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

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.

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

1/19/2022 – The International Chess Federation has declared 2022 the Year of the Woman in Chess. According to the FIDE Women’s Commision, this is a chance to take a leap forward in their mission of forming gender equity policies, practices and programs. | Pictured: Eva Repkova / Chair of FIDE Women’s Commission

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.

1/7/2022 – Parallel to the Rapid and Blitz World Championships in Warsaw, FIDE held its annual congress. Delegates participated mostly online. On its website, FIDE recently published the "results and decisions" of the congress. Despite the Corona pandemic, FIDE is solidly financed, now largely from sponsorship, donations and broadcasting rights, less so from membership fees. The World Chess Federation has reacquired the rights to the World Championships. | Photos: David Llada

12/20/2021 – A pre-requisite for an organization to become world class is to have competent people working for it in key managerial positions. This is exactly what FIDE has done by roping in Dana Reizniece-Ozola as the managing director. A look at her credentials and you can have no doubts about her competency. Dana is a former Minister of Economics of Latvia as well as its Finance Minister! She has a Masters in Business Administration, has been the head of space programs and her list of achievements is quite huge. To add to all of this, she is also a strong chess player - a WGM with an Elo of 2283. At the World Championship 2021 in Dubai, IM Sagar Shah met with Dana and had a detailed interview about her journey of life, becoming FIDE's managing director, her vision for FIDE and much more.

12/10/2021 – A few days ago the FIDE announced that the World Rapid and Blitz Championships due to Corona restrictions could not take place in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, as was originally planned. Now FIDE announced that they found a new venue: the World Rapid and Blitz Championships will take place in Warsaw on the planned dates (December 25 - December 31, 2021). | Photo: Qbolewicz

12/1/2021 – With Alireza Firouzja, the chess world now has a new number two behind Magnus Carlsen. On the new World Ranking from December 2021, which the FIDE just published, the 18-year-old, who was born in Iran but is living in France, is ahead of Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana.

12/9/2021 – The FIDE Rapid and Blitz World Championships cannot take place in Nur Sultan (Kazakhstan) in December as originally planned. Due to the tightened Corona security measures imposed by the Kazakh government, FIDE has cancelled the tournament in Kazakhstan and is currently looking at alternative venues.

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

1/23/2022 – An eventful seventh round in Wijk aan Zee saw Daniil Dubov forfeiting his game against Anish Giri after declining to wear a mask during the game as requested by the organizers — someone in the Russian’s inner circle had tested positive for Covid-19. Later on, wins by Magnus Carlsen, Jorden van Foreest and Fabiano Caruana left the world champion in the sole lead. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit

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

2/25/2022 – It has been a tough day for everyone. Vladimir Putin’s appalling decision to invade Ukraine has shocked the world, and his actions have been condemned by most world leaders. At the Airthings Masters, three out of four semifinalists hail from Russia, with Ian Nepomniachtchi confessing after beating Andrey Esipenko, “I can’t think”. Nepo will face Magnus Carlsen in the finals of the online tournament, in a rematch of the recent contest for the World Championship title. | Photo: Niki Riga

4/1/2022 – FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich visited Delhi to sign a contract with the All India Chess Federation granting the Asian country the rights to host this year’s Olympiad. At a press conference, Dvorkovich announced his intention to run for a second term as FIDE President, and informed that Vishy Anand would actively support him in his reelection bid. | Photo: FIDE

2/26/2022 – Magnus Carlsen won the first event of the 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour as he beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in the finals of the Airthings Masters. After drawing the first set on Friday, the world champion won the second 4-game mini-match by a 2½-½ score. Nepo did not go down easy, though it was Carlsen who performed at a higher level at the critical points in games 2 and 3.

3/19/2022 – After the successful first edition last year, the No-Castling World Masters Tournament will be expanded in Dortmund in July 2022, as former world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand will be joined by Krishnan Sasikiran and local hero Daniel Fridman. Concurrently, the Deutschland Grand Prix, the NRW Youth Cup and two opens will take place at the massive festival set to kick off four months from now.

