3/8/2018 – Last Sunday in Moscow the contest "blondes against brunettes" was held for the eighth time. Alexandra Kosteniuk led the "brunettes" to a clear victory. In India, IM Tania Sachdev launches a "Powerless Queen" project, and in Belgrade, there's a 50th International Women's tournament ongoing | Pictured: Elmira Mirzoeva | Photo: Russian Chess Federation
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.!
The aim of this course is to help you understand how to make tactical opportunities arise as well as to sharpen your tactical vision - these selected lectures will help to foster your overall tactical understanding.
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
€21.90
International Women's Day 2018
March 8th is Women's Day, celebrated throughout the world. In Belgrade it even has its own tournament, this year celebrating its 50th edition, which runs through March 13th.
The first Women's International Tournament was organised between March 8th and 24th, 1965. Since then it has become an annual tradition in the Serbian capital, with the exception of 1980 (cancelled due to lack of funding) and 1984 (when only local players participated so it wasn't "international").
Twelve players from Serbia, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, France and Bosnia and Hercegovina are participating this year. After five rounds, Jovana Rapport (wife of Richard) is in clear first with 5.0 / 6.
The women of the 50th International Tournament | Photo: Courtesy the city of Belgrade
The live games transmission has been spotty, but when games are broadcast we'll have them on live.chessbase.com.
Blonds vs brunettes
In anticipation of Women's Day in Moscow, the "most beautiful chess tournament in the city" was played last Sunday, and "Blondes vs. Brunettes", as it's known, has also become a traditional competition, albeit one with a bit more flair. Organiser WGM Maria Forminykh instigated the event for the eighth time, which was played in the famous Central Chess Club on Gogolevsky Boulevard.
IM Nisha Mohota shows guidelines to steer you through the opening, shows basic endgames, helps you to understand fundamental pawn structures, and explains principles and patterns of attack and defense
Blonds vs. Brunettes | Photo: Vladimir Barsky
Among the participants were two former world champions: Alexandra Kosteniuk and Anna Ushenina. Also in the mix were Valentina Gunina, Olga Giryaa, Natalia Zhukova, Daria Charochkina, Daria Voit, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Karina Ambartsumova, Alexandra Goryachkina, Marina Nechaeva, Elmira Mirzoeva, Dina Drozdova, Irina Sudakova, Alina Bivol and last, but not least, Maria Fominykh herself.
Daria Charochkina, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Karina Ambartsumova | Photo: Vladimir Barsky
The two teams played a match using the Scheveningen system. Each blond played a blitz game against each brunette at a rate of 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. All players were decked out in with dresses by designer Olga Grinyuk.
At the end of the day, the brunettes left with the edge, the final score, 37 : 27. Alexandra Kosteniuk was the best performer with 7 out of 8. Anna Ushenina was close behind, with 6½ out of 8.
Learn to master the right exchange! Let the German WGM Elisabeth Pähtz show you how to gain a strategic winning position by exchanging pieces of equal value or to safely convert material advantage into a win.
The continuous stream of new ideas in the Sicilian makes 1..c5 the most popular answer to 1.e4. On this DVD I do give an introduction to the most important Sicilian systems.
On this DVD, well-known Indian WGM Tania Sachdev shows you how to evaluate certain positions and then find the right concepts and plans on the basis of her own games.
Powerless Queen Challenge
"What if the queen, the symbol of strength is rendered powerless?"
So asks the new social activism site from Project Nanhi Kali, which "works with parents and communities to counsel them of the importance of sending their girls to school."
The initiative gets a boost from IM Tania Sachdev, who posted this promotional video:
The challenge itself is simply a 30-second chess game against the computer, but with a twist, you'll quickly discover if you give it a go. It's a bit of a gimmick, but one which makes a profound point about fairness.
Macauley PetersonMacauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.
London System PowerBase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
€9.90
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