4/19/2020 – After his surprising loss against Vlatko Kovacevic in round 8 of the Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb Bobby Fischer is back on track. After a draw against Vassily Smyslov in round 9 he convincingly defeated Svetozar Gligoric, his closest rival, in round 10 and now leads with 8.0/10. Gligoric, Vlastimil Hort, Viktor Kortschnoi and Tigran Petrosian are all one and half point behind and share places two to five with 6½/10.

4/18/2020 – The Fischer-Petrosian Candidates match of 1971 in Buenos Aires was the third and final round in the eliminations to determine the challenger for the World Championship 1972. After defeating two top grandmasters 6-0 each, the charismatic American faced former World Champion Tigran Petrosian who was considered to be almost undefeatable. Their match started 2½-2½, and then in game six Fischer scored a superb win that turned the match in his favor. Did Petrosian seal the wrong move, could he have defended to a draw? You can help endgame specialist Karsten Müller with his historical analysis – and win a valuable prize.

4/17/2020 – Bobby Fischer started the tournament in Rovinj/Zagreb with 6½/7 and seemed to be unstoppable. But in round 8 he suffered a sensational loss against Vlatko Kovacevic who surprised the American in the opening and continued to outplay him convincingly. This is Fischer's first loss since his defeat against Efim Geller in Skopje 1967. Fischer still leads the tournament with 6½/8 but Svetozar Gligoric is only half a point behind. | Photo: Vlatko Kovacevic

4/16/2020 – After one loss and five draws former World Champion Vassily Smyslov (pictured) won his first game at the Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb. He defeated Borislav Ivkov. Bobby Fischer continues to show why he is the world's number one: he won with Black against Theodor Ghitescu and now leads the field with 6½-½. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

4/15/2020 – The Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb is a round-robin with 18 players, eight from Yugoslavia, ten from abroad. Two former World Champions, Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov, take part, but tournament favourite is the 27-year old American Bobby Fischer, currently number one on the FIDE World Ranking List. Fischer started the tournament with five wins and a draw and is the sole leader. One point behind follows Yugoslavia's number one, Svetozar Gligoric, who defeated Petrosian with a brilliant sacrifice and also won against Smyslov. | Photo: Rovinj

4/13/2020 – Sixty-four years ago a 13-year-old boy played 17...Be6!!, sacrificing his queen and entering his name in the history books: Robert James Fischer, known to the world as "Bobby". The game was hailed as the "Game of the Century" and has been discussed in countless chess books and collections. It is worth taking another, more careful look at this game. On our JavaScript player that's a very enjoyable experience. The player answers all your "What-if" and "Why-not" questions, and even allows you to play out key positions under realistic conditions.

4/12/2020 – In part II of the Frederic Chronicles, the co-founder of ChessBase, Frederic Friedel, recounts his experiences with Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. Did you know that Tal won the World Blitz Championship in 1988 while being inebriated, for the better part of the tournament? Or that Fischer made plans to challenge Vishy Anand for a match in Fischer Random Chess? These and much more untold stories come to the fore with Frederic's singular accounts. Read this article and enrich yourself with nuggets of priceless chess history.

4/9/2020 – After 18 months in hiding Fischer is back and in the two events he has played since his return to the chess arena he has shown superb chess. But only in a four-game match and a blitz tournament. Now, at the Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/ Zagreb things get serious and Fischer has to show if he is indeed the best. However, the opening ceremony in Rovinj did not go smoothly. | Photo: turnir-mira

4/8/2020 – 50 years ago today, on April 8, 1970, Herceg Novi in Yugoslavia hosted a blitz tournament that might well be the best blitz tournament of all time. Twelve of the world's best players competed in a double round-robin. Bobby Fischer won with 19 out of 22. | Photo: Chess Life

4/7/2020 – The match between the USSR and the "Rest of the World" in Belgrade 1970 – the "Match of the Century" – was a fantastic event. Vlastimil Hort played in Belgrade for the "World" and in an interview with ChessBase he shares his memories and talks about Fischer and Keres and rumours that the Soviet cheated in the final round.

4/5/2020 – Last month, on March 9 2020, Bobby Fischer would have turned 77. We could have commemorated it with a detailed biography of the 11th World Champion – but who doesn't know all the details of the life of the most charismatic and enigmatic player in the history of the game? So instead I would like to retell one of my favourite stories, a birthday present to Fischer, wherever he might be. It is a lovely story, and has ideas that you can use in your own games.

