5/23/2024 – The Norway Chess super-tournament will start on Monday, with a stellar 6-player field including world champion Ding Liren and world number one Magnus Carlsen. In a recent interview conducted by The Indian Express, Ding talked about his expectations for the event in Stavanger, the pressures connected to having become the world champion and his preparation for the World Championship match against D Gukesh. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

5/12/2024 – Magnus Carlsen did it again! Despite entering the final day of blitz at a 2½-point distance from sole leader Wei Yi, the Norwegian scored 7 wins in a row (he had finished Saturday’s session with 3 consecutive wins) to overtake the Chinese GM and eventually claim outright victory at the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Tournament in Warsaw. Wei still finished only a half point behind the champion, leaving third-placed Jan-Krzysztof Duda a whopping 6 points behind. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

5/7/2024 – While the World Championship match of the 2024-2025 cycle is supposed to take place at the end of the year, players are already fighting for a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. As per the updated regulations, two places will be granted to the winners of the 2024 and 2025 FIDE Circuits (one per year). Currently, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is atop the leaderboard after winning the TePe Sigeman & Co. Tournament. A few top GMs, including Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri, have shared complaints regarding the scoring system.

4/25/2024 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look at our recent issue, CBM 218. 540 games from Tata Steel Chess and Chessable Masters 2024, 12 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, 6 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Wei Yi, Anish Giri, Nordibek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Richard Rapport, with 28 annotated games. | Pictured: Gukesh D playing white against Ding Liren in Wijk aan Zee | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024

4/22/2024 – It is not very common to have an article focused solely on one specific square. Today, we will make an exception. We will speak about the d5-square, or rather about the weakness that often forms on this square in various lines of the Sicilian defence.

4/9/2024 – He was born on 3 June 2011 in Bursa, Turkey. On April 1st (no April Fool's joke) the twelve-year-old, playing in the very strong GRENKE Chess Open, Yagiz Kaan Erdpgmus scored 7.0/9 points with a 2646 performance. With that he had fulfilled his final GM norm and become the youngest grandmaster in the world – the fourth youngest in chess history. We will be watching this young boy carefully. | Photo Ugur Medya

4/6/2024 – In his new Fast & Furious episode, Robert Ris looks at a game featuring the Double Fianchetto System. In the spirit of the King’s Indian Defence, Magnus Carlsen seizes the initiative on the kingside with black to win an instructive game. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

4/4/2024 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at an interesting game, in which Velimir Ivic countered Abhimanyu's Winawer French with a dangerous line that posed too many problems for Black. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

4/2/2024 – The strong A-Open, played alongside the Grenke Chess Classic, saw Hans Niemann becoming the outright winner after scoring 8/9 points. A victory with black in the final round, over Velimir Ivic, gave the rising star clear first place. Nine players finished a half point behind the winner, with Ivan Saric and Vladimir Fedoseev grabbing second and thid place on tiebreaks. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

4/1/2024 – Magnus Carlsen defeated Richard Rapport 1½-½ on Monday to win the seventh edition of the Grenke Chess Classic. This was Carlsen’s sixth consecutive tournament victory. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave grabbed third place after beating Vincent Keymer in blitz playoffs, while Ding Liren beat Daniel Fridman 1½-½ to claim fifth place. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

4/1/2024 – The GRENKE Chess Classic is taking place from March 26 to April 1 in Karlsruhe, Germany. The tournament is a 6-player double round-robin with a time control of 45 minutes for the game plus 10-second increments per move. World champion Ding Liren and world number one Magnus Carlsen are joined by Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Richard Rapport and Daniel Fridman. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 15.00 CET (10.00 ET, 19.30 IST)

4/1/2024 – Magnus Carlsen was the top scorer in the 10-round all-play-all section of the Grenke Chess Classic. Carlsen is set to face second-placed Richard Rapport in Monday’s 2-game final match. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will face Vincent Keymer in the match for third place, while Ding Liren will play against Daniel Fridman in the match for fifth place. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

