Review: All new releases in April!

by Stefan Liebig
5/17/2025 – In April, ChessBase released many new video courses and other products. Browse the convenient monthly overview to select your favourites: ChessBase Magazine, the new Master Class episode on Max Euwe, the comprehensive Pirc package, or the various Sicilian and strategy guides. What's more, the holidays are just around the corner, and Fritz & Fertig can make those long journeys a little more enjoyable! Take a look at all of last month's products!
The free app from ChessBase! ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go: access your chess data in cloud databases - and 13 million games.
ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go:
  • Access the ChessBase online database - with more than 13 million games: search for players, positions, openings etc.
  • Save your own games and analyses in cloud databases
  • Synchronise your personal databases across all your devices
  • Analyse your games with the built-in engine
  • Live opening book: use the most comprehensive and up-to-date statistics for every opening position
  • Access your opening repertoire in the cloud: create and edit your personal opening repertoire
  • 300 opening overviews, with repertoire suggestions: get started with new systems!
  • Practise opening variations with three modes.
  • Advanced notation: add comments, symbols, variations, arrows and markings to your games
  • Advanced sharing options: share games and positions via link, image, GIF, FEN or QR code
  • PGN compatibility: upload and download games or databases as PGN files

New releases: April 2025

Master Class Volume 18: Max Euwe

Max Euwe was the fifth world chess champion in history, after defeating Alexander Alekhine in the 1935 world championship match. The mathematics teacher remained an amateur, but was nevertheless the best player in the Netherlands and one of the best in the world.

In 1937, he lost the title again in a rematch against Alekhine. In addition to his career as a player, he was also a very successful author of numerous textbooks. Later, he also enjoyed high esteem as president of the World Chess Federation.

Video sample

Masterclass Max Euwe in the ChessBase Shop

Experts examine the games of Max Euwe. Let them show you which openings Euwe chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were, which tactical abilities he had or how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame.
Max Euwe became the fifth World Chess Champion after beating Alexander Alekhine in the 1935 World Championship match. A maths teacher by profession, Euwe remained an amateur throughout his life, but was still the best chess player in the Netherlands, and one of the world's best players. Euwe holds the record for the most Dutch national championships, with twelve. After winning the World Championship, Euwe was also the world's best player for a while. He lost the title again in 1937 in the rematch against Alexander Alekhine.
Free video sample: Openings

ChessBase Magazine 225

The new CBM offers first-class training material for club players and professionals. World-class players explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends and ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers show you exactly the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player.

The highlights of CBM 225 range from the Prague Chess Festival 2025 to Jan Werle's opening video on the London System and Mihail Marin's strategy article "Outposts on open lines" to Dr Karsten Müller's video series "Endgame basics".

Free reading sample

My favourite miniature

CBM 225 in the ChessBase Shop

S.P. Sethuraman: The Classical Sicilian -
A Timeless Counterattacking Weapon

The classic Sicilian Defence has proven to be one of the most principled and combative defences against 1.e4. With its long history, which includes world championship matches and modern elite tournaments, this opening remains a favourite among players seeking a dynamic, counterattacking approach without getting bogged down in extreme theoretical battles such as the Najdorf or Sveshnikov.

:Free reading sample

h3 on move 6

Buy S.P. Sethuraman: The Classical Sicilian in the ChessBase Shop

Review of this course

The course is designed to provide a deep yet practical repertoire for Black, balancing solid foundations with aggressive counterplay.
The Classical Sicilian has stood the test of time as one of the most principled and fighting defences against 1.e4. With its rich history spanning world championship matches and modern elite tournaments, this opening remains a favourite among players who seek a dynamic, counterattacking approach without venturing into extreme theoretical battles like the Najdorf or Sveshnikov.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: 6.h3

Fabien Libiszewski: Master the Pirc Defence!
- A strategic and dynamic approach

The Pirc Defence (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6) is a dynamic opening in which the centre is temporarily ceded to the opponent in order to attack it later. The interactive video course, with over 8 hours of playing time, explains the Pirc Defence in detail and highlights its strengths.

With a mix of important reference games and the analysis of a complete repertoire, the course is a top tool for successfully using this opening.

:Free reading samples
Attacking like in the King's Indian Defence
Introduction

Buy in the ChessBase Shop

Review of this course

This interactive video course of over 8 hours, provides an in-depth exploration of the Pirc Defence, a favoured opening for people looking to play for the win with the black pieces.
This interactive video course of over 8 hours, provides an in-depth exploration of the Pirc Defence, a favoured opening for people looking to play for the win with the black pieces. Through a combination of key reference games and the analysis of a complete repertoire, this ChessBase Training video course helps you understand the essential themes, ideas, and resources needed to master this opening.
Free Video sample: Introduction
Free Video sample: Attacking like in the King's Indian Defence

Pirc Defence​:
Powerbase 2025 and Powerbook 2025

Perfect in combination with the course by Fabien Libiszewski presented above, these databases allow you to use all ChessBase resources for your opening preparation – for only £9.90 each:

  • The 874 selected annotated games in the Powerbase offer excellent study material. The lion's share of the annotated games were contributed by Pirc experts Igor Stohl, Alexander Finkel and Sergey Erenburg.
  • The Pirc Powerbook 2025 is based on a minimum rating of 2200 Elo for computer games and 2000 for games played by humans. The Powerbook contains a total of 283,000 games.

Buy in the ChessBase Shop

Robert Ris: Mastering Chess Strategy Vol.2 – Take your piece play to the next level!

After laying the foundations in Volume 1, we now delve deeper into the most important strategic concepts. But without lengthy theoretical explanations – this course is all about active learning!

Ris provides a structured approach to piece play:
• Improving the worst-positioned piece
• Piece exchange – learning when to exchange and when to keep important pieces
• King safety
• Passive pieces – recognising misplaced pieces and finding ways to bring them back into play.

:Free reading samples
Introduction
Improve Your Worst Piece

Buy in the ChessBase Shop

Robert Ris: Mastering Chess Strategy Vol.3 - Exploit your opponent’s weaknesses!

Building on the lessons of the previous volumes, Volume 3 shifts the focus to one of the most important skills in chess: recognising and exploiting your opponent's weaknesses. Whether it's a weak pawn, a vulnerable king or poor coordination of pieces, in this course the author shows how to recognise critical moments and implement an effective plan. But strategy alone is not enough – tactical awareness is also required!

:Free reading samples

​Introduction
Attack Weaknesses

Buy in the ChessBase Shop

 

Here are the new releases of the previous months:

Links:

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Stefan Liebig, born in 1974, is a journalist and co-owner of a marketing agency. He now lives in Barterode near Göttingen. At the age of five, strange pieces on his neighbour’s shelf aroused his curiosity. Since then, the game of chess has cast a spell over him. Flying high in the NRW youth league with his home club SV Bad Laasphe and several appearances in the second division team of Tempo Göttingen were highlights for the former youth South Westphalia champion.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

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Women's GP Austria: Zhu and Tan shine in Grosslobming

5/12/2025 – Anna Muzychuk retained her lead at the Women's Grand Prix in Austra after a draw against Nana Dzagnidze, bringing her to 4½/6 points. Zhu Jiner secured her fourth win, moving to shared second place and staying within reach of Muzychuk in the overall standings. Tan Zhongyi showed impressive tenacity, turning a drawn rook endgame into a victory over Nurgyul Salimova, while Alexandra Kosteniuk and Vaishali Rameshbabu each notched important wins to improve their positions in the tournament. | Photo: Przemysław Nikiel
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Video

60m English A practical repertoire against the scotch

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.
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