5/13/2025 – 2025 is a year of farewells. After Robert Huebner, another great player and outstanding personality in the world of chess has passed away: Vlastimil Hort. Vlastimil Hort was one of the best players in the world in the 1970s. After moving to Germany he entertained television viewers with his subtle humour on the programme 'Schach der Großmeister'. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

5/8/2025 – Boris Spassky (30 January 1935 - 27 February 2025), the tenth World Champion in chess history, was a versatile player who could attack and defend and was equally at home in sharp and in quiet positions. The ChessBase Master Class on Boris Spassky presents and analyses his rich chess legacy. Eugene Manlapao took a look at the course and was surprised and impressed.

5/5/2025 – "The BBC has posted a 1972 interview with Fischer by James Burke on YouTube," our friend Yasser Seirawan told us. BBC Two had was broadcast this video, which is 35 minutes long, on 2 July, 1972, nine days before the epic match began. "Personally, I thought that it is fantastic, vintage stuff. You see the Fischer that I met in 1992. Engaging, funny, self-assured. But also aware of his own shortcomings." It is really something you don't want to miss.

5/1/2025 – Prague Chess Festival 2025: Analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara, Nguyen, Shankland, Wei Yi and others - ‘My favourite miniature’: Entertaining, instructive, short - 27 games under 20 moves, annotated by CBM authors - Dutch vs. London: Yago Santiago counters with 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Nc6! - ‘Rooks in seventh heaven’: Oliver Reeh's tactical tests with over 30 current games + four interactive videos - ‘3.Bf4! – Something for the lazy?": Sam Shankland dissects his victory over Ediz Gurel from the Prague Masters with the London System – Opening videos by Daniel King, Jan Werle and Robert Ris and much more.

4/15/2025 – On 4 April, Iceland's first grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson passed away. Olafsson had celebrated his 90th birthday in January. After ending his career as a professional chess player, he became a lawyer and eventually became FIDE President. FIDE published Olafsson's last interview, in which he talks about computers, his chess career and his friendship with Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, among other things.

4/11/2025 – GM Jonathan Levitt explains why and how he has suddenly taken up writing lyrics for songs, including one on Bobby Fischer and one on Boris Spassky. Have a look, listen and enjoy!

3/26/2025 – In the new instalment of the Power Play Show, GM Daniel King explores Boris Spassky's attacking skills. A classical game from the Candidates 1977 is explored - specifically the ninth game of the semifinal match between Spassky and Lajos Portisch. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

3/18/2025 – The living chess legend from Argentina, Oscar Panno, celebrated his 90th birthday on Monday. The Argentine ranks sixth on the list of the oldest living chess grandmasters. His international career began in 1953 when he won the U20 World Championship. A number of remarkable achievements followed in what turned out to be a memorable chess career.

3/11/2025 – In his new Game of the Week show Merijn van Delft looks at one of the most remarkable games played in 2025: Aravindh Chithambarm's crucial victory against Anish Giri at the Prague Masters. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

3/10/2025 – On July 13, 2004, Bobby Fischer was detained in Japan with an invalid U.S. passport. That marked the beginning of a nine-month ordeal for him in Japanese custody. Among the supporters fighting for his release was former World Champion Boris Spassky, whom Fischer had dethroned thirty years earlier. Spassky, who passed last week, even wrote a personal letter of appeal to President George Bush, asking to be locked up in the same cell as Fischer. "And give us a chess set," he said.

3/4/2025 – In his latest column, GM Jon Speelman explores the fascinating Novotny theme in chess problems, sharing two of his own recent compositions. With the aid of modern software, he crafted problems that highlight this striking interference motif. He also delves into the theme's history, tracing its origins to Antonin Novotny (pictured) and Henry Turton, and recalls brilliant missed Novotnys in practical play.

3/3/2025 – Boris Spassky died last Thursday, 27 February 2025. An exceptionally fine obituary by Leonard Barden appeared in the Guardian the following day. At 95, Barden continues to write chess columns for The Guardian and Financial Times, demonstrating his enduring passion and expertise in the field. Chess historian Edward Winter likewise presents some excellent material on Spassky.

