3/10/2020 – Our regular contributor ALEX YERMOLINSKY unexpectedly finds himself with the U.S. Team at the World Senior Championship in Prague. Battling fellow seniors (and avoiding viruses), he sent us an update on the first four rounds. | Pictured: Spring outside the US Embassy in the Czech capital.

3/10/2020 – The players returned well-prepared after the rest day, which led to five out of six games finishing drawn in round seven. The only winner of the day was Anna Muzychuk, who defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk with the white pieces. This means Aleksandra Goryachkina and Alina Kashlinskaya are still sharing the lead on 'plus two', except that now four players make up the chasing pack, with Muzychuk joining Dzagnidze, Harika and Abdumalik on 4 out of 7. | Photo: David Llada

3/9/2020 – The Bunratty chess tournament in Ireland has become famous among professionals and amateurs alike. Regarded as the 'most fun weekend chess party in the world' this event should be on every chess player list of tournaments to visit. | Watch for free live and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).

3/9/2020 – Erwin l’Ami explains the Benko Gambit! Through model games l’Ami explains all topical lines of the Benko Gambit, occasionally asking the viewer interactive questions that help the viewer to grasp the ideas behind this opening. Pal Benko described in his autobiography that his gambit was initially regarded as a joke by his peers, but practice has shown it to be a dangerous weapon which is easy to learn.

3/9/2020 – The Candidates tournament starts on March 17th, where eight players will battle it out who will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship in December. In his Candidates Preview on YouTube, Daniel King takes a close look at all the candidates. In the most recent episode, King reviews Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk, one of the few players who once reached an Elo rating of over 2800 just five years ago. The Russian, who is currently ranked number 4 in the world, is thus among the favourites to win in Yekaterinburg. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

3/8/2020 – Dorsa Derakhshani is an Iranian International Master who immigrated to the United States in 2017. She is a third-year student at Saint Louis University on a full chess scholarship, and plans to go to medical school. On this International Women's Day, the story of a young woman who made international headlines for her brave stance in favour of women's rights and personal freedom.

3/8/2020 – New to the game of chess? While ChessBase is most well-known for its FritzTrainers aimed at strong club players, up through professionals, we also have content for beginners, including this video series by scholastic instructor Sabrina Chevannes. DIANA MIHAJLOVA explains who can benefit and what to expect.

3/8/2020 – One player is conspicuously absent from the ongoing Women's Grand Prix in Lausanne, the current GP point leader, Humpy Koneru. Humpy's is an inspirational story — after two years of break from competitive chess, she is back to World no.2 with three huge titles in the last few months. It all began with the Skolkovo Women's Grand Prix, followed by the World Rapid Championship title and finally the Cairns Cup 2020 in February, the strongest ever tournament held in the history of women's chess, with a rating average of 2510. The event had all the top players in the world and Humpy scored 6.0/9, a half point ahead of World Champion Ju Wenjun. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club

3/8/2020 – Round six's three decisive results produced important changes in the standings table. Alina Kashlinskaya beat Marie Sebag with the white pieces and caught up with Aleksandra Goryachkina on 'plus two', while Harika Dronavalli — who was co-leading until round five — was defeated by Alexandra Kosteniuk and is now among the chasers. Tied with Harika on 3½ is now Zhansaya Abdumalik, who defeated Antoaneta Stefanova. | Photo: Official site

3/7/2020 – Welcome to Augsburg, the heart of Bavaria and one of Germany’s oldest cities. Words like cute and cosy come to mind, but for its modest size one could be quite amazed at the number of rush hour commuters: it is a town that has no inferiority complex towards its bigger brothers, the nearby Munich and capital Berlin. CARL STRUGNELL once again enjoyed a post-Christmas visit to Bavaria. PLUS try your combinative skills in Find the Winning Moves.

3/7/2020 – Despite the fact that most games were hard fought, only Nana Dzagnidze scored a full point in round five — she beat Anna Muzychuk with the black pieces. In the meantime, co-leaders Harika and Goryachkina signed a 31-move draw; Zhansaya Abdumalik versus Alina Kashlinskaya was a sharp fight throughout; and Mariya Muzychuk could not convert the winning advantage she got against world champion Ju Wenjun. | Photo: Official site

3/7/2020 – At the traditional Nutcracker battle of generations tournament 2020 in Moscow, four veterans compete against four young chess players. After three rounds the "oldies" lead 13:11. Perhaps this is thanks to players like Alexei Shirov (pictured) and Boris Gelfand who form part of the senior elites — actually dubbed the Kings Team. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili