7/30/2119 – From July 20th to the 31st, the Swiss watch metropolis of Biel/Bienne will once again be a focus of chess activity in Europe. The festival features many interesting and young players as well as a new format that combines rapid, classical and blitz chess. Vidit won again with Black adding to his immpressive run. Shankland is second. Live games and commentary from 12:00 UTC (14:00 CEST / 8:00 AM EDT).

3/15/2022 – The American magazine "Mother Jones", seven times winner of the "Magazine of the Year" award from the American Society of Magazine Editors, just published interviews with 36 prominent personalities from the world of chess about the war in Ukraine. One of them is FIDE President and former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who spoke out against the war: "My thoughts are with Ukrainian civilians. ... Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections." | Photo: David Llada

6/1/2022 – The claim to be the best ever in chess, in any category, is usually backed up by either hard numbers (Karpov's number of grandmaster tournament wins is not open to debate), or strong opinions such as the best absolute player. But the debate on the greatest prodigy seems to lie somewhere in between, depending on your criteria. Read this article and see if you agree. (photo: Capablanca at age four)

3/5/2022 – The Board of the European Chess Union met in an extraordinary session this week. The organization strongly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the involvement of Belarus, and expressed its solidarity for the Ukrainian people. Notably, the Board decided to suspend the Russian and Belarusian Chess Federations. Individual players from these countries will be excluded from all ECU competitions unless they change federation or by their expressed will represent the FIDE flag in the rating list.

7/4/2022 – On 1 July the FIDE published the new world ranking list. Magnus Carlsen and Hou Yifan continue to lead the "Top 100" and "Top 100 Women" by a large margin. Alireza Firouzja, who turned 19 at the beginning of the Candidates, is still the best junior, while Zhu Jiner from China continues to lead the "Girls'" list.

6/16/2022 – The 2022 FIDE Presidential election will be held on August 7, 2022, at the FIDE General Assembly in Chennai, India. The Electoral Commission, after a preliminary exam, approved the following list of valid Presidential ticket candidacies: Mr. Andrii Baryshpolets and Mr. Peter-Heine Nielsen; Mr. Inalbek Cheripov and Mr. Lewis Ncube; Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich and Mr. Anand Viswanathan; Mr. Bachar Kouatly and Mr. Ian Wilkinson.

5/23/2022 – At the FIDE Congress during the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the elections for the FIDE Presidium are on the agenda. Arkady Dvorkovich is standing for re-election and is supported by Viswanathan Anand. In view of the candidacy of the Russian President, the election has a strong political colour. Now a Ukrainian, GM Andrii Baryshpolets, has announced his candidacy. | Photo: US Chess Federation

3/16/2022 – FIDE has followed the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee and excluded the teams of Russia and Belarus from participating in all official FIDE tournaments.

5/19/2022 – Munich will host the third leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23, to be held from February 1-14, 2023. The venues, dates, and details for the other three legs in the WGP Series will be announced at the end of May. | Photos: FIDE

4/4/2022 – At the beginning of April, the FIDE published its new ranking list. With a rating of 2864 Magnus Carlsen continues to lead the Top 100 by a wide margin - he is exactly 60 points ahead of Alireza Firouzja, who has a rating of 2804 and is officially the world's number two. Richard Rapport climbed to seventh place and now has a rating of 2776. Hou Yifan leads the women's ranking list, Firouzja is the best junior and Zhu Jiner is number one on the girl's list.

3/2/2022 – FIDE published its new World Ranking List. World Champion Magnus Carlsen remains the clear number one but did not make any significant progress towards the 2900 mark - Carlsen gained points by winning in Wijk but lost these points again in one game in the Norwegian league. The winner of the Challengers in Wijk, Arjun Erigaisi, is now among the top 100, and Hikaru Nakamura is back in the top 20.

3/8/2022 – In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and under the roof of the Year of the Woman in Chess, the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess established a fundraiser for Ukrainian chess players and their families affected now by war. Also, the FIDE Women’s Commission, in partnership with Chess24, has prepared a series of events on the Women’s Day to support Ukrainian chess players and their families.

