5/15/2025 – Recently, on the last day of the Paris Freestyle chess even, Sagar Shah of ChessBase India was served dinner by a master chef, someone who takes traditional French dishes to a new dimension. The restaurant he visited, Cellar, provides some remarkable food and equally remarkable chess vibes. Sagar's video report shows you more.
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Restaurant Cellar specializes is French cuisine with a Japanese accent. Sortira Paris found it had "a convivial setting where good humour reigns, like being at home here with the spirit of conviviality spreading from table to table to the point of breaking the ice between strangers." Geoffrey Boyer, the chef, has been passionate about gastronomy since his early childhood. At Cellar, he takes traditional French dishes to a new dimension. The dishes are beautifully presented in a space with refined and comfortable decor. Take a look.
And what did Sagar find in this restaurant? Well, you can find out in his video report:
It was Geoffery's partner and wife Almira Skripchenko, seven-time French Champion, whom Sagar decided to interview. She describes the chess and Japanese connection of Cellar.
Guests in the Cellar: GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, IM Almira Skripchenko, IM Tania Sachdev, GM Harshit Raja and chef Geoffrey Boyer.
Philidor
I remember vividly the time we spent with Almira in Paris two decades ago. Here's my report from the time. She took us on a spectacular tour of the French capital.
Almira at home, and taking us on a walking tour of Paris
Almira took us to the Opera Garnier to show us the bust of Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor (born Sept. 1, 1726, died August 31, 1795) was a composer of classical music and one of the strongest chess players of his day. The name Philidor was passed on through his grandfather from King Louis XIII, a tribute to this family of royal musicians.
During years of waiting to perform in the chapel of Versailles, the young Francois learned the moves of chess and became the best player in the chapel. Philidor supported himself by giving music lessons, arranging and copying music. Spare time was spent at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris. There he learned from the strongest player in France, M. de Kermur, Sire de Legal. In 1745, Philidor went to Rotterdam and then to London accompanying a music company.
Surely you know 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6, the opening named after him.
4/27/2025 – From Friday to Sunday, the teams from the Bundesliga and the Women's Bundesliga will play their final rounds together in Deggendorf. Düsseldorf and Bad Königshofen have the best chances of winning the championship. The question of relegation is still open. Live here: Friday from 16.00 CEST, Saturday from 14.00, Sunday from 10.00.
4/26/2025 – This new interactive ChessBase video course by GM Fabien Libiszewski offers over eight hours of detailed instruction on the Pirc Defence, a dynamic opening for players seeking winning chances with black. Grandmaster Libiszewski guides viewers through key games and a complete repertoire, helping players grasp the main strategic ideas and counterplay opportunities. Suitable for both English and French speakers, the course also allows users to save games and variations for further study, making it a valuable addition to any ambitious player's training.
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.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
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Trompowsky Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 8727 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 316 are annotated.
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Powerbook based on more than 618 000 games in which White already sidesteps the main variations of the Sicilian on move 2.
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