2/28/2025 – Boris Spassky, the tenth World Chess Champion, was a chess prodigy who became a grandmaster at the young age of 18. He won the World Chess Championship in 1969, and held the title until 1972, when he lost to Bobby Fischer in the famous "Match of the Century". Boris passed on Thursday at the age of 88. He was a decades-long personal friend of the author. | Photo Frederic Friedel, taken in June 2007

2/2/2025 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In episode 215 of his "Understanding before Moving" show Herman looks at the career of legacy of Judit Polgar. | Photo: Pascal Simon

1/26/2025 – Today, 26 January 2025, the legendary Icelandic Grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson celebrates his 90th birthday. Heartfelt congratulations to the Chess Coryphaeus! Our author Eduard Frey presents highlights from a remarkable biography.

1/24/2025 – A real life Queen’s Gambit, this captivating memoir tells the story of one of the most renowned women in chess history. Susan Polgar takes on a sexist establishment, standing up to an authoritarian empire and rewriting the rules of what women could achieve against the oppressive backdrop of Cold War Eastern Europe. A must-read book, coming out on March 11. Pre-orders available on Amazon.

1/14/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious episode, Robert Ris remembers German Grandmaster Robert Hübner, who died on 5 January 2025, by looking at one of Hübner's contributions to chess theory: the Hübner Variation in the Nimzo-Indian, a line that helped Bobby Fischer to win his World Championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

12/10/2024 – Currently, World Champion Ding Liren and Challenger Gukesh D fight for the World Championship in Singapore. They will certainly be keen to have the right equipment - board, pieces, and, perhaps underrated, chairs. Which chair will sit right with them? A question that is probably as old as the World Championship matches. Let’s have a closer look back, filled with some nostalgia. | Photo: Chess paradise in Formentera, Spain, from the annual Sunway Formentera Festival, official website

12/3/2024 – The book was originally published in German, has now been published in English by ChessBase India. The luxury hard cover version, printed in full colour, is available for less than $12, and the eBook version for just $9.50 – with all proceeds going to the HelpChess Foundation. Advanced copies of the book were given to former World Champions and other notable personalities in Singapore.

11/20/2024 – In the 1960s and 1970s, Lev Polugaevsky was one of the best players in the world. He played in the USSR team in the 'USSR vs. the Rest of the World' competition, and was a multiple World Chess Championship candidate. He would have been 90 years old today. | Photo: Anefo / Croes, R.C.

11/4/2024 – Depending on how you approach the question, what you prioritize and what matters to you, the answer might seem clear-cut, but is it? Even comparing just plain ol' books to digital texts can be a divisive topic, but chess e-books also carry their own differences to make the question and arguments fresh, with considerations that are unique to them. Enjoy this article and video.

10/5/2024 – The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) announced the 2024 U.S. and World Chess Halls of Fame inductees. One candidate, Charles Henry Stanley, will be inducted to the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame on October 10, while ten candidates will be inducted to the World Chess Hall of Fame on October 20: Nana Alexandria, Chen Zhu, Robert Hübner, Vladimir Kramnik, Irina Levitina, Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya, Efim Geller, Fridrik Olafsson, Oscar Panno and Lev Polugaevsky.

9/23/2024 – If you don't know your opening variations inside out, you can be shipwrecked right from the start. If you don't know how to build a fortress, you will end up resigning some of your games without needing to. In the last issue of ChessBase Magazine, Dorian Rogozenco started his series “The fortress”, which will gradually develop into a systematic collection of classical fortresses. In the new issue CBM #221, he presents two related motifs from the endgame bishop+pawn vs. pawn. The former coach of the German national team starts by explaining the motifs in the video. This is followed by no less than five interactive videos in which you can playfully put your building skills to the test. Take a look at the CBM reading sample of the week!

8/14/2024 – Tigran Petrosian was a very conservative player. On the other hand he could see tactics and combinations far in advance, so he went about countering them before even his opponents smell anything! Chess trainer GM Efstratios Grivas has always told his students to study the games of the former World Champion and try to understand what he had seen and why he chose his moves. Here is part two of his lesson.