1/31/2020 – At a press conference in Stockholm, Magnus Carlsen announced his collaboration with Unibet, a provider of sports betting, online casinos, online bingo and poker. In 2020 and 2021, Carlsen will act as a "global ambassador" for the gaming provider, which will be Carlsen's main sponsor for the next two years. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen on YouTube

1/23/2020 – Fabiano Caruana inflicted Alireza Firouzja's second straight loss to remain in the sole lead of the Tata Steel Masters prior to the third and last rest day of the event. Magnus Carlsen stands a half point back after scoring his third consecutive victory. The world champion was not the only one getting a third straight full point, as David Anton grabbed the lead in the Challengers with an impressive win over former co-leader Pavel Eljanov. Expert analysis by GMs CONSTANTIN LUPULESCU and DANIEL KING. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/22/2020 – Once again live from the Wijk aan Zee studio, IM Merijn van Delft tackles the game from the Masters that was hotly anticipated: the first classical chess battle between World Champion Magnus Carlsen and rising phenom Alireza Firouzja. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

1/22/2020 – Fabiano Caruana became the sole leader of the Tata Steel Masters after Magnus Carlsen took down former co-leader Alireza Firouzja in a highly anticipated match-up between the world champion and the 16-year-old. Carlsen is now one of four players trailing the leader by a half point. In the meantime, David Anton and Erwin l'Ami caught up with Pavel Eljanov in the lead of the Challengers. Expert analysis by GMs CONSTANTIN LUPULESCU and YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/20/2020 – Fabiano Caruana caught up with Alireza Firouzja atop the standings table of the Tata Steel Masters after beating Vishy Anand from a clearly lost position. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vladislav Kovalev grabbed their first wins of the event. In the Challengers, Nils Grandelius and David Anton joined the four-player chasing pack that stands a half point behind sole leader Pavel Eljanov. Do not miss the thorough analyses provided by GMs DANIEL FERNANDEZ and YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/15/2020 – Tonight's show will be recorded from Wijk aan Zee, very close to where the action happens. IM Merijn van Delft tackles the game from the Masters that was the talk of the town: Jorden van Foreest vs Magnus Carlsen. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

1/15/2020 – Wesley So defeated Alireza Firouzja to leapfrog him in the standings table of the Tata Steel Masters and become the new sole leader before the first rest day of the event. Five players are a half point back, including Vladislav Artemiev, who took down Vladislav Kovalev on Tuesday. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen salvaged a draw from an inferior position again to set a new record of undefeated classical games. Surya Ganguly is now the sole leader in the Challengers. Expert analysis by GMs STEPHEN GORDON and DANIEL KING. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/12/2020 – It is hard to call a win by Alireza Firouzja a surprise after his stellar performance at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships — and his general good form from last year — but it is still noteworthy that he won his first ever game in Wijk aan Zee. He is joined in the lead in the Masters by Jorden van Foreest, who beat Yu Yangyi. In the Challengers, Pavel Eljanov, Surya Ganguly and Erwin l'Ami kicked off with victories. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports. Round-up show by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Official site

1/3/2020 – At the end of 2019 ChessBase readers were invited to vote for the player, the female player, the game, the combination, and the endgame of the year. A lot of readers took part in the votes and here are the results — the favourites of our readers. | Photo: Maria Emelianova

1/1/2020 – Kicking off 2020, IM Merijn van Delft reviews a game from the absolute elite: Aronian vs Carlsen from the World Rapid Championship in Moscow. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

1/1/2020 – Happy New Year! World Champion Magnus Carlsen heads into 2020 with a 50 Elo point lead in the classical ratings and a 45 point lead on the rapid list. Yet, despite winning the recent World Blitz Championship in a playoff over Hikaru Nakamura, the American clings to a 13 point margin atop the world blitz rankings. Alireza Firouzja, who gave both a run for their money in Moscow, is now #1 on the Juniors rankings. | Photos: Amruta Mokal / Jingda Chen on Unsplash

1/1/2020 – Magnus Carlsen is now the reigning World Champion in classical, rapid and blitz chess. But there's one official World Championship that eluded him in 2019: the newly codified Fischer Random World Championship. Wesley So, the 26-year-old Filipino-American Grandmaster created a sensation by beating the mighty Norwegian in the finals of a knockout tournament with a sweeping score of 13½-2½! How did he do it? IM SAGAR SHAH spent some time with So at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament.

