Phenomenal knowledge and skill: Praggnanandhaa turns 15

8/22/2020 – On August 10, Praggnanandhaa turned 15 years old. On that day he received a message by IM Sagar Shah: "Would you like to test yourself today?" Without hesitation Pragg agreed. Normal 15-year-old kids would prefer to have a party or spend time with their friends on their birthday. But Pragg is different. He is ready to give up all that if he can spend some time learning a new trick or two on the chessboard. And, so the test began! Fifteen positions were solved in less than an hour. It turned out to be a tremendous test — give it a go! | Photo: Leon Masters website

Two new online tournaments in September, one including Kasparov

8/22/2020 – The top international chess superstars are set to battle online from September 11-19 in two exciting tournaments hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club — the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX and the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. World champion Magnus Carlsen will play in both events, while living legend Garry Kasparov will be among the participants of the Fischer Random event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Power Play with Daniel King: The Showdown | Hikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen

8/21/2020 – The "Best-of-Seven" final of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura was a dramatic duel on equal terms that was decided in the very last game of the entire tour: Carlsen drew with Black in the Armageddon game to win the match and the tour. In two videos Daniel King reviews highlights of the gripping showdown of an epic encounter.

Magnus Carlsen triumphs at Magnus Carlsen Tour Final

8/21/2020 – Seven days of intense chess fights ended with Magnus Carlsen drawing the Armageddon decider with black in the deciding set of the final against Hikaru Nakamura to win the tournament and the $140,000 first prize. Carlsen won four out of the five events that made up the Magnus Carlsen Tour, a series of online tournaments organized by the world champion during the coronavirus crisis. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Slaying the dragon

8/21/2020 – In the diagram position White has just played 17.f4! creating the threat Qh3, and after 17...e5 he strikes. Can you find Fischer's continuation... five times?

Live Ticker: Always up to date!

8/21/2020 – Live games are especially interesting, when exciting tactics are on the board, when "my" opening is played, and when innovations are tried out! The new ChessBase Live Ticker shows you these games! From thousands of live games the ChessBase Live Ticker determines which are particularly on point and exciting at the moment! One click and you are in the game! And everything can be combined with the ChessBase Web Apps for your opening training or tactics training. Try it!

Throwback Thursday: The Saint Louis Chess Club hosts its first US Championship

8/20/2020 – What has already become a landmark in the world of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club, opened in July 2008 and hosted the US Championship for the first time in 2009. A 21-year-old Hikaru Nakamura won his second national title that year, scoring 7 points in the 9-round Swiss. Robert Hess, then 17 years old and not yet a grandmaster, and Alexander Onischuk shared second place a half point behind. | Photos: Betsy Dynako

Magnus Carlsen Tour Finals: Carlsen wins in Armageddon

8/20/2020 – The Finals of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour are taking place on August 9-20, with a prize fund of US$300,000 at stake and US$140,000 reserved for the winner. Magnus Carlsen levelled the score for a third time in the sixth set. The match will be decided in Thursday’s seventh and final set (see the full report on set 6!). Action kicks off at 16:00 CEST (14:00 UTC, 10:00 ET). | Photos: David Llada / Niki Riga

Power Play with Daniel King: "Make or break for Magnus"

8/20/2020 – "Yet another extraordinary encounter!" That is how Daniel King described game 1 of the sixth set of the match between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura in the final of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. Carlsen played with White and after the opening he sacrificed two pawns to threaten Black's king with his two bishops. This led to fascinating complications and a strong mating attack. Daniel King took a closer look.

MCT Finals: Carlsen’s win sets up showdown

8/20/2020 – On Wednesday, for the first time in the final, a player managed to win a set with a two-point advantage. Magnus Carlsen showed a dominant performance to level the score of the match despite having played with a back pain after getting injured while swimming before the games. It all comes down to the seventh and final set, when the whole Magnus Carlsen Tour will come to an end. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Play the Najdorf with the help of Garry

8/19/2020 – There is probably no other opening as deeply studied as the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense. It is crucial to know this opening well, if you want to improve your chess skills. But we are lucky because former World Champion Garry Kasparov took a very close look at the Najdorf: on three DVDs he offers more than 10 hours of entertaining and encouraging material to master this opening. This week, all three DVDs are available in a bundle for a reduced price. Moreover, one lucky buyer will win a DVD signed by Garry Kasparov in a raffle.