4/11/2022 – Ding Liren, currently the world's number three, has very good chances to play in the Candidates Tournament as the highest-rated, eligible player in FIDE’s ranking list published on 1 May. However, to qualify and to replace the suspended Sergey Karjakin, Ding needs to have played 30 FIDE-rated games from May 2021 to May 2022. When Karjakin was suspended by the FIDE for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Ding had just played four of the required 30 games, but now he is catching up: after a four-player, twelve-round tournament in Hangzhou, he played a six-game match against Wei Yi. After five draws, Ding won the last game and the match. | Photos: Imedia

3/15/2022 – The $1.6 million Meltwater Champions Chess Tour will dedicate its next stage to fundraising for the victims of the war in Ukraine, it was announced today. The Charity Cup, starting March 19, will be the second leg of the world’s most prestigious elite online chess event.

5/17/2022 – Wilhelm Steinitz looms as one of the largest figures in chess. Earning the distinction of being the first ever World Champion in 1886, he was a successful competitive player and chess journalist whose theoretical teachings revolutionized chess and laid the foundations of the modern game. He is, arguably, chess’ greatest thinker.

5/10/2022 – Sergey Karjakin was born in 1990 in Simferopol, the second-largest city in Crimea – Ukrainian territory that was annexed by Russia in 2014. At 12 he became (at the time) the youngest grandmaster in history. In the past months, Karjakin publicly supported the Russian assault on Ukraine, for which he was banned for six months from all FIDE chess competitions. Now he has sought revenge with a deep-fake call to FIDE Director General GM Emil Sutovsky. The British Chess Magazine reports.

12/3/2021 – In what will surely be remembered as a highlight of World Chess Championship history, Magnus Carlsen defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in a 136-move marathon which included missed chances, deep time trouble and a number of subtle manoeuvres worthy of a combat for the highest prize in the world of competitive chess. Find here the fantastic encounter annotated by super-GM and elite analyst Anish Giri. | Photo: Eric Rosen

5/5/2022 – Wesley So grabbed the first win at this year’s Superbet Chess Classic, the inaugural event of the Grand Chess Tour. The Filipino-born star beat defending champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to get the sole lead in Bucharest, as the four remaining round-1 games finished drawn. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/2/2022 – Half the games ended decisively on opening day at the second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix in Belgrade. Dmitry Andreikin and Vidit Gujrathi are leading their pools after beating Alexander Grischuk and Alexei Shirov respectively. Meanwhile, both games finished decisively in pool C, with Anish Giri and Nikita Vitiugov scoring full points in the first round. Two draws were seen in pool D. | Photos: Mark Livshitz

5/6/2022 – The Appeal Chamber of the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission has announced its decision to dismiss the appeal presented by Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin, confirming the 6-month ban that was imposed by the EDC on March 21. This decision is appealable to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 calendar days following communication of this decision. | Photo: FIDE

5/12/2022 – Levon Aronian and Wesley So continue to share the lead at the Superbet Chess Classic despite three games finishing decisively in the seventh round. After losing to Aronian on Wednesday, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave bounced back with a win over Richard Rapport — the Frenchman is now in sole third place, a half point behind the leaders. Meanwhile, both Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alireza Firouzja collected their first wins of the event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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.

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.

3/3/2022 – Whether for in-class work or for homework, worksheets help students review and practice chess. Creating worksheets—then printing, formatting, and sharing them—are tasks that every chess coach undertakes. In this article, National Master Jeffrey Ashton shows how ChessBase makes these tasks easier.

5/31/2022 – The new Extra #207 offers, among other things, over an hour of video training with Elisabeth Pähtz and Ivan Sokolov. Germany's best female chess player presents one of her favourite weapons against the Gruenfeld Defence in a short video series. And Sokolov's contribution deals with a topic that should be interesting for many 1.d4 players, especially at club level: The GM from the Netherlands shows a method with which a nice advantage can be comfortably achieved against the Budapest Gambit. This issue's "Brilliancy" comes from Jorden van Foreest, who takes a critical look at his Sicilian experiment (3.Bc4) from the Tata Steel Masters 2022 against Praggnanandhaa. In addition, the "Lucky bag" with 56 annotated games offers a great mix of analyses and surprising ideas. ChessBase Magazine Extra is the perfect complement to ChessBase Magazine. Available as a single issue or by subscription (6 issues per year). Available as a download or on DVD.

5/17/2022 – Passed pawns can be very powerful and they are even more dangerous if they have help from their king. In the diagrammed position it is White to move, and what did he do with his king to support his passed pawns to win the game?