12/31/2019 – What an exciting final day we had at the World Blitz 2019. A controversy between the World Champion and one of the brightest young talents of the game, a blitz playoff to determine the winner, a retired player making a comeback, and winning the bronze and the defending women's world champion defending her title! The World Blitz 2019 was filled with exciting moments, and we bring you a detailed report with information of all the things that happened at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

12/30/2019 – Magnus Carlsen won the World Rapid Championship title with a score of 11½/15, a full point ahead of the rest of the field. He picked up from where he left off and scored 10/12 to become the sole leader of the World Blitz Championships after day one. Magnus is closely pursued by Maxim Matlakov on 9½ points. In the women's section, Kateryna Lagno is the sole leader. In this article, we tell you about the blitz event and also present to you six points about why we think Magnus Carlsen is so good at the shorter format of the game. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

12/29/2019 – Another eventful chess year is behind us, with great events and tournaments, impressive personalities and fantastic chess games. Help us choose the player of the year, the female player of the year, the game of the year, the combination of the year and the endgame of the year in our annual ChessBase reader poll. And finally: Endgame of the Year...

12/29/2019 – Magnus Carlsen is now not just the Classical World Champion, but also the Rapid World Champion! He played sublime chess, gaining 14 Elo points, reaching 2900 on the Elo scale to win the title one point ahead of his nearest rivals. Silver medal was won unexpectedly by Alireza Firouzja who scored 4½/5 on the last day. Nakamura settled for the bronze. In the women's section we witnessed a blitz playoff to determine the winner. It was finally Humpy Koneru who won the gold. Silver went to Chinese Lei Tingjie and bronze to Ekaterina Atalik. A detailed report and interviews with the World Champion.

12/28/2019 – It's an exhausting format and just about everyone is feeling the heat at the World Rapid Championships 2019. Except one man! Superman in fact! Magnus Carlsen played three fighting games of chess in round eight, nine and ten; won all three of them; and captured the lead at the end of day two. He is now the sole leader, with Wang Hao, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Duda following him. In the women's section, we have Irina Bulmaga, Tan Zhongyi, Lei Tingjie and Mariya Muzychuk in joint lead with 6½/8. A detailed report from Moscow. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

12/27/2019 – Another eventful chess year is behind us, with great events and tournaments, impressive personalities and fantastic chess games. Help us choose the player of the year, the female player of the year, the game of the year, the combination of the year and the endgame of the year in our annual ChessBase reader poll. Now: Game of the Year...

12/26/2019 – The "King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championship" 2019 is here! It is one of the most exciting events of the year with the participation of almost all the top players in the world including World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen will be looking to win the title in both rapid and blitz and become triple crown champion again. The opening ceremony was held on December 25th at the Russian Chess Museum on the Gogolevsky Boulevard in Moscow. IM SAGAR SHAH and AMRUTA MOKAL were present at the venue and bring you first-hand impressions from the place. We also have some very interesting interviews with Carlsen, Wang Hao, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Anton Korobov and Peter Leko.

12/25/2019 – Another eventful chess year is behind us, with great events and tournaments, impressive personalities and fantastic chess games. Help us choose the player of the year, the female player of the year, the game of the year, the combination of the year and the endgame of the year in our annual ChessBase reader poll. First up: The Player of the Year...

12/20/2019 – Magnus Carlsen likes to be number one all things. The Guardian recently announced that the chess world champion is one of the world's top players in the Fantasy Premier League. Now he's up to #3 in the world. A quick update from last Friday's account.

12/18/2019 – This week IM Merijn van Delft once again brings you his analysis of one of his own games, from the recent Dutch League weekend this time, which he considers quite sharp. Plus a bonus "experimental rook sacrifice"! The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

12/13/2019 – About seven million players worldwide have joined the Football Fantasy League to try their luck as virtual managers of a virtual English Premier League team. They play on the internet but the Premier League games in the real world define how good they are. Magnus Carlsen is very good: on Sunday, December 8, the World Champion and his fictitious team Kjell Ankedal were number 6 on the world's ranking list. Which made headlines. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen at the Tata Steel Chess India Tournament | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/11/2019 – This week IM Merijn van Delft brings you his analysis of one of his own games from the recent German League weekend which he considers quite instructive. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).