11/19/2119 – When Magnus Carlsen decides to leave the Norwegian Chess Federation or gives interviews in Norway or plays for his new club in Norway's second league it is usually Tarjei Svensen who shares the news with the world, via his twitter account @TarjeiJS, which has thousands of ardent followers. STEFAN LOEFFLER spoke with the Norwegian chess journalist about Carlsen, chess in Norway and his wish to be always up-to-date. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

9/22/2119 – The 2019-2020 FIDE Women's Grand Prix, part of the Women's World Championship cycle, takes place in Skolkovo, a business centre in Moscow also known as the Russian Silicon Valley. Twelve players are competing in the first of four single round-robin events that will grant two spots at the next Women's Candidates Tournament. In the final round, Humpy Koneru earned the final half point needed to clinch victory ahead of Ju Wenjun. | Photo: Official site

4/6/2022 – In an interview for the Norwegian newspaper VG, Magnus Carlsen talked about the recent developments involving Sergey Karjakin. The world champion clearly stated that he disagrees with his colleague’s stance, but also noted that he is not sure whether banning him from official tournaments was the right decision. | Photo: Albert Silver

7/21/2022 – Ending months of speculation, Magnus Carlsen has officially announced he will not be defending his title in a rematch against Ian Nepomniachtchi come the end of 2022. As a result, the second-place winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren, will face the Russian to determine the new World Champion. (Photo: Albert Silver)

7/11/2022 – Half a century ago, exactly on this day, the most famous chess match in history began: Boris Spassky vs Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik, Iceland. Five year ago we celebrated the event by reporting on it, game for game, as if it was all taking place live. Today we bring you links to all the reports we published at the time, starting with our full report on the drama that surrounded game one. It contains original film footage which nobody should miss.

7/24/2022 – Today we offer readers a glimpse of what had been happening behind the scenes of “The Match of The Century”, especially in the Russian camp, exactly fifty years ago. A tense Boris Spassky, cajoled by seconds Efim Geller and Nikolai Krogius, nevertheless failed to perform, to the dismay of his friends and admirers. It’s also the story of a gamble that could have hurtled Bobby down the precipice in that fateful Game 6 of the match. A cautionary tale and object lesson for aspiring players.

7/2/2022 – Between 1985 and 2000, Garry Kasparov played no fewer than eight matches for the World Championship title. The living legend is, without a doubt, an expert on the topic. During round 12 of the Candidates, the Russian joined the Saint Louis Chess Club webcast, and gave his opinions on Ian Nepomniachtchi’s performance, Alireza Firouzja’s bullet binge, and the likelihood of Magnus Carlsen agreeing to play the next match for the crown.

4/5/2022 – Since it is likely that Sergey Karjakin will not play in the upcoming Candidates Tournament — his six-month ban is still pending a potential appeal — the spot left behind by the Russian will be filled by the highest-rated, eligible player in FIDE’s ranking list published on May 1. Ding Liren is the clear frontrunner in this race, but he only played 4 games since June 2021, with the regulations stipulating that a minimum of 30 games are needed to be eligible. Ding is quickly making up for lost ground, as three events have been organized in China to get him to play the 26 games needed by the end of the month. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/4/2022 – After the first two traumatic games World Champion Boris Spassky was leading 2-0 in the Match of the Century. But then Fischer started to play and struck back: in the next eight games he scored 6½ points, chalking up a 6.5-3.5 lead. Games 8, 9 and 10 were quite spectacular, and are the subject of today's report – exactly fifty years after game ten. Younger players will also learn about "adjournments" and how exactly "sealed moves" were handled. Some were born after these practices were abandoned.

7/25/2022 – It is probable that no chess player in the history of the game has had more written about him or of his games than Bobby Fischer. The fascination stems not only from his sheer chess genius, but also his magnetism, and the debt professional chess owes him for paving the way with appearance fees and prize money. Here is a book that brings together all his writings, articles, and even unpublished notes to “60 Memorable Games”.

