5/17/2026 – The London System is no longer a fringe opening on the margins of chess theory, but has developed into a serious and widely tested weapon — an assessment recently confirmed by Magnus Carlsen in an interview. Against this backdrop, Mihail Marin presents an approach that confronts London players with concrete problems at an early stage and demands a high degree of flexibility — a requirement that can prove particularly uncomfortable for unprepared adherents of the system. In his review, Lukas Köpl takes a closer look at this antidote for Black.

5/14/2026 – The ChessBase Opening Encyclopedia 2026 is one of the company’s flagship products alongside the Mega Database and the ChessBase database program - currently ChessBase'26. For years, these programs have formed part of the essential toolkit for everyday chess work. From the very beginning, the Opening Encyclopedia has played a key role by providing a fast and efficient overview of the entire spectrum of chess openings. Lukas Köpl took a closer look at the latest edition of the Opening Encyclopedia and summed up his impressions.

5/2/2026 – In Volume 1 of his Fritztrainer on calculation, "Foundations", Surya Ganguly presented the basics of accurate calculation. In Volume 2, "Advanced Practice", the Indian grandmaster now takes things a step further. Hannes Langrock is an editor at a fiction publishing house and an International Master. He lives in Leipzig and plays for ESV Nickelhütte-Aue. He reviews the course "Calculation Step by Step Vol. 1". | Photos: ChessBase

3/28/2026 – Accurate calculation is the be-all and end-all in chess. That is precisely what Surya Ganguly aims to teach. Young FIDE Master Bahne Fuhrmann of Hamburger SK reviews Ganguly’s video course “Calculation Step by Step – Vol. 1: Foundations.” In his article, he takes a closer look at the tips and techniques proposed by the Indian grandmaster for calculating variations with precision. A course that demands active participation…

3/21/2026 – ChessBase Magazine has been a gold standard for structured chess training for decades. From club players to strong tournament competitors, it offers ample material for players of all levels. Lukas Köpl, himself a long-time user of “CBM”, takes a look at the latest issue of ChessBase’s digital magazine and presents his personal highlights.

2/3/2026 – MegaBase 2026 is Chess History in action. Regularly updated every month, the Main Database currently offers 11.8 million games, many of them annotated. Here our columnist offers a review with focus on chess in the 21st Century.

1/30/2026 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Nagesh Havanur takes a look at the current issue, CBM 229. All games from the FIDE World Cup, 27 annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Sam Shankland, Wei Yi, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Gabriel Sargissian among others. The icing on the cake is the Special feature "Giri's Gems", offering the Dutch star's eight best games from the year 2025.

1/25/2026 – Calculation separates the wheat from the chaff in chess. At the same time, many club players devote too little of their training to the skills involved. In today’s flood of courses and databases, everyone can bring their openings to a solid level and make “sensible” moves. Yet most games are still decided in close combat. Hannes Langrock is an editor at a fiction publishing house and an International Master. He lives in Leipzig and plays for ESV Nickelhütte Aue. He reviews Surya Ganguly's course “Calculation Step by Step Vol. 1”. | Photos: ChessBase

1/4/2026 – Vincent Keymer's 2025 season marked a decisive step forward in his development as an elite player. Focusing exclusively on classical chess, this analysis reviews how the young German recovered from a modest start to the year, produced a series of standout results in the second half, and translated them into a major rating climb and a place among the world’s top four by year's end.

12/31/2025 – This “Best of 2025” episode is a year-end tactics celebration where Svitlana reviews the coolest moments of the chess year by turning them into a guess-the-move challenge for viewers. The WIM works through several sharp positions from major events (including the Global Chess League, World Cup, Grand Swiss, and Prague Chess Festival), featuring wild sacrifices, mating nets, and one especially memorable queen-sac idea in a Petroff line. Happy new year!

12/29/2025 – This video is a valuable chess lesson by IM Mkrtchian. Watch Lilit walk through a full "real tournament" prep routine in ChessBase 26. Find out how she scouts an opponent in the Mega Database, predict their openings, and steer the game into a line she specifically prepared. The payoff: a sharp Rossolimo move-order trap explained in a super teachable way, plus how she converts the advantage into a clean endgame win.

12/24/2025 – This video is a valuable chess lesson by IM Mkrtchian. Watch Lilit walk through a full “real tournament” prep routine in ChessBase 26. Find out how she scouts an opponent in the Mega Database, predict their openings, and steer the game into a line she specifically prepared. The payoff: a sharp Rossolimo move-order trap explained in a super teachable way, plus how she converts the advantage into a clean endgame win.

12/20/2025 – In Part Two of his review of the Opening Encyclopaedia 2025, Nagesh Havanur explores the nuanced world of Semi-Open Games. From the dynamic Sicilian Defence to the "quiet" Caro-Kann, each defence offers distinct challenges and strategies. As our author transitions to Closed Games in his next instalment, he offers much practical advice for the aspiring tournament player.