3/31/2024 – Magnus Carlsen continues to be the sole leader at the Grenke Chess Classic in Karlsruhe. Second-placed Richard Rapport closed the gap between him and the leader to a half point after collecting back-to-back victories on Saturday. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave stands in sole third place a full point behind Rapport, and is set to face the Romanian representative in the penultimate round. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

3/29/2024 – In his new Fast & Furious episode, Robert Ris shows how Levon Aronian surprised Wesley So in a classical line of the Nimzo-Indian. Aronian’s 5...c5!? worked out perfectly as he went on to win the game. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

3/29/2024 – Magnus Carlsen scored back-to-back wins on Thursday to take the lead at the Grenke Chess Classic in Karlsruhe. Carlsen defeated Vincent Keymer and former leader Richard Rapport to go into the rest day a full point ahead of Rapport, Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The remaining four rounds of the double round-robin will be played during the weekend, with the final playoff set to take place on Monday. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

3/27/2024 – Two rounds featuring turnarounds and missed chances left Richard Rapport atop the standings of the Grenke Chess Classic with a 1-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Vincent Keymer. Rapport drew Keymer and beat Daniel Fridman in rounds 3 and 4, while both Carlsen and Keymer obtained big advantages which they were unable to convert into full points. The marquee matchup of the day saw Ding holding a draw with black against Carlsen. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

3/27/2024 – The first two rounds of the Grenke Chess Classic were played on Tuesday at the Congress Centre in Karlsruhe. Richard Rapport emerged as the sole leader after beating Magnus Carlsen and drawing Ding Liren. Carlsen bounced back from his loss in round 1 by beating the tournament’s underdog, Daniel Fridman. | Photos: Grenke Chess

3/25/2024 – “Everyone has been waiting for this chess festival”, writes Alex Winkler in a press release from the organisation of the GRENKE Chess Classic and the GRENKE Chess Open. Six international stars, including Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer, will compete in the Classic, which starts tomorrow, Tuesday 26 March, while over 2500 players will take part in the Open. But last-minute entrants can still take part: the registration is still open!

2/25/2024 – Rounds 9-11 of the German League (Bundesliga) took place from Friday to Sunday in Viernheim, a midsize industrial town on Mannheim’s outskirts. On Saturday, the all-important clash between Viernheim and Baden-Baden saw Viernheim coming out on top thanks to wins by Parham Maghsoodloo and David Anton. After round 11, Viernheim are leading the standings with a perfect score, 3 match points ahead of the defending champions from Baden-Baden. Vishy Anand, Hikaru Nakamura and Nijat Abasov all played during the weekend, with Anand beating Abasov to re-enter the world’s top-10 in the live ratings list. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

2/16/2024 – The second World Corporate Chess Championship will consist of a series of online events that will conclude with an over-the-board final in New York in June. The event is open to teams representing legally recognized companies from all around the world. Every team has a right to include one invited player who is not directly employed at the company or is a member of the board.

2/15/2024 – Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana signed a draw in the first game of the finals at the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Chess Challenge. In the match for third place, Levon Aronian barely escaped with a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, while Alireza Firouzja got the better of Gukesh D in the fight for fifth place. Finally, in the match for seventh place, Vincent Keymer defeated an out-of-form Ding Liren. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase

2/2/2024 – Good news for chess fans all over the world, and especially for those in Germany. The largest chess tournament in Europe, the Grenke Open, and the elite Grenke Classic are back. Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Richard Rapport and Daniel Fridman will play in the Classic. | Photo: Grenke Chess

1/4/2024 – With new money and new sponsors pouring in, and never before seen numbers of spectators following the games, the tendency is towards faster time controls. Classical games are played with reduced times, rapid and blitz tournamenst are gaining popularity. That provides more action and excitement for chess fans. But is it really the way to go? Rune Vik-Hansen, Norwegian philosopher, argues in favour of long games.

11/15/2023 – It can happen so quickly. Yesterday Vincent Keymer was the second best 18-year-old chess player in the world, today he is the world's best 19-year old - today, 15 November 2023, Keymer is celebrating his 19th birthday. As befits a chess professional, at the board.