9/14/2019 – An ongoing topic of scientific inquire of interest to chess fans is whether and to what extent chess can delay or mitigate the effects of aging. An Australian study aimed to prove that chess champions have a higher life expectancy than the average population. Grandmasters from Eastern Europe should therefore have a life expectancy of up to 14 years. PETER MUENDER dealt critically with the study results.

9/14/2019 – The chess world has a new power couple: Last Friday, the Hungarian Grandmaster Gabor Papp and the German national player WGM Sarah Hoolt tied the knot. Congratulations! | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

9/14/2019 – Round two of the 2019 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk saw 11 out of 32 match-ups starting with a decisive result. The upsets of the day were achieved by David Anton and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, who defeated Wei Yi and Hikaru Nakamura respectively. Meanwhile, the youngest player in the field, Nihal Sarin, won a third classical game in a row, this time showing great positional feel to take down Eltaj Safarli. Round-up show by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: FIDE

9/13/2019 – The top echelons of chess are obviously getting younger and younger. The World Cup features some of the world's strongest young players looking to make their mark against current elite. THORSTEN CMIEL introduces the young savages and their tasks. Three out of four have advanced to the second round.

9/13/2019 – White's 33.Bd7 in the diagram is a desperate attempt to create counterplay which Black definitely should not have ignored — his game continuation 33...a2? throws away victory. Can you see why?

9/13/2019 – A number of upsets were in store at the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, as round one concluded after twenty-three matches were decided on tiebreaks. Most play-off encounters finished after the first pair of rapid games, while only two of them reached the third stage of tiebreaks. From the top quarter of the tournament bracket, besides Radek Wojtaszek and David Navara — who were knocked out in the classical phase — Bu Xiangzhi and Sam Shankland were eliminated before round two. | Photo: FIDE

9/12/2019 – Bobby Fischer is a legend, so much so that even people who knew him sometimes find it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction when they hear stories about Fischer. Vlastimil Hort knew Fischer and played against him. Recently, Hort rediscovered a letter Fischer had sent him and this letter evoked memories of the controversial chess genius. | Photos: Wolfgang Betzen (Schachclub Wangen)

9/12/2019 – In this episode IM Robert Ris takes a romp through the Sicilian Rauzer. The live show at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 1 PM EDT) is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. In the diagram, it's White to play and win!

9/12/2019 – More than half the matches of round one at the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk already have a winner, with most of the top twenty in the initial ratings list set to have a rest day before round two. That is not the case of Radoslaw Wojtaszek, however, who was eliminated by Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, while Yu Yangyi, Hikaru Nakamura and Dmitry Andreikin still have to defeat their lower-rated opponents on tiebreaks if they want to go through. Do not miss the round-up show by GM ERWIN L'AMI. | Pictured: Gawain Jones, who qualified to round two. | Photo: FIDE

9/11/2019 – Thursday: It's a special early morning Endgame Magic! Dutch GM Erwin l'Ami is Karsten's guest. Live at 7:30 UTC (9:30 CEST; 3:30 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

9/11/2019 – Join IM Merijn van Delft live for a look at his favourite game of the week: The duel between Niclas Huschenbeth and P. Harikrishna in the Polish League. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. Merijn is live this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

9/11/2019 – The most anticipated tournament of the year kicked off in Khanty-Mansiysk. Most of the favourites started with a win, with eleven out of the sixteen top seeds getting a full point on Tuesday. The biggest surprise rating-wise was given by Norwegian Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, who beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek with Black. But Christiansen was not the only young player to have a good day, as Alireza Firouzja, Nihal Sarin, Andrey Esipenko and Nodirbek Abdusattorov also got off to a good start. Do not miss the round-up show by IM Lawrence Trent. | Photo: FIDE