11/9/2022 – Those who are familiar with Rainer Knaak's column in ChessBase Magazine will have noticed that many trap motifs in tournament practice recur again and again in the same or a similar form and lead to quick decisions. That is certainly also a reason why the trap expert generally recommends spicing up one's own repertoire with opening traps or even building one's repertoire from a broad collection of traps. In the current CBM #210, Rainer Knaak presents a parade building block for the Sicilian Paulsen Variation. You can watch his video analysis of this trap in full here!

11/8/2022 – Rook endings often have drawish tendencies but pawn races are often very sharp. In the diagram position, we have both: a rook ending and a pawn race and the position is very sharp. Black is two pawns up but the far advanced white pawns are dangerous. White just played 53.Rd7+ - how should Black react?

11/6/2022 – With 10 opening articles, ChessBase Magazine #210 covers the usual broad spectrum of variations: From the English Opening á la Caruana (1.c4 e5 2.g3 f5 3.Bg2 Be7) or the Sicilian O'Kelly Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 Part I: 3.d4/3.c3) to the Catalan (with the unconventional move 7.Qd2). In his contribution, Patrick Zelbel provides a concept against the Modern Defence (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3), which is especially popular at club level and in which the move 4...a6 has become firmly established thanks to the Swedish GM Tiger Hillarp Persson. Our author begins the hunt for the tiger with 5.g4!? and thus makes it immediately clear where the journey is heading. "If Black plays the most natural moves, they easily finds themself in trouble", Zelbel writes in his conclusion. So you should definitely give this a try. Take a look!

11/5/2022 – After the initial move 20...Qb6+! in the diagram position 21.Rf2 is easy enough to refute, but what would you do after 21.Nf2? Good luck - and enjoy the position!

11/3/2022 – In the new issue of ChessBase Magazine, 21 participants from the Chess Olympiad comment on their best games, including Anish Giri, Wesley So, Arjun Erigaisi, Jules Moussard, Luke McShane, Pentala Harikrishna, Matthias Blübaum, Rasmus Svane, the silver medal team from Armenia and the gold medallists Anna and Mariya Muzychuk. In addition, our authors Robert Ris, Daniel King, Karsten Mueller and Mihail Marin pick up on particularly exciting games and moments from the Olympiad in their columns and video contributions. Wesley So's analysis of his game against Hrant Melkumyan is "The Analysis" of this issue and can be viewed here in an shortened version. Enjoy!

11/1/2022 – The diagram shows a position which can often occur in rook endings. Both sides have passed pawns and it all seems to come down to a race between the passed pawns. However, in the diagram position White has a winning maneuver that one should know. How should White proceed?

10/31/2022 – Next year Ding Liren will play Ian Nepomniachtchi in a match for the World Championship title. Magnus Carlsen's withdrawal and Ding's second place in the 2022 Candidates Tournament made it possible. High time to take a closer look at the top player from China and especially his playing skills in ChessBase Magazine! In the current issue our authors comment on their favourite game of the Chinese player. In addition, "Ding Liren's Positional Play" (Mihail Marin's strategy column incl. video) and "Endgame Highlights of Ding Liren" (by Karsten Müller, also with a video) are awaiting you. You can enjoy Romain Edouard's analysis of the game Ding Liren - Sergei Movsesian from the World Cup 2019 in full here!

10/29/2022 – In the game Jonny Hector and Jonathan Westerberg played at the Swedish Championship 2022 in Uppsala, both sides had been moving back and forth until they reached the diagram position. However, White now continued his waiting strategy for too long and played 36.Kf2? How can Black use this golden opportunity?

10/28/2022 – Chess Olympiad 2022: Review with analyses by more than 20 players - Ivan Sokolov's writes about "Steps to Gold" - "Special" on World Championship candidate Ding Liren: exclusive collection of 18 annotated games + contributions on strategy and endgame - "The Indian Gambit": Daniel King presents a fresh and exciting idea in the English Opening: 1.c4 e5 2.Sc3 Sf6 3.Sf3 e4 4.Sg5 c6!? (Video) - "Practical Tips for the Tournament Player" Episode 3: How to play against a stronger opponent (Video by Jan Markos + small collection of exercises) - "Full Throttle in the Open Spanish": Robert Ris examines the highly topical Dilworth Variation, and much more.

