8/9/2021 – The game Adolf Anderssen against Lionel Kieseritzky, the "Immortal Game", played in London 1851, is arguably the most famous game in the history of chess. Anderssen won with a brilliant mating combination after sacrificing huge parts of his army. But his opponent Lionel Kieseritzky also played an "Immortal Game". Stephan Oliver Platz discovered this game and uses it as a starting point to take a close look at Kieseritzky's contribution to the King's Gambit.

6/15/2021 – There are sacs, and there are sacs. This turn of phrase that suggests not all are the same could not be more true of piece sacs in chess. Some are just flat out blitzkrieg tactics to gain material or reach for the jugular, but this one was a long-term attacking sac by Fat Fritz 2 that took no fewer than 20 moves to convert, with many a deep idea as demonstrated in this article. Not to be missed!

5/21/2021 – It was a two-part task: from the reactions of students to a Zen master's whispered hints, they try to deduce which piece he is thinking of. In the second part you have to solve a chess study with a uniquely different drawing strategy. Very strong players all over the world joined in our experiment – most failed to solve the Logical. Here at last are the solutions – both of them.

5/17/2021 – For many chess players, chess problems just look bizarre: the pieces on the board often seem to be randomly placed and the positions appear to to be utterly removed from anything that can happen in a practical game. However, solving chess problems can be fun - if you know how to approach them. Vlaicu Crisan has some advice.

5/16/2021 – Looking at the games from the recent Russian Team Championship, played in Sochi, prompted Jon Speelman to reminisce on a tournament he played nearly four decades ago in the same Russian city near the Black Sea. “In those distant Soviet times, the seven foreigners were put up in the Zhemchuzhina (Pearl) Hotel while the nine Soviets were dispersed among other lesser establishments”. | Photo: John Saunders / John Nunn 60th Birthday Blitz Chess Tournament

5/5/2021 – Two students are studying a chess position. A Zen master watches and tells them that one of the pieces will play a very deep move. "Which one?" the students want to know. The Zen master whispers the piece type to one student and the colour to the other. From their reactions they are able to deduce which piece it is. You can help us in a book project by solving the problem. And hopefully have some fun in the process.

2/7/2021 – “The 8x8 board allied with the rules of chess is an amazing canvas. Much of the time the pictures it paints are fairly mundane, but occasionally it creates something extraordinary”, writes Jon Speelman to conclude this week’s article. In it, you will find helpmates, cooks and a surprising move out of a Catalan. | Photo: Anna Barnett website

2/1/2021 – There was no lack of excitement on the last day of action at this year’s Tata Steel Masters tournament. Jorden van Foreest defeated Nils Grandelius from the white side of a Najdorf to catch up with Anish Giri, who drew David Anton with the black pieces — these results meant an all-Dutch playoff would decide the winner. Two draws in the blitz tiebreakers were followed by an Armageddon decider, in which Giri got a major advantage but ended up losing in a wild time scramble. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

1/28/2021 – The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for many families and has brought many changes to the way billions of people live. It has also wrought a transformation of the chess world. This is described by John Nunn, who is playing vigorously in online tournaments. He has kindly annotated a game for us – one in which for the first time in his career he mated his opponent with a double check.

1/4/2021 – In our December 31 puzzle page we showed you problems ranging from mate in one to mate in 203 – expecting this record from decades ago to have been broken. And indeed it was: there is now a direct mate problem in which you have to play 226 accurate moves to mate the opponent (i.e. it is dual-free). In our second solutions page we also provide the answer to the ominous train problem, which has eluded some of the brightest minds in the world.

12/31/2020 – We end 2020, not the greatest year ever, with part four of our yearly Christmas puzzles. You must forgive us for using unorthodox problems – it was an attempt to give you something that requires more than a press of the Alt-F2 key or clicking a fan icon to find the solution. Most of today's problems are fairly computer-resistant, including one that has nothing to do with chess. Enjoy and keep safe during the New Year transition.

12/26/2020 – Columnist Siegfried Hornecker wonders, What is it that which motivates me, and others? What is this mysterious thing that is called ‘beauty’? Why do we perceive something as beautiful? He then goes on to share the opinions of people who have delved into these thought-provoking questions. | Photo: Bas Beekhuizen / Batavia Tournament 2016

11/23/2020 – How did ChessBase begin? It's been nearly 35 years now! When co-founder of ChessBase Frederic Friedel was in India, IM Sagar Shah decided to record the story of how it all began. In this article Frederic speaks about the humble beginnings of the big chess technology company and how the 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov played a big role in its success!

