10/5/2024 – For his new Power Play Show GM, Daniel King analysed games which saw Magnus Carlsen taking down Alireza Firouzja's King's Indian Defence. The world number one provided us with a tremendous lesson in how to quell Black's activity. | 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.

9/2/2024 – Last week we showed you three positions, miniatures with five or six pieces that looked simple enough. But finding a a clear and forced win was anything but trivial – you needed to work out some unusually subtle strategy to solve them. Today we present the solutions, in the form of videos by Gauri Shankar, chess trainer from Chicago, in his unique explanatory style.

8/29/2024 – The inaugural FIDE World Solving Championships for Youth (Florianópolis, November 4) and Cadets (Montesilvano, November 21) will take place this autumn. For the first time, the FIDE solving events will be organized in cooperation with the World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC) as a part of the FIDE & WFCC Special Projects 2024, celebrating FIDE Centenary. Marjan Kovačević, WFCC president, reports.

8/27/2024 – Take a look at this position. Looks simple enough – just five pieces on the board. But we are asked to find a clear and forced win for White. That requires some unusually subtle strategic moves. Try and solve it, and two other similarly clever problems, which you are sure to find pleasing. Full video explanations will follow in a week.

8/16/2024 – For his new Power Play Show GM Daniel King selected a number of "tactical tales from the British Championship" which test the tactical imagination and help the ability to calculate. | 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.

7/31/2024 – The tenth game of the 1921 match saw challenger José Raúl Capablanca gain an advantage with the black pieces, but with limited material on the board, World Champion Lasker had chances of survival. We gave our readers several interesting riddles we want to solve. Here is the definitive solution to the historic game.

7/25/2024 – Last week we showed you some chess puzzles of a different kind – some were quite easy, some pretty hard. They were at least most entertaining, bringing smiles to our faces. Today we show you the solutions, and video of a strong chess player solving the problems in real time.

7/24/2024 – This week GM Daniel King analyses a beautiful game played by 10-year-old Faustino Oro, the youngest International Master in the world. He outplays his Grandmaster opponent in grand strategic style, showing remarkable restraint along the way! | 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.

7/16/2024 – Here are some chess puzzles of a different kind. Some of you might find them very easy, some quite hard. They are at least most entertaining and should bring smiles to your face. Tell us which ones you could master. Next week we will give you the solutions – and show you a video of a strong chess player solving the problems live.

7/3/2024 – Once a year the English school chess initiative "Chess in Schools and Communities" organises a chess festival in the heart of London, in Trafalgar Square, which naturally focuses on children and young people. Next Sunday, July 7, is the day again. The theme of this year's ChessFest is the chess fairy tale "Alice Through the Looking Glass".

6/21/2024 – Along with the usual puzzles, this week GM Daniel King takes a look at a recent game from Tan Zhongyi - the winner of the women's candidates - who demonstrates remarkable confidence in going for a kingside attack right from the outset. The strategy works perfectly as she demolishes her experienced opponent in just 20 moves. But Tan Zhongyi wasn't the first to execute this plan. | 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.

6/17/2024 – Our beloved WIM from Canada picked up streaming chess games online a couple of months ago, and became a Twitch partner in no time. Thousands of chess friends are watching her, playing blitz and bullet games, or solving puzzles. Svitlana gained nearly 6000 followers, who she even plays against on stream, at times.

5/31/2024 – Along with the usual puzzles, this week GM Daniel King takes a look at two pawn endgames played by Hans Niemann at the Sharjah Open. As ever in such cases, the only way through is to calculate. In one game he was successful, in the other... not so successful. | 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.

5/26/2024 – The 8th Youth Chess Composing Challenge is on the way! The youngest contributors to chess art (born 2001 and younger) were offered three different sections to inspire their creations till June 10, with five special prizes of 500 Euros vouchers each for the best representatives of the five most successful countries. The tradition of YCCC was established in 2016 to stimulate young minds and to mentor their work. | Pictured: Christopher Woojin Yoo | Photo: Eric Rosen

4/26/2024 – This week GM Daniel King shares his thoughts on Gukesh’s style of play. The prodigious grandmaster is known for his maturity and level-headedness — and for his classical approach to chess. | 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.

4/16/2024 – We have seen them, haven’t we? The howlers? Amateurs and professionals alike in the aftermath of a game, trying to explain their blunder, shaking their heads in disbelief, scratching their brows, sighing while trying to come up with a rational explanation. Blunders happen because humans are fallible and ill-founded impulses prove stronger than the ability to abort them – as is explained in this scientific paper.

4/2/2024 – Svitlana dug deep to find some outstanding, beautiful tactics, by all the men's and women's candidates, who will compete in Toronto soon. Arne is trying hard to solve all the puzzles, and get 8 out of 8 in both videos. Will he succeed? And how will you do, dear viewer? These two videos are the perfect start to get into the mood for the candidates tournament!

3/31/2024 – In our second ChessBase Challenge instalment we gave you a set of puzzles that were meant to challenge your mind. Were you able to solve the positions, each with a mind-boggling idea required to reach the goal? You had two weeks to do so. Today we provide the solutions.

3/28/2024 – It is quite difficult to find the right trainer for a chess player. More so when there are so many lucrative options available. While some prefer to work on their own, others need a chess coach to guide and help them improve their game. Peter Long shares his experiences and thoughts as a trainer. Instead of focusing on gaining more knowledge, attending camps and playing tournaments incessantly, creating a structure will help students to fix their gaps and become stronger players.

3/26/2024 – Yochanan Afek, International Grandmaster of chess composition, has been providing us with articles for decades. He lives in Amsterdam, where Sagar Shah caught up with him and conducted a 90-minute interview, discussing some of the great problem compositions that we have from him. We have the puzzles in a replay board, where you can follow the discussion, using the built-in engine to answer residual questions you might have. Very entertaining and instructive.

3/23/2024 – This week GM Daniel King looks at archetypal Greek Gift positions in connection with a game played by one of his students. | 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.

3/18/2024 – Chess is a really fun game to play, but equally enjoyable is solving artificial positions – problems and studies – many that defy the imagination. In this ChessBase Challenge instalment, we have a set of puzzles that can challenge your brain. Can you solve the position? Can you find the mind-boggling strategy that is required to reach the goal? You have a week to do so. Then we will provide the full solution.

3/11/2024 – Chess is a fun game – ask the countless millions who play it. But apart from the contest at the board, there are additional forms for you to enjoy, like chess puzzles and studies. Many of them defy the imagination. Today we start a new column, and have three deceptively simple – but enchanting – examples for you to solve. The sources and solutions will be provided in a week. Until then, have fun working things out all by yourself.

2/28/2024 – In a world where experience is often said to take the lead, young prodigies are proving it wrong. An 8-year-old boy defeated a grandmaster in classical chess — he is the youngest ever to achieve this feat! This victory over GM Jacek Stopa from Poland marked a significant highlight of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland. Tina Popli writes about Ashwath’s remarkable feat and his journey so far. | Photo: David Llada