4/4/2026 – At the beginning of the 1970s, John Lennon dreamed of a world without war, and his partner Yoko Ono symbolised the futility of fighting and wars with a chessboard in which all the pieces are white. On the occasion of the Speed Chess Championship in London, which too place in February, Jason Kouchak draws a link between modern fast-paced chess and a peaceful world united through chess and music. | Photo: André Schulz
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.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
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"Music of the Mind"
(Harmony and intuition)
When asked why he plays chess, Grandmaster Peter Svidler once replied: "In my understanding, the things of the world strive to become music. And chess comes very close".
This is a sentiment that Jason Kouchak could certainly adopt. While Peter Svidler, on his path to mastery in chess, has preserved his love of music, Jason Kouchak achieved mastery in music, yet always felt drawn to chess and combined his two passions whenever possible.
As a musically inclined chess enthusiast, Jason Kouchak is a welcome guest at chess tournaments and introduces his friends in the chess world to music. With his compositions, he has appeared, among other places, at Judit Polgar's chess festival in Budapest, among many other chess events, while he also organises both smaller and larger chess events himself.
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
On 7 and 8 February, Jason Kouchak's hometown, London, hosted the final of the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship. The tournament series is played online. For the final, the four best players gather in one place, but still compete in front of screens in semifinal and final matches for the overall title.
Jason Kouchak was invited as a guest of honour and was impressed by the players' virtuosity:
It was as if the top chess players, with their speed and improvisational ability on the board, were suddenly bringing jazz into their classical chess repertoire. They were simultaneously in harmony with their intuition. Magnus was clearly the best!
Photo: Chess.com
"With the help of modern technology, the venerable game of chess has undergone a contemporary update", says Jason Kouchak. "The avant-garde moves on the virtual board provide fast-paced entertainment".
Jason Kouchak has been friends for years with Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura and was pleased to see them again.
A few years ago, with a very young Magnus Carlsen... | Photo: Ray Morris-Hill
...and today alongside Magnus and Henrik Carlsen | Photo: Jason Kouchak
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
Way back when with Hikaru Nakamura... | Photo: Jason Kouchak
...and this year in London | Photo: Jason Kouchak
In recent decades, chess has developed from a backroom pastime into a modern spectacle and has thus become a popular subject for filmmakers. With the miniseries "Queen's Gambit", Netflix achieved great success and recently followed it up with the documentary about Judit Polgar, "Queen of Chess".
The greatest female player of all time has stepped away from tournament chess, is active as a chess ambassador and organises a large chess festival in Budapest once a year. At the 2018 edition, she appointed the musician Jason Kouchak and the artist Yoko Ono as "Goodwill Ambassadors" for chess.
Jason Kouchak with Judit Polgar | Photo: Jason Kouchak
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
Yoko Ono with Judit Polgar | Photo: Judit Polgar
Yoko Ono was ahead of her time when she created her conceptual artwork "Play it by Trust" (first devised in 1966), a chess set consisting exclusively of white pieces on a white board.
Photo: André Schulz
Jason Kouchak has always admired Yoko Ono's creativity, and especially this chess set:
This is an appealing abstract concept in which the players forget where the pieces are in time and space, yet still move instinctively. By dispensing with colour contrasts, the players are compelled towards collaboration and mutual trust, promoting communication and cooperation rather than conflict. It is intended as a metaphor for the futility of war.
The desire for peace is also reflected in John Lennon's composition "Imagine". The song was written 55 years ago, yet is more relevant today than it has been for a long time.
In the following video, the song is reinterpreted by Jason Kouchak and combined with images from a game played by John Lennon with Yoko Ono in 1966.
With many thanks to Jason Kouchak for the inspiration and images.
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.
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
For the Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbook 2026 the ratings average was set again at 2400. 2.24 million games from the engine room of playchess.com met this threshold, to which were added over 130 000 games played by humans.
In this volume, we dive into core aspects of chess technique. Smyslov taught the principle of tactical hierarchy, “checks, double attacks, and unprotected pieces”, and Mikhalchishin demonstrates how this method of calculation is vital.
Videos: Nico Zwirs examines two Petroffs from the 2026 Candidates. Robert Ris has a tip against the Caro-Kann Advance Variation with 3…c5. Fiona Sieber reveals a surprise weapon against the Najdorf. ‘Lucky Bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, L'Ami et al.
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