12/9/2025 – Now that we have examined all the individual trees in this game between Viktor Kortschnoj and Anatoly Karpov from 1978, what is our view of the forest? Move after move, Kortschnoj made optimal choices, never lessening the tension. Most decisive endings are won after a gross blunder, but it took 46 years to find where Black finally stumbled. As GM Alex Fishbein noted, Kortschnoj "made many nonstandard decisions, made no mistakes and played brilliantly – one of the best endings ever played."

11/13/2025 – FIDE has filed a formal complaint with its Ethics & Disciplinary Commission, naming former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (pictured) as respondent. The referral concerns his repeated, unsubstantiated public accusations of computer-assisted cheating against Daniel Naroditsky and David Navara. The EDC will now review the case under its standard procedures. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/25/2025 – Michael Kotyk is a young chess coach from Hamburg. Below, he reviews Robert Ris's video course on the Colle & Zukertort System, an often underestimated system, but one that Kotyk has very personal memories of from his early days as a tournament player... | Photos: ChessBase

10/21/2025 – From the classrooms of Trujillo to the tournament halls of Europe, Patricia Claros Aguilar has built a career defined by purpose, empathy and excellence. The Peruvian-born organiser, now based in Spain, reflects on her 25-year journey in chess - from humble beginnings to international recognition. Honoured with the 2025 Special Prize from the Chess Hall of Fame of the Americas, she shares insights on education, leadership, innovation and the unifying power of chess. | Photos: Patricia Claros' Archive

10/10/2025 – The delayed September edition reviews a single slow-play game in the mainline Sicilian Dragon, Yugoslav Attack with Bc4 and 10.Bb3. Chris outlines White’s three plans: all-out h4–h5, positional a4, or the “halfway house”, and shows the typical imbalances after Bxe6 followed by fxe6 and the tactical motif Rb4. But, our viewers have to be strong, since this episode it is White who actually wins | Photo: John Upham

10/2/2025 – While Magnus Carlsen's embrace of freestyle chess has sparked questions about the future of established theory, traditional openings remain central to top-level play. The ChessBase Opening Encyclopaedia 2025 offers over 1500 articles, 7850 surveys and recent repertoire ideas to help players navigate both classic and modern systems. From deep analysis of the Spanish Berlin to a revisited Evans Gambit tested by Carlsen and Anand, this resource balances instruction with inspiration.

8/31/2025 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look at CBM 226. All games from the European Championship, 27 annotated games, 11 opening surveys, 4 opening videos, 7 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include two-time European champion Matthias Bluebaum (pictured), Frederik Svane, Daniil Yuffa, Maxim Rodshtein and Gabriel Sargissian, among others. | Photo: European Chess Union

7/23/2025 – Over the past 20 years Larry List has curated exhibitions, and written primarily about the interrelationships between chess and visual art. To coincide with a Man Ray exhibition of photos at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this September, Hirmer Verlag of Munich is publishing his new book On Man Ray, the closest artist friend of the famous 20th century artist Marcel Duchamp. It is lavishly illustrated with color photos, with a solid and attractive layout. | Man Ray self-portrait 1926 Centre Pompidou

6/27/2025 – European Championship 2025: Analyses by Bluebaum, F. Svane, Abasov, Alonso Rosell, Cheparinov, Grandelius, Lagarde, Navara, Ponomariov, Rodshtein, Sargissian, Suleymanli, Tari, Velten, Vogel, Volokitin, Wojtaszek and Yuffa – Raid in the Sveshnikov: Lars Schandorff shows that Black has to be extremely careful after 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Nb8 9.Qf3!? – ‘Queen sacrifice with dividend’: Oliver Reeh's tactical tests with over 30 current games + four interactive videos – Kramnik at his best: Dorian Rogozenco reviews the ‘Modern Classic’ Kramnik-Ehlvest (Tal Memorial 1995), including the novelty in move 16 and the impressive play by the former world champion, and much more.

6/11/2025 – Among ChessBase products the Big DataBase stands in its own right. Unlike the MegaBase it has no annotations. This paves the way for independent study and preparation, and helps the player to hone skills on his own. The present edition offers 11 million games from 1475 to November 2024. In this vast collection there are games from world championships, famous tournaments, past and present, not to mention little-known events that deserve greater recognition. There are magnificent battles, brilliancies and unknown gems all waiting to be discovered. Our columnist here introduces a few rare gems.

5/29/2025 – ChessBase Magazine Extra is the ideal supplement to ChessBase Magazine. In the new Extra #225: Videos by Mihail Marin: Najdorf Variation with 6.f4 and Nico Zwirs: Italian ‘giucco pianissimo’. ‘Lucky bag’ with 45 analyses by Edouard, Ftacnik, Gupta, Pelletier and others. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database. You can now read CBM Extra also in your webbrowser on your iPad, tablet or Mac in the "ChessBase Book" format!