12/31/2018 – It is another entertaining type of chess problems. The point of retro is you must consider the moves that led up to the given position. They are often quite difficult to guess – you have to think out of the box. We are not going to slay our doubtlessly inexperienced readers with complex retrograde analysis, but instead show you a number of fairly simple examples, some of which will still have you frowning in puzzlement. One thing for sure: they are all very entertaining.

12/25/2018 – ChessBase study expert Siegfried Hornecker highlights a study (and story!) by STEFFEN SLUMSTRUP NIELSEN which we are pleased to share to mark the Christmas holiday. The story begins: "It is the 1st of December. The White Family is slowly getting ready for the Holidays. The head of the family, Mrs Horsey White is in for a busy month, while the rest of the family is planning to just hang around lazily, waiting for the big day. Mrs White has to collect six presents from all over town to make for a happy Christmas."

9/5/2018 – Israeli psychologist AMATZIA AVNI, a FIDE Master in composition, describes the complex love-hate relationship between humans and their chess software. "They assist us in analysis and spare us effort in detecting our errors," he writes. "On the other hand, who likes smart alecs? Comparing ourselves with Fritz, we are bound to become demoralised." In just three examples he covers the whole range of human emotions toward chess software: anger, frustration, disgust, disappointment, joy, elation and gratitude.

8/18/2018 – Everyone knows — and some even love — chess problems. But apart from straightforward "mate in x tasks" there are also other very interesting types: helpmates, selfmates, and retrograde analysis, a genre where the legality of a position or a move is what we are looking for. Sound boring? Well, take a look at some examples and decide for yourself. You may find it fascinating.

8/17/2018 – Despite his four minus pawns in the queen ending, achieving a draw with White in the diagram position seems not too difficult. But victory would be even nicer, wouldn't it? Enjoy!

10/17/2017 – Our Study of the Month author Siegfried Hornecker has a mystery to solve, and he needs your help! Larissa Volpert, the professor for philology and chess master, died in New York City on October 1st, 2017, at the age of 91. A game fragment from a 1961 Soviet chess magazine provides a glimpse into one of her greatest triumphs — a pawn ending so elegant that it resembles a composed study. But was the rest of the game as equally awe inspiring?

5/21/2016 – Contrary to some fields where controlled steady progress is the norm, chess is dominated more often than not by timely bursts forward preceded by periods of seeming stagnation. It can be tricky knowing when it is one or the other. Here is the tale of just such a leap forward, as well as tips and recommendations to help you make your big leap.

3/13/2015 – Inspired by the chess visualization study by Seth Kadish, featured at ChessBase last year, Devin Camenares, a professor in biology, created a suite of tools to analyze the square utilization and occupancy for any and all pieces and squares, across all moves and positions in all games in a database. He then applied this to the games of Fischer and Carlsen.