7/5/2026 – The Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia is being held at the Westin Hotel in Zagreb from 1 to 5 July. The 10-player event sees three days of rapid chess (single round-robin) followed by two days of blitz (double round-robin). A young, stellar lineup features, among others, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Follow the games live starting at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST) | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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.
The Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia, the third leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour, is being held in Zagreb from 1 to 5 July. It follows the two opening tournaments of the tour, which were held in Warsaw and Bucharest.
The Croatia uses the familiar rapid and blitz format. The tournament begins with a 10-player single round-robin in rapid chess, with nine rounds played at a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment from move one. Rapid games count double: a win is worth 2 points, a draw 1 point and a loss 0 points.
The blitz section will then consist of a double round-robin, with 18 rounds across two cycles. The time control is 5 minutes plus a 2-second increment from move one. In the blitz section, a win is worth 1 point and a draw ½ point. The player with the highest combined rapid and blitz score will win the tournament.
July 1-3: Rapid
July 4-5: Blitz
The action kicks off daily at 15.00 CEST, except for the final day (5 July), which starts one hour earlier, at 14.00 CEST.
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. Looking for an opening that gets your opponents thinking on move one? Grandmaster Andy Woodward has relied on 1.b3 for years in blitz and bullet, using it to defeat strong masters and grandmasters who underestimated its hidden venom. While many players dismiss the opening as harmless, they often find themselves caught in unfamiliar positions, tactical traps, and uncomfortable middlegames. 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 that matter most when the clock is ticking.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: King's Indian Setup
Commentary provided by GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley, GM Cristian Chirila and IM Nazi Paikidze
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. Calculation is at the heart of practical chess. Every chess concept builds on proper calculation technique. Therefore, all chess players should continuosly train the fundamental techniques, concepts and patterns this course will present. The goal isn't only to teach you to calculate, but to give you the tools and insights to keep improving long after the final lesson.
Free sample video: Introduction
6/26/2026 – Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro, 12, travelled to his rival José Martínez's home city, Lima, and beat him at his own game - speed chess. Faustino and José played a six-game match: two rapid encounters and four blitz game. The final score was 4-2 Oro's favour. | Photo: ChessBase India / Amruta Mokal
6/25/2026 – The French league is usually a good source of exciting games and this week we are studying the highly entertaining and very complex game between Dutch number two Jorden van Foreest and the best French player of all time: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The World's former number two is known for this love of the highly theoretical and dynamic Grunfeld, but here he got seriously tested in the very sharp 5.h4 variation. The truely adventurous game ended with a very pretty finish. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
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.
IM Andrew Martin shows why this 19th-century opening weapon still is a fantastic choice for club players. The Evans produces exciting chess and teaches the art of attack.
The major part of the material on which the Petroff Defence Powerbook 2026 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 357 000 games. This imposing number is supplemented by another 17 000 from Mega and from correspondence chess.
Petroff Defence Powerbase 2026 is a database which contains 6475 high class games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 682 annotated.
Videos: Felix Blohberger presents the surprise weapon 4…a6 in the Four Knights Game. Mihail Marin analyses the English Opening with 1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bg2 Nc6. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 37 analyses by Berg, Radjabov and others.
Renowned for its solidity and strategic soundness, it has been a cornerstone of the repertoires of elite grandmasters including Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who relied on it successfully in the Candidates Tournament.
€39.90
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