when it is an especially auspicious birthday, e.g. one marking that you have made it to 3/4 of a century? Champagne, gifts, family party with the grandkids (in pandemic times in the garden). Chess friends have special things in store. They will write you a column in a national newspaper, or compose "number problems" for the years you have reached.

8/1/2020 – Despite losing in round 3, Nino Batsiashvili showed great form at the end of the tournament and won the 77th Georgian Women’s Chess Championship with a 7/9 score. Bela Khotenashvili and Meri Arabidze each collected 6½ points in the single round-robin event. The championship took place at the Chess Palace in Tbilisi. | Photos: Georgian Chess Federation

8/1/2020 – Both Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi won the first sets of their semifinal matchups in three games (each set consists of four rapid games and an Armageddon in case of a tie). Carlsen defeated Peter Svidler, while Nepomniachtchi beat Anish Giri. The semifinals are played to the best of three sets. | Photo: Lennart Ootes