5/12/2020 – Endgames with bishops of opposite colours are often drawish but with passed pawns on both sides things are rarely easy. And as always: precision is required!

5/12/2020 – The German Chess Internet Championship 2020 (DSIM) on the Playchess server ended this weekend with the victory of Grandmaster Daniel Fridman (2nd from right). After a total of four preliminary rounds and one intermediate round, 14 players had qualified for the final round, which was played as a round robin tournament with 3+2 Blitz games. After an exciting tournament, Fridman won with 10.5/13, ahead of Vincent Keymer (9.5/13) and Georg Meier (9/13).

5/12/2020 – "What Rod Laver is to tennis, what Jack Nicklaus is to golf, that's what Bobby Fischer is to chess" are Mike Wallace's first words in the April 9th, 1972 edition of "60 Minutes", the highly influential CBS-TV news magazine. Three months prior to his "Match of the Century" against Boris Spassky, Fischer looks as confident as can be, not fearing to call himself the best chess player in the world. A look back at a revealing profile of the infamous American genius.

5/11/2020 – In this Simon Says we will take a look at some high-level recent games that were played in FIDE chess.com online Nations Cup. | 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).

5/11/2020 – He was one of the more interesting personalities in and around chess – but not just there. "Iepe the Joker" was a Dutch artist, entrepreneur, innovator and storyteller. For us his most relevant enterprises was chess boxing, which he initiated and popularized in a way nobody foresaw. On Sunday he was found dead in his bed – how and why we do not yet know. Frederic Friedel has written a obituary with description of his interactions with a dear friend.

5/11/2020 – ChessBase is a powerful program that helps you to enjoy your chess more and to play better. Still, for some even installing the ChessBase 15 can appear daunting at first glance, but it's actually an exceptionally simple process. Here Nick Murphy takes you step-by-step through the process. Tested and approved by his 6-year-old niece and 82-year-old father!

5/11/2020 – In round 7 of the New York Tournament World Champion Capablanca showed Yates what knights can do while Janowsky showed Bogolyubov the strength of bishops and Emanuel Lasker won a very modern game against Maroczy. Reti also played in modern fashion, but won with a classic motive: the dim knight on the rim. Alekhine and Marshall played the only draw of the round but showed some fascinating tactics. | Photo: Modern parking in New York

5/11/2020 – A draw in the four-game Superfinal gave China tournament victory at the FIDE chess.com Nations Cup, as they obtained draw odds by winning the round-robin phase. After reaching the final in dramatic fashion, the United States were not far from completing an epic comeback by beating the Chinese squad twice in a row. Fabiano Caruana defeated Wei Yi on board two, but Yu Yangyi ended a memorable event with a win over Wesley So, tying the overall score. | Pictured: Yu Yangyi and Hou Yifan | Photos: qipai.org.con / Pascal Simon

5/10/2020 – The FIDE Nations Cup, a phenomenally strong online tournament, is being played on May 5-10. Six teams (Europe, Russia, India, China, USA, and the Rest of the World) play an online rapid team competition featuring some of the world's best players. USA and China qualified to the Superfinal. The games start 16:00 CEST / 10 a.m. Eastern / 7 a.m. Pacific.

5/10/2020 – Today we want to bring all our locked-in friends something unusual. This article is not going to make you stronger, it will not improve your strategic wisdom, or inform you on what is going on in the (virtual) tournament scene. It is meant to purely entertain – just cause you to smile or chuckle. It includes what we claim is the easiest chess problem ever composed (picture). Enjoy.

5/10/2020 – Round 6 of the New York Tournament saw the clash of the two Laskers: Emanuel vs Edward Lasker. It was a remarkable fight that lasted for 103 moves and gave Emanuel Lasker an opportunity to demonstrate his amazing defensive skills. World Champion José Raúl Capablanca played an endgame brilliancy against Savielly Tartakower and showed why it is worth remembering to look for sacrifices and mating attacks in the endgame. Alexander Alekhine smashed Dawid Janowsky. Geza Maroczy defeated Frank Marshall, and Richard Reti won in hypermodern style against Frederick Yates. | Photo: Emanuel Lasker (right) and Edward Lasker (left, with Black)

5/10/2020 – There was no lack of drama on the last day of the round-robin section at the Nations Cup, as United States qualified to Sunday's Superfinal by outscoring Europe by merely a half board point. Europe had beaten the Americans in their direct round-nine clash, but could not overcome Rest of the World to get their spot in the final, while United States inflicted China's first loss of the event. The Chinese squad will get a chance to take revenge on Sunday, when the action kicks off one hour later than usual. | Pictured: Wesley So | Photo: Niki Riga