2/15/2026 – Alongside the main event in Weissenhaus, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Alexandra Kosteniuk contested a four-game Freestyle Chess exhibition match over the weekend. Played at the same time control as the world championship knockouts, the encounter ended 2½–1½ in Assaubayeva's favour. The result secured her a place in the forthcoming Women's FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship later this year. | Photo: Freestyle Chess / Lennart Ootes

2/15/2026 – Converting a winning position is one of the toughest skills in chess. Many players build an advantage only to see it slip away at the final stage. This article looks at how Andy Woodward mastered this crucial aspect of the game. From solving endgame studies at a young age to relying on classic chess books, Andy built strong technique, calculation, and patience. These skills played a key role in his Tata Steel Challengers 2026 win. This article offers valuable lessons for players at every level. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

2/15/2026 – We have a new author at ChessBase: Harshit Raja. And the Indian grandmaster is ambitious – he offers a complete 1.d4-repertoire! In addition, new episodes of Ivan Sokolov’s Middlegame Strategy series were released in January, and ChessBase Magazine fans can look forward to CBM Extra #229, packed with a rich "Lucky Bag". | All photos: ChessBase

2/15/2026 – The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship is taking place on 13-15 February at the Weissenhaus resort. Eight players have qualified through the 2025 Grand Slam Tour and online competition. In Sunday's finals, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana battle to become the Freestyle Chess world champion. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 15.00 CET (9.00 ET, 19.30 IST)

2/15/2026 – The second day of action at the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship in Weissenhaus saw the start of the knockout phase, with the two semifinal matches deciding who will compete for the 2026 title. Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana emerged victorious and will meet in Sunday's final. In addition to a world title, a place in the 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship has already been secured by both finalists. | Photo: Freestyle Chess / Carlotta Wessel

2/14/2026 – If you've only been using ChessBase for a short time and want to benefit from as many of its unique functions as possible, our series offers you valuable, short and easy-to-digest tips for a successful start with ChessBase´26. In the third part of our new tutorial series, we show you how easily and conveniently you can insert variations from the engine analysis and the references into the notation (see the first two tutorial episodes) with ChessBase´26.

2/11/2026 – Montevideo hosted the 9th Ciudad de Montevideo Open, the Antel Cup, as part of its annual chess festival, attracting 79 players and 27 titled participants. Second seed Brandon Jacobson (pictured, right) claimed clear first place with 7½/9, remaining undefeated throughout the nine rounds. A key round-six win over top seed Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (pictured, left) proved decisive. Christiansen and 22-time Uruguayan champion Bernardo Roselli completed the podium. | Photo: Antel Cup

2/10/2026 – Netflix launched a new documentary on the life of Judit Polgar, "The Queen of Chess". The documentary is extremely well-made and is definitely worth a watch if you are a chess fan. It brought back to life an incident that had happened 32 years ago in 1994, when an 18-year-old Judit took on the world number-one Garry Kasparov for the first time. It involved a famous touch-move incident. | Photo: Judit Polgar Chess Foundation

2/10/2026 – One more miniature from the Tata Steel Masters. In round 10 the game between the two Candidates Matthias Bluebaum and Anish Giri featured a rather unusual opening line. After the moves 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 c5 5.d5 Black gives up its dark-squared bishop on c3 and locks up the centre and places its pawn on e5. This invention was made back in 1969 by the Dutch IM Johan Barendregt and has recently been seen in quite a number of games. The imbalances in the structures guarantee fire on the board and one mistake may decide one's fate. In this episode of the Fast & Furious show you'll learn more about the ins and outs of this trendy line!

2/10/2026 – In this “Best Games of 2025” episode, Lilit Mkrtchian takes us through a deeply instructive win from the Tegernsee tournament, showing her full ChessBase-style preparation workflow and how she chose an offbeat setup to get her opponent out of comfort early. The lesson then turns into a masterclass on positional pressure: exploiting the weakened d5-square, improving pieces step by step, and using concrete calculation to avoid tempting but incorrect tactics. The game finishes with clean technique—converting a queenside advantage and a dangerous passed a-pawn—while the big takeaway is clear: smart prep + strong squares + not spoiling a better position wins games.

2/10/2026 – Sipke and Karsten show one endgame highlight from the Tata Steel rapid tournament. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

2/10/2026 – The Futures tournament at the Prague International Chess Festival 2026 brings together ten of Europe’s most promising young female talents. Held under the patronage of Czech First Lady Eva Pavlová and with chess legend GM Pia Cramling (pictured) as ambassador, the event provides top-level junior chess and inspiration within one of Europe’s most attractive chess festivals. | Photo: Prague Chess Festival