10/25/2022 – Pawn endings should be calculated very carefully. In the diagrammed position it is White to move and draw. How?

10/22/2022 – This time we would like to add only one piece of information to the inconspicuous diagram position: White to play! The rest is up to your tactical acumen...

10/18/2022 – One of the most surprising discoveries in the 6-piece tablebase concerned the endgame Q+g+h pawn vs queen, which often is a theoretical draw when the defender is well placed. However, in a practical game with limited time, the endgame is usually too difficult to hold. The diagrammed position occurred in a game between M. Carlsen and G. Meier, played at the Chess Olympiad 2022. Black lost, but he could have drawn. How?

10/15/2022 – When you find the winning move White played in the diagrammed position, the rest will be be easy - enjoy!

10/11/2022 – The diagrammed position, in which White is to move, occurred in a blitz game between Wesley So and Jorden Van Foreest. White is a pawn down but has a way to draw. What should he do?

10/8/2022 – White has active pieces and a powerful passed pawn on d6 while Black's back rank is weak. In the diagram position you are probably itching to find the decisive move that defeats Black. But can you calculate everything in your head until the knockout comes five moves later?

10/6/2022 – The last time Alexei Shirov chose the Moscow Variation in the Semi Slav, Jorden van Foreest was just 13 years old. This June - and thus ten years later - the two players met for a mini-match over four classical games. The veteran, who had played the Botwinnik Variation over all these years, came up with a surprise and resorted to the Moscow Variation for the first time against the top player from the Netherlands. In the new ChessBase Magazine Extra #209 Shirov reviews this game in a 50-minute video. You can watch an excerpt here!

10/4/2022 – In the diagrammed position White is a pawn up but is also in danger because Black's passed pawns are powerful. However, with precise play White can save the game. How?

10/1/2022 – Today your defensive skills are needed: Can you refute Black's 35...Ng6? or 35...Rg6? in the diagram position?

9/29/2022 – Over an hour of video training: Mihail Marin explains how Caruana achieved a clear advantage with a novelty in the Rossolimo Variation against Gukesh - and then missed the right continuation. Alexei Shirov shows with one of his games against Jorden van Foreest why you have to reckon with the Moscow Variation against him in the Semi-Slav again! "The brilliancy" comes from Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou, who led his team to the championship title in the 2022 Final Four of College Chess in the USA. The "Lucky bag" with 29 annotated games - among others Romain Edouard, Mihal Krasenkow and Spyridon Kapnisis analyse 17 games from the German Bundesliga - is again full of surprises and suggestions. ChessBase Magazine Extra is the perfect complement to ChessBase Magazine. Available as a single issue or by subscription (6 issues per year). Available as download or on DVD.

9/27/2022 – In the diagrammed position it is Black to move. Endgames with bishops of opposite colours have large drawish tendencies but here Black's passed b-pawn and the active black king are more important. How should Black proceed?

9/26/2022 – In the diagrammed position it is Black to move and he destroyed the white kingside in a most impressive way - I wish you happy sacrificing!

9/24/2022 – In the diagrammed position, White has a clever way to destabilize Black's minor piece block and win material. Have a go!

9/22/2022 – In the ChessBase Magazine column "All in one" you can learn everything you need to know about a specific opening variation on the basis of a single, extensively annotated game in order to be able to add it to your repertoire or even try it out directly in practice! In the current CBM #209, for example, the Ukrainian GM Yuriy Kuzubov presents a surprise weapon against the Alekhine Defence. 4.a4 followed by 5.Ra3 - have you ever seen that before? You can find a short version of his analysis here.

9/20/2022 – In the diagrammed position, which shows the end of a game Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played at the Norway Chess Tournament 2022, it is Black to move and he has to find a way to make use of his far advanced pawns before White manages to coordinate his forces. But what exactly should Black do?