10/3/2025 – The Grand Chess Tour Finals return in 2025, taking place at the World Trade Center in São Paulo from 28 September to 3 October. The event features Maxime Vachier-LaGrave, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian facing off in a knockout tournament. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 20.00 CEST (14.00 ET, 23.30 IST)
new: ChessBase 18 - Mega package
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
From the 2026 Candidates Tournament, featuring a video review by Dorian Rogozenco, to Jan Werle’s opening video on the French Tarrasch Defence, and Oliver Reeh’s tactical column ‘Top Grandmasters at Work’. Analyses by Giri, So, Wei Yi and many others.
€21.90
Final and match for third place - Rapid & blitz
The Grand Chess Tour Finals make their long-awaited return in 2025, six years after the previous edition. From 28 September to 3 October, São Paulo hosts the event at the World Trade Center, marking the first time that the Finals are staged in South America.
The Finals are organised as knockout matches, with each contest involving two classical games, two rapid games and four blitz games. All matches must be played to completion, regardless of whether the outcome of the match has already been determined.
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.
Time controls
The classical games will be played with 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and 30 minutes for the remainder of the game, plus a 30-second increment from the start.
In rapid games, each player will have 25 minutes with a 10-second increment.
Blitz games will be played at 5 minutes per side with a 2-second increment.
Scoring system
Classical games: 6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw, 0 for a loss
Rapid games: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 0 for a loss
Blitz games: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 for a loss
Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve! Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve!
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
In this powerful new course, endgame expert Karsten Müller teams up with rising star Leon Mendonca to deliver what truly matters: 10 essential rules that every player must know.
€19.90
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