6/1/2022 – The claim to be the best ever in chess, in any category, is usually backed up by either hard numbers (Karpov's number of grandmaster tournament wins is not open to debate), or strong opinions such as the best absolute player. But the debate on the greatest prodigy seems to lie somewhere in between, depending on your criteria. Read this article and see if you agree. (photo: Capablanca at age four)

8/11/2022 – The 2017 World Rapid and Blitz Championship took place on December 26-30 in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. The rapid tournament, which included 134 participants, saw Vishy Anand beating Vladimir Fedoseev in a blitz tiebreak after tying for first place with 10½/15 points. Anand, at 48, outscored his younger opponents, including world champion and rapid-play specialist Magnus Carlsen. | Photo: Official website

7/25/2022 – On 26 July 2022, the chess world will be treated to a unique show: the ChessBase India Originals Death Match between Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrathi. The Death Match will be held at the Dublin Square in the Phoenix Marketcity, Mumbai. What is the format of the match, what is the prize money, who are the hosts and commentators of the show, are there any exhibition matches? Find all the relevant information in the article. A rapid tournament and simuls will also take place.

8/12/2022 – The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) pays homage to American chess phenom Bobby Fischer with the largest exhibition of its kind, 1972 Fischer/Spassky: The Match, Its Origin, and Influence", on view from August 18, 2022, through April 30, 2023. A public opening reception is happening on Thursday, August 18, 2022, 5-8 pm, with free admission. | Photo: worldchesshof.org

8/11/2022 – The French composer and pianist Jason Kouchak is an enthusiastic amateur chess player with considerable playing strength. He has taken part in various Opens, including the Open in Gibraltar in 2009, where he met a famous contemporary.

7/31/2022 – Most games favoured the favourites in round 2 of the Chess Olympiad, with a few exceptions. In the open section, Zambia and Bulgaria upset Denmark and Croatia respectively, while among the women, Ecuador got the better of Slovenia. World champion Magnus Carlsen made his debut, and outplayed Georg Meier in a balanced endgame to help Norway get a 4-0 win over Uruguay. | Pictured: Mohamed Emli Ramla (Dijibouti) | Photo: Mark Livshitz

7/15/2022 – This is the 2nd episode in the series of Olympiad stories with Saravanan. In this episode, we discuss the Madras Tiger Vishy Anand and some of his memorable games at the Olympiad. In discussing the games, Saravanan and Sagar also go into the history of how Vishy developed as a chess player. Saravanan saw the lightning kid style of play of Anand and also the more mature and calm style. This is part of a 6-episode series of the most interesting stories from the Chess Olympiads. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram.

7/31/2022 – Of all chess players, Fabiano Caruana is currently the most well-known Leo. We do, however, have a second one in the wings with Praggnanandhaa. But Judit Polgar and Mikhail Botvinnik, two other notable Leo's, tower over both players. The world champion and top female chess player have contributed to the development of the game massively. But even Polgar and Botvinnik can't compete with one of the most well-known celebrities in history who also knew how to play chess - Napoleon Bonaparte. | Foto: Pixabay

8/9/2022 – A piece that is attacked does not have to move - that sounds like a trivial little piece of wisdom but it is good to keep it in mind. In the diagrammed position Black just attacked White's rook with 49...Ke5, apparently forgetting that attacked pieces do not have to move. How should White react to Black's attack?

7/26/2022 – In endgames the last attacking pawn is often worth its weight in gold. In the diagrammed position it is Black to move - can he save a draw and if so, how?

8/6/2022 – In the diagrammed position, White put all his pieces on light squares. A stable position? Not if you swing the wrecking ball with Black - I wish you massive pleasure!

7/12/2022 – The bishop endgame in the diagrammed position will soon become an endgame, in which Black's queen fights against White's f-pawn. Black can win this endgame if his king is in the winning zone and close enough to White's f-pawn. Do you see how Black should proceed to win the game?

3/30/2022 – Finding novelties is a fun way for students to learn how to use a database to annotate chess games. Novelties, loosely defined, are new moves but not necessarily good moves. National Master Jeffrey Ashton explains.

