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

3/9/2025 – The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 moves to Paris from April 7 to 14, bringing together 12 top grandmasters for the second Grand Slam event of the year. Held at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy, the tournament features a round-robin phase followed by a knockout stage with classical time controls. Magnus Carlsen, reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Hikaru Nakamura are among the confirmed participants, with one final spot still up for grabs through an online qualification event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/8/2025 – The 2025 World Junior Chess Championship took place from 26 February to 7 March in Petrovac, Montenegro, featuring nearly 260 players from 67 countries. GM Pranav Venkatesh won gold in the open section with an unbeaten 9/11, while WIM Anna Shukhman secured victory in the girls' event with the same score. The competition saw strong performances from FM Matic Lavrencic, GM Elham Amar, WIM Ayan Allahverdiyeva and IM Miaoyi Lu, who reached the podiums in their cateegories. | Photo: Mitar Djukanovic

3/8/2025 – We've all been there: you see a great game or suddenly find yourself in an unusual opening variation and want to know more about it. But how can you find the relevant material if you don't know the name of the opening? ChessBase has the solution: in the shop section, there is the search board – simply enter the first moves and the appropriate video courses from the huge range of products in the shop will be displayed!

3/8/2025 – Efim Geller was born on 8 March 1925, a hundred years ago today. Between 1950 and 1970, he was one of the best players in the world, even though he never managed to become world champion. Geller's record against the world champions is remarkable - mostly positive. | Photo: Hugo van Gelderen (Anefo)

3/8/2025 – In the diagram position White wins despite the black passed pawns. Do you see how White can weave a mating net?

3/8/2025 – GM Mateusz Bartel is scheduled to deliver a live lecture at the Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) Academy on March 9, 2025, at 6:00 PM CET. This event is part of KCF Academy's ongoing training program, crafted to provide high-quality chess education worldwide.