3/30/2026 – Chess returns to the Esports World Cup in 2026 following a successful debut at last year's event. On its biggest stage ever, chess cemented its place in the larger esports ecosystem, drawing impressive viewership numbers while packing the arenas. This year, chess expands with a 21-player pool that now includes a play-in stage prior to a reformatted group stage and playoffs.
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
Here is All You Need to Know about Chess at EWC 2026, including key Road to EWC events, the biggest stories from last year and this current competitive season, and the top contenders to watch out for.
Let our authors show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame.
Chess' biggest star and the inaugural EWC champion, Magnus Carlsen, will return in 2026 to defend his title. Joining him, among others, are the top three players from the Speed Chess Championship this past October: Alireza Firouzja, Denis Lazavik, and… Magnus Carlsen?! Well, he can't qualify twice, so an additional slot will have to be allocated elsewhere.
Here are the current remaining slot allocations for the Chess main event at EWC 2026:
The top 3 players at Chess.com Open Championship (March 14–April 26)
The top 6* players according to the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) Circuit Points Rankings, not including already qualified players
The top 4 players from DreamHack Atlanta
The top 4 players at the EWC Last Chance Qualifier
*More slots are still to be announced, and additional slots will be reallocated through the CCT Rankings in the event that Firouzja, Lazavik or Carlsen finish in the top 3 at the Chess.com Open Championship.
Players can earn CCT points prior to the rankings' cutoff through the Chess.com Open Championship, or the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix Spring Split (March 3–May 26).
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
As alluded to above, Magnus Carlsen (Team Liquid) claimed the inaugural chess title at Esports World Cup 2025, not dropping a single set along the way. His biggest test came against long-time rival Hikaru Nakamura (Team Falcons), needing seven games to break the draw in a back-and-forth affair. Carlsen moved on to the final, decisively beating Alireza Firouzja (Team Falcons) with 3–1 victories in both sets. Carlsen's victory was one of three game championships claimed by Liquid, securing a second-straight (though much closer this time around) second place finish for the club in the EWC Club Championship.
It should come as no surprise that Magnus Carlsen is the consensus favorite heading into EWC 2026, as both the defending champion and the winner of the Speed Chess Championship. The greatest chess player of the modern era, Carlsen has been a grandmaster for more than two decades, and any result shy of another first place finish at EWC 2026 would be a disappointment for both himself and Team Liquid.
Like Carlsen was in the 2010s, Alireza Firouzja is a dynamic chess prodigy, and has proven to be a worthy and consistent adversary to Carlsen since being named chess.com's Rising Star of 2021. Between Firouzja and veteran Hikaru Nakamura, Team Falcons has a strong two-man lineup in chess, but will it be enough to unseat Carlsen? Currently, Nakamura holds the most CCT points amongst players that have not qualified for EWC 2026 yet, though it seems heavily likely that he will return to compete in Riyadh this summer.
Become a master of chess strategy – get Robert Ris’s complete bundle now at a special price! Become a master of chess strategy – get Robert Ris’s complete bundle now at a special price!
3/27/2026 – Haik Martirosyan won the 19th Agzamov Memorial in Tashkent on tiebreak after finishing level on 7½/9 with 16-year-old Artem Uskov. The two co-leaders drew their direct encounter in round seven, before Martirosyan moved ahead with a win in round eight. Uskov's final-round victory over Abhimanyu Puranik allowed him to catch the Armenian GM, but not to overtake him on tiebreak. A group of six players finished half a point behind in a closely contested event. | Photo: FIDE / Anastasiia Korolkova
3/24/2026 – The new Opening Encyclopaedia 2026 offers comprehensive and easy access to modern opening theory, helping players build, expand, and refine their repertoire with clarity and confidence. With 1,586 in-depth articles, over 40,000 games, and 100 expert video lessons from leading grandmasters, it combines cutting-edge ideas with practical explanations and annotated examples. Designed for players of all levels, it is an essential all-in-one resource to stay up to date with the latest trends and gain a decisive edge in the opening.
London System PowerBase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
€9.90
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