7/7/2023 – The finish of the 6th game of the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi was impressive. In a tense and complicated position, Ding surprisingly advanced his d-pawn, and this small pawn advance was crucial to a spectacular mate that could have occurred in the game. The audience was impressed, the study composers were inspired. In his last "Study of the Month" column Siegfried Hornecker had a look at "Ding's Theme" in studies, in his current column he returns to this theme with further insights. | Photo: Ding Liren | Photo: Amruta Mokal

6/30/2023 – World Championship Match 2023: All seven decided games annotated by Anish Giri, Hou Yifan, Sam Shankland and Wesley So - TePe Sigeman Tournament: Analyses by Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Nils Grandelius, Abhimanyu Mishra and Jorden van Foreest - All-rounder Boris Spassky: "Special" with 27 top-class encounters from the period 1949 to 1989 + articles on strategy (Marin) and endgame (Mueller) – Is Scandinavian with 3...Qa5 busted? Martin Lorenzini thinks so - and recommends 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Bd2 e6 7.Ne5! – “How I became U14 World Champion”: Ilamparthi presents the decisive moments together with Sagar Shah – “Practical tips for the tournament player”: Why are symmetrical positions much more dangerous than you expect? and much more!

5/21/2023 – Today I’m returning to a subject I’ve covered a number of times in the past: passed pawns. Passed pawns are a crucial aspect of chess and your attitude to them can have a profound effect on how you play and, in particular, your opening choices. To explore this topic, I look at a game played by Vasilios Kotronias, in which he was overwhelmed by an absolute pawn avalanche. The final phase is extraordinary and somewhat reminiscent of the famous game McDonnell versus De La Bourdonnais.

5/11/2023 – In the World Chess Championship, which still was running while this article was written but will be over when you read it, Ding Liren won the sixth game by threatening a checkmate with rook and knight. Let us see how that kind of checkmate was used in endgame studies. | Photo: Midjourney AI

5/10/2023 – After Sagar Shah, founder and driving force behind Chessbase India, spoke to former World Champion Vishy Anand about the dramatic World Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, Sagar also interviewed former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik on the same subject. As a supporter of "Team Nepo" Kramnik was directly involved in the World Championship match. In the interview, Kramnik talked about his work with Nepomniachtchi, the critical moments of the match, opening preparation, nervousness in World Championship matches and much more.

5/8/2023 – When Vishy Anand talks about World Championship matches, he knows what he's talking about. He was World Champion from 2007 to 2013, played six World Championship matches and one World Championship tournament, and reached the final of the World Knockout Championships twice. In an interview with Sagar Shah, Anand takes a look at the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi and talks about the critical moments of the games, opening preparation, match psychology, Magnus Carlsen and the future of the World Chess Championship.

5/7/2023 – A week after Ding Liren became the new world chess champion and a day after King Charless III was crowned in London, GM Jon Speelman reflects on the memorable match from Astana. Referring to Ding’s much praised decision to play ...Rg6 in the deciding game, Speelman writes: “That’s the one moment of the match that I’m going to revisit, not so much from the technical point of view but the psychological. Decision-making in chess involves both pure chess skill and general intelligence, and the small calculated risk that Ding took was a prime example”. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

5/3/2023 – The most exciting world championship match in recent history has come to an end and has produced the first Chinese World Chess Champion in Ding Liren. Ding is the 17th World Chess Champion and the new figurehead of world chess. We are sure to hear many more background stories about the course of the match soon. A few themes are already emerging. | Photo: Stev Bonhage (FIDE)

5/3/2023 – During the World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi the new World Champion Ding Liren had a number of helpers in Astana. But as Ding revealed in an interview with Leontxo Garcia in the Spanish newspaper "El País", in critical moments of the match Ding also received help by thoughts and words of Louise Glück, American poet and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize of Literature, and by the "Concept of Resistance" by the French philosopher and author Albert Camus, winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize of Literature. | Photo: Stev Bonhage

4/30/2023 – By winning game 4 of the rapid tiebreakers — after three draws — Ding Liren became the 17th undisputed world chess champion! Ian Nepomniachtchi seemed to have things under control in the deciding game, and even a bit of an advantage at times, but he overestimated his chances and allowed Ding to get a dangerous passer. Ding kept his nerves and converted his advantage brilliantly. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

4/22/2023 – Ding Liren crossed the 2700-rating barrier back in 2012, and was soon regarded as one of the potential challengers for the world title. A week from now, the soft-spoken grandmaster from Wenzhou might become the new world chess champion. Thus, this is a good time to reminisce on his most spectacular victory. In November 2017, at the Chinese League, Ding played a stunning tactical combination and crowned it with a brilliant king hunt. Robert Ris examines the game in a 23-minute video. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

4/18/2023 – A dramatic seventh game saw Ian Nepomniachtchi taking the lead for a third time at the World Championship match in Astana. Ding Liren shocked Nepo and the audience by playing the French Defence, which led to a double-edged position. While Ding managed to solve his problems and gain the initiative, he also got in deep time trouble. With only seconds on his clock and no increment, he blundered the game away. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage