4/18/2024 – The Sharp Arkhangelsk variation, utilized by chess masters like Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, emerges from a series of strategic moves beginning with 1.e4 e5. This rich variation offers multiple playstyles, making it a challenging preparation for opponents, with model games highlighting its diverse strategies and concepts for players of all levels.

4/16/2024 – Jan Markos is a Slovakian grandmaster and successful author. In addition to several books, he has now recorded a much acclaimed Fritztrainer course. Stefan Liebig spoke to the author and trainer about the secrets of effective chess training.

4/6/2024 – The diagram position is from a game Garry Kasparov and Zoltan Ribli played at the tournament in Skelleftea 1989. Playing 26.Rxb5 White had offered a draw - but after the obligatory 26...Bxe3 he could win by force! Can you find today what the great Garry Kasparov missed back then?

4/3/2024 – On April 7, the subscribers of Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy will gather for an exclusive interview with Maurice Ashley, the first African American chess grandmaster. Here, amidst the whispered echoes of strategic brilliance, Ashley will unveil insights from his latest literary endeavour, "Move by Move: Life Lessons on and off the Chessboard", which has seen the world on April 2.

4/2/2024 – The international chess championship "Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial - Aktobe Open 2024" is scheduled to be staged from May 23 (arrival day) - June 2 (departure), 2024, in the western Kazakh metropolis. The event is dedicated to the memory of the leading chess arbiter and organizer, who was a member of the teams of Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.

3/31/2024 – In this pictorial Quiz for Easter, you need to guess who is in the photograph. Ten chess players in rare and unusual photographs. Some are easy, others are less easy, some include a hint. Check it out! At the bottom you will find the solutions and photo credits. Happy Easter to everyone!

3/29/2024 – All chess players aspire to create a lasting masterpiece over the board. And if sacrifices appeal to the artistic side of a chess player, what can be a better way than to sacrifice the most powerful of all pieces, the queen? GM Sundararajan Kidambi presents three games featuring remarkable (positional) queen sacrifices! | Pictured: Karthikeyan Murali | Photo: Niklesh Jain / ChessBase India

3/28/2024 – ChessBase Magazine Extra is the ideal supplement to ChessBase Magazine. Videos by Nico Zwirs on the Vienna Game following the game Wei Yi vs. Max Warmerdam from Tata Steel 2024 (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 c6 5.f4) and part 2 of "Mikhalchishin's miniatures", this time focussing on the "Indian" openings. "Lucky bag" with 53 analyses by Romain Edouard, Michal Krasenkow, Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Gabriel Sargissian and many more. "The brilliancy" is provided by the 15-year-old IM Shreyas Royal from England. Plus over 50,000 new games for your database!

3/27/2024 – The conference “Chess in Education - Methodology and perspectives” will take place on May 18, 2024 via online. This activity is organised by the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU), the Chess Scientific Research Institute and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, and led by GM Smbat Lputian. These conferences are significant because they provide a platform to explore the relationship between chess, cognitive science and education.

3/25/2024 – We owe the vast majority of chess knowledge available to us today to the masters of the past, no matter whether it's about opening theory, strategic concepts or techniques in the endgame. Former German national coach Dorian Rogozenco honours the achievements by these masters in his "Modern Classics" series in ChessBase Magazine. In each issue he familiarises you with a selected brilliancy. This week we offer you Nezhmetdinov-Chernikov (1962) from the current CBM #218 as a free sample - you can even watch and enjoy the video analysis on your smartphone in ChessBase book format. Have fun!

3/24/2024 – The most important tournament of the year begins on April 3 in Toronto, Canada: the Candidates Tournament. Eight participants, 14 rounds, the winner plays for the World Championship. Two of the eight participants have already won one or more Candidates Tournaments, four have already played one or more Candidates Tournaments, the youngest candidate is 17, the oldest is 36 years old. But who will win? | Photos: Official website / FIDE

3/18/2024 – Step into the illustrious world of chess greatness for an interview with IGM Vladimir Tukmakov at the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy! Tukmakov is a former top player of the end of the 20th century. His chess education was in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, where he still resides nowadays. Subscribers of the KCF Academy have full access to the captivating interview on March 24, 2024.

3/18/2024 – In the Norwegian Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Na5!?) Black hunts directly for the early developed white bishop. A number of strong grandmasters have already tried this approach, e.g. Mamedyarov, Vallejo Pons, Sarana and, last year, ... Magnus Carlsen! Igor Stohl dedicates an "All in One" article to the variation in the current ChessBase Magazine #218: You can find out everything you need to know about the variation in a sinlge, extensively annotated game! You can view Stohl's article this week as a free sample - directly in the ChessBase book format on your iPad, tablet, smartphone or wherever else you have a web browser available!

3/12/2024 – Dive into the minds of chess legends as the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy unveils exclusive interviews with two of the brightest stars: Fabiano Caruana and Peter Svidler! Subscribers of the KCF Academy have full access to these captivating conversations, offering a glimpse into the strategies, stories, and experiences that have shaped their illustrious careers.

3/11/2024 – This week we are once again offering you a free sample from the current ChessBase Magazine #218 in ChessBase book format: strategy expert Mihail Marin looks back on the 1992 Linares tournament - one of the strongest tournaments in chess history, which also marked an important historical moment: the end of the dominance of the two "Ks" - Kasparov and Karpov. In his article, Mihail Marin analyses games by Kasparov, Karpov, Ivanchuk, Short, Anand, Timman and others. Including many training exercises and two interactive training videos. Have fun!

3/10/2024 – The Carlsbad Pawn structure, or formation, is normally deriving from the Queen's Gambit declined, London System, or the Caro-Kann. A common structure, which actually has some ideas, and plans to accomplish. Svitlana tells us, what the major plans are for White, and Black, by showing us two example games. One of them is Garry Kasparov vs. Nigel Short!

3/9/2024 – It is certainly one of the most famous games in chess history: the 13-year-old future FIDE World Champion Bobby Fischer played a spectacular combination against IM Donald Byrne, one that has been shown and analysed by generations of chess players and writers. Today on what would have been Bobby's 81 birthday, GM Efstratios Grivas gives us a comprehensive summary of all available analysis, including those of Garry Kasparov and GM Karsten Mueller of ChessBase. Many other sources were taken into account to make sure that no blind spots are remaining!

3/6/2024 – Step into the world of chess brilliance with Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest chess grandmaster in history! At just twelve years old, Mishra captivated the chess world with his exceptional talent and unwavering dedication. In an exclusive interview at the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy, Abhimanyu shares insights into his remarkable journey, including his experience training with the legendary Garry Kasparov.

3/5/2024 – The new issue of ChessBase Magazine offers complete mobile access again in ChessBase book format - all analyses, repertoire articles, videos and training exercises can be loaded directly via your web browser! Alexey Kuzmin's article on the Bukavshin Variation in the Catalan Opening (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 b6!?.) is available as a free sample this week. Take a look and get to know a fresh side line for Black!

3/3/2024 – A fortnight ago, I showed a game by Lu Miaoyi, a ferocious 14-year-old Chinese girl. This started me thinking about the best attacking players of all time. I don’t have an ordered list myself, just some names which I think should go very close to the top. Here I analysed three brilliant attacking wins by Rashid Nezhmetdinov (pictured), Paul Keres and Wei Yi. What is your top ten of attacking players? Share your list in the comments section.

3/1/2024 – Tata Steel 2024: Analyses of the tournament winner Wei Yi as well as Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alexander Donchenko, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, Erwin l'Ami, Praggnanandhaa, Eline Roebers and Vidit Gujrathi - Mihail Marin looks back at Linares 1992: Kasparov vs. the young generation - French à la Erigaisi: Sergey Grigoriants serves up a fresh idea in the Advance Variation: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 f6!? - Inviting Nimzo-Inder: In the fashionable variation 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 c5 White gets a protected passed pawn on d5; Jan Werle shows why Black can afford it! - "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part #8: What you need to know in the endgame with bishop and pawn; video course with Karsten Mueller and much more. Enjoy CBM #218 in the new ChessBase book format on any device: iPad, tablet, Mac. Windows PC or laptop!

2/24/2024 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy invites you to watch an interview with grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz, one of the strongest German female chess players since her youth. On February 25, 17:00 CET, Elisabeth will give a live interview at KCF Academy. Add it to your calendar!

2/23/2024 – Around the turn of the century, there was worldwide interest regarding chess confrontations between humans and computers. One of the last top-notch events featuring such a battle was seen in 2005, when three strong grandmasters played a match against three of the best engines in the world. In the end, Hydra, Junior and Fritz defeated Alexander Khalifman, Ruslan Ponomariov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov by an 8-4 score. The match took place in Bilbao, and saw Ponomariov beating Fritz in a memorable encounter.

2/20/2024 – Monday 26 February 2024 is the official opening of the Prague Chess Festival 2024 and the first round will be played on Tuesday 27 February. Both the Masters and the Challengers tournaments have an interesting and strong field and with Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer the four best junior players in the world will meet in Prague. Guest of honour at the opening ceremony will be Vishy Anand, who will also give a lecture and sign autographs.