8/13/2022 – In the diagram position, White has yet to react properly to the black queen's check, then he may happily start searching for mates - feel free to join!

8/2/2022 – But over the board it is often difficult to defend them. In the diagram position White is a pawn down but he can draw. How?

7/30/2022 – In the diagram position Black has just invited 18.Qxf5, but his way to victory after the game continuation 18.Qd2 is also worthy of a brilliancy prize - have fun!

8/1/2022 – ChessBase Magazine Extra #208 offers, among other things, almost an hour of video training: Ivan Sokolov presents 6.g3 as a surprise weapon against the Sicilian Four Knights. And Nico Zwirs examines the move 5...b5 in the Vienna Variation of the Queen's Gambit - an absolutely fashionable variation that leads to very dynamic play! "The brilliancy" is contributed by David Navara, who highlights his Black win with the Berlin Defense against Alexei Shirov. In addition, the "Lucky bag" with 59 annotated games - including contributions from Anish Giri and Kirill Shevchenko - holds a colorful mix of analyses and suggestions. ChessBase Magazine Extra is the perfect supplement to ChessBase Magazine. Available as a single issue or by subscription (6 issues per year). Available as download or on DVD.

7/9/2022 – Does Black have perpetual check in the diagram position after 14...Nf3+ - or more? A look back at a classic, played 125 years ago - enjoy!

7/19/2022 – In rook endings checks are often a major defensive weapon. So it is important for the attacking king to find shelter. In the diagrammed position, it is White to move and win. How should he proceed?

7/16/2022 – The Schara-Hennig Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!?) is now over 100 years old. Recently the gambit has received more attention - also thanks to Magnus Carlsen's games against Sam Shankland and Le Quang this year. Our new author, GM Lucian Miron, takes a closer look at the pawn sacrifice in the latest ChessBase Magazine #208. "if you are tired of constantly being under pressure when White plays 1.d4 and only the main lines, go for the Schara-Hennig Gambit!" he concludes. Take a look!

6/25/2022 – In the diagrammed position White just played 35.Qa3!, and after 35...Qxd4 White has a beautiful win - can you find it?

4/7/2022 – In the last weeks, we added a lot of chess interactivity to the ChessBase news pages. Replaying games is now optimized for mobile devices. There is a pleasing new layout for annotated games. Social sharing has been radically improved. Diagrams have grown a dirty little secret. Live broadcasts with multiple boards can be configured easily.

7/10/2022 – At the end of 1997, the first FIDE World Knockout Championship took place in Groningen. Vishy Anand won the final against Michael Adams. Strictly speaking, however, it was not a World Championship, but only a preliminary stage, because the winner had to play the defending champion Anatoli Karpov in a final in Lausanne directly after the tournament. In the "Special" of ChessBase Magazine #208 our authors (among others Martin Breutigam, Romain Edouard and Jan Markos) comment on their favourite game from Groningen. Imre Hera's analysis of the Beliafsky-Short encounter can be seen here. Have fun!

7/5/2022 – Knights are tactical pieces and often very tricky. Black to move and draw.

6/22/2022 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess and it also provides arsenal for the tournament player. This issue offers games from two major events, FIDE Grand Prix and Ukraine Charity Cup. 353 games (37 annotated), 11 opening surveys, lectures and exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Wesley So, Andrey Esipenko, Grigoriy Oparin and Nikita Vitiugov among others. The icing on the cake is the Larsen Special, a tribute to the Great Dane. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look.

7/14/2022 – ChessBase Magazine presents you with ideas for your repertoire in a variety of ways. In each issue you will find at least ten opening articles with recommendations from our authors, including analyses and annotated games. In addition, Raienr Knaak's collection of topical opening traps offers suggestions with which you can add tricky small weapons to your repertoire. And in each issue you will find three opening videos in which our authors address current developments. For CBM #208 Dorian Rogozenco, Ivan Sokolov and Mihail Marin have recorded opening videos - total playing time: over an hour. You can watch excerpts from all three contributions here!