Game of the Week: David Bronstein's steamrolling pawns

8/19/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game, in which chess legend David Bronstein demonstrated the power of the pawns. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Eric Koch / Anefo / Dutch National Archive

The Best in... Aruba

8/19/2020 – From the small country Aruba comes one of the strongest chess players of the Caribbean Islands - Jasel Lopez. Aruba has roughly 100.000 inhabitants and hardly any chess tradition but Jasel Lopez still managed to become an IM and to reach an Elo-rating of 2416. In an interview he talks about his development as a player, chess in Aruba and his plans for the future.

MCT Finals: Exciting chess, Nakamura in the lead

8/19/2020 – Hikaru Nakamura is one set victory away from winning the Magnus Carlsen Tour Finals against the man himself, world champion Magnus Carlsen. Nakamura won set 5 in Armageddon after winning the second blitz tiebreaker on demand with the black pieces. | Photo: Niki Riga

Thirteen Super Grandmasters!

8/18/2020 – In 1983 rookie chess journalist Frederic Friedel wrote an article for a German magazine, defining and celebrating "Super Grandmasters" – players who were rated 2600 or higher. There were 13 such players, and they were led by World Champion Anatoly Karpov, with a young upstart named Garry Kasparov hard at his heels. The top female player in the world, Pia Cramling, was rated 2355. Today things have changed somewhat – to put it mildly.

The bodycheck

8/18/2020 – The "bodycheck" is the most important pattern in the endgame rook against pawn. The term, of course, is borrowed from the game of hockey and it describes the situation when one king takes away an important square from the other king.

MCT Finals: Carlsen bounces back again

8/18/2020 – Magnus Carlsen levelled the score of his tour’s final on Monday after getting a 2½:1½ victory over Hikaru Nakamura in the fourth set. The world champion won game three and drew the rest to even the overall score without needing tiebreaks. The match has now turned into a best-of-3 contest, with both players having obtained the exact same amount of points so far in the final. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Logic Riddles for Chess Players (7)

8/17/2020 – The last logic riddle was really hard, and only a few readers were able to calculate all outcomes and find the correct solution. The riddle today is easier. You have to figure out how to adjust the odds in your favour. Keep in mind, you might not be able to solve the puzzle fully, but maybe your result is good enough to save the life of a grandmaster.

On the origins of chess (6/7)

8/17/2020 – Four theories regarding the origins of chess have been presented by Argentine researcher Sergio Negri — that the game came from India, China, Egypt and hypotheses based on myths, legends and the fictional world. Now he introduces theories that consider that chess was conceived by cultural syncretism, with different civilizations contributing to the development of the game. | Photo: Living and extinct chess variants, taken from “Chess – A living fossil” by Gerhard Josten

Top Division of the FIDE Online Olympiad kicks off on Friday

8/17/2020 – The FIDE Online Olympiad is taking place from July 25 to August 30. All the 163 registered teams were divided into 5 divisions ranked from “Base Division” to “Top Division”. The Top Division kicks off on Friday, with 25 seeded teams, including Russia, China, United States, etcetera, joined by the top three finishers of each pool (A to E) from Division 2.

MCT Finals: Nakamura grabs the lead

8/17/2020 – “Yesterday I should’ve won the match and today I should’ve lost the match, so I think all is right in the world”, said Hikaru Nakamura after winning set 3 of the final against Magnus Carlsen. The American is now leading 2:1 in the match played to the best of 7 sets. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

The tower of time and motion

8/16/2020 – This is a two-part piece by star columnist Jon Speelman. First, inspired by a beautiful victory by Ian Nepomniachtchi, he looks at games which include the remarkable ...Bb1 manoeuvre (by Black). Then, he demonstrates the solution to a fantastic problem created by François Labelle: to construct a game ending in 7.Rc7 mate with the black king on d7!

MCT Finals: Carlsen wins thrilling set, evens the score

8/16/2020 – Magnus Carlsen obtained a 3½:2½ victory in set 2 of the final against Hikaru Nakamura to level the overall score in the match played to the best of 7. Nakamura won game 1, but both times he had the white pieces he implicitly offered a draw by playing a line that led to a triple repetition as early as move 14. It all came down to the blitz tiebreaks, which saw the American blundering in his game with white. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Grandmaster Chef: Teimour Radjabov

8/15/2020 – Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov is the best chess player in Azerbaijan and ranks ninth in the world. To show appreciation for Radjabov, WGM Sabina Foişor provides a recipe for a dish that Radjabov might like and an analysis of one of his wins. WIM Alexey Root tells why Radjabov is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: FIDE