10/9/2020 – The Global Chess Festival, initiated and organised by Judit Polgar, is a treat for chess players all over the world. Traditionally, the festival takes place on the second Saturday of October, which this year falls on October 10, and this year the festival goes online - with a fantastic program and an amazing choice of events, all for free! "Chess Connects Us" is the slogan of the Global Chess Festival, and chess fans all over the world are invited to join the fun!

9/7/2020 – In a review published in Chess Life, John Watson looks at two titles that seek to reestablish the Benoni as an elite opening, Rustam Kasimdzhanov’s “The Benoni Is Back In Business” and John Doknjas’ “Opening Repertoire - The Modern Benoni”. According to the renowned American author, coach and critic, both authors “share a number of original novelties that are essential to making the case for the lines they are advocating”.

8/8/2020 – In this third part about the life and work of the prominent study composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen, we will get to know the person. So what follows next will give you an insightful peek into the mind of a composer, how he thinks and works. It will also give you a perspective of different styles of composing and how they evolve. We know our chess players well, it's time that we get to know our chess composers too! | Photo: Niels Jørgen Jacobsen, Silkeborg

7/19/2020 – Remembrances of his first chess books, analysis of a World Championship game, backstories from a Candidates Match and a ‘squashed’ Caro-Kann are all part of the latest column by Jonathan Speelman. The former world number four confesses: “Opening theory has never been my thing, and I was perhaps lucky to be active at a time when it was much less essential”. | Photo: David Llada

5/2/2020 – A “Mars opposition” occurs when planet Earth passes in between the Sun and planet Mars. It happens every 2 years and 2 months – 779.94 Earth days to be precise. Then Mars becomes a beautiful red jewel in the night sky, full of mystery. On the one hand a Martian invasion may be imminent. On the other we are able to discern human images carved on the Mars surface. In 2003 one was discovered that looked eerily familiar.

4/13/2020 – Today's his 57th, and we wish him a very happy birthday. Fifteen years ago it looked like the world might have just over two decades left to continue as we know it. An asteroid was calculated to fly by the earth – or in fact hit it – on Friday the 13th of April 2029. That would be Garry's 66th birthday. In the meantime more precise calculation by NASA revealed that the chances of a Kasparov birthday armageddon were between 2.7% to virtually zero. Warning: the following article has very little chess content. It is also not for the faint-hearted...

4/10/2020 – When it was first published, back in 2003, Garry Kasparov's book "My Great Predecessors" caused quite a stir in the chess world. It contained so much analysis that was a pleasure to study and devour. Kasparov himself invited us to join him in his search for ultimate chess truth on our news pages. Will you join the search?

3/30/2020 – There are very few individuals in the chess world who have met and known the many legends of the royal game as closely as the ChessBase co-founder Frederic Friedel. As editor of the ChessBase newspage he rubbed shoulders with greats like Kasparov, Karpov, Korchnoi, became friend and mentor to talents like Anand and Short, who often stayed in his home. Knowing also that Frederic is an unmatched raconteur, IM Sagar Shah always pesters him to tell a story or two every time they meet. The Knowing the Chess Greats series is an effort to bring some of these priceless conversations with Frederic to the general chess audience!

3/24/2020 – The entire world is in disarray, everything has ground to a halt. No more parties, movie theaters, pubs or restaurants, no more public sporting event – even the 2020 Olympic Games and the Chess Olympiad have been cancelled — both today. One chess tournament after the other is being abandoned, leagues, opens, everything. And at least one top player has caught the virus, another is trapped. Everyone is search for a cure — even the AlphaZero team of DeepMind!

2/18/2020 – When we learn the rules of chess as a youngster we are told about the chess board, the chess pieces and how each of the pieces move. Once we master these basics, we can proudly tell everyone that we have learnt the game of chess. However, when you go to a tournament, there is one more element that is added, one which plays just as important a role as the board and the pieces: the chess clock! Time is one of the most crucial factors when playing a game, and somehow this is one of the things that chess players pay the least attention to. It doesn't come as a surprise that many strong chess players handle the clock and time in a very poor manner, losing several games due to time pressure. How do we avoid this problem? In this article GM SWAPNIL DHOPADE tries to acquaint you with the causes and solutions of this perennial problem.

2/4/2020 – For the first time, the World Senior Team Chess Championship will be held in the Czech Republic. Four-member teams with one reserve player can participate in categories 50+ or 65+ of age. Women's teams will be ranked separately. The prize fund of the whole event is 10,000 EUR. | Official site