4/3/2020 – The fourth and final round of the "Match of the Century" between the USSR and the "Rest of the World" in Belgrade ended with a 5:5 tie. Larsen (against Stein) and Uhlmann (against Taimanov) scored for the "World" while Smyslov (against Olafsson) and Keres (against Ivkov) scored for the USSR. In the end the USSR won the match 20.5:19.5, with the narrowest possible margin. | Photo: Group photo with players and officials

4/2/2020 – The ten best players of the Soviet Union play against the ten best players from the "Rest of the World". Today we will see the decisive fourth and last round. After three rounds the Soviet team leads 15.5-14.5. Live transmission of the games starts at 17.00 pm CEST (11.00 EDT, 15.00 UTC). With commentary by IM Merijn van Delft.

4/2/2020 – The "Match of the Century" between the Soviet Union and the "Rest of the World" in Belgrade is close. After three rounds the USSR narrowly leads 15.5:14.5. In round two Bent Larsen had suffered a devastating defeat against Boris Spassky on board one, but in round three Larsen bounced back and won with Black against the World Champion. Samuel Reshevsky and Lajos Portisch also scored for the "World" but in the Soviet team Mihail Tal was the only one who could win.

4/1/2020 – The second round of the "Match of the Century" in Belgrade brought amazing games. Robert "Bobby" Fischer won with Black again former World Champion Tigran Petrosian but the game of the day was World Champion Boris Spassky's spectacular win against Bent Larsen. After 17(!) moves Larsen resigned. But in these 17 moves Spassky had managed to sacrifice a rook and to queen his h-pawn. After two rounds the Soviet Union now leads 11.5-8.5.

3/31/2020 – IM Lawrence Trent had been enjoying the Candidates, but today he tackles a game from the past. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, find the winning move for White. | Lawrence is live this week from 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can always register a free 90-day account to watch.

3/31/2020 – The first round of the match between the USSR and the "Rest of the World" is over and the USSR leads with 5.5:4.5. A detailed report with analyses of key games will follow shortly but Vlastimil Hort was ready to share first impressions about the mood in his team, the atmosphere in Belgrade, and the difficulties to find the best line-up. | Picture: Hort's telegram to the German editors

3/30/2020 – Up to the last minute Max Euwe has tried to convince Bobby Fischer to play in the "Match of the Century" that starts today in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. With success! Ten of the best players from the Soviet Union will play four rounds against ten of the best players from the "Rest of the World" and Fischer has agreed to play on board two behind Bent Larsen. The match is one of the biggest chess events this year and will certainly lead to a number of classical games. It will also be remembered for a long time. ChessBase will follow the games "live". Start of the transmission: 16.00 pm CEST (10.00 EDT, 14.00 UTC).

3/27/2020 – Grandmaster Daniel King originally planned to be in Yekaterinburg, but instead reflects on Vachier-Lagrave's lead-tying win, and a famous line from Bobby Fischer. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

3/21/2020 – "The Coldest Game" is a spy movie which came out exclusively on the streaming service Netflix. Fortunately for all chess lovers, it includes a couple of very interesting chess games which consist of some analysis. Although this movie is fictional, some real events and politicians are part of it, like the Cuban crisis, President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The fictional chess games also follow real examples and it is a joy to replay some of the beautiful combinations the film cites.

3/20/2020 – Grandmaster Daniel King was supposed to be in Yekaterinburg now, but will instead take a look at the Candidates from home in London. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

2/7/2020 – The Power Play Show returns live this week. Grandmaster Daniel King looks back to a fine attacking game from the past. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

2/5/2020 – In a 20-minute interview with Tania Sachdev in Gibraltar, the twelfth undisputed world champion Anatoly Karpov talked about some of his world championship matches, the effect a 6:0 loss might have had on Garry Kasparov in 1984, the current FIDE administration, the use of rapid and blitz to decide the world champion, and much more. We transcribed the interview and added some of the games mentioned by the Russian star. | Photo: Gibraltar Masters YouTube channel

9/26/2019 – The report about Bobby Fischer's forgotten simul in Münster 1970 evoked memories. Günther Langhanke played in the simul but he also picked up Fischer from his hotel in Siegen and brought him to Münster. Not an easy task. Langhanke shares his memories of the eccentric American who was moody, friendly and generous. | Photo: Norbert Rauch