5/7/2022 – In the diagram position, White found a stunning way to strengthen his attack decisively. Your call!

5/21/2022 – By hindsight, it's easy to say that in the diagram position White must play 29.Rxd3! - but is it just as easy to refute the game continuation 29.f3?? Your call!

5/14/2022 – In the diagram position White just played 12.Rd1 to attack Black's knight on d5 and to force Black to make a difficult choice: should Black play 12...Qa5 or 12...Be6 - which move gets your okay?

5/10/2022 – When White wants to tackle the Sicilian Najdorf Variation — 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 — very directly, 6.Bg5 is a popular choice. After 6...e6 7.f4 the rare 7...b5, the Polugaevsky Variation, leads to sharp and difficult positions. Petra Papp brings the theory of this variation up to date in her article for ChessBase Magazine #207, explaining typical strategies and motifs for both sides.

5/10/2022 – On first sight, things look grim for White in the diagrammed position as it is hard to see what he can do against the advance of Black's f-pawn. However, White remembered the rule that pawn endings should be calculated carefully and found a way to get a draw. What did he do?

5/13/2022 – The column "All in one" was introduced in ChessBase Magazine almost three years ago. The idea behind it: on the basis of a single extensively annotated game, you learn everything you need to know about a concrete opening line. In the new ChessBase Magazine #207, Igor Stohl and Tanmay Srinath introduce you to two concepts for White. One explores the pawn advance 3.h4 against Black's Fianchetto in the Gruenfeld and King's Indian; the other delves into a London System setup against the King's Indian. Take a look!

5/7/2022 – Bent Larsen is the "hero" of the new issue of ChessBase Magazine. In CBM #207 our authors — among others Emanuel Berg, Jan Markos and Yannick Pelletier — comment on their favourite game of the great Dane. CBM readers can expect a collection of 19 special encounters from the period 1956 to 1998. In addition, Mihail Marin presents Larsen as a "universal player" in his strategy column and Karsten Mueller analyses a selection of Larsen's best endgames. You can watch the Larsen-Andersson game (1982) with Jan Markos' analysis here. Enjoy!

4/28/2022 – Those who have learned their variations with the Fritz Opening Drill may start with the practical exercise: the training game against Fritz 18. For good reason: with its "Evolving Genius" mode, Fritz 18 is the ideal partner for practice-oriented opening training. Fritz adjusts its playing strength and you quickly see whether you can play the positions resulting from the newly learned opening. Fritz 18 guides you through the training games as a trainer, gives intelligent hints and thus ensures a motivating sense of achievement. The best practical training for a real game. ChessBase seminar leader Martin Fischer shows how it works and that this opening training is really fun.

4/30/2022 – Getting active when you are underdeveloped is rarely a good idea - in the diagram position Black has just played 9...Qc7? intending to capture on c4. Can you punish this move with White?

4/23/2022 – The diagram shows a theoretical Sicilian position in which White has just opened the g-file. Recapturing with 16...Nxf6? now is a well-known mistake - do you see why?

4/19/2022 – In knight endgames activity, dominance and zugzwang often play a major role. The diagrammed position is from a game between Vladislav Artemiev and Magnus Carlsen from the Airthings Masters Tournament 2022. How did the World Champion force the win?

5/4/2022 – The Alapin Variation (1.e4 c5 2.c3) is a very solid system for White. Logically, you have no chance to avoid it with Black, if you play the Sicilian. So you should be well-prepared when answering 1.e4 with ...c5. In the new ChessBase Magazine #207, Markus Ragger presents a complete repertoire against the Alapin: after 2...d5 3.exd5 he recommends the side line 3...Nf6, which leads to sharp play and completely different structures than one would expect in a normal c3-Sicilian. In CBM #207 you will also find two more opening videos: Rustam Kasimdzhanov puts the highly topical English Four Kinights Game with 4.e4 (Bc5) to the test and Mihail Marin presents a good old idea by Bent Larsen in the Sicilian Dragon Variation. You can watch an excerpt from Ragger's video analysis here!

5/3/2022 – Passed pawns are often strong and connected passed pawns are even stronger. In the diagrammed position it is White to move - how can he use the power of his passed pawns to win the game?