5/24/2025 – Magnus Carlsen won the Chess.com Classic with a game to spare in the Grand Final against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The former world champion remained unbeaten throughout the event and secured the title with two wins and a draw in the final match. A swift victory in game one and a well-converted rook endgame in game three sealed the result. Carlsen now turns his attention to Norway Chess, where he returns to classical over-the-board play against an elite field.
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
If you're looking to revamp your opening repertoire and surprise your opponents with powerful, modern ideas, The Ultimate Scotch Gambit is the perfect choice.
€39.90
A flawless performance
Magnus Carlsen emerged as the winner of the Chess.com Classic after a convincing performance in the Grand Final against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The match concluded with a round to spare, as Carlsen secured two victories and one draw in the best-of-four encounter. His victory in the online rapid event was marked by consistency as he remained unbeaten across all 18 games played. With this result, Carlsen takes home the $25,000 first prize.
The first game of the final was a swift 24-move win, with Carlsen demonstrating sharp attacking play. The key moment came with 19.g4, an aggressive pawn push that appeared risky but ultimately proved decisive in opening lines toward the black king.
Carlsen v. Vachier-Lagrave - Game #1
Vachier-Lagrave was unable to regroup in time, and the game ended in a collapse.
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!
21.Qd3 left the f3-knight en prise. But soon came Black's resignation - after 21...Rxf3 22.Qh7+ Kf7 23.Bg6+ Kf6 24.Bh5, with mate-in-five on the board.
Game two saw both players display accurate play throughout, resulting in a draw. However, with momentum on his side and the match lead in hand, Carlsen pressed again in game three, this time converting a favourable endgame.
The decisive error came with 24...Re8, overlooking a tactic that allowed Carlsen to force a pawn-up rook endgame.
Carlsen v. Vachier-Lagrave - Game #3
MVL missed 25.Rxd6, and after 25...Rxe4 26.Rxd7 Rd4, White held a clear advantage with his passer on the d-file.
The alternative defensive idea was 24...Qf7, creating counterplay against the f2-pawn, but even there, after 25.Qe6 and a forced queen exchange, Carlsen would still have held a slight edge - more than enough, given his lead in the match.
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: Overview
Free video sample: Chigorin: 9...Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7/cxd4
Carlsen showed his usual endgame precision to convert the edge and win the game, the match and the tournament.
Click on image to enlarge
With the Chess.com Classic concluded, Carlsen now shifts his focus to classical over-the-board play. Beginning Monday, he will take part in the Norway Chess super-tournament in Stavanger. The prestigious double round-robin will feature six top players: Carlsen, reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Hikaru Nakamura, Arjun Erigaisi, Fabiano Caruana and Wei Yi.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
5/22/2025 – Magnus Carlsen has reached the Grand Final of the Chess.com Classic after victories over Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hikaru Nakamura in the Winners Bracket. Nakamura's unexpected resignation in a winning position brought the day's play to a dramatic close. Several top players, including Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren, were eliminated, while Abdusattorov, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vladimir Fedoseev and, of course, Nakamura continue their campaigns in the Losers Bracket. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
5/21/2025 – The first day of the Chess.com Classic Playoffs determined the four semi-finalists in the Winners Bracket: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Ian Nepomniachtchi. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju was eliminated after two defeats—first by Vladimir Fedoseev in the round of 16, then by compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the Losers Bracket. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Denis Lazavik and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu were also knocked out. | Photo: Anmol Bhargav
For a long time the Scotch opening was considered harmless and rarely played. This changed in 1990 when Garry Kasparov successfully employed the Scotch opening in his World Championship match against Anatoly Karpov. But that was 25 years ago. Now, there is no need to panic if you want to play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 and need a line against the Scotch. On this 60 Minutes renowned and successful coach Adrian Mikhalchishin gives simple practical tips how to neutralize and counter the Scotch.
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
Focus on the Sicilian: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
€19.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.