12/8/2016 – With the arrival of Houdini 5 many will be asking themselves: What makes it so special? Aside from unique characteristics that made Houdini the reference all others were compared to is a special function hidden away in its options you should definitely know about: Tactical mode. This feature turns Houdini 5 into a single-minded tactics hunter that will find combinations and winners far faster than normal. Read on to learn about Tactical Mode and a backdoor trick.

12/8/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 8.

12/7/2016 – Tanisha Boramanikar is one of the many talents from India. She is ten years old and rated just under 1400. But she plays much better. When she sent two "Agony and Ecstasy" games to Jon Speelman, the grandmaster was impressed.

12/7/2016 – ChessBase 14 has a lot of nice little features that help you to get better. One of these features is the "Assisted Analysis". It sets your chess mind working and makes you focus on the board. What is and how to use "Assisted Analysis"?

12/7/2016 – Having a World Championship in Manhattan, in New York, the financial and media capital of the world - this sounds like a dream come true. A golden opportunity to put chess into the limelight, to experience three weeks of chess fever and a chance to show the world why the game is so exciting. But in his first part of a three-part review of the Carlsen vs Karjakin match in New York, Yasser Seirawan critizes that a lot of opportunities were missed.

12/7/2016 – Post mortem: before the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin we asked experts for predictions and prognoses. Now we asked again and gathered views from von David Navara, Markus Ragger, Mikhail Golubev, Daniel King, Dorian Rogozenco, and lots of others. Some of them think that Carlsen deservedly won the match while praising Karjakin's defensive skills and his preparation. Ruslan Ponomariov, however, criticises the performance of the World Champion. He claims that Carlsen has stopped making progress as a chess player.

12/7/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 7.

12/6/2016 – Yasser Seirawan does not like the current format of the World Championship and proposed a number of hotly debated changes. Now, Emil Sutovsky, President of the Association of Chess Professionals, counters. He offers an out-of-the box proposal and invites readers to make their opinion heard.

12/6/2016 – Every week ChessBase magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

12/6/2016 – From December 1 to December 24 we invite our readers every day to open a door in our advent calendar. Click and enjoy a little chess treat. Advent calendar, door 6.

12/5/2016 – Timur Gareyev used the weekend to set a new world record in Las Vegas by playing 48 games blindfold simultaneously, and David Navara and Sergei Movsesian spent the weekend in Prague to also set a new world record in simultaneous chess: they played 12 games against each other - at the same time. Navara won 8.5-3.5.

12/5/2016 – Ju Wenjun won the Fide Women's Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk, the last tournament of the Grand Prix series 2015/2016. By winning this tournament Ju Wenjun also won Grand Prix series and now has the right to challenge the next Women's World Champion for the title. The next Women's World Champion will be established in February, in a knock-out tournament in Tehran.