6/19/2026 – A true Hamburg tradition: since 1958, Hamburg's Right Alster Bank has played against the Left Alster Bank! Yesterday, 3,744 pupils gathered on Hamburg's Rathausmarkt to take part in the world's largest school chess competition. This year, the opening move was made by Schools Senator Ksenija Bekeris together with Francesca, 10, and Thore, 10, from the Windmühlenweg Primary School. In the end, the Left Alster Bank won for the fourth time in a row, albeit by a relatively narrow margin, with 951½ points to 920½. That takes the overall score across all years to 40–22 in favour of the Left Alster Bank. This year, the team from Wielandstraße School took home the large challenge cup. | Photos: Nils Rhode
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 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
The Left Bank of the Alster wins again!
At 6:00 in the morning, almost 2,000 chess sets were set up.
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.
Under bright morning sunshine, the many helpers from the Hamburg Youth Chess Association, trainees from Hamburger Sparkasse and the ChessBase team - which was otherwise responsible for recording the results via QR codes using mobile phones - came together.
The main organisers, Björn Lengwenus and Jan Pohl, had no concerns at all about the weather - quite the opposite: "When planning a barbecue, you should schedule it for the day of the Alsterufer tournament: then the weather will work out!"
Organisers: Jan Pohl and Björn Lengwenus | Photo: Nils Rohde
The main sponsors were once again Thalia and Hamburger Sparkasse. The S-Bahn ensured punctual chess moves, and ChessBase ensured the correct final result was recorded.
Organisation & supporters: Jan Pohl, Johannes Brancke (Thalia), Ralf Günther (Hamburger Sparkasse), Björn Lengwenus, Schools Senator Ksenija Bekeris and ChessBase's Rainer Woisin | Photo: Nils Rohde
This DVD focuses on several types of material imbalances, such as Rook vs 2 Pieces, Queen vs 2 Rooks, and Queen vs Pieces.
Schools Senator Ksenija Bekeris was simply delighted by this chess competition in the "largest classroom in the city". Together with Francesca (10) and Thore (10) from Windmühlenweg Primary School, she made the opening move. Two weeks ago, Thore and his team won the title of German primary schools' runners-up, while Francesca became German primary schools champion with her team last year and will travel to Düsseldorf on Friday with her team to defend their title at the German Championship.
Ksenija Bekeris makes the opening move with Francesca and Thore | Photo: Nils Rohde
All seats are taken | Photo: Nils Rohde
Who was already there last year? | Photo: Nils Rohde
A distinguished visitor: GM Dmitrij Kollars gives a simultaneous exhibition | Photo: Nils Rohde
The two teams fought a tense duel that was decided only shortly before the end. In the end, the Left Bank of the Alster won by 951½ to 920½ points. On behalf of the Left Bank, the team from Wielandstraße Primary School received the imposing cup to loud cheers. Wielandstraße School had been drawn from the pool of 17 teams that had won their match 8–0.
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!
The cup is proudly raised aloft | Photo: Nils Rohde
The winning team from Wielandstraße School | Photo: Nils Rohde
Incidentally, the professional assembly and dismantling of the stage, tables, benches, organisation tents, sound, lighting and safety barriers on Hamburg's Rathausmarkt was handled by https://joke-event.de/ from Bremen!
In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.
6/23/2025 – It might well be the world’s biggest scholastic chess tournament: the “Rechtes gegen Linkes Alsterufer” match, played every year in Hamburg. Schools from the right bank of the Alster – the river that runs through the city – compete in teams of eight against schools from the left bank. The event began in 1958, with the left bank winning 65–33 and taking a 1–0 lead. Today, the left bank leads with 40–22 in team points and 31,277.5 to 30,512.5 in board points. Over the years, a total of 123,738 students have taken part in the event. The most recent match took place on June 18, outdoors in the center of Hamburg. The left bank won 966.5 to 769.5. | Photos: Nils Rhode
6/11/2025 – On the Thursday before the Whitsun weekend, Bremen's market square was once again transformed into a large open-air chess tournament hall. 1,300 schoolchildren competed to show what they had learned as part of the Bremen school chess project "Schach macht schlau!" (Chess makes smart). At the end of the day, the cup winners were drawn from the winning team. This time, the trophy featuring the Bremen Town Musicians went to Burgdamm School with classes 1c and 2c. | Photos: Nils Rhode
‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are:
• 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2
• 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc)
• 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation
• 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1
• 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3)
It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.
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.
Videos: Felix Blohberger presents the surprise weapon 4…a6 in the Four Knights Game. Mihail Marin analyses the English Opening with 1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bg2 Nc6. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 37 analyses by Berg, Radjabov and others.
Renowned for its solidity and strategic soundness, it has been a cornerstone of the repertoires of elite grandmasters including Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who relied on it successfully in the Candidates Tournament.
The Benko Gambit is back at the very highest level - and it's easy to see why. Black sacrifices a pawn to seize the initiative on the queenside, obtaining long-lasting pressure, active pieces and open files that make life difficult for White.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
€21.90
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