7/24/2020 – 1933, Moscow. Michael Botvinnik had just won the USSR Chess Championship. A match was arranged between him and one of the top players at the time, Czechoslovakian Champion Salomon Flohr. The 12-game match was drawn, after Flohr took an early lead. In one of his games he showed the chess world how to force a win in the 2B vs 2N endgame. But did he really, or did Botvinnik simply misplay it? Can you help endgame specialist GM Karsten Müller answer this question?

7/23/2020 – Are you tired of playing d5 against 1.d4 or c4? Grandmaster Simon Williams, one of the most creative GMs in the chess world, has tackled the flamboyant Budapest Gambit. Williams' typically fun and entertaining way of teaching is paired with serious theory, as he is always very well-prepared to show extraordinary variations. The English Grandmaster honestly reflects on how this opening can backfire, and goes over several traps that can be triggered against White.

7/17/2020 – Last Monday one of our favourite chess prodigies Nihal Sarin celebrated his 16th birthday – not by enjoying a nice evening with family and friends. Nihal is no ordinary youngster! He is a full GM and rated 2620! On his birthday Nihal decided to spend roughly around an hour and a half with ChessBase India solving sixteen positions that IM Sagar Shah had handpicked for him! You can watch him doing it, and join him in his efforts. There is a lot to learn.

7/13/2020 – Most of the top players cannot take part in over-the-board tournaments, due to the pandemic. But they are often seen in various titled online events. Like in an online blitz tournament on chess.com, where only titled players from all over the world are allowed to take part. Indian GM Raunak Sadhwani made the most of the opportunity and beat the former World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana. The game is instructively commented by a video by IM Sagar Shah - with quiz questions and points.

6/29/2020 – "Nana Dzagnidze is one of my most loyal and closest companions," writes Elizabeth Pähtz, Germany's top female player. "Our paths first crossed in 1995 during the European Children's Championships in Verdun, France. I hardly remember any of my nine encounters there, but the one with Nana was so special that even today I still have to smile when I think of it." Nana is now one of the world's top ten, with excellent chances to qualify for the Candidates and maybe challenge the Women's World Champion. Portrait by Elli Pähtz.

6/27/2020 – When Bobby Fischer died in 2008, one printed article about him was titled “The lone king has wandered off”. Despite this obscure reference in the title, the topic of this month shall not be a specific composer but rather a curiosity, a subset of endgame studies, called “Rex Solus” — the lone king.

6/22/2020 – In 2014 she married Anvesh, in 2017 she gave birth to baby Ahana. Then, after protracted maternity leave, Indian grandmaster Humpy returned to chess with a vengeance and has risen back to second place in the world women's rankings. Now she is poised to qualify for the Candidates. Elisabeth Pähtz portrays this extraordinary player, analyzing her games and telling us how Humpy is dealing with the strict lockdown in her country.

6/15/2020 – Do you find the Sicilian difficult to cope with? Are you afraid to play the Sicilian with White because you do not want to learn a huge amount of variations by heart? Well, Roeland Pruijssers and Nico Zwirs can help. The two Dutchmen have created a complete repertoire against the Sicilian based on the Open Sicilian. A repertoire that is easy to learn.

6/10/2020 – After the 2nd World War the Soviet Union largely dominated world chess. Mikhail Botvinnik won the World Championship tournament in The Hague and Moscow in 1948. In 1951 Botvinnik was the clear favourite in the World Championship match against David Bronstein which was played in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. After 22 games Bronstein was leading 11½-10½, and needed just one win (or two draws) to become World Champion. Did he miss a chance in game 23?

6/9/2020 – Historically, the Fritz family of programs were for analysis, and ChessBase was for database management. Nowadays, the distinction is much less pronounced, and ChessBase 15 is an incredibly powerful analysis tool in its own right. Here, Nick Murphy takes you through getting ChessBase ready to analyse, using the local engine of your choice. Allowing you to effortlessly use the power of your chess engines wherever you are!

6/1/2020 – Last week we asked you to help us solve a historical riddle. In November 2006 World Champion Vladimir Kramnik played a match against the computer program Deep Fritz. Kramnik lost the match 2:4 and did not win a single game. But in the very first game he had a favourable endgame. Could he have won? Until today that remains unclear. We asked you for help in solving this riddle. With some very energetic analytical work of our readers we have come to a firm conclusion.

5/27/2020 – What to play with White? 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3 or another move? The English Grandmaster Nick Pert, former U18 World Champion, renowned author and trainer, recommends 1.d4 and on his DVD "Attacking Repertoire with 1.d4!" he explains why this is a good choice. Davide Nastasio took a look at the first volume of Pert's recommended repertoire.

5/24/2020 – Back in the 1980s some program authors tried to avoid the problems of the horizon effect by following suspicious lines a few half moves deeper. It became ever more difficult to use the horizon trap on them. The authors were not always forthcoming about their progress, so Frederic Friedel devised a number of test positions to find out more and to find how individual programs worked.

5/21/2020 – Let us remind you: In 1958 the 15-year-old US champion Bobby Fischer had refused to play in the Munich Olympiad, because his demand for board one ahead of Samuel Reshevsky was rejected. After that Fischer represented the United States on first board at four Men's Chess Olympiads. In Varna, Bulgaria, he outplayed world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, and in a winning position blundered it to a draw. He left the hall with tears in his eyes. Can you help GM Karsten Müller to find the win that Fischer missed?

5/21/2020 – On Monday we gave you a very interesting, highly complex position to analyse: was the tempting queen sacrifice, that immediately strikes our eye, justified? Does it win, or simply hold a draw (which is otherwise available), or is it in fact a losing mistake. In crowd analysis no final conclusion was reached, so we turn to the author Sagar Shah for his assessment: a complex position that is objectively winning for White. Watch his comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the Nihal Challenge. You might learn a thing or two.

5/20/2020 – The endgame of the fourth game of the famous Fischer-Taimanov candidates match Vancouver 1971 left an intriguing puzzle. Was the adjourned position already lost or was Taimanov's 42th move, played after the adjournment session, a decisive mistake? We asked our readers to help settle the historical debate. And they helped our endgame expert GM Karsten Müller to settle the question.

5/13/2020 – The endgame of the fourth game of the famous candidates match Vancouver 1971 is very instructive. But one question has remained puzzling. Was the adjourned position already lost or was Taimanov's 42nd move a decisive mistake? Once again we invite you to debate this question with leading endgame experts, including our own GM Karsten Müller. With the help of chess engines you can win the analytical duels and show them where history needs to be corrected.

5/6/2020 – The Fischer-Petrosian Candidates match of 1971 in Buenos Aires was the third and final round in the eliminations to determine the challenger for the World Championship. Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian was considered undefeatable, and the match started 2½-2½. Then in game six Fischer scored a superb win that turned the match. Since then chess experts have discussed the question: could Petrosian have defended the game to a fateful draw? No conclusive answer was reached. Now endgame expert GM Karsten Müller – together with our readers – made a new attempt – has made a new attempt. And: we have a solution!