11/17/2025 – Ashwin Subramanian, Software Engineering Leader at Intel and lifelong chess enthusiast, was inspired to take up competitive chess after watching the 1990 Kasparov–Karpov match, with Anand becoming a huge inspiration from the very beginning! After Kasparov retired in 2005, he never imagined he’d get to watch him and Anand play competitively again... until St. Louis happened! Armed with his camera and decades of admiration, Ashwin captured the Anand–Kasparov showdown from just a few feet away and sent us these magnificent pictorial impressions from the Clutch Chess event.

11/17/2025 – The current ChessBase Magazine provides ten opening articles with new repertoire ideas for every ambitious player. Very often concepts are involved that allow you to take your opponents out of their comfort zone early on. One example from CBM #228 is Sergey Grigoriants' article on the King's Indian without c2-c4. In an overview text, the GM from Hungary presents the important variations and ideas. For further study, six games with detailed commentary are included in the article, three of which are by the German GM Rasmus Svane, who has perfected this system for himself. You can view Grigoriants' complete CBM article this week as a free sample in the ChessBase Books format.

11/17/2025 – Eight players now remain in contention at the FIDE World Cup in Goa, where Sunday's round-of-16 tiebreaks completed the quarterfinal lineup. Alexander Donchenko, Jose Martinez, Sam Shankland (pictured) and Andrey Esipenko advanced alongside earlier qualifiers, ensuring a diverse field in which no participant has yet played in a Candidates Tournament. With seven nations represented and three coveted Candidates places at stake, the knockout event enters its decisive phase on Monday. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

11/16/2025 – The group stage of the FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship 2025 concluded on Saturday, with Morgan Stanley, Deloitte 1, Greco and Google advancing to the semifinals. A visit from super-GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu added a special moment to the day, which featured the return legs of the double round-robin format. With standings settled in both pools, teams now prepare for Sunday's decisive matches that will determine this year's corporate world champions. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE

11/16/2025 – Hardly any opening polarises opinion online as much as the London System. Black has numerous ways to achieve a comfortable position. Nevertheless, there are many followers who have remained loyal to this opening for years. What if there were a surprise weapon that could lure White out of his comfort zone and into positions that require precise play instead of formulaic thinking? Andrew Martin has a secret weapon up his sleeve that he wants to share with us – Lukas Koepl presents the course.

11/15/2025 – Four players secured their places in the quarterfinals on Saturday at the FIDE World Cup in Goa. Javokhir Sindarov held a draw with black to confirm his lead from the first game, while Arjun Erigaisi, Wei Yi and Nodirbek Yakubboev (pictured) each won their rematches to move on. With half of the round-of-16 matches settled, the remaining four spots will be decided in Sunday's rapid and blitz tiebreaks. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

11/15/2025 – A new meeting place for chess fans has opened in Gothenburg, as Svarta Hästen launched its second bar on 14 November. Following the success of the original Stockholm venue, the new location offers the same mix of casual play, social atmosphere and distinctive red-and-yellow chess tables. Housed in the converted stables of the Dickson Palace, it aims to provide an inviting space for beginners and experienced players alike.

11/15/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris looks into the Frankenstein-Dracula Variation played in the game Dubov vs Meier.| Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/15/2025 – Friday's action at the FIDE World Cup in Goa saw all eight round-of-16 matches begin with closely fought encounters. Seven games were ultimately drawn, even though Arjun Erigaisi and Daniil Dubov managed to put their opponents under real pressure. The only player to score a full point was Javokhir Sindarov, who outplayed Frederik Svane in an Italian Opening to take the early lead and leave the German grandmaster needing a win on Saturday. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

11/14/2025 – “It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future” is a well-known witticism about the pitfalls of predictions. The quote is often attributed to American baseball legend Yogi Berra, but sometimes also to physicist and Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr. Predictions about the future may be difficult, but they can still be fun. Hikaru Nakamura recently ventured predictions about the round of the last 16 and the possible winner of the World Cup 2025.

11/14/2025 – Monte Carlo analysis in ChessBase offers a completely new way to understand sharp or unclear positions by simulating thousands of fast engine games and revealing their practical outcomes. In this walkthrough, Matthias Wüllenweber demonstrates how the feature works, how to interpret its statistics, and how the piece-path arrows uncover typical winning and losing manoeuvres.

11/13/2025 – Thursday's tiebreakers at the FIDE World Cup in Goa saw several high seeds eliminated, including Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Vincent Keymer and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who were knocked out by Daniil Dubov (pictured), Andrey Esipenko and Aleksey Grebnev respectively. Six lower-rated players advanced overall, while five favourites held firm to reach the round of 16. With only five players from the top 20 still in contention and eight national federations represented, the field has tightened considerably as the Candidates race enters its decisive phase. | Photo: Michal Walusza