3/22/2020 – Here's a brief tutorial on how to get the most out of ChessBase's live broadcast game viewer. Learn about all the powerful features and buttons that make ChessBase's live tournament watching experience one of the best around. Did you know it's all embeddable on your own web site too!?

3/21/2020 – All games of round four at the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg finished peacefully, which means Wang Hao, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are still sharing the lead on 2½ out of 4. Caruana pushed his h-pawn against Nepomniachtchi's Grünfeld but could not convert his slight advantage, while Grischuk entered his usual excessive time trouble while defending a complicated position against Vachier-Lagrave — in the end, he managed to hold the balance. Expert analysis by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ and IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/21/2020 – "The Coldest Game" is a spy movie which came out exclusively on the streaming service Netflix. Fortunately for all chess lovers, it includes a couple of very interesting chess games which consist of some analysis. Although this movie is fictional, some real events and politicians are part of it, like the Cuban crisis, President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The fictional chess games also follow real examples and it is a joy to replay some of the beautiful combinations the film cites.

3/20/2020 – In baseball trainers used a live video feed to decipher the signs of opposing catchers, and then banged on a trash can to signal the next pitch to the batter. Smartphones, buzzers, even yogurt — chess has nearly seen it all in both live and online tournaments. And just as in baseball, technology only makes it harder to root out. | Image: New York Times

3/20/2020 – Grandmaster Daniel King was supposed to be in Yekaterinburg now, but will instead take a look at the Candidates from home in London. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

3/20/2020 – The coronavirus changed the world and has slowed social life down. But the Candidates Tournament still takes place, despite all concerns. A controversial decision. Here's a short collection of twitter posts that show how chess players feel about the Candidates and Corona. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/20/2020 – Vaci, Gula, & Bilalić (2015) found that “the more able players deteriorated more quickly” after their peak, but that their decline started to stabilize earlier in middle adulthood. The authors claimed the validity of Simonton’s (1997) model of career trajectories for chess players, and highlighted the beneficial influence of tournament practice in old age. They doubted the appropriateness of the FIDE database for scientific studies, and instead recommended the German database. It is now shown why Vaci et al.’s model led to drastically incorrect results, and how it has to be changed to work correctly. Chess trajectories are characterized by a long plateau phase and a gradually increasing decline. Playing more or fewer games does not affect the rating in old age.

3/20/2020 – White's 48.Rcc8! in the diagram position starts the mate finale even if 48...Qe4 gives the black king an escape square on g6. Enjoy!

3/19/2020 – The battle between pre-tournament favourites Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana ended up favouring the Chinese, who responded convincingly to Caruana's provocative play in the opening to get his first win of the tournament after back-to-back losses in the first two rounds. The remaining games finished drawn, which means Wang Hao, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are sharing the lead on 2 out of 3. Expert analysis by GMs STEPHEN GORDON and DANIEL KING. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/19/2020 – All sports events in the world have been cancelled to contain the spread of COVID-19. The only big event that currently takes place is the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg. Ivan Ljubicic (@theljubicic), the coach of tennis star Roger Federer, wants to follow Caruana & Co. and recommends: "Stay home everyone. Chess keeps us sane." | Photo: Ivan Ljubicic

3/19/2020 – Every club, school or trainer can open a virtual playing room on the ChessBase server. Everything is possible: casual games, tournaments, online training, simultaneous events, etc. Everything on "your" chess server! The best alternative to keep the club evening running, and a good (virtual) meeting point to play chess together. Creating a virtual club room is easy. Have a look!

3/19/2020 – Charlie Storey is an FM from England, English Chess Federation Academy Coach and U18 Team Coach. His second FritzTrainer is a follow-up to the popular release "The Sniper" a club player's weapon for Black. The White Sniper is characterised by three moves against any black setup: 1.g3 2.Bg2 and 3.c4 though not necessarily in that order. Think of The White Sniper as a Hyper-Accelerated Sicilian Dragon against anything that Black plays.