3/10/2025 – In the classic Fort Knox Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7), Black maneuvers the light-squared bishop to c6 in order to exchange it for a white knight and establish a super-solid setup. Yago Santiago discovered a new - and even safer - way of playing the Fort Knox in some of Arjun Erigaisi's games: In his opening article for the current CBM #224, Santiago presents the variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bd7!? If White now reacts with 6.Nxf6+, he must be prepared for major complications after 6...gxf6! You can read the full article with all the annotated games this week as a free sample with your web browser in the ChessBase Books format!

3/10/2025 – The Scotch Gambit is a favourite at club level, offering a rich blend of attacking and positional ideas. Whether you prefer sharp tactical battles, or a more controlled strategic approach, this video course gives you everything you need to master this dynamic opening.

3/10/2025 – IM Salome Melia will replace IM Lela Javakhishvili in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix India after the latter’s withdrawal for personal reasons. Born in Batumi, Georgia, Melia is a two-time European Under-18 Girls Champion and has won multiple medals at the Women’s European Individual Chess Championship. A two-time Georgian Women’s Champion, she has represented her country in several Chess Olympiads. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

3/9/2025 – The Prague International Chess Festival offers a wide variety of events, catering to both competitive players and chess enthusiasts. Among them is the problem-solving competition, which was held for the second time on 28 February. Milan Petras won the event, scoring 55 points, ahead of Dimitra Amiridou and Sahib Hasanzada. A notable feature of this year's competition was that all positions were curated by renowned chess composer Yochanan Afek, adding an extra layer of prestige to the challenge. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

3/9/2025 – With ChessBase 18, you can not only analyse your own games professionally – as we have already shown in the first four parts of the tutorial – you can also comment on them individually. There are several methods for doing this, and they can be linked together. The comments can be entered as text or using the commonly used chess symbols. In this fifth part of our new tutorial series, we will show you how easily you can integrate all types of comments into your notation.

3/9/2025 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In episode 220 of his "Understanding before Moving" show Herman looks at the career of Gata Kamsky. | Photo: Pascal Simon

3/7/2025 – In round seven of the Masters tournament at the Prague Chess Festival, Indian grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram took the lead in the standings, and in round eight he defended it with a draw against David Navara, as the second-placed player, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, also signed a draw. The wins of the round were achieved by Anish Giri, who won with black against Sam Shankland, and Wei Yi, who benefited from a mistake by Thai Dai Van Nguyen in a rook ending. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

3/6/2025 – The second day of play at the Champions Showdown in Saint Louis saw Fabiano Caruana overtaking Wesley So in the standings after winning their rapid game, with the blitz and semi-classical encounters ending in draws. Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian also secured mini-match victories, with Nakamura defeating Ray Robson in their rapid game and Aronian beating Leinier Dominguez in the semi-classical format. Despite his loss to Nakamura, Robson remains in third place and is set to face leader Caruana on the final day. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

3/6/2025 – The Tata Steel tournament in Wijk has caused the biggest changes in the current world rankings. Among the winners is World Champion Gukesh, among the losers are Caruana, Erigaisi and also Keymer, who lost some points and places. In the country list, Germany is the best of the rest behind the four chess superpowers USA, India, China and Russia.

3/6/2025 – The seventh round of the Masters at the Prague Chess Festival saw Aravindh Chithambaram beating Anish Giri with black in what perhaps was the best game of the tournament so far. With this victory, Aravindh took the sole lead in the standings, as Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was unable to get more than a draw against Wei Yi. Vincent Keymer fared similarly, as he put David Navara under pressure for a long time, but in the end had to be satisfied with half a point. Sam Shankland and Ediz Gürel had more luck: Shankland won with black against Le Quang Liem, while Gürel won with white against Thai Dai Van Nguyen. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

3/5/2025 – Nowadays, you have to be careful with your old clothes so as not to violate sustainability laws. The best thing to do is to give your old clothes to a relative or friend. Or you can sell them on the internet. That's what Magnus Carlsen did, and he is probably happy with the proceeds.

3/5/2025 – GM Lei Tingjie has withdrawn from the 2024–25 FIDE Women's Grand Prix for personal reasons, with compatriot GM Zhu Jiner stepping in as her replacement. Zhu, China's fifth-ranked female player, will now compete in Cyprus, India, and Austria. A rising star, she secured her Grandmaster title in 2023 after an impressive showing in the previous Grand Prix cycle. | Photo: Lennart Ootes